We like male priests just fine, thank you

By Jennifer Bioche

I am sitting in the pew of St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Marion with my family, waiting for Mass to begin. The routine is familiar.

One of my sons is fussing that he didn't get his favorite spot, my other son makes his case for a trip to the bathroom. Altar servers are lighting candles, and the pianist is warming up. I think to myself, “How lucky am I.”

Our church is well attended, and parishioners are hard-working volunteers who organize luncheons for funerals, vacation Bible camps for our children and professional-quality music to accompany every service.

So when I read The Gazette's May 27 front-page story titled “Women of God” - an article that targeted my faith community's supposed lack of inclusion of women and homosexuals - it was apparent to me that the Catholic Church is misunderstood.

According to the story, the church discriminates against women by allowing only males to become priests, and homosexuals are supposedly banned from Catholicism altogether. The article led readers to believe that these two reasons alone are enough to consider Catholic spinoffs, such as Roman Catholic Womenpriests, highlighted in the article. Their logic is that because the church is universal, women should be ordained and more welcoming to homosexuals.

Inclusive and welcoming happen to be common practices at Catholic churches. Greeters welcome congregants as they arrive. Every Mass begins with standing and shaking your neighbor's hand. New parishioners receive a phone-call welcome with information on how to get involved. Last time I checked, proof of heterosexual orientation wasn't demanded at the door.

The church is clear that while the homosexual is always welcome, homosexuality is a sin. This isn't discrimination - the teaching also applies to adultery, stealing, spreading lies about your neighbor and murder.

The church teaches that everyone sins, yet at the same time, everyone is welcome. We are all - not a chosen few - invited not only to worship every Sunday, but to resist our inclination to sin and embrace the freedom that comes from living without it.

Women can't be priests for a myriad canonical (church law) and practical reasons. I prefer to note the latter. We don't need pregnant priests. And we would have some if women were ordained, creating potential problems such as abortion and single motherhood.

There is a beauty in all-male organizations; one example is our Knights of Columbus.

And the notion that because women aren't ordained, they aren't offered leadership opportunities, is another misunderstanding. Women have a very special place in the Church. We honor Mary, the Queen of Saints, and any woman is welcome to explore religious life - our sisters are highly regarded and serve as teachers, social workers and homeless shelter ministers.

If Ms. Mary Kay Kusner, who wants to be ordained a Roman Catholic priest, and her group want to have a spiritual organization that reflects their views, that's fine. But to use the Roman Catholic name is misleading.

Jennifer Bioche of Marion is a longtime freelance writer whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, City Revealed Magazine in the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City corridor and many other local and national publications. Comments: jbioche@mchsi.com