Sir, – SE Lydon is set against a papal visit based on her feelings of subservience as a woman in the Catholic Church (October 29th).
However, her language evinces a serious lack of effort to engage with the church’s theology. Her use of terms like “equality” and “second-class status” are, in fact, more suited to modern employment law than ecclesial service. The sacrament of ordination is not an employment category, and priesthood has never been understood as a right. Finally, it is silly to equate alleged inaccessibility to what Ms Lydon terms “leadership” positions with the discrete question of women’s exclusion from the priesthood.
Many dioceses encourage women to participate in governance as chancellors, tribunal judges, finance directors, directors of charities, vicars and delegates for religious, and pastoral directors of a parish. I recommend for Ms Lydon's reading the excellent study by the US Leadership Conference of Women Religious, Women and Jurisdiction: An Unfolding Reality (2001). – Yours, etc,
Dr SEAN
ALEXANDER SMITH,
Sandyford,
Dublin 18.