Next time someone suggests priestesses in the Church

The next time someone is insisting that there is no good reason why women can't be priests (besides bad grammar) ask them these two questions:

1. What is the nature of the priesthood?

2. Who was the Bishop of Calcutta during the time of Mother Theresa?

Note that I'm not here saying anything about whether the nature of the priesthood excludes women from Holy Orders (actually, only from some orders). However, my universal experience is that the more strident defenders of opening the priesthood to women have thought very little about what the priesthood is. So I don't offer this question as an *argument* but rather as a *filter*. To propose such a drastic change in the Tradition is rash apart from serious meditation on the nature of the act.

The second question obviously makes a different point. I often hear the word "status" when people are telling me that the Priesthood should be expanded to include women. Sainthood, one should keep in mind, is quite open to women.