Statement of Member Groups of the International We Are Church Movement
(IMWAC)
on the action by Cardinal Ratzinger
to Excommunicate the Seven Women Ordained on the Danube


On June 29th of this year, seven women – acting in good conscience – were
ordained to the priesthood in a rite that the Vatican considers illegal and
invalid. This week, Cardinal Ratzinger’s office, the Congregation for the
Doctrine of the Faith, excommunicated those women because they refused to
repudiate what their consciences embrace fully: the validity of their
ordinations.

The International We Are Church Movement (IMWAC) condemns this action by
Cardinal Ratzinger as a violation of these women’s consciences and
destructive of community in the church.

The root issue here is the ordination of women. Are women equals of men
in the church, or not? St. Paul said in Galatians 3:28: "In Christ…there
is no male nor female." The Second Vatican Council taught when it said in
Gaudium et Spes, "Every type of discrimination…based on sex…is to be
overcome and eradicated a contrary to God’s intent." (#29). Denying
ordination to women in an indefensible position in today’s church, given
these teachings, the signs of the times, and the overwhelming support for
women’s ordination (the sensus fidelium) among the faithful.


Initiativgruppe für eine lebendigere Kirche - Kirchenvolksbegehren (South
Tirol)
Le Réseau Culture et foi (Canada/Quebec)
Católicas Por el Derecho a Decidir (Mexico)
Womens Ordination South Africa/We Are Church (WOSA-WAC) (SouthAfrica)
Somos Iglesia de Venezuela (Venezuela)
Acht Mei Beweging (Netherlands)
Paves (Belgium)
Nós Somos Igreja (Portugal)
Wir sind Kirche (Germany)
We Are Church (NorthAmerica)

August 2002