Why isn't there gender diversity in the Catholic Church when it comes to who can be a priest?

I have interviewed and asked different people on their opinion about this topic because I wanted to get different perspectives from different demographics about what they think about priests being male only.

This was a very interesting article to piece together and I hope some different ideas are brought to your attention.

What do different people think about this?

An Australian man who has been a Catholic priest for 40 years, says that only men are allowed to be priests because "it's in the Catholic tradition...the case for changing the tradition is one that has to be made out clearly." He believes that this is a reason that has been "confirmed over the centuries" and he thinks that the Catholic church has to make decisions considering all cultures and all backgrounds. His own view is that "I think that it's the 21st century and we need to open the priesthood." However, there is the theological argument that Jesus was a man and that the priest has to be male to represent Jesus in all of his humanness. He thinks that "if we are going to talk about Jesus representing us in our humanness, the issue is...Jesus would have been a man or a woman" highlighting the idea that his gender was chosen, not with the purpose of excluding the other one.

A 13 year old Australian/Chinese girl who is of a Chinese religion and used to go to a Catholic school, believes that the reason only men are allowed to be priests because "it's a passed down tradition" and she believes that "it's not really sexist." She thinks it's like Santa. "Santa's a man and nobody is trying to change that." After I completed the interview with her, she said "the church..it......why do you even bother?" I think this idea of "we shouldn't change it because of tradition" is also another excuse for being lazy.

An Australian woman who works in Catholic education because she "[believes] in the mission" considers herself an active Catholic but does not attend mass regularly because she doesn't "believe in a context in which one gender is actively excluded from the hierarchy." She believes that the reasoning behind why only men is allowed to be priests is "on account that this was a historical truth and that it serves some men very well to maintain this structure." Essentially, she thinks that it benefits some men to have a system where women are excluded. "Historically, men and women have performed different roles based on their gender."

An almost 13 year old Vietnamese and Italian girl who considers herself an inactive Catholic thinks that only men are permitted to be priests "because it is traditionally within history." She is unsure whether she thinks non-male people should be allowed to be priests. She feels that it would be "out of the norm" to have a priest that is not male, but she's "not fully against it."

The belief that institutions, especially "big historically grounded" ones change "very, very slowly" is held by a British-Nigerian-Australian man who has no problem with the idea of extending the rules so that you don't have to be male to be a priest, however "not everybody feels the same way, or shares the same values." He thinks that the next question becomes "how should we deal with this kind of disagreement" which is also a "complicated question."

A 9 year old Catholic Australian boy, in reply to the question, "why do you think only men are allowed to be priests?" jokingly, says "cuz men are better?" before saying "just kidding, I dunno, because it's the law in those Eastern countries?" He also believes that only men should be priests because "men have been priests for hundreds of years."

The reality is, I think, that on a larger scale, the idea that "men are better" is what people are thinking and that is the reason why change hasn't been implemented yet. People have the view that "tradition" is better, and "tradition" basically states that men are better.

However, a 45 year old Catholic mother thinks that there isn't gender diversity in the Catholic Church when it comes to who can be a priest "because the Catholic Church is slow to let go of traditions, and many of the Catholic Church traditions are imbued with patriarchy." When asked if she thinks there should be gender diversity in this area, she replied "of course." She thinks this because women have as much to contribute as men.

A 12 year old Australian/Singaporean girl who is not religious thinks that only men are allowed to be priests because "the world is sexist" and they just "can't admit that girls are better." She thinks that non-male people should be able to be priests because of "equality and world peace."

What do I think? I am of the belief that yes, I think it is sexist that only a single gender is allowed to be priests, but I don't think it's a matter of which gender is "better." It's about everyone coming together, and everyone having the opportunity to be able to share their thoughts, feelings, and experiences, which is how empathy is created. Everyone has a different story. Everyone is losing when women, non-binary people, and other genders that aren't male are not allowed to create and deliver a homily. Everyone is missing out on the chance to hear from a different group of people who, generally, are faced with more everyday boundaries and sexist opinions that make it hard for them to do what men can do. A lot of people seem to think that because it is "tradition" it shouldn't be changed. What if that tradition was outdated and posing challenges for people's lives? If no tradition had ever been changed, then today would look very different.

Also, Jesus, the man who is framed to be good and moral, chose all of his disciples, and yet all of them were men. He could of chosen a woman to sit at the table, but he didn't. Although, in juxtaposition, there is the idea that his disciples weren't an official group that he chose, and he didn't just announce "I choose these 12 people to be my disciples." How do we not know that Jesus chose a woman like Mary Magdalene or Virgin Mary to be one of his disciples, but she was erased from history because of sexist opinions?

There is also the idea that the priest has to be male because Jesus Christ was male and the demonstration of Christ has to be a man, otherwise it will be misleading and untrue. While this is true to some extent, shouldn't the depicter of Christ have the same morals and values, do the genitals really matter?

There was also the Santa analogy that a girl raised. Yes, in a way it is kind of like Santa. But not in the way that no one is trying to change his gender, but that there's Santa Claus who is the famous one, delivers all the presents, and is in all of the songs. Then there is Mrs Claus, who stays at home baking the cookies and awaiting Santa.

Are there any patterns to different demographics' beliefs and opinions?

• Out of these interviewees, the ones who think that nothing should change because of tradition are all children/teenagers

  
  

What do you guys think about this? Let us know your opinion! Everyone thinks something different, and I'd love to know everyone's views. Whose perspective do you agree with? I'll be adding more and more perspectives to this post, so stay tuned!