Jul 25, 2005 / 22:00 pm
The ordinations of nine women yesterday on a boat in the St. Lawrence River are not valid and cannot be recognized by the Catholic Church, said canon law expert Msgr. Jean Pelletier.
The chancellor of the Archdiocese of Quebec told CNA that the ordinations are not valid because they are contrary to the very “nature of the Catholic priesthood”, which is male.
“To be a priest is not a right,” explained the monsignor. “Even a man cannot just become a priest because he decides he wants to be a priest. The priesthood is a calling that has to be recognized by the Church.”
The ordinations Monday came at the end of a three-day international conference on the ordination of women in Ottawa. The boat set sail from Gananoque (Thousand Islands), west of Ottawa. It sailed between the Canadian and U.S. borders.