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Published: July 31, 2007
“Founded and convened by a Roman Catholic womanpriest”
San Diego’s St. Thomas More Society offers forum to woman who claims to be a priest
The St. Thomas More Society of San Diego has invited “womanpriest” Jane Via to speak at a meeting on Friday, Aug. 3, even though Via is under interdict by San Diego Bishop Robert Brom, who last summer forwarded her case to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome for further action, possibly a formal declaration of excommunication.
 The Via invitation has sparked internal discord among members of the St. Thomas More Society of San Diego, with some members objecting that inviting someone in open defiance of ecclesiastical authority is not in keeping with the group’s mission. A special meeting of the society’s board of directors was reportedly scheduled for Monday, July 30, to discuss the matter.
St. Thomas More, patron saint of attorneys, was ordered beheaded by King Henry VIII in 1535 after More refused to accept the king’s claim to be supreme head of the Church of England. “It is in the spirit of St. Thomas More that we strive to practice law in accordance with our Catholic faith, remembering that ‘in Christ Jesus the life-giving law of the Spirit has set you free from the law of sin and death’ (Romans 8:2),” says the web site of the St. Thomas More Society of San Diego.
Last year, the society invited pro-abortion state Assemblyman Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, to speak. Despite his pro-abortion voting record, Vargas persists in calling himself a Catholic. And this is apparently not the first time Via has been invited by the St. Thomas More Society. In 1985, while teaching at the University of San Diego, Via signed a statement challenging Church teaching on abortion published in the New York Times, and then Bishop of San Diego Leo Maher also placed her under interdict. “The Thomas More Society in San Diego had scheduled a speech by Jane Via... but later canceled -- by order, she was told, of the bishop of San Diego, acting in response to instructions from Rome to silence her. Via was also told that she would not be able to speak at any public Catholic forum in the diocese until she retracted the statement,” says an article, “Catholics and Abortion: Authority vs. Dissent,” by well-known Church dissident Rosemary Ruether. The article was published on religion-online.org.
Via, 59, has maintained that when Bishop Maher died in 1991, the interdict died along with him.
California Catholic Daily has learned that invitations to Via’s Aug. 3 appearance acknowledged the controversial nature of the event, but asked members of the society to remain courteous and collegial.
Via, a deputy district attorney and former professor at the University of San Diego, a “Catholic” institution, claims she was ordained a priest on a boat in the St. Lawrence River on July 24, 2006.
Via, openly defying Bishop Brom, currently leads the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community, which rents space for its meetings at a Methodist church in San Diego. She “celebrated” her first Mass at the community on July 30, 2006. According to the community’s web site, “Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community, founded and convened by a Roman Catholic womanpriest, welcomes all and reaches out to those who are marginalized... We are committed to the full equality of women and men in a transformed Roman Catholic Church and world...”
Via told the San Diego Union-Tribune that she met with Bishop Brom in July 2006, during which, said the newspaper, Brom told her that “because of her actions she was under an interdict, essentially an ecclesiastical censure, barring her from participating in church sacraments – including receiving Communion. The Catholic Church prohibits women from being priests, and views her ordination – and others like it – as being in violation of church rules.”
“Not only is she not a Catholic priest, she has incurred automatic ex-communication,” Karl Keating, founder and president of Catholic Answers, told the Union-Tribune.
Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 5:23 AM By Thomas
St. Thomas More who was beheaded rather rather than accept the King Henery VIII's demands to marry yet another time totally defying the Pope and the Church's teachings on the question of marriage. St. Thomas More said I am the King's servant, but God's servent first. There are no Catholic woman priests and there will never be any Catholic woman priests in the one true Catholic Church instituted by Christ through the Apostle Peter. That this woman is facing a formal declaration of excommunication for her disobedience to the Holy Father and the One true Catholic Church, should disqualify her from being a speaker at the Thomas More Society. What this woman fails to understand is that King Henry the VIII wanted St. Thomas More to defy the Pope over this issue of marriage and divicorce. St. Thomas More gave his own life to adhere and support the Pope's decision and teachings on that entire matter. Obviously those that are trying to push this entire oridination of woman are simply trying to cause confusion and division in the one true Catholic Church. St. Thomas More would never agree with the decision to have a woman who is going against the Holy Father and the teachings of the one true Catholic Church to be a speaker at this Thomas More Society function. If St. Thomas More was willing to be beheaded to defend and be loyal to the Pope and church, how can the Thomas More Society have a woman who is publicly defying the Pope and the Church as a speaker? I would urge all those at the Thomas More Society to pray to Saint Thomas More for help and to ask your selves what would St. Thomas Moore do in this case?
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 9:26 AM By 4unborn
The St. Thomas More Society should be denounced by Bishop Brom. He should warn Catholics not to have anything to do with it.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 9:47 AM By izzy
St. Thomas More while Chancellor of England ordered the execution of heretics....there is your answer on how he would have handled a similar situation in 16th century England. Today it is different of course but Thomas More must be rolling in his grave. But what do you expect from a group of lawyers?
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 9:59 AM By Bob
If you have RealPlayer installed on your computer, you can watch Jane's story: http://www.ucsd.tv/search-details.asp?showID=12244
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 10:50 AM By Doorman
Please don't be too quick to judge the St. Thomas More Society. Those that I have met, included many very faithful and obedient men and women. My understanding, is that they will often bring in people to speak that have views that differ from the Catholic Church, and then they use the Socratic method to challenge them, in charity of course. They start these meetings typically with stating what is the clear teaching of the church, and that this person is promoting their own idea's, not those as taught by the Church. Maybe their goal is to challenge this Jane Via. Let's hear from them and see what is their response.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 11:25 AM By Andrew
This so called St. Thomas More Society is a disgrace to St. Thomas More himself. The local bishop should interdict the whole organization so they will cease to give forum to these scandalous individuals who are so far away from the truth of the Catholic faith. Shame on this so called society.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 1:19 PM By Joseph
Thanks Bob, I found that video to be very revealing on several levels, starting when that old man came up to introduce Jane and said "The revolution has begun!" yet, when you look in the audience, no one appears to be under 50!
What kind of revolution? The Geritol revolution? And that speech was given at a college campus! Where are all the students from the Newman Center?
Not only that, everybody appears to be Caucasian. Where’s all the multi-culturalism that the Call To Action crowd is always promoting? I happen to know there’s a huge Asian population at UCSD, as well as a fairly substantial Latino population as well.
Thank God the majority of the youth today who are excited and involved with their Catholic faith are part of the John Paul II and Pope Benedict generation. These youth come from all cultures and are much more interested in promoting dynamic orthodoxy, rather than this ageing, dying, heterodox groups who hide behind a thin veil of pseudo-social justice.
I too used to be part of such a group, but upon rigorous honesty I was promoting many heterodox beliefs and using the words "social justice" while I was hiding behind a lifestyle that didn’t conform to the Catholic Church’s teachings of chastity. I knew deep in my heart that this lifestyle was wrong, and thank I thank God I was able to repent from it. Now I’m more involved with authentic social justice and material giving than I have ever been.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 3:33 PM By Anne
Once again, I am saddened to see the connection with my alma mater, USD. It is correct to put "Catholic", using quotation marks. How far they have fallen away in recent decades.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 3:47 PM By Pascuzzi
Jane Via does not currently teach at the University of San Diego and has not done so since her ordination.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 3:50 PM By Pascuzzi
A PS to my brief comment. I am a full-time member of the department of theology at USD. Anyone can verify what I have said by contacting the Chairperson of the department or the Dean. USD has not fallen away in recent decades. We remain a fine department of trained theologians, biblicists and teachers of world religions.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:31 PM By andy
Being in the neighborhood, watching placarded protesters line the sidewalk before Dr. Via holds the Sunday Service; they worry their Beads praying "Hail Mary ... intercede for all women consecrated to God ... (Roman Breviary)."
I find the irony to be incredible, that is, praying to a woman to intercede for another woman because she is a woman.
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Posted Tuesday, July 31, 2007 8:39 PM By Mike
This story doesn't say why Jane Via was invited to the forum. Has anyone contacted the St. Thomas More society of San Diego?
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Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 7:18 AM By Karla
When are all these old hippies going to be too old to revolt? They are making us all age too quickly by having to listen to their tired old rhetoric.
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Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 8:22 AM By Jim
Don't be to quick to group all the "old hippies" together as a group. Hippies are not that "old."
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Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 8:35 AM By Don
The facts are this: One member of the San Deigo St. Thomas More Society extended an invitation to Ms. Via without the knowledge or approval of the Society's Board or general membership. Upon learning of the invitation, a Board meeting was held on July 30th. The Board fully discussed the matter and then voted to withdraw the invitation of Ms. Via to speak to the San Diego St. Thomas More Society. On a personal note, I was saddened by the invitation being extended while she is the subject of censure by interdict. Ms. Via does not need another opportunity to speak about her views as she is fully able to do so in our secular society. Instead, she is in need of our most sincere prayers that she will someday return to full communion with the Church of Christ, which fully exists in Holy Catholic Church. In the meantime, may we be always with Him through our loving service, each in our own way. And when our sister returns, let us be glad with Him for her having been found.
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Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 12:32 PM By kevin
Why doesn't the bishop just tell it like it is,she is not a priest,nor a Roman Catholic by her deliberate actions,the Church did not put her out she left freely. The Thomas More Society ,what a contradiction for this group to hold this name.
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Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 12:35 PM By Anne H
The Board of the St. Thomas More Society has shown tremendous courage in withdrawing the invitation to Ms. Via. The Board members deserve our admiration, our prayers and our support as Via and her media minions and academic acolytes will attack them now.
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Posted Wednesday, August 01, 2007 3:23 PM By Joe
Pascuzzi I have been very skeptical about Jane's credentials lately. I have heard some sources state that she has a Ph.D in theology from Marquette, but another source who I talked to swears to me that Jane told him that she never completed her dissertation. She has her J.D., of course as she's an attorney so that let's her get by with the title "Dr." Was her supposed Ph.D in theology honorary? Does anybody know how I can contact Marquette to find out?
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Posted Friday, August 03, 2007 4:37 PM By Michele Birch-Conery
St. Thomas More was a man for all seasons. We are in a new season. Jane is one of the women for this particular season in the world community.Of course I'm biased. I am also a Romancatholic woman priest ordained, first a deacon on the Passau, in German in 2004 with Jane and then a priest on the St Lawrnece (in 2005) again with Jane.
I respect her respect her immense courage.I stand with her.
Michele Birch-Conery
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Posted Friday, August 03, 2007 10:03 PM By Michele Birch-Conery
Eratta:
I am correcting my misinformation. So many ordinations this year, that I am forgetting our more accurate genealogies in RCWP. Jane Via was first validly but illicitly ordained in June 2004 on the Sissi, a cruiseship on the Danube that sailed out of Passau, Germany. The ordaining bishops were Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, Gisela Forster and Rafael Reglesberg. She was ordained to the priesthood 2 years later in Swizerland on a ship on Lake Constance. It was June 2006. Ordaining bishops were Gisela Forster, Patricia Fresen and Ida Raming.
Yes, she is a sharp lawyer and a genuine theologian and up to negotiating dialogue, orthodox and unorthodox, Socratic questioning and either/or dualistic argumentation. But most of all she is able to think in the multiplicity of contexts that comprise post-modern realities. I can imagine that doubting Thomas, the apostle, Thomas Acquinas , Thomas More and Thomas Merton would all have principles in common with Jane despite what the differences of their lifetime's statements might be.
Michele Birch-Conery
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Posted Saturday, August 04, 2007 7:34 PM By Thomas
Ms. Via, may be a "sharp lawyer" and "able to think in the multiplicity of contexts that comprise post-modern 'realities' " but she is NOT now nor will she ever be a validly ordained priest of the Roman Catholic Church. That is Reality, pre, current and post modern, and the sooner these ladies cease and desist from deluding themselves and others in the pursuit of gnostic fairytales, and return to the humility of following Catholic teaching, the closer they will become to Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and His Blessed Mother!
Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us!
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Posted Monday, August 13, 2007 9:53 AM By Macy
In regard to Dr. Via's academic credentials, I can vouch for their authenticity. I was at Marquette when Dr. Via was doctoral student. Her degree was completed and legitimate. I was at the University of San Diego when she was tenured there, and her degree was never questioned. Her academic credentials are as valid now as they were when she was teaching at USD and she remains just as qualified.
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Posted Monday, September 03, 2007 2:55 AM By pat
Congratulations, Jane! I have always admired your courage and honesty. When I told my bishop that I felt called to ordained ministry his answer was, "The church does not call women yet." My answer to him was, "What if God does?" I left. I am now a Protestant minister.
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Posted Sunday, September 09, 2007 4:26 PM By Sandra
Thank God for the womenpriests. I hope they can restore my faith in the Catholic Church. I don't want to leave, but the pedophile/criminal Mahoney and women-hating "Catholics" have hurt me too much.
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Posted Sunday, September 09, 2007 10:34 PM By Joe
Macy, I have no doubt Jane was at Marquette doing graduate work in theology as a Ph.D candidate. But I saw her at an RCIA talk on scripture for the Newman Center at UCSD, and I'm almost positive I heard her tell us she was ABD - "all but disseratation". Please tell me the date she was awarded her Ph.D in theology and the exact title of her thesis. If I'm wrong, I'll admit it.
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Posted Saturday, November 17, 2007 8:15 PM By Wade
Elizabeth Jane Via is responsible for atrocities committed against the Wade family in the early 1990's by the witchhunt of prosecution against father James Wade. Do a search for articles on the web about "Alicia Wade" and "Jane Via" and you will see how reprehensible Via's conduct was.
Via prosecuted the father for rape when prior to her role as County Counsel, as Deputy DA she had prosecuted the actual rapist, Albert Raymond Carder, for several similar rapes of children and Carder was a suspect in this rape, also.
Via is exactly the wrong kind of person to be advocating for any changes based upon moral grounds after her own blatant misconduct.
The San Diego County Grand Jury recommended that she be investigated for misconduct and ethical violations by the California Bar Association.
The Wades won a $3.7 million judgement against the County of San Diego in large part because of Via's misconduct.
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Posted Friday, March 14, 2008 6:32 PM By bernice
The Catholic Church does not discriminate against women....It is sad that their are Catholics that bear false witness against the Church that they supposedly have faith in.....women will never be recognized as priests...bernice(female Catholic)
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