“Women should be allowed to be priests,” my sister-in-law said at one of those holiday family gatherings when everyone in our large family is together for Christmas. “What do you think, Betsy?” Suddenly the entire room seemed very quiet and all eyes were on me, waiting for my response.

Questions about the Church don’t come up often in our extended family, and no one has ever asked for my opinion. How do you answer questions like that when one is among mostly “fallen-away” Catholics? And why did my opinion seem to matter so much?

My response took some thought. How could I explain my position in a way she would understand? The Church has been in the news so much recently, and it seemed everyone in the family had their own opinions about allowing priests to marry and opening the priesthood to women.

“I’d be fine with women priests,” I finally said. “If the pope decided tomorrow that women could be ordained to the priesthood, I’d be ok with that. But what I have is a deep respect for the pope’s authority as leader of the Church on earth, an authority, I believe, given to Peter and his successors by Christ himself. As a member of that Church, I feel I need to live, in the best way I know how, in union with the teachings and position of the Church at this particular point in history.”

She accepted my answer; she even seemed to understand, but – you could see she was thinking again – that would mean I believe all that the Catholic Church holds to be true, even its position on birth control! The contraception question was on her lips, but the conversation quickly turned as a stream of noisy children entered the room. I hope someday we will be able to continue our discussion. I learned natural family planning a long time ago and would like to explain that to her too.

The conversation with my sister-in-law lead to some further reflections on my profession of faith and the Church. Yes, I do believe in “One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church”. Those words send tingles down my spine when I repeat them each Sunday at Mass. That’s because I can remember a time in my life when I didn’t believe. I struggled with the Church’s position on birth control and other issues and certainly didn’t feel like I needed to surrender my thinking to the authority of the Church. The Church, I felt, had some good qualities but the hierarchy just wasn’t keeping up with the times.

Gradually, and with lots of prayer, I experienced a conversion of my thinking. It began with just an uncomfortable feeling and a desire to change; it has become a gift through which Christ continues to pour out his grace. Over the years my husband and I have had opportunities to grow in our understanding of the insights and wisdom through which our pope speaks on marriage and the family. The teachings of the Church are a treasure that I am so very thankful I have received!

For me to profess a faith in One Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church means to witness to the truth of her teachings everyday of my life. I do that by striving to understand what the Church teaches and why she teaches it. Most importantly, I try to live in union with her teachings as a member of this one body of Christ.

By Betsy


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