theatre of the absurd

By Diogenes ( articles ) | Aug 02, 2010

 At a secret ceremony held in a “rented church in Serra Mesa” on July 31, a California woman named Nancy Corran claimed to be ordained as a priest. You say that it’s impossible for a bishop to ordain a woman? No matter; there wasn’t a bishop in attendance. Corran was “ordained” by the congregation.

Let’s review: The ceremony wasn’t held in a Catholic church, didn’t follow the Catholic liturgy, wasn’t performed by a Catholic bishop, and contradicted the teachings of the Catholic Church. So who recognize this ceremony as the ordination of a Catholic priest? People who are delusional. Or reporters who are more sympathetic with delusional ex-Catholics than with actual practicing Catholics. The latter group seems to be nearly as large as the former. When these little dramas are staged-- and they take place on a semi-regular basis now-- there are very few people actively involved, yet they always seem to draw media coverage. It's like an avant-garde theatre group with a dedicated following. The sensible people stay home, but the smitten fans applaud every performance.

Meanwhile across the continent the Palm Beach Post offered an account of the activities of another delusional woman:

Dena O'Callaghan, a female catholic priest, performs mass for a small group of catholics inside a meeting room at The Villages at Country Creek housing community in Estero, FL.

Perfect. The paper goes along with the fiction that she is a priest and that her congregation is composed of Catholics; so what else is new? Still the truth filters through, despite the reporter’s sympathy. The congregation is a “small group.” The services are held in a “meeting room” rather than a church. They take place at a housing community in Florida—which is a polite way of identifying the participants as members of the geriatric set. But the most revealing word of all might be the verb. O’Callaghan “performs” mass, the Post tells us. Just so. It’s a performance: an act.