A day after Archbishop John Donoghue banned Atlanta's Roman Catholic churches from including women in Holy Thursday's foot-washing rite, one priest said he was canceling his parish's foot washings and another said he planned to ignore the ban and include women.
Other priests were looking Wednesday for ways around the order, contained in a March letter to pastors that said only 12 men should be selected in each parish to take part in the ritual, which represents Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper.
Donoghue and his staff have refused to comment on the issue.
"He's a good man. He just has his opinion, and he's looking at Jesus and the scriptures through a different lens," said Patty Caraher, a nun at the International Community School.
Still, Caraher plans to join a protest Thursday outside Atlanta's Cathedral of Christ the King, where Donoghue will celebrate Mass.
Caraher and others say his strict interpretation of liturgy is inappropriate in 2004.
"It feels unjust; it feels unkind. It seems to imply that men were more important to Jesus than women," said Lalor Cadley, a Catholic who is organizing Thursday's song-and-prayer protest.
The Rev. John Kieran of St. Pius X in Conyers told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution he plans to cancel his church's Thursday ceremony, but would not comment further.
A dozen Atlanta priests did not return telephone messages left by the Associated Press.
Cadley said many church leaders plan to circumvent the order, some by washing hands instead of feet, others by holding the ritual outside the church sanctuary.
A posting on the Conference of Catholic Bishops' Web site states: "It has become customary in many places to invite both men and women to be participants in this rite of recognition of the service that should be given by all the faithful to the church and to the world."