Q: When is the Church going to be more inclusive of women in the Church?

A: I cannot agree with your inference women are inferior in the Catholic Church. This is certainly not grounded in any teaching of the Church, which states that women and men are equal in dignity.

If you are referring to the fact that women are not able to be ordained as priests, the following reflection by Mary Ann Glendon, Harvard Law Professor and the first female President of the Church's official Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, has this to say, writing in Crisis Magazine in 1995:

“As for the priesthood, it is not a job, but a calling from God. It is not about power, but service. To be sure, this kind of calling is reserved to men, but the call to holiness is universal. Who would claim that Mother Teresa's call to holiness is inferior to, because it is different from, that of the archbishop of Calcutta?”

Pope John Paul II in particular made many statements defending the place of women in the community, especially advocating for the needs of women in society, noting “as far as personal rights are concerned, there is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights and the recognition of everything that is part of the rights and duties of citizens in a democratic State.” (Letter to Women, 1995, n4)

He also affirmed women who are mothers, wives, daughters and sisters, women who work, women who are consecrated and indeed every woman “for the simple fact of being a woman!” (n2).

Despite the pope's statements, and his acknowledgement that the Church and society has not always defended women's interests, some women continue to feel that the Church has been slow to review her own structures and the actions of her own people in making this teaching a reality.