On Sunday, Nov. 11, two Roman Catholic women were ordained as women priests. What a sad day indeed for the Catholic Church. I just hate it when faith-filled, modern-day Catholic saints choose to courageously follow God’s call in spite of archaic church teaching. Who needs more priests anyways? Certainly not us Catholics! The last I heard, young men weren’t exactly following [sic] over themselves to devote their lives to priestly vocations. To those who oppose women filling in where men are dropping off, I say go to Pius.

Pick up a book on the history of the abolition, civil rights or suffragist movements and notice a similar trend-those in positions of power will exclude others at all costs in order to maintain their privileged status. Then, once grassroots movements gain enough momentum to start changing the minds of the people, political and religious leaders are forced to respond by overhauling old-fashioned, patriarchal traditions. Are people really so daft so as to still believe that there exists an inherent difference between women and men that makes men good priests and women not? Worse, those familiar with church history should know that Jesus did not ordain “just men”-he didn’t ordain anyone! Ordination is a practice that was developed by fallible humans. We wrote the rules for it. And we can change them.

Yesterday (Sunday, Nov. 11) was a blessed day, giving young Catholic women hope for the future of women in the Church.

Erica Irwin
SLU Alumnae 2006