Books destroyed after Ratzinger intervenes

Christian Century, Oct 7, 1998

Liturgical Press of Collegeville, Minnesota, has destroyed 1,300 copies of a book promoting the ordination of women as Catholic priests, the National Catholic Reporter, an independent newsweekly, has reported. The publisher acted on a request from Bishop John Kinney of St. Cloud, Minnesota, who in turn was acting on a directive from the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, headed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

The book, Women at the Altar, was written by Sister Lavinia Byrne of Cambridge, England, and was first published in England in 1994, shortly before Pope John Paul II insisted that the ban on women priests was to be "definitively held" by all Catholics. Liturgical Press had bought the North American rights to the book and began distributing it in 1995. The press is owned by the Benedictine monks at St. John's Abbey in Collegeville.

"We are one of the publishers of the church... not a private business," Mark Twohey, managing editor of Liturgical Press, told NCR. "We agree that the book is against the stated policy of the church. We want to be in compliance, so we removed tile book from sale." The book is still being circulated in England because its publisher there is a secular firm.

Byrne, a member of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is well known in English theological circles and is a former coeditor of The Way, a quarterly journal on Christian spirituality. According to Michael Barnes, a Jesuit who edits The Way, Byrne is under investigation by the Vatican and has been told to retract arguments in the book that violate church teaching.