I would recommend this website: www.womanpriests.org as being a really good resourse for people who are fighting for the inclusion of female priests in the catholic church (or is that just an impossible dream? Would the Catholic Church stop being catholic if it allowed female priests? I don't know...)
I especially love this article http://www.womenpriests.org/theology/marcella.asp looking at the, I think slightly wierd, idea that woman can't be ordained because they don't look enough like Jesus and the disciples (we just don't have enough penis...). I love her end paragraph where she says:
"But if we define the church as living community in dialogue with Jesus, we keep growing together in a deeper understanding of theology, sexuality and the church’s mission and yes, we look like Jesus, and curiously women, on whose oppression depends all Patriarchal institutions including the church, may look more as Jesus than the pope himself and the whole male priesthood together. It is our actions and ministering in community, our commitment to justice and peace, which ultimately demonstrates who looks like Jesus and who doesn’t."
AMAZING! I think I love her. And she works at Edinburgh uni - even more amazing.
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well, here is question to liven the debate up... if we are describing the church as a community 'in dialouge with Jesus,' is theology something which we think about and then act upon or is it a reflection rooted our world and culture... a brief unpacking: Theology, handed down through out history sets the context through which we view the world and act (for instance the historical doctrine of the trinity or the idea of people being called to vocations, or roles in society, to do particular tasks) vs living among the homeless and looking into scripture to see what God is to this homeless person and then acting from that reflection... very nuanced differences, but I think the question is an interesting one... won't reveal though what I think at this point...
I'm not completly sure I follow what you're saying. Do we really have to choose between those two scenarios, when there seems to me to be value in both. I think that while theology is something we use to see the world, its also affected by our worldview (why I think some bits of the bible are sexist even though God isn't sexist), which is why theology does tend to change as society changes (although lagging about 200 years behind).
On the other hand, for example, my opinions on women in ministry weren't formed by theology, they were formed through seeing christian women being amazing leaders and teachers and knowing that this was a Godly thing, and my theology was devloped from an already formed opinion.
Not really sure if what I just said made much sense though..
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