Sir, – This day, known as Holy Thursday, Christians commemorate the last inclusive supper Jesus of Nazareth had with his followers.
However, for those in the Catholic tradition there is an added extra, some would say a sting in the tail, where it is asserted that Jesus instituted the priesthood in a men-only Passover meal.
Such an idea where Jesus would have deliberately excluded his faithful women followers from his final family meal so that he could privately ordain his 12 male apostles is ludicrous and outrageous and has gone way beyond its sell-by date.
One hundred years ago women had to take to the streets to demand their right to vote and to overcome gender prejudice in society. Almost 2,000 years have elapsed and still there is no tangible move in the Catholic Church to grant Catholic women equality with their franchised brothers in ministry and governance.
Is it not time that Catholic women effectively organise themselves to demand that they be recognised and treated in an equal fashion as their menfolk?
Equality will not come from the top down but, just like their sister suffragettes 100 years ago, church equality will only come from an organised struggle from the bottom. – Yours, etc,
BRENDAN BUTLER,
Malahide, Co Dublin.