Southeastern Pa. WOC Holy Thursday Witness

"Nothing New! Women Reclaiming Priesthood!"

Why Holy Thursday?

By Regina Bannan

Long before there was a World Day of Prayer for Women’s Ordination, the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of WOC started holding an annual witness outside the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul in Philadelphiaon Holy Thursday. We had discovered that , in this Archdiocese, the morning Chrism mass was a big event. At least one priest from every parish had to come to get the oils for the next year, and the lateCardinal Krol used the occasion to celebrate the priesthood. The male priesthood. We wanted to shake up this male bonding.

The first time we attended the mass, the Cardinal’s homily was about St. John Vianney, and how no one thought he was able to become a priest, but he prevailed, proving the older, wiser, more traditional priests wrong. Does he know what he’s saying? I asked myself.

So that began it, and it has grown from a handful to a hundred and then more or less (depending on the weather, it seems.) We’ve had women clergy from other churches join us, and one year a male minister heard about it on the radio and got there before the end. It’s become a day to witness in Philadelphia so that another year those protesting closing of inner-city parishes came at the same time and we joined them. Children who came as toddlers back in the 80sare now in or out of college and helping us plan. A parish group made a banner saying “Catholic Men for Women’s Ordination” and come back each year. Street theater with coffins was probably the most dramatic of our many efforts; a simple gong was dramatic in exactly the opposite way. Many, many hours have gone into the planning of these events by SEPA WOC faithful and family and friends.

We realized at some point that our witnessing got a lot of good media because, in old, traditionally Catholic cities like ours, the TV stations have to cover big religious occasions on the local news –and our more or less dramatic presence was more interesting to the reporters than what was going on inside the Cathedral, which seemed like just another service.

We realized at another point that Ordination Day was another logical time to witness. Initially we had felt it would be like protesting sexism in marriage at a wedding – a good point, but not the fault of the principals that day. We got over that, and have had a Eucharistic liturgy in the park opposite the Cathedral for years on Ordination Day as well. If you can get to Philadelphia on May 20 at 9:30 am, we will be presenting our candidate, Eileen DiFranco, before her ordination in Pittsburgh this July.

Many years, we just combine the World Day of Prayer with Holy Thursday, when the days are close enough. This year, it was about as far apart as it could be, so one of our small faith communities held the Day of Prayer.

Once again on this Holy Thursday, SEPA WOC witnessed for the women denied and silenced, educated laity and clergy who would hear the truth, and irritated those who would not. We were in front of the cathedral on April 13 at 9 am, with new banners that said, “Nothing New! Women Re-Claiming Priesthood!”

Regina Bannan teaches at Temple University and has been involved with WOC since 1984. For more information, contact her at bannan@temple.edu or 215-545-9649.

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