Wednesday, November 14, 2007
WOMENPRIESTS AND THE SYNAGOGUE
The Roman Catholic Church is framed in hierarchy, which sets rules and offers guidance for the faithful. The Jewish tradition has no centralized leadership, and congregations operate autonomously, answering to their own mission statement.
I found that description of the Jewish faith in an article about an ordination ceremony hosted by Rabbi Susan Talve and her Jewish Reform congregation located within the Diocese of St. Louis. The "ordained" are Roman Catholic women and the "ordinand" is a woman "bishop". The ceremony took place in the synagogue.
Archbishop Burke is taking this seriously and is not pleased. According to the article he pressed Talve to withdraw their offer, but the ceremony took place as planned. The congregation cites their rules of hospitality as justification. Is it "hospitable" to host the desecration of another religion and to insult the leader of that religion? Apparently in this congregation it is. Seems like a strange definition of hospitality, especially if you want the other religion to like you. I suspect a different agenda fueling this act.
You can read the article here and draw your own conclusions.
