Accents By Julia Carreon-Lagoc

These we ask of thee

Two giants in the Catholic hierarchy have passed away: Pope John Paul II in the world at large and Jaime Cardinal Sin in our small part of it. It is fit and proper that our advocacies, protestations, and entreaties should now be addressed only to the living, to wit: marriage for priests, ordination of women, respect for reproductive rights, and acceptance of same-sex unions. The Church personage at the receiving end of these sought-after reforms is Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Recall how the networks got them all solemn and mournful visuals. The cardinals, the bishops, and the priests gathered grandly and hugely for the liturgical rites that laid to rest Pope John Paul II. Again, grandly and hugely thereafter, they assembled for the election of his successor resulting in Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger being hailed as Pope Benedict XVI.

Our sadness at Pope John Paul's and Cardinal Sin's passing away was marred by displeasure. Sad and especially displeased by the election of the Pope where one-half of humanity was without representation. Yes, never before has absolute male dominance been so spectacularly depicted. Recall that in both funerals, it was only in the latter part of the procession that women religious came into view.

And thus, I find myself asking: Where is womankind? Oh, Mother Mary, ever help us.

I remember how the topic of women priests turned up in our meal table. It came as a tasty morsel for discussion at the height of pedophilia cases against priests. My daughter Rose across the table said, “If my son [seven-year old James Raphael] will embrace priesthood, I'll lobby for allowing priests to marry.” Said I as if vying as to whose threshold of tolerance rises higher: “Why, I would even go for women priests.” So there!

Women in cassocks. Does the idea jolt the Catholic mind? Or priests as family men? These pictures may not be far behind. Perhaps, not during the term of Benedict XVI who is reputed to be a conservative. Cardinal Ratzinger, now Benedict XVI, is not the Pope we expect to approve the ordination of women. “Not in my time,” the new Pope might say. One in the mold of liberal Pope John XXIII may yet surface to make history: priesthood for women and marriage for priests.

Say, brethren, why should women not be accepted into the priesthood? Statistics show women own half of Galileo's sky, or did we outnumber the men already? And that study (I can't locate it for the moment) says women make better bosses than men. I dare say, we are generally more nurturing than our male counterpart. Else, why do we say Mother Earth?

This writer's fearless forecast is to find fellow Catholics one day hearing Mass with womankind officiating at the altar. This to happen within the Second Millennium. The priest of the feminine gender will no longer be consigned to the role of priestess in pagan rites popularized in filmdom and storybooks. Behold woman with all the habiliments, rights and privileges of priesthood. Just you wait.

Sexism has fallen away. Women have stopped being second-class citizens a long time ago. Women have triumphed in fields of endeavor once considered male territory. Somebody (probably a male of the species) said something like, “What a man can do, a woman can do better.”

Well, the future beckons and the Church must face it. Sooner or later, it will turn up with a Pope under whose tenure priests are allowed to marry, women are ordained, reproductive rights are respected more than ever, and same-sex unions are sanctioned. The last is already legalized in some states in America. How enduring is the marriage of a man to another man or a woman to another woman will be a subject for a separate column. (Comments to juliaclagoc@yahoo.com )