Catholic Priest Says Sexism Is ‘A Sin’
The Catholic Church, at least from an outsider’s perspective, is in a state of turmoil. The Church is plagued with sex abuse scandals, driving Catholics into the loving embrace of other denominations.
The Church, of course, has never had an inclusive relationship with women. As other branches of Christianity have modernized, even allowing women into the Priesthood, Catholics have doubled down, becoming highly engaged in the American Republican war on women. The Church hierarchy has even gone so far as to order nuns to drop some of their social service and pursue more of the Church’s anti-birth control, anti-choice agenda. The nuns are having none of that, insisting that they will keep feeding the poor and working toward social justice.
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It’s not just the women of the Catholic Church who are recognizing that backwards is not the direction you want to travel if you want to arrive in the future. In an OpEd in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Catholic Priest, Roy Bourgeois questions the Church’s subjugation of women, saying that the Bible calls for men and women to be equal. He even calls sexism ‘a sin.’
I met many devout Catholic women who were also called by God to be priests. Such women are rejected based on the church’s teaching that only baptized men may be ordained.
This makes no sense to me. Don’t we profess that God created men and women of equal worth and dignity? Doesn’t Scripture state clearly that “There is neither male nor female. In Christ Jesus you are one” (Galatians 3:28)? How can we men say our call from God is authentic, but the call women feel is not?
After much reflection, study, and prayer, I believe the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women and our loving God, who calls both men and women to be priests. I also believe that to have a healthy, vibrant church, we need the wisdom, experiences, and voices of women in the priesthood.
The Vatican has referred to the ordination of women as “a grave scandal.” When most Catholics hear the word scandal, however, they think of the many priests who sexually abused children, and of the many bishops who covered up their horrific crimes.
Sexism, like racism, is a sin. And no matter how hard we try to justify discrimination, in the end, it is not the way of God.
Bless you, Father Bourgeois.
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