In All Things
The Pope's Visit
To be honest, our pope is not the pope I would have voted for, were the Catholic Church a democracy. (It’s not.) As a lay Catholic in the pew, I respect the divinely inspired wisdom of the cardinals. But as a female American Catholic, I have my doubts.
A little background: Pope Benedict XVI, when still Cardinal Ratzinger, was in charge of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Called "Ratzweiler" by the press, he was a strict and dogged traditionalist with regard to the Mass. I know this because, when I was a DRE and helped to plan liturgies for children, I sometimes had xeroxed CDF warnings and guidelines thrust into my hands by parishioners who believed I was straying onto the devil’s path. So my heart sank back in 2005, when the new pope emerged onto the balcony of the Vatican. I considered his tenure one to wait out, at best.
So far, it hasn’t been as dire as I expected. At least we aren’t back to an exclusively Latin Mass or having to wear lace hankies on our female heads. Pope Benedict XVI has addressed us with more love and less reproach than I anticipated. On his American trip, he has spoken out against war, violence, and poverty. He has expressed shame about the priestly sexual abuse crisis that has sorely plagued the American church, and has met with some of the victims of abuse. All good and welcome. But I want more.
I want the Pope to know that we women, who largely take care of the daily business of church, are becoming weary of hoping that the men will come around. We know that Jesus sees us as equal to men in devotion and capability, but we know that the hierarchy of the earthly church of Jesus does not. We are tired of being denied one of the sacraments because we lack male sex organs, and we are even more tired of scandals brought on by those same unruly organs. It seems to many of us that the critical shortage of priests might be alleviated by admitting the possibility of priestly vocation in the hearts of the roughly 50% of Catholics who are not male.
That’s just for starters.
We are taught during our faith formation to accept the will of God, to submit our will to God’s, and so I know some of my fellow Catholics will take offense at these words. But we are also to be guided by a well-formed conscience, and to speak out against injustice and hypocrisy in the world. I believe that the Pope is the vicar of Christ on earth, but I am, like many Americans, a reluctant papist. I pray to God to strengthen my own insufficient and sometimes confused faith. I also pray that the Pope himself has an evolving faith, and open ears.
Valerie Schultz
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When Pope John Paul II first visited America in 1979, he was greeted with protests on the women's ordination issue. Nearly 30 years later, here we have a different pope, another visit, and the exact same argument. It makes the Church seem more fossilized than even a thousand Latin Masses and millions of lace mantillas could.
I am a 23 year old Catholic woman. Do you see how someone from my generation would find this whole controversy tired, exhausted, stale? Doesn't there come a time when you have to let go? To women my age, it is not waiting for men to "come around" that is wearying, but rather the women's ordination movement and the arguments that go with it. The "lack of male sex organs" line, for instance, is painfully old.
We young Catholic women actually feel stimied by this movement which is supposed to "empower" us. We want to move on.
1. When Christ chose his disciples he made 12 indepndent choices. he could have chosen a lady. Each time without fail he chose a man. Even though there were many women around whom he could have chosen - Mary his mother, mary Magdalene, Mary the wife of Clopias, Martha and Mary the sisters of Lazarus, the woman by the well who was given the LIVING WATER. All of these were not chosen. he chose all 12 men, period.
2. At the last supper only men were present so only men can be priests. Period. Need woman priests, sorry you have to join the other Christian denominations!
Mean no offence to any woman. This is just biblicial.
As I approach 47 years of age, it seems my call now is to let go of the politics of ordination and liturgical warfare in favor of the more urgent task of living the gospel, growing spiritually in this church I love despite its sin and imperfection, and understanding that my own lifetime may not see even the smallest further progressive structural change in the church.
I am amazed that Vatican II could even have happened now, when rapid reform once seemed a given. Now sadder, perhaps wiser, my hope remains that the current disillusionment will find itself surprised as did the idealism of yesteryear.
The Spirit will move as it will, thanks be to God, but I already have a confirmed baptismal mandate, a marriage vow, two children to love, and a world that needs me. Waiting for Rome feels more absurd and foolish every day.
The Bible is not infallible and unassailable - otherwise we'd still own slaves or stone adulterers. Church tradition is also not infallible or unassailable - otherwise Vatican II could never have occured. But yet both excuses - the Bible and "tradition" - are eagerly trotted out in opposition to women's ordination. I think this is because there IS no real argument against women's ordination.
I too am a 23 year old Catholic woman, and I am not "tired" of this debate. I don't think Rome is going to budge anytime soon, and so I'm not going to lose sleep over it, but to ignore the fundamental inequality, and indeed to make excuses for it based on rigid interpretations of the Bible and Tradition, is to contribute to an injustice.
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