The Call of Women to the Priesthood

Over the past few days, I have been engaged in a process of reflection and discernment. I have been following the The Women’s Ordination Conference and the Roman Catholic Womenpriests.

I appreciate that many women, along with supportive men, have taken a stand against the requirement that to be a priest in the Roman Catholic Church, one must be celibate, single, and male. Several women have stepped out and been ordained as priests by Catholic Bishops.

The Vatican recently made two declarations regarding this action. The first was to state that these women, and anyone, male or female, bishop or priest, who attended, or participated in the ordination of women as priests, would be considered immediately excommunicated. The second action was to group the ordination of women in the same category or serious offense, as priest pedophiles.

I have entered into prayer, with and for, these women and their supporters and communities of faith. I also offer my love and support to these brave and courageous women, and stand ready to join them in their struggle as God leads, and as they have need.

In thinking about this struggle, I began to reflect upon my faith journey and ordination. I left the Roman Catholic Church in 1980 over many of these same issues. I, too, sought ordination as a priest but that possibility was not available. I did not know that the day would come when such a time as this would begin to grow.

In my journey, I eventually discovered the United Methodist Church who at the time, welcomed me, supported me, and ordained me. Having been called to the priestly ministry, I found a communion of faithful who were willing to accept my call, and to confirm it before the assembly of gathered believers.

I use the term priestly ministry, for I truly believe that is what I have been called, and ordained to. The Bishop who ordained me in the United Methodist Church understood this as well. The United Methodist Church came out of the Anglican tradition, which came out of the reformation period when England broke ranks with Rome. My ordination roots run deep.

My Bishop shared that I was being ordained in “Apostolic” succession, and that my priesthood was just as real, just a valid, as if the Bishop of Rome had performed the ordination.

The night I was ordained, before a gathered assembly of over two thousand, Bishop Felton May laid his hands upon my head, and prayed that I would be filled with the Spirit of God to proclaim good news to the poor, healing to the sick, sight to the blind, and freedom to the captives.

He anointed my forehead with oil that I might have the mind of Christ in all matters, my lips that they might speak of the love, justice, and mercy of God, my hands that they might bring healing to all who suffer, compassion to all who have been broken, and forgiveness to all who have fallen short of the glory of God.

He placed the stole about my neck, reminding me that I am now yoked with Christ forever, and carry the authority of Christ where I go. He placed the Word of God in my hands, and reminded me to preach Christ, and call all who I meet into fellowship with God.

Then my fellow clergy gathered, and laid their hands upon my being, confirming the ordination that God had called forth, and that man  had recognized. Finally, many of the lay present came, and offered their love, support, and affirmations.

That was a time of great spiritual blessing, joy, and empowerment. And that day, nearly twenty years ago, still holds the same spiritual blessing, joy, and empowerment for me.

The women of the Catholic Church have the same right to experience what I have experienced. Gender does not determine eligibility for ordination.

Mary Magdalene was the first to see the risen Christ. It was Mary Magdalene who was commanded to “Go, and tell the others” (my paraphrase) John 20:15-18.

It is Mary Magdalene who is the Apostle to the Apostles. And in addition to Mary Magdalene, there are early church records that identify many women in the Church who served as leaders, ministers, apostles, disciples, and care takers of the Church and its spiritual life.

It is time for the Church to end its discrimination against women. It is time to end its injustice to the disenfranchised and poor. It is time to stop protecting pedophiles in its ranks. It is time for the Church to lay down its dogma and rules, and truly seek the face and mind of Christ in all matters.

I am not speaking of just the Roman Catholic Church. Far too many denominations hold more to their rules and religion than they do to mercy and love, and their faith. They attempt to protect their institutions at the expense of the true work of Christ. How God must weep.

The people of God are a people of faith, not religious rules. Religion a child of God does not make. Faith in Jesus Christ does. And faith in Jesus Christ leads one to become a disciple of Christ, who follows their Lord where, when, and how He leads.

God calls whom He will to be a Priest, a Minster of the Gospel. The people of God have the responsibility to recognize and affirm that call. The Bishop and the people are charged with the responsibility to ordain in order to fulfill that call. But no one, and I mean NO ONE, has the right to deny that call, not even the person who is called.

To deny the call of God, in or on, the life of a child of God by virtue of their gender, economic status, marital status, or any other religious interpretation of scripture based on a narrow point of perspective, is incomprehensible. Nor is it valid to determine ordination based on an idea of the authenticity of the early Church.

I respect the traditions of the Church, both early and later centuries. I respect the authority of scriptures. I respect the knowledge that has been passed down through the ages, starting with Prophets, the Apostles, the early Bishops of the Church, and the women of faith through the ages. And I respect reason. These are the four corner stones of Methodism.

We know that the tradition of the Church from its earliest days has been to ordain and confirm women as priests, leaders, spiritual advisors, and healers. This tradition of ordaining women has continued throughout history up to today. It was not until around the 12^th century that Church of Rome changed its position to make it possible for only men to hold the priestly office.

We know that the knowledge of the traditions have been recorded through historians as early as the 2^nd century. That knowledge has been passed to the Church through the written record.

If we apply reason to the discussion, one can see how unreasonable it is to exclude anyone from the Kingdom of God and from His work and ministry. If God, in collaboration with a women, became incarnate, affirmed women through His earthly ministry, told a woman to announce He was alive to His friends, and used women in the early church to establish centers of community for the faithful through the known world, then how we can say it is reasonable to deny women their full inclusion in the life of the Church?

And finally, if we turn to scripture as the final and ultimate authority in all things, how can we deny women the right to full inclusion in the life of the Church, when women throughout both the Old and New Testaments have been cited as having worth and value with God?

I join with the women of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests Movement and the Women’s Ordination Conference. I celebrate their courage and tenacity. I congratulate them on their resolve to end the discrimination of women in the Church today. And I commend them for their determination to follow the call of Christ on their lives, regardless of the personal cost. We should have this level of commitment throughout all of the Christian Church today.

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