Faith Versus Feminism: Women in the Catholic Church
By Janalee Morris
When I was about ten years old, I sat in our pew (third from the front, right next to the organ where my mom played the hymns of the week) and whispered to her that I wanted to be an altar boy. She gave me one of her amused looks and replied that, of course, I could not be an altar boy because I was, in fact, a girl. As you can imagine, I was not a fan of Catholicism from that moment on. That was c.1984, my first act as a feminist and the beginning of the end of my life as a believer.
It was only a few years later when the Catholic church in my hometown in Saskatchewan did allow girls to serve on the altar, I’m sure out of desperation rather than any kind of progressive views. It wasn’t until 1994 that the official canon was modified to allow women to serve at mass, although local Bishops still had the final say.
Of course, there is a long history of discrimination against women in the Catholic church, so it shouldn’t have surprised me when I came across an article this week stating that once again, the Vatican has declined to allow women to become deacons.
According to the article, “Opponents say ordaining women to the deaconate would signal the start of a slippery slope toward ordaining women to the priesthood. The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood for men, saying Christ chose only men as his 12 Apostles.” Although the Bible does not explicitly forbid women from entering the priesthood, Catholics cite the apostles as precedent. Just another great example of cherry picking from the Bible when it suits your purpose.
And while it still surprises me that strong, intelligent women continue to support the church, there are from time to time mini-rebellions, like this story of a group of Catholic Nuns in Spain who were excommunicated over a lengthy and complex battle with the Vatican over ownership of their convent, or this recent story of three nuns who were put into a nursing home against their wishes and broke out to return to their convent. It might just be my obsession with The Sound of Music, but can’t you just picture them, their habits blowing wildly in the wind as they make their break for freedom?
Without the labour of women, Catholic churches would be hard-pressed to survive. According to the article, “Catholic women do the lion’s share of the church’s work in schools, hospitals and passing down the faith to future generations, but have long complained of a second-class status in an institution that reserves the priesthood for men.” I can vow witness to that statement; both my mother and my grandmother spent hours at Catholic Women’s League meetings, cooking for the various church bake sales, community suppers, and funeral lunches. They dutifully took their turn in the church-cleaning rotation. It was my grandma who insisted that we pray before meals, eat fish on Fridays, and she was the only person in my family whom I ever saw touch a rosary.
I guess I wasn’t so much surprised with this most recent rebuff of women’s rights as I was incredulous that this is still happening at all. There are currently over 1.4 billion baptized Catholics worldwide (of which I am counted as one). The Catholic Church is worth tens of billions of dollars, and according to the Vatican is actually growing in numbers (mostly in Africa and Asia). I wish I could say that this would be a blow to Catholicism, but it’s much more likely that the millions of Catholic women around the world will practice whatever mental gymnastics they need to justify their support of this antiquated system, and once again defer their human rights to the powerful men making these decisions.
Articles:
Vatican commission again says no to ordaining women as deacons, but urges other ministries
https://apnews.com/article/vatican-women-deacons-catholic-church-50bf5c3b38c19049790ca3060f8442d2
These nuns were excommunicated but won’t leave their convent
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/10/realestate/spain-nuns-convents-poor-clares-of-belorado.html
Rebel nuns who busted out of Austrian care home win reprieve – if they stay off social media
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/nov/28/rebel-nuns-austria-care-home-abandoned-convent-reprieve-for-now