The Place of Women in the Church

I recently commented on Christian Weisner’s Article “Working to address the persistent and grave violations of human rights within the Church” in The Tablet,

For lack of space I could only present the beginning of my thoughts on the matter, so here I want to write out my full comment.

            The question of the ordination of women has been frequently raised in various places around the Western world. Christian Weisner puts the question in the context of human rights. He sees as an example of a persistent and grave violation of human rights “In the discrimination against women, who are denied ordination and thus access to leadership positions because of their gender.”

            However, this statement shows both a misunderstanding of the essence of the priesthood and a misunderstanding of the reality of being a woman. If a man applied to a seminary saying that he wanted to be ordained so that he would have “access to leadership positions”, he would rightly be refused admittance. (Or if he was accepted to the seminary, then that seminary should be closed.) To desire to be ordained in order to exercise power is a blatant example of clericalism, and I hope that no sister of mine is infected with clericalism. The call to the priesthood is a vocation to service, and to a special kind of service: the service of empowering the faithful in their call to holiness and union with God. To desire to be ordained in order to give this service is a praiseworthy reason to be ordained. But does that alone justify ordaining women?

            Women have been undervalued in the Church for centuries. The Foundress of my Order, St. Teresa of Avila, was figured in Spanish art with the doctor’s cap for centuries before the hierarchy admitted that a woman could be so enlightened by the Holy Spirit as to have something to teach the Universal Church. We have been considered to be useful in many ways, but hardly essential to the Church. Would the Church cease to be Church if there were no women?

            I believe that women as women are essential to the being of the Church. Not because of what we do but because of who we are. We have done much as mothers, teachers, nurses, and in many other areas of Church life, but I believe that we have a higher calling in the Church, and I believe that we are only just beginning to discover that calling.

            Hans Urs von Baltasar has written about the Marian and Petrine principles in the Church. I believe that this is a good point of departure for discovering the place of women in the Church. If the Church is a unity made up of the two principles, Marian and Petrine, then the Church is a communion existing and acting in the image and likeness of God who is a communion of persons.

            It is not difficult to extend the Petrine principle to all priests and also in a way to all men, but I have not noticed any extension of the Marian principle to all women. Mary in herself embodies the Marian principle in its fullness, and if we are to understand the place of women in the Church, then we need to see all women in the light of her principle. For women to be ordained would blur if not eradicate the reality of the Church as a communion. For women to be seen in the light of “the woman” of the Gospel is to see us as we truly are: beings who bring communion into realization.

            I have said that I have not noted any extension of the Marian principle to all women. There is one exception to that, and I noted it already 40 years ago: There is a being who takes seriously God’s declaration to the serpent, “I will put enmity between you and the woman.” (Gen. 2, 15) Contempt for women has existed all through human history, but in recent decades it has taken on unprecedented violence, beginning with abortion: sex-selective abortions target female infants, and the number is rising. (cf. https://lozierinstitute.org/sex-selection-abortion-the-real-war-on-women/) Violence against women is increasing or at least is becoming better known. The identity of women is denied to the point where there is the attempt to destroy the very word “woman”.

            I believe that only the Church has the understanding of “the woman” and that we need radically to deepen and live that understanding.

Sr. Gabriela of the Incarnation, O.C.D.