Organisers of the first international Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) conference, which opens in Dublin this evening, have claimed that speakers and delegates have been intimidated to stop them attending.
In 1998 the Vatican declared that anyone who did not accept its teaching on ordination was not in full communion with the church. A 1994 letter by Pope John Paul said the church did not have the authority to ordain women. This was later declared infallible.
An American Benedictine nun, Sister Joan Chittister, is to address the conference tomorrow. Sister Christine Vladimiroff, prioress of the 135member community of nuns at Erie, Pennsylvania, said last night that Sister Joan had her and her community's "support and prayers".
Ms Soline Vattinel, spokeswoman for WOW, said last night that their original keynote speaker, Ms Anuna Gnanadason of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva, was forced to withdraw in May.
"The official reason was that the World Council of Churches said it didn't want to interfere in the internal affairs of the Catholic Church. The unofficial reason was that the Vatican said it would withdraw from commissions involving the World Council of Churches if Ms Gnanadason spoke at the conference," she said.
Another participant, a nun, was summoned to Rome and told she would be dismissed from her order if she attended, Ms Vattinel said.
Also attending this weekend's conference will be Father Eamonn McCarthy, who has been without an appointment in the Dublin archdiocese since May of last year when he refused a request by Cardinal Connell to not comment on the ordination of women priests.
It is also believed some women will not be attending the conference for fear of losing their jobs. "Several are friends of mine who have a sense of a calling to the priesthood," Ms Vattinel said. "They are chaplains to schools and hospitals but are afraid that if it is reported they were at the conference their contracts would be withdrawn by the archbishop [Cardinal Connell]."
The conference is being hosted by the Irish group, Brothers and Sisters in Christ. It will be opened in the O'Reilly Hall, UCD, at 7 p.m. tonight by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Ms Mairead Corrigan Maguire. Tonight's keynote speaker is the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkins.
