Calgary woman joins Vatican march calling for ordination of women to the priesthood

A Calgary woman joined dozens of other women from around the world at a march at the Vatican on Friday calling for female ordination in the Catholic Church.

Jeanie McKibbon is a member of Catholic Network for Women’s Equality. Nine members of the group are in Rome this week watching as faithful from all over the world, including bishops and cardinals, take part in the synod called by Pope Francis.

A consultation of Catholics all over the world shaped the agenda that included climate change, the ordination of women and rights of LGBTQ faithful.

A total of 365 people hold voting rights, including 54 women for the first time ever.

“It’s been a really good mix of people who are doing the same work all around the world. It’s been amazing,” said McKibbon about her time at the Vatican this week.

“I am feeling the most hopeful I ever have right now because I feel that the synod process is the most inclusive and the most robust process that the church has ever undertaken in my lifetime.

“They have engaged people much more broadly than is typical for this church. This information has been synthesized for a period of about a year to ensure that the major concerns of Catholics around the world are heard,” explained McKibbon.

Peter Baltutis, an associate professor of history and religious studies at St Mary’s University, says the church is dealing with a retention problem while some are trying to maintain tradition.

“If we open the door to a female priesthood, might that mean we open the door to other teachings that we thought were established? And some people fear this might be a Pandora’s Box of opening up other church dealings as well,” Baltutis said.

“As a person who works with many young people, I can say many feel very challenged by this church’s teachings, and for some of them, this is a deal breaker. They feel as if the church is not looking upon women as being equal members of the body of Christ and as a result that’s real challenge for them,” said Baltutis.

“There are certain segments of the population that are seeing women marginalized and excluded from the church as an institutional structure, but also in terms of having any sort of leadership capacity in the church and they are saying that needs to change,” Baltutis said change, if it does come, will be hard for some to accept.

“They’re going to say for two thousand years we’ve done it this way.  Does that mean we were wrong in the past?  To be honest the church does not do a good job of recognizing where it has made mistakes so the church I think would be reluctant to say what we’ve been doing in the past is wrong.”

Other observers say there have been some positive changes such as discussion of the idea of female deacons

“Women have been playing much greater roles in part because there are fewer priests, and women have been stepping up and doing a lot of management,” said Steven Engler, Mount Royal University professor of religious studies.

“The one thing we know will come out of it: They are turning up the volume on the climate change rhetoric and one thing we know won’t come out of it is women as priests.”

McKibbon said while she is hopeful, it’s been a struggle belonging to a church where she is a marginalized member.

“It’s a constant ache for those of us who have been working for change because we know that our voices are not heard on an equal level with men’s voices and with ordained clergy voices,” said McKibbon. “Yet there is so much value in our faith tradition and in our spirituality that — despite being incredibly frustrated by the structure and the governance of the church that has really not heard our voices and recognized our gifts for two millennia — we believe there is so much that is of value in the tradition that should be preserved, and should be allowed to continue and be healthy and we continue to work for change.”

The women at the march say their role as priests would bring a valuable perspective. It’s the men who are in power who will be the ones to decide if the church reforms its authority structure.

“They have an institutional hierarchical structure that gives it a certain historical weight (that) has good effects and bad effects,” said Engler.

“The church is obviously wary about changing too many things because it’s been around a long time and it wants to keep being around. On the flipside, some people say you’re not going to be around that long if you keep going in this direction.”

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