A Cincinnati nun who has long called for the Catholic ordination of women has been told by the archbishop of Cincinnati to drop the issue or forfeit her responsibilities within the archdiocese, according to the National Catholic Reporter.

Sister of Charity Louise Akers, 66, says Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk told her during a meeting in August to remove her name and photograph from the Web site of the Women’s Ordination Conference, of which she is an advisory board member, and rescind her support for the ordination of women if she wants to continue making presentations and teaching for credit in archdiocesan institutions.

She has taken the first step, she tells NCR, to defuse the “destructive assaults” against her, but will not take the second.

“To do so would go against my conscience,” she said. “For four decades I have devoted my ministry to advocating on behalf of the marginalized through religious congregations, justice organizations, ecumenical and interfaith groups. Women’s ordination is a justice issue. Its basis is the value, dignity and equality of women. I believe this to my very core. To publicly state otherwise would be a lie and a violation of my conscience. I love, support and cherish the part of Church that upholds the gospel mission and vision of Jesus.”

Reached by NCR, Pilarczyk said, "It is not my custom to offer public comment on personnel matters."

Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati

On Tuesday, Women’s Ordination Conference executive director Erin Saiz Hanna issued a statement in support of Akers:

The Women's Ordination Conference supports Sister Louise Akers in her life and ministry. Sister Louise, a Sister of Charity and advocate for are peace, antiracism and interreligious relations, has dedicated her life in service to social justice. We believe asking Sister Louise to go against her own conscience and denounce her belief in women's full equality in the Church, which includes women's ordination, is a prime example of the way women are often wrongly treated by the hierarchy in the Roman Catholic Church.

We ask that she be reinstated into her teaching position with archdiocesan-related institutions in a timely manner, and that any presentations given by Sister Louise will qualify for full credit.

We oppose the limitations set by Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk. His requirements imposed on Sister Louise will not extinguish the widespread call for women's equality nor intimidate women into accepting marginal status within the Church.

The Vatican's stance on ordination is based on arguments that have been refuted time and again. In 1976, the Vatican's own Pontifical Biblical Commission determined that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit women's ordination. However, the Vatican ignored this finding and in 1994, Pope John Paul II officially forbade discussion of women's ordination. People have been fired from their jobs in Catholic institutions simply for discussing the issue, and this recent development with Sister Louise is one more unfortunate example in an all-too-familiar pattern of the misuse of Church discipline as a way of dealing with differences and dissent.

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