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Parishioner on Women in the Church ...response to Catholic Spirit Letters to the Editor

Editor's Note: Parishioner/webreporter Rik Murray wrote a letter to the editor for the Catholic Spirit that we wanted to share with our parishioners. Rik's letter was in response to other letter's to the editor criticizing the Spirit for running a columnist's(John Rosengren) article on the role of women in the Catholic Church. Here is Rik's letter:

I applaud John Rosengren's courage in writing such a thoughtful and heartfelt article that raises many important questions not only about women in the Church but of the Church itself. I also stand and cheer the editor for letting it run! It is through this type of questioning and dialogue that we foster much needed healing in the church-a closed and increasingly paranoid church in which it seem that survival and the need to be right has become more important than the teachings of Jesus.

As a Catholic I am shocked by some of the negative responses to John's article. One wonders if we ever made it out of the Dark Ages. I saw the argument at least twice that 'men don't feel demeaned because they can't give birth so why on earth would women feel demeaned or discriminated against because they can’t be ordained?' Are you kidding me? What kind of logic is that? Of course we're not demeaned by that, but I would also venture a guess that women don't feel demeaned by the biological functions and sexual characteristics of men! Last I checked, a persons sex had absolutely nothing to do with leading a community, waiting tables, running a company, praying or meditating or filling people with hope and enthusiasm. As I read the responses I wondered if Catholics realize that we are now allowed to read and use modern biblical scholarship? (That we needed permission in the first place seems bizarre to me.)

First of all, let us be clear on several points; Jesus never said women could not be priests or bishops or popes! I realize this is easy to forget but Jesus was not Catholic. Jesus was not Christian. Therefore, I think it would be accurate to say that Jesus had very little, if anything, to do with the doctrine and dogma of the Catholic Church. The decision that women could not be priests, along with many other rules and codes were decided by a gathering of wealthy, educated, middle-aged Caucasian men several hundred years after the time of Christ. Those decisions were not made by God or handed down from Jesus but were driven by a desire for power and control and out of a deep-seated fear of the feminine that dominated the era. Jesus endeavored to lead us out of that fear but we did not follow as it is quite obvious that we still fear women. I ask, how can a church founded in fear and control honestly claim to represent a man like Jesus? Incredulous.

Others mentioned the Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of the Holy Father, which states, "I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful." And that is supposed to put an end to the controversy.

I for one, as a member of the Church, respectfully challenge that statement. There is much historical evidence that points to quite the opposite. We know through the work of Dr. Dorothy Irvin and others, that women in the early church were ordained as Priests and Bishops from roughly 100 C.E. (Common Era) to 800 C.E. It could also be argued that Jesus' closest friend and confidant was Mary of Magdalena. (By the way, how does it come down to we lay people that she was a prostitute? Nowhere in Christian Scripture is she referred to as such.) We know that she was one of the leaders of the early church. So how is it we claim to have no authority whatsoever to confer that right to women?

Actually, it would appear that we have "no authority whatsoever" to withhold priestly ordination from women. In fact, when one looks deeply at the life of Jesus one is required to question and speak out on this teaching. Don't get me wrong, I too love the Church. She and her people are my family, the family that raised me and loved me. I love our ritual, the positive work we do in the world and many of the sacraments but I also have a reasoning mind and an inward meditative focus. As a result, I am called to work steadfastly, as Jesus did, to remove all barriers that act to separate us and to embarrass those who would enslave us.

Rik Murray has been attending the 11:00am service at SJA off and on for about 15 years. He loves to share this time with his mom, step-dad, sister and nephew. Rik is a regular member of the SJA Bible Study and also enjoys the Meditation Group.

Jesus challenged the inequities of his day, radically challenged them and he is our hero. Why is it when people challenge the domination systems of our time and point out the need for change, we belittle them, patronize them or fear them?

In his day Jesus was loathed and hated, misunderstood and eventually killed. Please remember Mr. Rosengren, when others would have you feel this way for speaking your conscience, you are in good company

• View Rosengren article at the Catholic Spirit.
• View other letters on the subject, including parishioner/webreporter David Rotert's.