Women Priests Favored in Latin America



The Christian polling organization, Pew Research, found that women priests are favored in Latin America. If that news isn't bad enough for the Pope and the Vatican, Latin American Catholics also favor abortion rights. The Vatican can always refer to Peter hearing from Jesus that men are supposed to run the church but these days it just causes an eye roll. Does anyone care anymore what the old-time Catholic guy organization thinks? And the same eye rolls happen in Protestant denominations that prevent women from taking the pulpit. I'd suggest the old white men check the calendar.  

The is lots of internet ink discussing the decline in Christian numbers, churches closing and a smaller Christian footprint. Christian pundits dance around the real issues, particularly the role of and respect for women. It's as if, "We can handle this temporary downturn in our numbers. All we have to do is shout 'God will punish you' louder and people will knuckle under and come back to church. One thing we must avoid is letting women into the power circle." The irony is that the only way to save the faith is to let women in.

The excuses for keeping women out are so many I can't remember them all. Jesus had only guys on his staff. Men, Adam, came before Eve. Men are more stable and better balanced emotionally. One gender needs to be in charge--tradition decided it is to be men. Fill in other ridiculous excuses you might have heard. 

There is an old movie that is instructive. In it, Frank Sinatra plays a gagster. A mob of angry citizens appears outside the gang headquarters. Sinatra's character peeks out the window and says to the other gagsters, "Hey, we can handle the cops. It's them I'm afraid of."

Men running Christianity need not fear the God or Jesus of the faith. It's those in the pews who hold the  ultimate destiny. 

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