Religious head urges greater empowerment for nuns

Thank you to NCR Staff for this article! The fact remains that the Catholic Church is not following the teaching of Jesus by denying ordinations of women as priests and bishops. Deacons will probably be female in the Catholic Church within the next decade but it is outrageous and immoral that women have not been invited to be ordained as priests and bishops and especially important is a first woman Bishop of Rome to lead our Catholic Church. The right wingers argument that Jesus required a male anatomy to be a first rule in order to be a priest or bishop is so wrong and so ignorant that it simply makes the world view the Catholic Church with scorn and suspicion. We are a laughing stock and no amount of false theology and ignorance, yet alone misogynist behavior on the part of the hierarchy will stand the test of time. Women are the third class citizens in the Catholic Church and it shameful. This article talks about empowering nuns and that is admirable but it must not stop there. It must include women in every position that the Church has. Nothing less will do and until this happens we are not truly a universal or catholic Church according to the teachings of Jesus.

Aside from the issue of remuneration, this sounds like more North American feminist attempts at cultural imperialism. All the buzz words are there, but however hard they try, the Holy Nuns in India are to well formed, faithful. and to busy actually helping people, to care about “gender equality in the Church”. As most know, such ideas are alien to the vibrant, active and humble faith in the Catholic Church in India. Instead of wasting resources trying to export and force feminism to the Church in other lands, why not embrace and emulate the dynamism and faithfulness of the Indian church where it is most severely needed, right here at home.

As St Peter tells us in 1st Peter New Testament only Jesus is the High Priest. Women too are to do all good works in the church, no one is to lord it over anyone, so yes, it is Gospel values and true to Jesus when women are ordained and also priests, deacons. Jesus called women too as Apostles and it is wrong to deny the apostlehip of Mary Magdalene, wrong to deny woman apostle of Junia . St Paul calls Junia FOREMOST AMONG the Apostles!

It is true to Jesus and God to 'empower" women and NOT 'western feminist' rhetoric at all. It is Jesus's plan, God's plan to have women do all good works including pastoral, spiritual works, being priests, deacons too.

Yes, the mother of Jesus, Mary, was a most special and very loved human being, by God, the Father and by Jesus and I am certain by all who knew her as she lived on this Earth. The term "Our Lady" and even the use of the term "Mother of God" has always made me uncomfortable because it bears little validity when it comes to the reason for Christ's ministry and mission on this good Earth. Christ's mother was NOT divine and it is pure heresy for any Catholic or Christian to regard her as such. She was special. She was the mother of Jesus, the Son of God. That should be enough to warrant our admiration and appreciation for her and her purpose on this Earth. She did her job well and Jesus loved His mother. It is immature and ignorant to imply that women who wish to serve as priests and bishops are filled with "envy, pride and rebelliousness." The words in quotes were posted by "Anonymous" in this thread and I think it is a cowardly, bellow the belt and un-Christ like attack on women to even suggest this. No one EVER has to go "THROUGH MARY" to get to Christ. I imagine our Lord's mother had a special ministry that we have little knowledge of but to imply that all women should only "emulate" a humble our Lord's mother and never entertain the thought that they might be called as priests and bishops to serve Christ's Church is simply fallacious and deeply disrespectful to women. This has been a seriously flawed and again heretical theology by many right wing reactionary and fundamentalist Catholics in the last and current century. Do I believe I can ask Christ's mother to pray for me? Yes, but I can also ask this of my own mother who left this Earth a decade ago. The communion of saints comes into play here but I am not going to invent a false theology that implies Mary is a goddess. This would truly be insulting to the entire nature of the Trinity and what the gospels teach us about Christ and his mission on this Earth. This is heresy of the first order.
Until women share in EVERY ordained ministry in the Catholic Church, we will NEVER be the Church that Christ asked of us. We are a dysfunctional Church and we must change this. Vatican II made this change possible but it was hijacked by the far right reactionary elements that seized control in the autumn of 1978, after the brief papacy of the warmly loved Pope John Paul I. The papacy of John Paul II and the current Pope Benedict have been disastrous and unhealthy for all Catholics. I firmly believe the Holy Spirit will provide a new Bishop of Rome to lead our Church down the correct road, but I can't imagine this happening until women are indeed ordained priests and bishops. Nothing less will do.

I am a parent of three daughters. They are all teenagers now and have received a Catholic education since the first grade. None of them are considering a Religious life.
With the de facto abandonment of Vatican II, the second(third?) class status of women, world wide and systemic abuses by priests, and banking scandals I find myself defending my church to my own family. I can only say that the Church was founded by God but is led by men.
There are times in history when the Church has been led away from the will of the Holy Spirit. Clearly, we are living in such a time. We, the laity, in love and in mercy must show the Curia the way back to our Church. When do we speak with a unified voice? For now, my family prays that the Curia and the Holy Father repent and return to God