I want to start with the spearhead’s lead article, and then put together some factors that have been affecting the church in general lately. Anyway… Price says (read the entire article).

Despite repeated warnings from the Catholic hierarchy, liberal Catholic activists continue to call for the ordination of priestesses in the Catholic church. … One priest, the conservative Rev. Anthony Branklin, characterizes Call to Action as “aging feminist nuns and their hangers-on clerics,” but evidently some younger female lay Catholics – probably feminists – are involved as well.

Although dissent in any large organization is unavoidable, as is a certain degree of heresy and apostasy in large religions, the United States offers a solution to all who are tired of their church: start a new one. There are hundreds – if not thousands – of variations on Christianity in the US, and there would be no bar to liberal Catholics starting their own offshoot, as some conservative Catholics have done.  … The problem for them, however, is that they want to keep the wealth and congregants and have their way with them rather than going through the trouble of convincing people that a feminist church is better than the traditional one. Perhaps they have seen the example of the Episcopalian Church in the US, which has withered on the vine following its adoption of liberal, anti-scripture values, and want to make sure they can seize the money and property before the flock inevitably disperses and heads for more Christian churches, or stops attending church at all.

via Catholic Heretics Still Pushing for Priestesses.

I would add that this is occuring within all the mainline churches — the Presbyterians, the Anglicans, the Methodists, and the Pentecostals One of the reasons I cite the traditionalists so much is that they are clear about this. This position is put nicely by Alte in her classic essay “Let us not be Lukewarm”

I have been called many things. Some were positive, some were negative, some were justified, some were outrageous, but there was one term that I found perplexing. I have been called a moderate. I’m never quite sure what to reply to that, except to note the inherent immoderation of Catholic traditionalism. Our entire philosophy can be summed up as: Do as we say or burn in hell for all eternity. That is not very moderate, balanced, or expedient. That is immoderate, extreme, and absolute.

I disagree with Alte about obeying the Pope, and would say we should repent of the excesses of the Papacy, but that is an aside. Where we agree is that the feminist rot needs to stop. It is killing churches. And as women move further up the system of the institution, they begin to work with their allies, as seen in the mutterings of this feminist herisarch:

The Rev. Heidi Vardeman, senior minister of Macalaster Plymouth United Church in St. Paul and a spokeswoman for a pro-gay church group called More Light Presbyterians, said in an interview, “Finally, the denomination has seen the error of its ways and it will repent, which means, literally, to turn around.“I’ve had young people who have been exemplary, obviously good candidates for the ministry,” she said, “but then you have to have this weird conversation in which you say that, umm, because they might be gay or lesbian, it’s not going to work. But now we’re free! We can endorse and propose and assist and elect those whom God has called.”In the next few months, the denomination will gauge the reaction from its more theologically conservative members, who believe that ordaining sexually active gay people is inconsistent with the Bible. Some have already departed. The Presbyterian News Service estimates that approximately 100 congregations have left the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in the last five years. Several were large congregations, which could help explain why the vote in some presbyteries switched from 2009

What has happened in the Presbyterian Church is that the liberal branch split off the conservatives, and those who remained true to their faith (the very Revd Heidi needs to repent, not the conservatives) have left. The rotting remnants are now crusing towards irrelevance at best, and probably perdition.

Now, Heidi was worried Gays were not getting into ministry. This is a good thing. The (Catholic)  diocese of Miami, allegedly, was corrupted by a floridly homosexual bishop. This matters — as I commented there…

Why drive out (non homosexual candidates from the seminary when majority are gay)? Because gay men camp up the discourse. The political ones tend to work in the committees, behind the scenes, and isolate and condemn those who stand against them. I’ve worked with gay men and women throughout my career. Many of the men I have worked with — and women — are honorable and would be totally offended about using ones power to either seduce a person or promote a lover. However, I don’t have to live in that environment 24/7. Priests have to live inside the preisthood in that manner. Seminaries are well known for challenging one’s faith anyway — but adding rampant and unchecked sin will drive righteous men away. They don’t want to be part of it.

The trouble with all this is the rainbow coalition of feminists, gays, and left activists do not want to pay the cost required to be in Christian leadership. If is for few. I consider myself disqualified — I’m divorced. They beleive that the words and vows do not matter, when they do, and the faith does not matter, when it does. They see power and privilege where they should see pain and sacrifical service.

Finally, in this move towards the false goal of being moderator, bishop or president, there is a loss of the value that women play — in religious life, in the mission field, in the home, and a denial of the coourage celibate men have had in moving into apostolic, high risk missions — both to pagans (who killed them more often than not) and in high risk missions in our nations (where a family man would be foolish to take his wife and children).

We are equal in our dependency on God’s grace and in our inability to live rightly. But equal does not mean the same — our gifts and roles vary. Thank God.

Because to all be the same would be boring.