WASHINGTON (DC)
National Catholic Reporter
Caitlin Hendel | Jul. 22, 2013
WASHINGTON Women who have chosen to become ordained Catholic priests are “very prophetic,” Fr. Helmut Schüller told a group of journalists Monday, but he said the focus still should be on opening up the entire priesthood to women.
“It’s a system we have to change,” he said during a press conference at the National Press Club here. “It’s a question of strategy.”
Even so, “we see in these women who are ordained already very prophetic women,” Schüller said.
He also is wary of any moves to allow women to become deacons, saying he has heard the Vatican is trying to degrade the structure of the deaconate, possibly as a preparatory strategy before making such a change. “I’m warning sometimes: Pay attention, as it could be a threat,” he said.
Washington is the fifth stop on Schüller’s 15-city, coast-to-coast tour of the United States that began July 16. He speaks Monday night at the Augustana Lutheran Church in Washington. His appearances in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore have attracted crowds of 300 to 700 people, with several hundred spilling out of a small church in the sweltering heat of Boston last week.
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