April 21, 2005

“When a new pope is elected, maybe he will finally allow women to become priests!” That’s the murmuring I’ve heard over the past few weeks, among non-Catholics and Catholics alike – as if the pope had unlimited authority to change the tenants of our holy faith! What this chatter about women’s ordination reveals is a grave misunderstanding of our faith which is given to us by God, not my man, and is passed down as a treasure to guard and protect. It also reveals a profound misunderstanding of the dignity and role of women and of men and of the priesthood itself.

There is One Priest, Jesus Christ, Who is Himself both priest and sacrifice. He mysteriously calls those whom He wills to share in His Priesthood so that He might remain with us in the person of the priest and in the sacraments. Jesus had a perfect candidate for priesthood in His Holy and Perfect Mother and yet He did not call her to the priesthood; hers was a different role. It is no man’s right to become a priest, it is an unmerited and mysterious call from God to service and sacrifice. It is not a matter of power, prestige or politics. It is a matter of pouring out one’s life, like another Christ, for His Bride, the Church.

Those who clamor for women’s ordination reveal their lack of understanding and appreciation for women’s own specific and vital role in the Church and in the world. The awesome privilege of being the life-bearers of the human race, both through natural motherhood and through supernatural motherhood is being undervalued and even undermined by this false feminism.

Our beloved Pope John Paul II tirelessly called for us to begin to build a “culture of life” and a “civilization of love”. A major component will be the New Feminism, which he also called for – a feminism that promotes the mutual value and dignity of men and women and supports them in their respective and complementary roles as servants to one another in the Body of Christ. Our new Pope Benedict XVI will no doubt courageously forge ahead with this noble undertaking. Let us follow him!

Sr. Clare Matthiass, CFR
Local Servant, Our Lady of Guadalupe Convent, Bronx, New York

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