the non-story of a non-priest
By Diogenes ( articles ) | May 21, 2010
What's wrong with this story?
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Janinie [sic] Denomme who was ordained a Catholic priest in April last year has died of cancer. The Archdiocese of Chicago is refusing to allow her to be buried at her Catholic parish.
And this one?
A Chicago woman who devoted her life to the Catholic Church and advocated that the church accept women as priests died Monday, and now the church will not allow her to be buried at her own parish.
If the Catholic Church had refused a funeral to a Catholic priest, that would be a legitimate news story. But Janine Denomme was not a Catholic priest. She participated in a ceremony that simulated ordination, but that didn't make her a priest-- any more than I would become the Holy Roman Emperor if a friend placed a crown on my head.
If Janine Denomme had even lived out her life as a Catholic laywoman, she would still have been entitled to a funeral in a Catholic church. Regrettably but quite deliberately, she chose to separate herself from the Church, with a public act that defied Catholic teaching and mocked sacred ritual.
Janine Denomme will be buried from a Methodist church. If she had been a lifelong Methodist, that would have been expected, and her funeral would not have drawn media coverage. Only because she claimed to remain a Catholic-- and more than that, to be a Catholic priest-- are some sympathetic reporters taking up her story.
It's sad, but there's really no news here. She will be buried by the only people who took her claim to the priesthood seriously: Protestants.
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