Being a Catholic man married to a Baptist woman that studied Theology to become a female pastor I guess my opinion might sound a bit contrived.
I believe in what Mother Church teaches through Faith in Christ and in the Holy Spirit, and the fact that I call Mother Church a Mother is also part of the argument.
I would not be able to defend my wife if she wanted to become an ordained priest, as that would be impossible, but I do understand where she is coming from in terms of what she believes she has to offer in her Ecclesial Community. She is a person that wants to help people to get to know the love of Christ and His Mercy. She also would like to teach people on what she has learned from studying Theology.
As a member of the Focolare Movement I am already accustomed to learning many things about Theology from Women, so this is not particularly dramatic, but in the Focolare Movement Chiara never wanted to become a priest. There might be issues with the fact that in most Parishes women might not be given proper space to bring their gifts, whichever they may be, but on the other hand I also don’t understand women/men when they say that women do not get “power” or “teaching” or “leading” positions when the most powerful role that transforms each and every one of us is our mother.
It’s such a superfluous thing that needs to be said but mothers are the most powerful group in the world, they’re just not organized as a single group with the same interests, but that doesn’t change their power.
From Atheists when discussing Religion as an accident of Geography (me being born in Portugal being the reason for me being a Catholic), to spousal abuse (being more common in children who experienced it in childhood), to so many other factors… most of who we are comes from what we learned from our own mother (and father, but because most of what we learn comes from early childhood and mothers are still more likely to spend time with children than fathers…). Women pretty much choose who they have children with. Men may try to woo women, but in most of the cases it is the woman that will choose if the partner is suitable or not (I had more than one girlfriend).
The charge of sexism, even if benevolent might be also obscuring the fact that some people just cannot acknowledge that there are differences between women and men. Of course there are outliers about everything… not all women are emotional, and not all men are insensitive jerks… but most are.
(can I get a break?)
And to deny that I have to learn how to express emotional language with more words than good and bad is to deny the obvious differences between me and my wife.
There are issues in the world with how emotions and what are called typical female traits are discussed. I am the first to say mea culpa. But we are born in a broken world… and we do need God. So to call Mother Church a Mother is also to admit that as my Mother She is following the Divine inspiration of Jesus as the bridegroom, which dies for the Church, and the Church as His bride, that submits to His Will.
It might sound horrible to our broken ears, broken logic, but pride is also the first of sins… and I am also the first to admit that I am prideful. I am prideful when I look at the difference of how much I earn and what my wife earns, I am prideful when I think that I work more hours than my wife… and on and on… that does not make it any less true that I have to love her the same way Christ loved His Church… to the death.
A lot of people seem to attribute “feelings” with a kind of brokenness in our world. It sure sounds like it from the way people compare emotion (as something bad) and fact ( as something good), but the truth is that God also created our emotions and they serve a purpose in His design. Maybe if some women are not feeling well about the fact that there is no ordination in the Catholic Church it might hide a deeper hurt or lack of love from the part of the Church that they themselves or the Church are not aware of. It certainly seems like in a lot of Catholic parishes emotional growth is completely ignored.
Anyways…
I don’t think the current discourse is very helpful.
God bless,
D.
So do you think these actions might be somewhat reflective of human nature and the differences between the sexes? Looking around at the disparity in numbers between the sexes filling the pews, and in ministry in the parishes, I would surmise there is at least some truth to the observation, that women are more active in their faith/spiritual life. So this layer of the story might be highlighting that.