Rebellious Students Demonstrate Faith

What can you say? Students. Never did know their place. Always bucking against the status quo. Always claiming to know better than their elders. What has changed in the last 40 years?

A lot. Here is the latest media release from the Australian Catholic Students Association:

CATHOLIC STUDENTS LOYAL TO POPE BENEDICT AND SHOW SUPPORT FOR THE PRIESTHOOD
23 November 2007

The Australian Catholic Students Association (ACSA) President Camillus O’Kane said Catholic students were disappointed that some groups continued to push for the ‘ordination’ of women, despite it being declared a non-issue for the Church.

“Ever since Christ established the Church over 2000 years ago and assigned His Apostles the task of sanctifying, teaching and governing the faithful, the office of the priesthood has been has been reserved for men only,” Mr O’Kane said.

In his 1994 Encyclical Ordinatio Sacerdotalis Pope John Paul II affirmed the Church’s position on the issue of the priesthood:

(I)n order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.


Public Relations Officer Claire Anthony added, “We are thankful for the good work of our priests, and the tireless efforts they put in to their parishes and the wider community: offering Mass and the Sacraments, teaching the Faith, serving the sick and the poor, and upholding the dignity of human life from conception through to natural death.”

“We are also encouraged to see increasing numbers of young men, who fully uphold the teachings of the Catholic Church and are loyal to Pope Benedict XVI, entering seminaries across the country,” Ms Anthony said.

“As young Catholics, we are optimistic about the future of the Catholic Church in Australia.”

For further information or comment
Australian Catholic Students Association:

Camillus O’Kane (President) 0407 538 044
Claire Anthony (Public Relations Officer) 0401 559 765