Appeal against the Monitum

July 22, 2000

Translated by Harold F. Radday, 001 – 703-538-6128
From: Women’s Ordination Group Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, Spokesperson for Austria
Dr. Gisela Forster, Spokesperson for Germany Dr. Ida Raming
Dr. Iris Mueller, Sister Adelinde,Theresia Roitinger, Angela White, Pia Brunner
E-Mail mmcml@ping.at
E-mail gisela.forster@campus.lmu.de Eisenwerkstrasse 4; A-4020, Linz
Austria

July 22, 2000

To: The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Palazzo del S. Uffizio
I-00120 Vatican City

For the attention of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Prefect

Copies to:
His Excellency the Bishop of Linz,
His Excellency the Bishop of Salzburg,
His Eminence the Bishop of Munich-Freising,
His Eminence and Chairman of the German Bishops Conference the Bishop of Mainz,
His Excellency the Bishop of Cologne,
His Excellency the Bishop of Muenster
and his Excellency the Bishop of Rochester.

RECURSUS ADVERSUS ET PETITIO

(COMPLAINT UNDER CODE OF CANON LAW SECTIONS 1732-1739 and PETITION)

This document initiates a complaint against the MONITUM of July 10, 2002, by Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger:

We women dispute the THREAT of EXCOMMUNICATION for we have done nothing that would justify the PENALTY of EXCOMMUNICATION.
RATIONALE:
Priestly ordination was bestowed by the power of the Holy Spirit according to the sacramentally valid Roman Catholic rite through the laying on of hands by a bishop standing in the line of apostolic succession.
WITH THIS PETITION, we REQUEST the change of one word in Canon 1024 of the Code of Canon Law:
We ask that the ordination of female priests be recognized under canon law and that Canon 1024 of the Code of Canon Law, which reads “holy ordination can be conferred only on a baptized man”
be changed to read
“holy ordination can be conferred only on a baptized person”.
RATIONALE:
The equal rights of women have been established in all countries of the world. Discrimination against persons based on their gender is forbidden worldwide and contradicts Christian belief (See Second Vatican Council: Lumen Gentium, No. 32; Gaudium et Spes, No. 29).
BACKGROUND:
Individual women in the ordination group have received a MONITUM from Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger in which he makes serious allegations against the women. The assertions of Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger must be challenged:

1. Cardinal Ratzinger writes about ‘the founder of a schismatic community’ who has conferred priestly ordination. Bishop Romulo Braschi is not a schismatic. He was never dismissed from the Catholic Church and has never declared that he was leaving. There has never been a proceeding of excommunication, suspension or interdict against him.

2. Bishop Romulo Braschi did not ‘try’ to confer ‘priestly ordination’; rather he conferred female priestly ordination through the power of his apostolic succession with the invocation of the Holy Spirit. The wording of the ritual reflects in every detail the prescribed Roman Catholic ordination ritual. The event was officially registered by a notary.

3. The female ordination was no ‘simulation of a sacrament’,
but rather a legitimate conferral of a sacrament. The ordination, therefore, cannot be declared invalid or void (See Canon 849 of the Code of Canon Law:
“Baptism is the entryway to the Sacraments”.

4. The ‘place’
of women in the church should not be determined by men alone, but only by men in dialog with women. This dialog has for decades been rejected by his excellency Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger. He, therefore, does not have the right to decide on ‘woman’s place’ in the church. What is written in Ordinatio sacerdotalis is a most profound hostility to women mixed with the arrogant presumption that this is ‘divinely ordained.’

The text of the MONITUM stands in contradiction to official church teaching. The teaching of Christianity is the equality of man and woman:
“All of you who have been baptized in Christ have put on Christ. There are no longer Jews and pagans, slaves nor free persons, man nor woman; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:27ff.) With his hostile attitude toward women, Cardinal Ratzinger divides men and women into two camps and he thereby damages the unity of the Catholic Church.

5. Neither Cardinal Ratzinger nor any other church office has conveyed the ‘positions expressed by the Austrian Bishops Conference’ to the women of the ordination group. The women are not aware of any warning from the Austrian Bishops Conference.

6. Canon 1347 of the Code of Canon Law states: “Censure cannot be imposed validly unless the accused has been warned at least once in advance that he or she should withdraw from contumacy and be given appropriate time for repentance.”

Regarding the Time Period:
The letters of the bishops bear the postmark July 11; they arrived July 15. Cardinal Ratzinger gives the date July 15 for an appointment. He thereby gives the women not even a week to discuss the matter among themselves. This is not an appropriate time period. Since international judgments will have to be made, we request a preparation period of 3 months.

In order that we may inform ourselves deeply and comprehensively, we request INSTRUCTION in the following points:

1. Criteria for ‘schismatic’ behavior;
2. The text for what is ‘divinely ordained’;
3. Biblical citations opposing ‘equal rights’ for women;
4. The position paper of the Austrian Bishops Conference;
5. The ‘authorization’ for popes to ordain men;
6. Confirmation or modification of the ‘excommunication grounds’ outlined by us above;
7. Extra-judicial reconciliation.

Regarding the Penalty:
The Code of Canon Law (Canon 1318) states explicitly that “censure, particularly excommunication, is to be imposed only with the greatest discretion and only for the most serious offenses.” For excommunication, the Code of Canon Law names only the following offences:

1. Apostasy (Canon 1364);
2. Heresy (Canon 1364);
3. Contumacy (Canon 1364);
4. Schism (Canon 1364);
5. Violation of the seal of confession (Canon 1388);
6. Abortion (Canon 1398);
7. Throwing away consecrated hosts (Canon 1367);
8. Using physical force against the pope (Canon 1370);
9. Attempting to give absolution to a priest accused of a sexual offence(Canons 977 and 1378).

We women have not committed any of these offences.

• We have not committed apostasy.
• We have not spread heresy.
• We have not been contumacious. Rather we have allowed ourselves to be ordained exactly according to the Roman Catholic ritual.
• We have not separated ourselves from the church,
• we have not violated the seal of confession
• and have not committed abortion.
• We have also not thrown away any consecrated hosts,
• nor have we given absolution to any priests guilty of sexual sin.

CONCLUSION:
The seven women who allowed themselves to be ordained to the priesthood on June 29, 2002, cannot understand why this ordination should be ‘void.’. The women do not see this ordination as opposed to authentic Christian teaching. Scandal among the faithful has not taken place, but rather the numerous encouraging letters and telephone calls indicate much more that the people of the Church consider the ordination of women to be a good thing. On the contrary, scandal can be seen by the people in the refusal of the institutional church to ordain women, something we can take from the solidarity declarations that are published on the Web under www.virtuelle-dioezese.de.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATION: Dialogue
Since we women have again and again stated explicitly that we wanted no conflict or war with the institutional church, our own readiness for dialog with Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger or Pope John Paul II should be noted. We emphasize our readiness for dialog with particular reference to Canon 1733 of the Code of Canon Law: “ It is very desirable that whenever someone feels injured by a decree, there not be a juridical conflict between this person and the author of the decree and that care be taken to find an equitable solution between them; perhaps respected persons could be engaged to mediate so that conflict could be suitably avoided or arbitrated.”

Munich and Linz, July 22, 2002, the feast day of MARY MAGDALEN, the woman who was the first person that Jesus appeared to after his death.

Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, Spokesperson for Austria
Dr. Gisela Forster, Spokesperson for Germany

Please, credit this document
as published by www.womenpriests.org!