Regarding the article about Mary Theresa Streck's wishes to become a Catholic priest ("'Joyous passage' also seeks change," June 2), I first met Ms. Streck a dozen years ago as she was seeking to start a new charter school in Troy. I have long admired her commitment to positive social change as well as her dogged persistence in helping at-risk young people.
But I wish she and others, including the media, would stop describing her new pursuits as somehow an ordination to the Catholic priesthood. It not only is inaccurate but also creates confusion and suggests a status that does not exist.
Pope Paul VI, champion of Vatican II, in 1976 confirmed and approved publication of a report that stated: "... the church, in fidelity to the example of the Lord, does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination. ...
"It is a position which will perhaps cause pain but whose positive value will become apparent in the long run, since it can be of help in deepening understanding of the respective roles of men and of women."
That remains the Catholic Church's position.
Those who believe the Catholic Church should ordain women obviously have every right to express their belief. But, irrespective of one's personal views, at the moment and for the foreseeable future, there is no ambiguity about what is so.
Ms. Streck is a good, caring, dedicated servant who obviously is free to participate in any ritual she wishes. But no blessing she or her colleagues receives can constitute an ordination to the Catholic priesthood and no services they conduct can be considered a Catholic Mass.
Robert J. Bellafiore
Delmar