2008 Woodie Awards
A question of gender
Helen Zou
Issue date: 11/13/06 Section: Features
|
Roman Catholic law forbids the ordination of women. Cordero, a member of the Roman Catholic Women Priests Organization, and some male clergymen who are openly sympathetic are at risk for excommunication by the pope.
Epigraphic evidence shows that the Catholic Church had given women sacramental ordination until the ninth century.
According to Cordero, women priests existed in the West during the fourth and fifth centuries. "This is an unjust law that has to be broken, and the only way to do it is to break it.
We've written and made statements for 2000 years, and still, nothing has been done and so these women like myself have said 'enough,'" said Cordero. Cordero's opinion is a growing sentiment among many Catholic women who want more than what the Church is currently allowing for them.
"Women can only go so far, but they cannot be [licitly] ordained. Only men can be [licitly] ordained," said Cordero.
This means that although a bishop from Europe has validly ordained Cordero and other women for their positions in clergy, the women cannot licitly preach or perform their duties inside a formal Catholic Church.
However, this detail has not stopped Cordero from pursuing her religious aspirations. As a deacon, she performs her duties wherever she is called by the numerous community churches and out of private homes. "It's been wonderful," she says. Traditionally, men are deacons for approximately 6 months before passing exams and progressing into priesthood.
For women, this process takes about a year. "These women are qualified to be ordained.
They've gone through the same routine as the men; they've studied the theology, they've done all the requirements that the men have done. It's just a question of gender," says Cordero.
Juanita Cordero will be ordained as a Catholic priest at the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene in Santa Barbara on July 22, 2007.
"My call is to be a deacon and a priest. I've had that call for a long time," she said. "Now I can answer this call."
Be the first to comment on this story