WE PASS THIS ALONG FOR YOUR INFORMATION AND AN EXAMPLE OF LIVING THE FAITH IN COMMITMENT.
95 Longvue Avenue
Wexford, PA 15090-9703
May 9, 2006
Most Reverend Donald W. Wuerl, S.T.D.
Diocese of Pittsburgh
111 Boulevard of the Allies
Pittsburgh, PA 15222-1618
Dear Bishop Wuerl,
A letter to be shared with the faithful
My name is Joan Clark Houk, the woman from the Diocese of Pittsburgh
who is to be ordained a Roman Catholic Womanpriest in Pittsburgh on
July 31, 2006. I want you to know who I am and why I prayerfully follow this path.
My life of almost 66 years has been rooted in the Catholic Church. I
grew up in St. Francis Xavier Church on the Northside (presently Risen
Lord Parish). It was in this community where I received all of my
sacraments, was educated, joyfully participated in May Crownings,
reverently processed in 40 Hours devotions, joined the Junior Catholic
Daughters of America, and was active in the CYO in the 1950's. My
education continued at St. Peter High School where I learned to share
the earnings from my after-school jobs with the missions, and to pray
the rosary daily. In my Catholic family, my grandmother taught me how
to make bread, blessing it as it went into the oven, and sharing it with
every person who came to our door.
Contrary to the experiences of many others who have a vocation to the
priesthood, I did not grow up wanting to be a priest. My daily prayer
in senior high was for God to send me a man who would be a good
husband and a good father to the many children I hoped to have. My prayer
was answered when God sent me John, my husband and partner of 45 years.
We were blessed with three birth children and three adopted children. As
advocates of pro-life there were many January 22's that we marched in
Washington, DC. As a family we also marched for civil rights, peace,
and for jobs and economic justice.
As our children grew I taught them their Catholic religion and prepared
them for First Communion, Reconciliation, Confirmation, and then
Marriage. What I taught my own children around the dining room table, I
taught to parish children in the CCD room, and to young adults in the
parish hall. With four children at home, I began my college education
one class at a time and became a professional DRE with a degree in
Elementary Education from St. Martin's College. Energized by the spirit
and documents of the Second Vatican Council, I worked for a renewed
Church. Always active in our home parish as we moved throughout the
United States, ministering as a parish volunteer or parish employee, I
listened to the Holy Spirit and followed her call.
The Spirit had been leading me, preparing me, and finally calling me
through various people in my faith community. At last, in 1992, I recognized
the call to priesthood. In 1996 I received my Master of Divinity Degree from
the University of Notre Dame, and during 1997-2002 I led two parishes that
had no resident priest in Kentucky. What a wonderful blessing, serving
God's people. After the many years away I returned here to my hometown
where John and I continue to share our talents in the local Church. From my
birth as a Catholic through this day, I have never doubted my Catholicism,
never been away from the Church. I am a Catholic, and will always be a Catholic.
Canon Law 1024 states: A baptized male alone receives sacred ordination
validly.
Competent Catholic scriptural scholars and theologians find no scriptural or
divine law against a woman being ordained. As a matter of fact, history and
archeology reveal examples of ordained women in the early Church. The history
of this canon has been traced not to God's will nor to Jesus' intent, but to cultural
errors in the understanding of the basic nature of women and men. The history of
cultural bias against women finding its way into Church law has been extensively
documented.
Canon 1024 must be changed to read: A baptized person alone receives sacred
ordination validly. As it stands now Canon 1024 is an unjust law. Just as many
unjust laws had to be broken in order for the laws to be changed (such as during
the civil rights movement), I believe Canon 1024 must be broken. For forty years
women have been petitioning the Vatican for women's ordination once the true
cultural foundation for canon 1024 was uncovered. It is a sin for the Church to
discriminate against women and blame God for it. The Church's discrimination is
part of the systemic discrimination that results in the physical violence, rape,
mutilation, bondage, harassment, poverty and abandonment of women.
I admonish the Church to turn away from this sin of discriminating against women.
In obedience to the Gospel of Jesus, I will disobey this unjust law, Canon 1024,
through the valid but illicit ordination as a Roman Catholic Womanpriest in July.
The validity of these Roman Catholic Womenpriests ordinations is of course the
central issue. The womenbishops who will ordain womenpriests here in Pittsburgh
have been validly ordained by male bishops in good standing with the Vatican.
We believe there is no question regarding the validity of orders, but they are indeed
illicit with the specific intent to bring about a change to Canon 1024.
Bishop Wuerl, I do not intend to start a Church. I will exercise my priesthood here
in Pittsburgh by reaching out to those people in the margins, the apathetic person,
the hurt person, the excluded person, and minister to them. I will encourage them
to become active in the parishes, and in the spirit of Vatican II to use their voices in
renewing the Church. I will encourage them to serve the poor, and to work for social
justice. This is who I am, and why I will be ordained. This is why other faithful
Catholics support my ordination.
This letter is an open letter. It is not my intent to direct any action against the Pittsburgh
Diocese or address any criticism toward you personally. Neither do I intend to ask
for your support because I know it cannot be given. I am fully aware that you personally
are not able to effect this change in Canon 1024. I welcome any opportunity to meet with
you with only one condition that any communication between us be open to the faithful.
Your sister in Christ,
Joan Clark Houk
P.S. It has come to my attention that you are being advised by your staff regarding these
ordinations, and that some of the information you have been given is not accurate.
I have polled the women ordained in Canada in 2005. They have not received any notice
of excommunication from the Vatican, or any communication from the Vatican, as you
may have been advised. Nor have the women ordained in 2004 and 2003 received any
such notification. Secondly, the ordinations take place on a boat primarily for the symbolic
value, and not to avoid the jurisdiction of the local bishop. When ordinations have been
in international waters, as some have, it has provided an opportunity for the local bishop to
dismiss them as not in his jurisdiction. This will obviously not be possible here in Pittsburgh.
I am sure you want to receive and provide the faithful of this diocese with only accurate
information. I am available to answer any questions you may have.
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