When Nuns Became Priests

I liked Frances a lot, but my interest level in the Pope will remain low until women get more power in the Catholic Church

I grew up “Catholic.” This means that we went to church on holidays (sometimes). Celebrated Christmas with a tree and Easter with a basket of chocolate. I actually didn’t think too much about religion until my parents pushed me into an all-girls Catholic school when I was thirteen because I was turning into a tween juvenile delinquent. The real Catholics in my high school often seemed like an entirely different culture to me and I had to work hard to learn the language. I figured it out and by the end of it confirmed that I am a card-carrying agnostic. What I just couldn’t get over was the intense patriarchy of the Church, and of most organized religions in the world. I’m still not over it.

But I love the community inherent in religion. I love a lot of the pomp and circumstance. I adore churches and I’m a big fan of nuns. This happened later. In high school they confused me and regularly chastised me for being a little asshole. But I spent a lot more time with them in grad school and then when I was working on my book If Nuns Ruled the World (ten stories about bad ass feminist nuns that has only sold about 3,900 copies) and I simply fell in love with the work a lot of them do, the work that is often in the image of the original messaging of Jesus Christ, in that it involves taking care of people, uplifting those who need it and protecting those who cannot protect themselves. I know environmentalist nuns. I know abortion rights nuns. I know an Iron Man nun and many nuns who have served time in prison for their beliefs.

When I was writing If Nuns Ruled the World many of the Catholic Sisters in America were being sanctioned by the Vatican. In 2012, the Vatican basically told America’s nuns they were in trouble for focusing too much on helping the poor, the sick, and the marginalized, and not speaking out loudly enough against things like abortion or same-sex marriage. The Vatican sent in a bishop to oversee their main group, the LCWR, and to make sure they were following the official rulebook, almost like a spiritual hall monitor. The nuns, who had spent decades rolling up their sleeves and quietly changing the world, were stunned and a little insulted, but they kept doing what they do best: serving others and pushing for a kinder, more just world, even if it meant coloring outside the lines.

Again, this is the reason I have a really hard time embracing organized religion. Nuns are not allowed to hold high office in the Catholic Church. They cannot be priests. They cannot be cardinals and they certainly can’t be Pope. The world would be a better place if they could.

Years ago I attended the most meaningful religious service I have ever been to and it was presided over by “Catholic” women “priests,” a splinter sect of women who believe they have been legally ordained in Catholicism. It was in someone’s home in New York and it was warm, joyous, wonderful and inclusive. I wrote about it for the Wall Street Journal and I want to share it here as the world watches the Vatican choose the new pope as a reminder that this remains a space that women are excluded from to the detriment of the faith.

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