Missing out on some gifted priests
Catholics are
I am writing in enthusiastic support of Mary Lou Walter’s Oct. 1 letter “Catholic Church’s Disconnect From the Younger Generation Doesn’t Bode Well.”
I believe the disconnect is due largely in part to the Catholic Church’s ongoing refusal to allow women to share in leadership roles. My siblings and I were raised in an all-Catholic family and received a Catholic education from preschool through college. In early adulthood, two of my sisters expressed their desire to become priests, motivated by wanting to serve God and to serve others. They were both told they would be ex-communicated from the Catholic Church if they were to pursue ordination. Both went on to graduate summa cum laude from Notre Dame and earn master’s degrees in divinity, and today, both are Episcopal priests, in Chicago and Toronto.
I attended both of their ordinations and was overwhelmed by the experience of being in a church where women were regarded as equal to men, and their leadership roles within the church were embraced. During their sermons, I marvel at their ability to engage and inspire a congregation. They both live and preach the Gospel, alongside men. They baptize the newest members of their parishes, and preside over Holy Matrimony. Outside of the church, many hours are spent at the bedsides of mentally handicapped parishioners who are hospitalized and have no family to visit, organizing child care and meal assistance for disadvantaged families and providing counsel to their extended family, friends and parishioners.
We are witnessing the consolidation of Catholic churches in our area — with one of the primary reasons cited being a lack of men entering the priesthood. Not allowing gifted, charismatic women as my sisters to serve as priests is in effect depriving Catholics, young and old, the experience of women sharing leadership roles within the church and bringing new life into the churches we know.
It is time for the Catholic Church to abandon its antiquated restrictions on women entering the priesthood. It is time for a new era, one that will celebrate women. TASHA WHEELER
Ross