The Crime

On July 15th, the Vatican declared “attempted ordination” of women to be a “crime against the faith” – one of the Catholic Church’s gravest crimes. Per new disciplinary rules,  attempted ordination of women is placed on par with pedophilia and sexual abuse of children by priests.

Under the released document, those who attempt to ordain women and women who seek ordination will automatically be excommunicated. The development comes shortly after the Church of England moved towards the ordination of female bishops. It also follows much public conjecture that the Church’s pedophile scandal could have been lessened or avoided with increased female participation in the clergy.

There is certainly a crime against faith being perpetrated here.

To suggest that a woman who wants to devote her life to the service of God as clergy is somehow as abominable as the sexual abuse of a child by a priest is abhorrent.

Equal but Different

The statements caused immediate uproar and the church was once again facing a PR disaster. A few days after the original pronouncement, a press conference was held at the Vatican to clarify the church’s position and to address the media frenzy they had kicked off.

Church representatives explained that although ordaining women is as “grave” as sex abuse, it was not equating the two. “This should not be interpreted as considering all these crimes to be equal,” said Monsignor Charles Scicluna of the Vatican’s doctrinal department. “They are crimes of a different nature“. – Reuters

The clarification did little to stem criticism of the Church’s treatment of women and their general approach to sexuality. Debate continues in the press and on the internet with groups such as The Women’s Ordination Conference seeing increased interest in their work.

In Context

Though huge strides have been made over the past 100 years to improve the status of women, the fact is that many religions have virtually stood still on this count. Yet few people are willing to stand up and point out the misogyny perpetrated in the name of faith.

The criticism of all things religious is usually considered a transgression of cultural respect and is taboo. But at some point one has to ask if religious leaders are really acting in line with the beliefs and best interests of their followers and their community or if their actions serve only to benefit a powerful few.

Those who profess superior knowledge and insight into the will of God tend to get a lot of leeway in our society. But the Catholic hierarchy is finding it hard to hold the high moral ground these days. Increasingly, people are questioning the religious basis for continued exclusion of women from full participation in the Church.

In recent years, the most noteworthy commentator on religious misogyny has been former US President Jimmy Carter. In 2009, Carter wrote a moving piece where he explained that due to their continued oppression of women, he had decided to sever ties with the Southern Baptist Convention (though he continues to serve as a deacon and Sunday school teacher at his local church):

The truth is that male religious leaders have had – and still have – an option to interpret holy teachings either to exalt or subjugate women. They have, for their own selfish ends, overwhelmingly chosen the latter. Their continuing choice provides the foundation or justification for much of the pervasive persecution and abuse of women throughout the world. This is in clear violation not just of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Apostle Paul, Moses and the prophets, Muhammad, and founders of other great religions – all of whom have called for proper and equitable treatment of all the children of God. It is time we had the courage to challenge these views.

– Jimmy Carter, Losing My Religion

The Holy See hasn’t exactly shown a lot of PR acumen in recent years. Their repeated failures to do what the public considers “the right thing” in the face of the pedophilia cover up scandal now makes criticism of church practices fair game.

If this means that it has accelerated our ability to have an honest discussion about the role of women in the church, then at least one good thing has come out of this horrific debacle.