Czech Woman Claims Ordination as Catholic Priest
Episcopal News Service. December 12, 1995 [95-1333GG]
(CNI) A 65-year-old Czech schoolteacher, Ludmila Javorova, recently claimed that she had been ordained and has served as a Catholic parish priest for more than 20 years. In an interview published in the Austrian magazine Kirche Intern, Javorova said that Bishop Felix Davidek ordained her in 1970 along with several other women, to serve the underground Catholic Church of Czechoslovakia. She also said that she later served as vicar general of the bishop's diocese until his death in 1988. According to Javorova, Davidek made the decision to admit women to the priesthood because imprisoned Catholic women were denied access to priests, since the Communist authorities would not allow men to visit women in prison. She said that he convened a diocesan synod before making his final decision to ordain women, and swore all participants to secrecy.