July 19, 2005

Local Catholic Women to be Ordained

Terri Gruca

Reporting

(WCCO) Red Wing, Minn. For thousands of years, men have led the Catholic Church, however some studies now show as many as 60 percent of Catholics approve of ordaining women.

One Minnesota woman is preparing to join that sacred brotherhood, but some feel her decision to follow her faith is a breach of beliefs.

"I come from a very Catholic family," Regina Nicolosi explained. "I really absorbed the liturgical year and the Catholic faith pretty much from the day I was born."

Nicolosi was raised Roman Catholic in a small town in Germany, but her interest in serving the church grew after moving to Minnesota.

She earned a master's degree in pastoral studies and then studied alongside her husband as he worked to become a deacon.

"He was ordained, I was not," Nicolosi said. "And that was the first time I just had this sense, there's something not right here."

She hopes to change that in a week.

"Right now, I'm getting ready to be ordained a priest next year and this July, to be ordained a deacon," Nicolosi explained.

Some women have already been ordained priests and bishops in Europe. For that, they were excommunicated, but continue to practice Catholicism, they said, with support from other clergy who have chosen to remain anonymous.

Next week, those women will fly to Canada to ordain seven other women deacons and priests. One of the women will be Regina Nicolosi.

"We would not recognize the ordination," said Rev. Ronald Bowers who has served the St. Paul Seminary for 24 years. He said ordaining women clashes with the Catholic doctrine.

"When you start looking at those theological images and the background of the position of the church on this, you can see why any change in the position is going to come only as a change in the underlying theology and that's an evolutionary, not a revolutionary process," Bowers said.

Many Catholics believe the priest stands in the place of Christ — therefore a priest has to be a man.

"I don't think women necessarily need to be ordained for their dignity to come out," said Catholic Sara Freund.

Several young adults who attend the Cathedral in St. Paul believe history helps solidify the church's position.

"The ordination reserved to men alone is actually an infallible teaching of the church so I don't think it can be changed by a pope," said Catholic Kristin Nelson.

"If Christ wanted to ordain women, either to the priesthood or the deaconate, he would have done it himself," Catholic Matt Willkom said.

Others disagree.

"I think historically and by tradition, there is unequivocal evidence that women were at the very least deacons in the early church and probably priests as well," said Charles Nicolosi, Regina Nicolosi's husband.

There are some historical pictures and artwork that show women performing ceremonies and wearing clothing only bishops or deacons would. In a Roman mosaic, believed to date back to 313 A.D., over the head of a woman on the left reads the word "Episcopa." That means bishop who is a woman.

"I think women have always had an important role in the church," Bowers said. "For example, the Chancellor for the Archdiocese is a woman. Twenty years ago, that would never have been heard of."

Also, there is a shortage of priests in the Roman Catholic Church. A study by U.S. Bishops found more than a quarter of American parishes do not have their own priests.

In the Twin Cities, the number of priests has dropped 35 percent since 1966, and the trend is expected to continue.

Women like Regina Nicolosi long to fill that void.

"I strongly believe sometimes we need to do some acts even if they're against laws if we believe the laws are unjust," Regina Nicolosi said.

Her leap of faith could leave the lifelong Catholic on the outside of a church in which she believes. Regina Nicolosi fully expects to be excommunicated from the Catholic Church, but said that will not keep her from practicing her faith.

She expects to hold mass in her house and to keep attending services at her church in Red Wing, Minn.

(© MMV, CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)