Dear Bishop de Angelis

I've been following the story of Fr. Ed Cachia in the CNT. On behalf of Women's Ordination Worldwide, I express both gratitude to Fr. Ed for his support of women called to the priesthood and also my disappointment at the action taken as a result of his remarks. I wish to make only one point, adding to those eloquently made by others.

Using the argument of authority to bully anyone into acting against his or her conscience is dangerous and futile. To be compelling, arguments must be based on sound reasoning and grounded in experience.

It is time the hierarchy of the church realize it is dealing with Catholic adults, not children, most of whom are educated. Many are mature in their faith, and some have considerable theological training.

The Magisterium's arguments against the ordination of women do not take into account recent biblical or theological scholarship, nor the archeological evidence that women were deacons, priests and even bishops in the early church. The argument that women are not to be admitted to ordination because the Magisterium says so simply does not hold up under intelligent investigation. For lack of a credible argument, Rome resorts to imposing its authority.

You need think of what happened with Humanae Vitae. When the Vatican refused to listen to the life experience of faithful Catholic couples grappling with the problem of birth control, or the conclusions of the Pontifical Commission charged with studying this issue, the result was a massive loss of credibility for the church hierarchy. Our Canadian bishops issued the "Winnipeg Statement" which, in a word, told Catholic laity to follow the dictates of their conscience.

Consequently, many Catholic couples chose to "dissent" from the official, though not infallible, teaching of the church. The more serious consequence for the Church, however, was that many Catholics became conscious that decision-makers in Rome did not listen to the sensus fidelium, but simply imposed their view by invoking papal authority to do so. This is also tantamount to a stifling of the Spirit who dwells in all baptized and believing persons.

With respect to the movement in favour of women's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church, I would ask you to consider the words of Gamaliel: "If this enterprise, this movement of theirs, is of human origin it will break up of its own accord; but if it does in fact come from God you might not only be unable to destroy them, but you might find yourselves fighting against God." (Acts 5:39) Then, invite your brother bishops to press Benedict XVI to listen to what the Spirit is saying to women who believe they are called to ordained ministry. And stop persecuting those who support them.

Marie Evans Bouclin, Sudbury, Ont.

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