From: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Newsgroups: soc.women
Subject: ordination of women
Date: 16 Apr 92 03:24:56 EST
Reply-To: "nigel allen" <nigel.allen@canrem.com>
Distribution: soc
Organization: Canada Remote Systems

I thought you might want to see this press release.

 Women's Ordination Conference to Hold Holy Thursday Rituals
 To: Assignment Desk, Daybook Editor, Religion Writer
 Contact: Ruth Fitzpatrick of the Women's Ordination Conference,
          703-352-1006

   News Advisory:

   On Holy Thursday, April 16, across the nation members of the
Women's Ordination Conference will hold alternative inclusive chrism
ceremonies anointing women, men and children while Roman Catholic
cathedrals hold annual chrism masses re-affirming priestly vows and
re-dedicating diocesan priests to their bishops in what some refer to
as "a gathering of the old boys' club" that highlights the exclusion
of women.
   In the Washington area, WOC members will gather outside the
chainlink gates of the Cathedral of St. Thomas More, 3901 Cathedral
Lane, Arlington.  (Cathedral Lane lies between Roy Rogers and
Kentucky Fried Chicken off Glebe Road near the intersection of
Arlington Blvd./Rt. 50).  They will hold a press conference at 10
a.m. on the sidewalk outside the cathedral parking lot while members
leaflet those entering the cathedral.  At 10:30 a.m. WOC members
will hold their own ritual of anointing in solidarity with the women
priests of Czechoslovakia.
   In Czechoslovakia, after a lifetime of communism, it was recently
revealed that at least three women and several hundred married men
had been ordained in the underground church.  They risked their lives
to keep the faith alive and are now told by the Vatican they are not
needed.
   In the Arlington Diocese, statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary have
been said to weep.  Ruth Fitzpatrick, national coordinator of the
Women's Ordination Conference, whose national office is located
within the bounds of the Arlington diocese, asks: "Could it be that
Mary is weeping because of the sad situation of women in the
church?  Is Mary weeping because talented and capable women
and married men are forbidden to express their priestly ministries?
Is she weeping because the exclusion of women from the priesthood
is again reiterated in the newly released third draft of the
pastoral the bishops are writing on women?"
   Holy Thursday is one of the most solemn in the Christian
liturgical calendar.  It is the memorial of the last supper, held the
night before Jesus died.  WOC members from 28 states, the
Philippines, Canada and Scotland will be holding similar inclusive
rituals.  The national WOC office has responded to nearly 100
requests for inclusive liturgy packets.
   The Women's Ordination Conference is a 17-year-old grassroots
international movement of women and men working for the ordination of
women in the Roman Catholic church to a renewed priestly ministry, a
ministry of mutuality and service.  WOC enjoys strong ecumenical and
international support.
 -30-
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