Um, you do realize that the Catholic Mass was almost directly ripped from the rites of Mithras back in Roman times and that's why so many people were willing to convert to Christianity, right? I mean, if you really look at hitorical origin, almost all of christianity's physical rites are ripped from some pagan ritual. This is just a tad more blatant than the rest. Well, actually a bit more than a tad, but still.

Jordan,

Um, yes I'm familiar with all the "Christianity/the Catholic Church stole everything from paganism to get people to convert" charges. That, too, is nothing new. I've heard it from both pagans and anti-Catholic fundamentalists. (And when I say "fundamentalists", I mean it in the true sense of the word, not the "any serious orthodox Christian" misuse of the word so common these days.) Here is a good response to all that -- from a Wiccan website:

The suggestion that the policy of celebrating Christian holidays on the days of pagan ones and building Christian churches on the sites of former temples was meant to trick pagans into Christianity is insulting to everyone involved. Pagan people were not stupid. I just can't envision them nodding their heads like sheep as the Christian priest tells them "oh, the new building? Never mind that. We just thought the place needed freshening up. Continue to worship as normal. Oh, but your gods now would just to just be called "God". You don't need to bother with all this Zeus and Hera stuff." Or in other words:

We've replaced these people's pagan gods with Folgers Crystals. Let's see if they notice.[...]

Is it so hard to believe that people might have converted because they actually saw merit in the religion? Life was going to hell with the fall of the Roman Empire, and Christianity offered a lot of solace, not to mention an explanation as to why life was sucking so badly. As Christianity continued to gain powerful followers, other important figures started looking toward it as well, if nothing else to win allies.

And just to clarify something, I'm not Catholic or Episcopalian. I'm Lutheran, so like Catholics, I believe in the Real Presence of Christ in the Holy Communion. (We have differences in belief in how this comes about, but I won't get into all that here.)

But even if what you say is true, what relevance does it have to this situation? The point of the Catholic Mass (or Holy Communion at any Christian church) is to worship Christ. The point of this "women's Eucharist" is to use a pagan rite documented in the Old Testament to allow the participants to worship themselves and defy God. (This, of course, is pointed out in the CT weblog piece linked at the beginning of my post.)

As for Mithras and Christianity, check out these links:

Mighty Mithraic Madness: Did The Mithraic Mysteries Influence Christianity? (Be sure to read item 13.)
The Catholic Encyclopedia on the Sacrifice of the Mass