Father John Shea, an Augustinian priest in the United States, has put “his money where his mouth is,” as the saying goes.  He has written a letter to Cardinal Sean O’Malley asking for a clear and CREDIBLE explanation of why women cannot be priests.  He wrote another open letter in 2012.  Such a letter did not go unnoticed and he received a couple warnings and his contract to teach at Boston College was not renewed.  I discovered the letter on the Association of Catholic Priests website and subsequently let Father John Wotherspoon of www.v2catholic.com know about it.

There is much to reflect upon in Father Shea’s letter, but , I chose the following paragraph for the focus of today’s blog.  He states:

“We revere Jesus as priest, as prophet, and as ruler. If “women are fully in the likeness of Jesus” in our church, they fully share in the priesthood of Jesus–but in fact women are completely excluded from the priesthood of Jesus. If “women are fully in the likeness of Jesus” in our church, they speak for God as Jesus did–but women are completely without voice in the church; as if they were children they cannot read the Gospel at the liturgy and are forbidden to preach the Word. If “women are fully in the likeness of Jesus” in our church, then they fully share in the formal authority of our church–but women, solely because they are women, are completely barred from church authority.”

I always maintained that my baptism into Christ was no different from anyone else’s and that included boys.  For me and any other catholic woman who is baptized, we have been received into the fullness of Christ. What is required for the priesthood, is my baptism, already mentioned, being created for Good Works, being a Servant of the Gospel and graced by the power of Jesus Christ to minister as He has chosen and as Christ is always coming in the moment, there is no possible reason, why Christ doesn’t choose a woman, to be priest.  

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