Misogyny Is the Catholic Church’s Original Sin
Allowing female leadership could be the only way to save the ailing church
When I was little, I wanted to be a priest. Our family was Catholic, and I was the most fervent. We celebrated every feast day. I crowned Mary with flowers in May and blessed my cat with holy water to honor St. Francis of Assisi. I once nearly scalded myself to death by adding boiling water to the bathtub because I’d heard saints mortified their flesh. Then, one Sunday when my brother and I were too sick to leave the house, I blessed some bread and fed it to him so he could receive Holy Communion.
My CCD teacher screamed at me. I could never do that, never, because it was for priests to do, and girls could not be priests. God chose the clergy to serve Him, and all those clergy— from the pope down to Father Joe, who quoted Monty Python and kept a pack of Marlboros in his cassock — were men, because God was a man. I could be a nun. I could serve priests. But to serve God directly — it was sinful for a girl to even want it, let alone attempt it.
It is a painful question, how much women are worth to God. Before a woman thinks to ask it, she has likely encountered suppression, repression, and her own deep anger. That wound was opened once again last week, when Pope Francis finally admitted to the…
