What Must you do to be Excommunicated?

dublin | rights, freedoms and repression | opinion/analysis

Saturday October 28, 2006 14:20

by Chris Murray

Pope Benedict to Visit Ireland with the Queen.

Todays Papers state the Pope Benedict will visit the North of Ireland Next year.
He is to be Invited to beatify Saint Columbana. The proposed visit is being
requested by Dr Martin and envisages also a joint visit by HRH The Queen.
The most recent report of Pope Benedict was a couple of days ago , when
he deplored the activities of the Fern's Priests who got away with child abuse
and tortured a generation of Irish Children. There was no acceptance of
responsibility by the Roman Catholic Church in the statement on Ferns.
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/79298

The excommunication request is simple; It is no longer acceptable to me as an Irish
woman baptised in the Faith of the Roman Catholic Church (admittedly a second generation convert) to be a member of a centralised control nexus which fails to recognise my individuality as a member of the human race. The successive dictats of the
Roman Catholic church which have driven the politics of Ireland for too long, have oppressed generations of women by foisting on us a morality which fails to honour our dignity as people. The Church has shown itself to be a politcal animal which interferes in the rights of people and governments by foisting a jaundicied and anti-woman
stance on the politics of nations.

The recent campaign by members of that centralised and undemocratic organisation has led to the banning of all abortions, including therapeutic abortions in Nicaragua. The Unabated rise of the right in Poland has put the issue of private morality back on the political stage, wherin members of the LPR, Samoobrona and PiC are agigtating and have forced a debate for constitutional change to article 38 of the Polish Constitution where abortion will be banned , even in cases of Rape and Incest. Chancellor Merckel of Germany assumes the presidency of the EU in January 2007 and her stated aim is to lobby for the inclusion of God at the heart of the EU constitution, she has been discussing the definition of God with Pope Benedict in recent months.

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/79311

The words of Sister Mary Theresa Kane in Washington D.C (1979)

"We beg you to listen with compassion and to hear the call of women, who comprise half
of mankind. As women , we have heard the the powerful messages of Our church addressing
the need and dignity of all persons. As women , we have pondered upon those words.
Our contemplation leads us to state that the church in its call for reverence and dignity
must respond by providing the possibilty of women as persons being included in all
ministries in the church"

The plea went ignored. There has been no dialogue with women on the issue of
the ministry within the Roman Catholic Church.

It is not alone the refusal to acknowledge the contribution of women to the church but the
view of woman as help-meet to the man, which has led to oppression and abuse. The
interference in reproductive rights and the politcal development of nations extends the
private morality of the church deeply into the politcal sphere and deepens alienation on
a massive scale. Churchmen who have addressed the issue of poverty with enormous
compassion and realism, including Leonard Boff in Brazil have been silenced because
his drive for equality was interpreted as socialist, thus anathema to the centralised
control of the Roman Catholic Church. 'Instructive Morality' which does not admit of the
opinion of woman either as an equal partner in the church, or as a human being with
unique individuality has led to massive alienation, contributing to cycles of oppression
and abuse within the Church. The Nicaragua decision, which The RC church lobbied for
denies therapeutic abortion in the case of rape or incest. The interference in legislation
in this instance adds to oppression of women- wherein of the 24 Legal abortions carried
out in last three years, one was on a nine year old girl who was a victim of rape.
Criminalisation of women and children for seeking abortion in a society where private
questionaires on women's issues cite rape and domestic abuse as major problems
is a refusal to recognise and accept that these issues even exist.

The two problems facing the Roman Catholic Church in this century are that refusal to
dialogue equally with women in creating a theology of belief which recognises woman
as part of the human race :and the democratisation of the Church, which includes
the removal of the hierarchical nexus of control, so that each church community can
face issues of what are essentially part of the sphere of private morality and not
legislative control issues.

48 hours after regretting the Ferns Abuse Scandal, without accepting repsonsibility
for it or apologising to the victims of Child Sexual abuse in this country, there is an
announcement that an invitation has been issued for Pope Benedict to visit this
country. The rights of the child and those of women are blithely ignored in what will
be a political visit to Northern Ireland, it will, it is hoped copperfasten the peace achieved
in NI, a celebratation of what unity can achieve in a globalised culture. The alienation
of women is a matter unattended to in the light of refusal to dialogue on issues
specific to women in both the theological sphere of influence and the private moral
choices that we make in the absence of that dialogue.