Quote of the Day

"It was only when I began expressing my solidarity with women in the Church, that I recognized how deeply sexism and power permeate the priesthood. Somehow we have lost our way, forgotten the teachings of Jesus, and evolved into a very powerful and privileged clerical culture. It saddens me that so many of my fellow priests see women as a threat to their power. As men, we claim that we, and we alone, can interpret the Holy Scriptures and know the will of God. We profess that men and women are created in the image and likeness of God, but as men we have created God in our own image. And this God is very small, very male, and sees women as the lesser of men."

That one's from Roy Bourgeois, writing in the Religion Dispatches of his experience being a Catholic priest and social justice activist for 40 years.

In November 2012, the Vatican removed Bourgeois from his spiritual community and the priesthood for failing to recant his support for the ordination of women, which the Vatican considers a "grave scandal."

His observations about the Vatican's male supremacy and the creation of god in the image of fallible men are ones, of course, women have made for years. It still something, though, when men break ranks with the class of Sacred Men in furtherance of eradicating men's unearned privilege and entitlement to think of themselves as somehow closer to god and "his" will, compared to women.

The comment section over at Religion Dispatches is interesting, too, especially from my perspective as one who, unlike many of the debate participants, does not accept fundamental premises of Christianity or recognize their version of "god" as authoritative or true.  To me, it's like watching people debate about whether The Watcher's Council should allow men to be vampire slayers, except the debate participants think they're talking about reality rather than fiction.


Related:
Not a Christian, But
Not a Christian, But (Part Two)
Book Review: A Church of Her Own