Church Ladies Be Damned!

Archbishop Raymond Burke has delivered a stern warning to Elsie McGrath and Rose Marie “Ree” Hudson, the two local women who are slated to be ordained Roman Catholic Womenpriests on Sunday:

Jennifer Silverberg
womenpriests.jpg
Priests-to-be Rose Marie "Ree" Hudson and Elsie McGrath
“If you persist and attempt to receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders,” Burke states in a notarized “canonical admonition” to McGrath and Hudson, “you will place in danger the eternal salvation of your soul and the souls of others, and will inflict in the Archdiocese of St. Louis a most severe wound to the communion of the Roman Catholic Church -- an act of schism….”

Burke threatens an automatic ex-communication if the ceremony goes on:

“I by this letter in accordance with the norm of Canon 1347.1 of the Code of Canon Law admonish you: 1) to renounce your intention to attempt to receive priestly ordination and, 2) to retract publicly any denial or contrary affirmation regarding the Church’s Catholic Doctrine (Canon 750.2) infallibly set forth that women cannot validly receive the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Should you refuse to comply, in order to protect the faithful from grave spiritual deception, then, by operation of the law itself you will incur automatically, that is, latae sententiae, the censure of ex-communication, as provided by Canon 1364.1 of the Code of Canon Law.”

The letters were hand-delivered Monday evening to the homes of McGrath and Hudson via a special process server. Neither was surprised or upset by Burke’s admonition.

“I don’t feel the least bit damned!” exclaims McGrath. “If I’m going to Hell, it’s not because of this!”

A spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of St. Louis has not returned calls for comment.

Meanwhile, the soon-to-be womenpriests are expecting 500 people to attend Sunday’s ordination.

-Kristen Hinman

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Privacy Policy
Sign up for free stuff, news info & more!

Tools

General

Links

Local Media

Music

St. Louis Sites

Blogs Unreal Likes to Waste Time On

Browse Voice Nation
  • Voice Places

    Voice Places

    Discover restaurants, nightlife, travel, shopping...

  • VOICE Daily Deals

    VOICE Daily Deals

    Get 50 to 90% off every day on restaurants, movies, massages...

  • Best Of

    Best Of...

    More than 10,000 of the BEST things to eat, drink, and experience

  • My Voice Nation

    My Voice Nation

    Join the Village Voice community and get exclusive deals and info

  • Happy Hour

    Happy Hour

    Your local Happy Hour guide at your fingertips

or

Log in or Sign up

Social Connect:

Use your favorite account to access My Voice Nation.


Use your My Voice Nation account to log in:





Forgot password?
or

Sign Up or Log in

Social Connect:

Sign up for My Voice Nation with your preferred network.


Sign up for a My Voice Nation account:



Privacy policy