Why can’t women be priests? Will the Catholic Church, can the Catholic Church change its teaching on this topic? Join me for a discussion with Catherine Renneberg, a master’s student of theology at Newman Theological College, as she makes a case for why women will not and cannot be Catholic priests. Be sure to check out the first episode in this set of episodes, a discussion with Reverend Marie-Louise Ternier, an Anglican female priest who left the Catholic Church after 50 years over the issue of female priesthood.

Can - and should - women be priests? What is the experience of a woman who has been ordained outside of the Catholic Church?

Reverend Marie-Louise Ternier - who, as a woman, is an ordained priest within the Anglican Church of Canada. Reverend Marie-Louise was born and raised Catholic but - through an extensive journey - left Catholicism and joined the Anglican Church of Canada in 2016, due to the Catholic teaching on female ordination. In this episode we have a dialogue between her perspective as a former Catholic and Anglican priest and my perspective as a Catholic woman who enthusiastically agrees with the Catholic teaching on female priesthood.

In November 2017, Reverend Marie-Louise was ordained as an Anglican priest at the age of 62. She currently lives in the rural Saskatchewan town of Humbodlt and serves as the priest and rector at All Saints Anglican Parish/Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, in Watrous, Saskatchewan.

This is a two-part series. Watch for Part II, a conversation in defense of the Catholic teaching on priesthood.

Note: I am a practicing Catholic and I agree with the Catholic teaching on why priesthood is a calling created solely for men and Reverend Marie-Louise is coming from a different theological perspective than myself. It is also worth mentioning that the basis of this podcast is dialogue - which is very much distinct from debate, so while we certainly go back and forth about our differing views and we do conversationally debate - I did not take a position of outright debating or arguing with Reverend Marie-Louise, although we still do nonetheless, disagree on several essential points, especially regarding the interpretation of Pope John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and how it may connect to the women being ordained as priests. The goal of this dialogue is to clearly hear someone’s story and to have clarity about what they believe and why they believe it and Reverend Marie-Louise is a gracious and open partner in this endeavor.

Reverend Marie-Louise’s personal blog, which includes a more in-depth narration of her story and theological perspective:
https://graceatsixty.wordpress.com/

Pope John Paul II’s 1994 Letter Which States Why The Catholic Church Does Not Have the Authority To Ordain Women
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19940522_ordinatio-sacerdotalis.htm

What are the highs and lows of our sex education experience? How can parents talk about sex with their kids in a way that doesn’t lead to awkward, irreverent associations with sex?

Join my sister Hannah and I as we have an open discussion about her work in sex education, the harms of over-spiritualizing sex education between parents and kids, when and how it is helpful to bring theology into sex education, our own highs and lows of how we were educated on sex in our formative years.

We both grew up in a big, Catholic family of 8 kids and it was wonderful to compare with her our experience of sex education growing up, how it has impacted us as adults, and to share our musings on how parents could better talk about sex with their teenagers!