On the feast day of
St. Therese of Lisieux, a purple banner reading “Ordain Women” was placed on
the Sant’Angelo Bridge in front of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. St. Therese was a 19th century French
Carmelite nun and Doctor of the Church.
She wrote in her journals about her desire to be a priest. “I feel in me the vocation of priest.” St.
Therese’s priestly vocation is often omitted in the telling of her legend and
life story. The Women’s Ordination Conference flew the banner “in honor her courageous
voice for women and her fierce love for God.”
In the wake of the devastating
pedophilia scandal in the United States, male vocations to the priesthood are
in serious decline. While the Roman Catholic Church continues to deny women and
married men with priestly vocations the opportunity to serve, Catholic
institutions are closing all over the United States at an alarming rate. The Church in the United States is facing diminishment,
if not extinction, by the end of the century.
The continued
exclusion of women from ordained ministries and decision-making roles in the
Catholic Church is an injustice called sexism. The Women’s Ordination
Conference is the oldest national organization working to ordain women as
priests, deacons and bishops. We need
inclusive leadership if our Catholic institutions are to thrive and if women
are to be empowered to live their authentic call in service to the Church.
