The Theater and the Mass.

Ex-Atheist Leah Libresco reviews Gary Wills' "Why Priests?"

Wills sees the pomp and circumstance of church as drawing our attention away from the God who became Man and directing it towards just one particular man, swathed in robes and standing front stage center. But when an actor puts on costuming and grease- paint, she does it to become someone else, both to the audience and to herself. A director I worked with once told me to start working on a show by getting different shoes, or, failing that, by putting a pebble in mine during rehearsals—anything to set this space off from ordinary life.

A priest doesn’t vest to draw attention to himself, but to what he does. In vestments, priests become a little anonymous. The sacraments work ex opere operato, from the work done, not the merits of the person carrying it out. The ornate robes tell us what work the priest is prepared to do, just as oxygen tanks and helmets mark out firefighters.

The uniform of a first responder is functional and battered. But Wills is correct to note that vestments are superfluously beautiful. They are more than seems necessary, more than we would ask for ourselves. They are meant to remind us of grace.

The Sacraments, which are (primarily, but not exclusively) administered by priests, are outward signs of inward grace. A sinner may be forgiven without the sacrament of reconciliation; the ritual is, to a certain extent, superfluous. Ritual doesn’t limit the ways God can act in the world, but it expands humans’ ability to understand or address the Infinite.

Returning to a fact-based reality.

Outside of three areas, simply proclaiming oneself to be something doesn't generally entitle one to be treated by the world as that thing.  Hence, proclaiming oneself to be a Supreme Court justice, a reporter for the New York Times or a player for the Green Bay Packers doesn't make one a Supreme Court justice, a reporter for the Gray Lady, or a part of the World Championship football team.  The three areas where an objective connection with the claim are not required are (a) inside of insane asylums; (b) by people claiming to be "transgendered" and (c) by women claiming to be Catholic priests.

Concerning category three, one lady appears to have clawed her way back from the world where feelings make reality:

A San Diego woman “ordained” a deacon of the Roman Catholic Women Priests movement in 2007 has repudiated her participation in the organization and is seeking a return to the Church.


The woman, Norma Jean Coon, published the following statement on her website on Feb. 8:

Document of Renunciation of Ordination to Diaconate

On July 22, 2007, I was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Patricia Fresen, of Germany and South Africa who was ordained by three male bishops in Germany for the group called Roman Catholic Women Priests. The ordination took place at the Santa Barbara Immaculate Heart Spiritual Center. Because neither Patricia Fresen nor myself were given permission for the ordination by Pope Benedict XVI, the ordinations were illegitimate and not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Thus an excommunication process called Latae Sententiae occurred, excommunicating oneself by failure to observe the Canon Laws of the Church.

I wish to renounce the alleged ordination and publicly state that I did not act as a deacon as a part of this group except on two occasions, when I read the gospel once at mass and distributed communion once at this same mass. I withdrew from the program within two weeks of the ceremony because I realized that I had made a mistake in studying for the priesthood. I confess to the truth of Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. I confess the authority of the Holy Father on these issues of ordination and recognize that Christ founded the ordination only for men.

Here is Norma Jean Coon's website, where she adds the following:
 

Formally, I relinquish all connection to the program of Roman Catholic Women Priests and I disclaim the alleged ordination publicly with apologies to those whose lives I have offended or scandalized by my actions. I ask God's blessings upon each of these folks and their families.

It looks like she has gone through some recent personal tragedy.
 
To see how the opposing view is pitching this, check out this Spero Forums post:
 

California woman reneges on ordination to Catholic diaconate


A San Diego woman who was ordained into the so-called Roman Catholic Women Priests movement in 2007 has repudiated her participation in the organization and is seeking a return to the Church. The movement, and her ordination, are not recognized by the worldwide Catholic Church and its members have been sanctioned under church law.

Reneges????

Also, note that the "so-called" is appended to "Roman Catholic Women Priests" and not to "ordained." 

Also, the post asserts that she was ordained but that the ordination was not "recognized" by the "worldwide Catholic Church."

Which is a lot like saying that a person falsely claiming to be a Supreme Court justice was "appointed" but that the "appointment" was not "recognized" by the Congress or the people of the United States.

Ordained by the Daily Journal.

The Daily Journal is the California legal newspaper of record.  Like a lot of mainstream newspapers it can't help but inject its ideology into cutesy profiles, like this one:

Deputy DA is Woman Priest


By Pat Broderick

SAN DIEGO - Jane Via, garbed in vivid red and white vestments, stood before her congregation in San Diego on a recent Sunday, preaching about the importance of inclusiveness and praying for courage to challenge the Roman Catholic Church. Via wasn't there as a layperson assisting the priest. She is the priest, at least according to the international women's priest movement, earning her and others like her the wrath of the Vatican, which forbids women's ordination.

And:

Via then became one of the first U.S.-born citizens to be ordained a deacon in the women priest movement, the step that comes before ordination as a priest. She was ordained in 2006 in Switzerland. Now Via is the primary pastor of a 150-member congregation that includes two other priests - Stephens and Nancy Corran.  "She probably has a larger community than anyone else in the country," said Suzanne Thiel, the USA-West administrator for Roman Catholic Womenpriests, an
initiative that began in Germany in 2002 with the ordination of seven women. In the United States, the initiative now has 48 priests, five bishops, who handle administrative duties, and 10 deacons, according to Thiel.

You have to wonder how the article would have read if Via had declared herself to be the District Attorney of Orange County because she claimed to have been "apponted" by some Swiss magistrate to that position.
She'd probably be viewed as a "loon."
 
But, hey, if she "feels" like she's a Catholic priest, who cares what the Catholic Church says.