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24 Aug 2008 09:36 pm

A reader writes:

Yes, K-Lo is beyond bat-shit crazy. However, when I read her post (thanks for the link) I was moved by the enormous sympathy she had towards the "womenpriests." The Catholic Church is what it is and there are somethings that by definition are incredibly difficult to change. (Not that they shouldn't, but there are institutional reasons that if we mess with we need to be aware of the consequences.)

As you know, the decision against ordination of women is a "Deposit of Faith" issue. Rightly or wrongly, the Church for 2000 years see this as something that isn't acceptable for someone who is by definition a Catholic. However, reading between K-Lo's lines, she acknowledges that these women by their Ministry are acting in a way that is pleasing to Jesus. Perhaps they are going against the institutional Church but are still deserving of Grace. In fact, to my reading, she is pleading with the Church to find some way to reach a way to live with these women.

I am not justifying the exclusion of women from the Priesthood.

Yet, I don't think that it is done lightly by the Church and I don't think the Church treats women as second class citizens in the same way other Religions treat women. Their emphasis on education of women (through the Academy system) and the positions of power of women through the leadership of Universities and Hospitals would seem to work against that point.

I know, you are going to bring up the separate but equal point. I agree it has validity, yet, to some extent I see a real effort to give women a significant if different role. In history, often the only chance a woman had at education, was to become a Nun. Times have changed and the Church needs to figure out a way to deal with it, but, slamming K-Lo for accepting the definitions while she is trying to figure out that way, misses the point of her post.

(Note, I wasn't raised Catholic but married into it. My daughter is going to a Sacred Heart High school. The quality of her education and they way it is teaching her to think and question is remarkable.)

All these points are well taken. I wasn't slamming K-Lo: her dilemma is part of all the orthodox who see the heterodox clearly doing God's work. I was disagreeing. I wouldn't be as complacent, however, that the Church hierarchy wrestles with the question of women's equality within the church. And my point is more that this "deposit of faith" needs to be examined to make sure it isn't merely a deposit of injustice.

(Photo: Carsten Koall/Getty.)

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