Apostasy in Pittsburgh

Yet again, a group of radical Catholic women are claiming to have been ordained to the priesthood, this time in a riverboat ceremony near Pittsburgh. We recognise their ordination. But, before readers ring us to cancel their subscriptions, let us immediately add that we do so in the spirit in which we might recognise the ordination of, say, a Mormon bishop. A total of eight women have received orders: four of them are now priests and four deacons. They are, however, priests and deacons of a non-Catholic denomination of their own devising. Their orders are both illicit and invalid. It therefore makes no difference whether it is true that, as is claimed, they derive from a Catholic bishop. This bishop, if he exists, has no power to ordain women; if he were to ordain a piece of garden furniture the resulting orders would be just as legitimate.
That may sound harsh. There is a case for giving women a greater say in the running of the Church, and we are aware that some of our readers support the concept of women priests. No doubt, at this very moment, members of the Tablet Table — an exclusive Left-wing dining society — are demanding this "reform" in between mouthfuls of Fair Trade macrobiotic lentil soufflé. Indeed, some of its more "go-ahead" participants probably admire the American women for their "prophetic witness".
All of which is actually rather sad: for what has happened in Pittsburgh is that eight women have apostasised. The Church has always taught that the priesthood is reserved to men, and this teaching holds for all time. Most Catholics, especially in the developing world, have no difficulty accepting this fact of life; those who do not are, in global terms, a dying breed. As a teenager might put it, this debate is so over.