They are the majority of worshipers every Sunday (and through the week), and they make up some 80 percent of the more than 30,000 lay ministers (and growing fast) serving in the nation’s 19,000 parishes. There are more of them working in U.S. churches than there are priests. They distribute communion, raise the next generation in the faith, and younger versions of themselves serve as altar girls. Yes, they are Catholic women. And yes, they were nearly invisible during last week’s Pope-a-palooza.
Benedict got an eyeful of the American church while he was here, but not from up close. No women were allowed to distribute communion (nor lay people for that matter–only ordained dudes) nor were any girls allowed as altar servers. In fact, the liturgies that American Catholics are used to, with women and girls playing important roles, had to be re-gendered for the papal masses. Now many people will see this as just so much whining by wannabe women priests. But the reality is that women, especially lay women, make the church run “on the ground.” This has some critics fearing a “feminization” of the church.
Yet it is simply the reality that was not acknowledged or even discussed last week. And it is one of those realities that we are left to grapple with as we move beyond the visit by the pope.
Fortunately, we have Catholic women (and men) who are not only serving in parishes but also dedicating their lives and hearts and minds to this topic. For their thoughts, a good start would be this powerful essay by Phyllis Zagano from Hofstra University. Zagano is a Catholic and the author of several books and she is thoroughly grounded in tradition. And from that grounding argues, among other things, that women could be ordained deacons–at least.
“Can all this change? Will the next pope — or the next, or the next — be greeted by women seminarians, or deacons, or priests, or even bishops? Despite protestations to the contrary, neither 1976 nor 1994 produced an infallible “ex cathedra” declaration by the pope, or an infallible teaching of an ecumenical council. Catholic canon law holds nothing is infallible unless it is clearly stated as such.”
Valerie Schultz is a free-lance writer and contibutor to the Jesuit weekly, America. She has a post at America’s blog in which she expresses gratitude for the pope’s visit but asks for a hearing for her gender:
“I want the Pope to know that we women, who largely take care of the daily business of church, are becoming weary of hoping that the men will come around. We know that Jesus sees us as equal to men in devotion and capability, but we know that the hierarchy of the earthly church of Jesus does not. We are tired of being denied one of the sacraments because we lack male sex organs, and we are even more tired of scandals brought on by those same unruly organs. It seems to many of us that the critical shortage of priests might be alleviated by admitting the possibility of priestly vocation in the hearts of the roughly 50% of Catholics who are not male.”
Finally, for those looking for a longer but very accessible treatment of the topic–and from a man, and a priest–check out an essay in Commonweal, “Why Not? Scripture, History & Women’s Ordination,” in the April 11, 2008 edition. Egan’s in-depth treatment is masterful, and defies easy summary. (It is behind the magazine’s firewall, but consider forking over just $25 for an on-line subscription–this essay alone is worth the price of admission.)
As Egan writes:
“To question this exclusion does not require that we conclude all gender roles are inconsequential. Gender roles are different in different cultures and in different historical periods. To what extent they are socially constructed or are rooted in natural sex differences is difficult to determine. Through most of recorded history, in most cultures, women were subordinated to men; today we believe men and women are essentially equal. Throughout most of its history, the church reflected this subordinated view of women; now it does not.
The church cannot remain exempt from the principles of its own social teaching. Catholics cannot bear witness to principles of justice, equality, subsidiarity, and participation, and claim exceptions for themselves. The question is this: Has the tradition of excluding women from the diaconate, presbyterate, and episcopacy really been faithful to the teaching and practice of Jesus? Or has it been part of a mostly unexamined and partially unconscious bias for subjecting women to men’s authority and power? Which is the more believable interpretation of our history as a people?
This is a very important question, one that urgently needs and deserves an open, prayerful, learned, patient, and discerning conversation among Catholics today.
And yet it does not happen. And so the crisis deepens.”
posted April 23, 2008 at 3:05 pm
Pope Benedict: A beautiful communicator: sincere, direct, frank, and to the point without sounding judgmental. During John Paul II’s funeral one network reported that he had recommended his personal secretary, to the cardinals as the next pope. The cardinals did that. I thought it would be hard for anyone to follow John Paul II, but Pope Benedict is also a great communicator in his own quiet inspiring way.
NS Inner Peace Movement
posted April 23, 2008 at 5:59 pm
Perhaps you are not aware that liturgical norms specify that lay people may only be allowed to distribute communion if there are not enough ordained ministers available, and then only if they are duly formed and commissioned as extraordinary (note: not ordinary) ministers of Holy Communion? That would explain why only ordained ministers were distributing communion at the papal Masses, because priests and deacons are ordinary ministers of Holy Communion.
This practice is all about the relationship between the Eucharist and Holy Orders, not about gender.
Are you aware that each individual bishop is permitted to choose whether or not to have female altar servers in his diocese? Using altar girls is not universal in the Church.
I enjoyed the papal visit immensely. The differences between the papal liturgy and what I might have in my home parish help me realize the diversity of practice in the Church. This is the Catholic (universal) Church, after all!
It is a cause for concern that more Catholics are not informed about their faith that they misunderstand church teaching and practice in this area, and many others as is evident in the rest of this post.
What most bothers me about this post is that the author (and those he cites) seems to be a victim to the clericalist mindset that the important people in the Church are the clergy, not the laity. I, as a woman, do not have to be a priest, distribute communion, or be an altar server to be “important” in the Church! We laity are not second-class citizens! We have a vital vocation to transform the world in Christ.
I highly recommend JPII’s apostolic letter on the dignity and vocation of women (mulieris dignitatem) for those who want to know what the Church really thinks about women – and I guarantee you that Pope Benedict agrees wholeheartedly.
posted April 23, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I laughed when I attended the “American Mass” in Rome at the church od St. Susanna. The priests invited everyone down to the altar to hold hands. Come on, men; this is not at a seance, the stupid 60′s are over, thank God, and we didn’t fly across the Atlantic to enact a stereotypical self-parody.
Pauli
posted April 23, 2008 at 11:05 pm
The Catholic Church will never have women Priests. Christ instituted a male Priesthood and the Priest acts in persona Christi he acts as Christ therefore women cannot be Priests.
Pope John Paul II said that there won’t be women Priests because the institution of a male Priesthood, and if he said that one of our great Popes but definitely a more liberal one there will not be women Priests, and I will continue to pray that there never will be.
Women do play an important part in the church and they should continue to do so, but they should never be allowed to be Priests.
posted April 26, 2008 at 3:47 pm
So far as I could tell, at the papal liturgies women were not ‘nearly invisible’, and certainly not inaudible. Almost all the lectors were women (some commentators even wondered out loud if men were deliberately excluded!) and a number of cantors and readers of intercessions were women as well.
The roles of lector and cantor are at least as significant for the liturgy as those of server or extraordinary minister of Holy Communion. And Pope Benedict would not have been surprised, either, since women fill those same roles at some liturgies in Rome.
posted April 28, 2008 at 12:12 pm
I believe that what is said in the BIBLE should be payed close attention to. Not everything will be perfect in society’s virtual mind. But, thats just life. If God appointed men to be in priests position, women should not interfere. Thats not right by God. And arent you in any sort of church to serve him anyways? I think that question needs to be aknowledged by the anyone who thinks differently. Nevertheless life on Earth is not going to change, everyone is still going to sin, and do what is not expected of them in the Bible. Some things in life arent ment for some people but they push it anyways knowing that it is actually wrong…
posted May 3, 2008 at 4:33 pm
Just a few observations:
The essential question is, what does the liturgy (the word means “work of the people”) symbolize? If the liturgy symbolizes a male-controlled, male-dominated, currently dysfunctional church, then there was nothing wrong with the papal liturgies. However, the liturgical law provides that ordinary ministers of the eucharist (clerics) are only to be used where they are participants in the liturgy (not floating in from the dugout)–that is, of those participating in the mass, ordinary ministers of the eucharist are first, then extraordinary ministers of the eucharist who are participating the the mass. Further, the liturgical norm in the United States is that (as in accord with canon law) any lay person may serve as acolyte (altar server). While diocesan iscops are free to ignore the recommendations of their bishops’ conferences, in the US only the Diocese of Lincoln, Nebraska does not have female altar servers (or female extraordinary ministers of the eucharist).
Obviously, everyone wants to encourage the fine priests and seminarians who have dedicated their lives to the church by giving them symbolic roles in the liturgy, but the 30,000 dedicated lay men and women, and the 16,000 deacons in the US, could have been better represented, and in fact would have been better represented, if the church hierarchy was more in touch with reality and less involved with itself.
posted May 6, 2008 at 12:07 am
Why worry about Catholic women in the RCC, when they are accepted in churches who are bible based.
posted May 12, 2008 at 9:27 pm
It is the Catholic Church–not the Roman Catholic Church–and among its 21 Eastern Churches the Catholic Church has a great deal of tradition regarding ordained women deacons.