Loretto sisters for women's ordination.

Toronto--The Loretto Sisters have openly vowed to support women's ordination even after the Pope's apostolic letter Ad tuendam fidem, which warns of strict penalties for such dissent, was released. About 350 members of the order, whose formal name is the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary, along with friends and associates, met in Toronto this July to celebrate 150 years on the continent. They also listened to feminist speaker Sister Miriam Therese Winters, professor of religion and feminist studies at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, who told the crowd: "I'm pushing for women to be ordained. We need to raise awareness that certain people don't have all the truth or all the answers."

General superior of the Loretto Sisters, which is known as one of the most liberal Catholic orders, is Sister Jane McDonell, who also spoke for women's ordination: "We can't allow to have ourselves silenced," she said. "The is a moment of decision for those who have been waffling. This is an epiphany. We have to speak out. And I know that means we're going to enter into a martyrdom."

McDonell and other Loretto Sisters don't fear reprisals from the Holy See, according to a report by Cheryl Reed in the July 15th edtion of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star/Tribune. Reed writes that the women contend that each time the Vatican makes a statement on women's ordination and calls the ruling "definitive," another proclamation always follows.