MMAC in the News

New York Times Magazine, "Encounter: A Place at the Altar," 24 June 2007
by Jan Jarboe Russell

" On a late winter Sunday in San Diego, Jane Via, dressed in the traditional garb of a Roman Catholic priest — a white alb, a gold stole draped over her narrow shoulders and a green, flowing robe called a chasuble — led the 100 or so congregants of the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community in a forbidden Mass."

"Challenging the Church," CNN.com, 30 September 2006

“A woman in California defies the ban on female Catholic priests.
CNN's Karen Wynter reports ”

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KPBS Full Focus, "Local woman becomes Catholic priest," September 13, 2006.

Click on this link to begin the interview.

“As a San Diego deputy district attorney Jane Via is sworn to uphold the law by day but on her own time, Via is breaking laws of another kind. Via is one of about 15 women who have flouted Catholic canon law by joining the priesthood. Since her illicit ordination, she has held mass at a Catholic church she co-founded, prompting a rebuke by San Diego’s Bishop Robert Brom and the threat of excommunication. Via talks with reporter Amita Sharma about her rebellion against the Vatican.”

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http://www.kpbs.org/tv/full_focus,id=5782

"Local female priest vows to continue"

San Diego Union Tribune 19 August 2006 by Sandi Dolbee

"Jane Via, the San Diego County woman who was ordained a priest in June by a Catholic reform movement, will continue to conduct services at her independent congregation despite facing possible excommunication from the Roman Catholic Church." ...

"Woman Faces Excommunication For Breaking Church Law"

KNBC-TV, Los Angeles 16 August 2006

"If women like me don't stand up and do something for women in the church, no one else is going to," Via told NBC San Diego. "We've been waiting for the Vatican to this for 40 years, since the Second Vatican Council. Not only has nothing happened, but things have gotten progressively worse for women since. " ...

"Female priest defies the Catholic Church,"

LA Times, 14 August, 2006, by Robin Fields
(reprinted by Chicago Tribune)

... Via called such consequences "unwelcome," but also, in a sense, liberating. "I was so angry for so long at the church and church men who weren't willing to make even the smallest change in language to include women," she said. "My anger is gone." ...

"Ordination puts women, backers, at odds with Catholic Church"

Union-Tribune, 5 August 2006, by Sandi Dolbee

"In the packed sanctuary of a rented church in Mission Hills, a balding man in a short-sleeved shirt stepped up to the microphone. 'Folks, ' he began, 'I want to welcome you to the revolution. ' Then came the applause" ...