Sir, - As an undergraduate student of theology in Milltown Institute, I am compelled to reply to the article on women priests by Rosemary Swords (Opinion, July 2nd). She seems to suggest that those in favour of the ordination of women see no value in any other form of service. Can we equally assume that all of those who attended the Focolare conference that she referred to are against the ordination of women? Favouring one does not automatically exclude all others.
She is certainly correct in referring to as old-fashioned any feminism that claims equality is about doing everything that men do and pretending there are no fundamental differences between women and men. But we have moved a long way since then, and if one of the issues around women's ordination to be addressed is equality, as Rosemary suggests, then we need to think of equality in terms of access.
The simple fact is that women do not have equal access to all areas of service within the Church. In seeking the ordination of women, all those in favour wish to do is to redress the balance. It is not about doing everything men do for its own sake or trying to be the same as men.
Just as women have brought their own unique skills to other traditionally male arenas, so too would they do so within the priesthood. Surely this could only be for the good. Rosemary suggests that it is feminism that ignores the particular gifts of women and the contribution that they can make to the Church. But surely it is the Church that is ignoring the gifts of women by disallowing them full access?
Rosemary evokes Jesus as the instigator of the male priesthood. Anyone who has read his or her Bible will know that Jesus did not ordain anybody to the priesthood. The priesthood as it exists today has evolved over the past 2,000 years;_ it is not something that was once instituted and has remained ever the same. It has been shaped and changed according to the needs of the Church, and cultural and social mores along the way have also influenced its shaping.
Women's ordination is not about power, as Rosemary seems to think, but she is being naive to suggest that true power in the church comes from holiness, not from office. Is it holiness that insists that this is not a subject of discussion? Is it holiness that threatens people for attending a conference, or for voicing an opinion that dissents from the institutional Church? - Yours, etc.,
Mβire Garvey, Rochestown Avenue, Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin.