The ACC Bill Of Wrongs - Part Four

(This is the fourth in a series analyzing the American Catholic Council's (ACC) Catholic Bill of Rights & Responsibilities [CBRR], wherein each of the ten delineated 'rights & responsibilities' are discussed.)

3. Universal Ministry. Every Catholic has the right and responsibility to proclaim the Gospel and to respond to the community's call to ministerial leadership.

This one's a biggie for the ACC. Let's just cut to the chase here - Right #3 can be substituted with two words: Women's Ordination.

The first half of the statement is a no-brainer - yes, as Catholics, we are expected to evangelize the world, proclaiming the Good News in all that we do and say. They even quote Canon Law at their site:

Code of Canon Law #211: All the Christian faithful have the duty and right to work so that the divine message of salvation more and more reaches all people in every age and in every land.

Although part of me suspects that what the ACC wants this to mean, is that anyone - any Catholic - should be allowed to read the Gospel during Mass, not just an ordained bishop, priest or deacon.

And here's an interesting thing. The ACC also quotes, at the same site, Canon #216 (bold mine):

Since they participate in the mission of the Church, all the Christian faithful have the right to promote or sustain apostolic action even by their own undertakings, according to their own state and condition. Nevertheless, no undertaking is to claim the name Catholic without the consent of competent ecclesiastical authority.

Did they really mean to include the bold portion? Which competent ecclesiastical authority gave their consent to allow this group to appropriate the name "Catholic"? Last time I checked, Call-to-Action and Women's Ordination Conference are not ecclesiastical authorities - except perhaps in their own minds. Not one bishop or cardinal has endorsed this group. In fact, Archbishop Vigneron of the Archdiocese of Detroit stated in October of last year, that no parish or priest in the archdiocese is permitted to advertise or promote the ACC. That doesn't sound like consent to me. Thus, on their own site, and by citing Canon Law, it appears the ACC has shot themselves in the foot.

And don't try to sell me the line that "ordained" womynpreests are competent ecclesiastical authorities. They are neither competent nor ecclesiastic, and have authority over no one.

If the first half of the statement is the gravy, then the second half is the meatloaf. "Ministerial leadership" is code for women's ordination, primarily. To the ACC, it does more, as stated on CBRR Applications page, but it's mostly about womynpreests:

3. Universal Ministry:

• The Church will return to its earliest tradition of welcoming both married and celibate priests;
• Women would freely discern and test their calls to holy orders and would be eligible for ordination alongside their brothers;

The first bullet point, as most know, is a discipline and not a doctrine. It may change in the future, it may not. The laity certainly do not have the authority to make changes to the discipline (hearkens back to the "competent ecclesiastical authority" bit); the topic itself is not closed for discussion.

Unlike the second bullet point. This issue is definitively closed, no matter what the ACC and their followers think. And given that the Holy Father has just forced Australian Bishop Morris to resign over his support of so-called women's ordination (among other things), they ought to strongly reconsider their own support. Of course they won't, but if they were smart, they'd at least give it some serious consideration. The Holy Father's action may embolden US bishops to act more strongly in response to the members of this group. Which would be a good thing, in my opinion.

One last point -the wording for this right. The ending reads "...to respond to the community's call to ministerial leadership." Last I checked, it's God who calls people in their particular vocations, not the community. It's God who calls men to the priesthood. Sounds like the ACC has as much use for God in their group as they do the Vatican - close to none at all.

Maybe God will oblige. Perhaps He already has.

Part Five will look at Right #4: Freedom of Expression. Every Catholic has the right to freedom of expression and the freedom to dissent.

Part One; Part Two; Part Three