My time in the Philippines began as a missionary with the SVD, an order of the Roman Catholic Church, where my role was to try to alleviate poverty. I stayed in this role for the first two of my almost six years here. I am writing in response to Joel Butuyan’s excellent column titled, “The Church discriminates against women” (Opinion, 12/4/16).
His points are well taken and I agree with all of them, except that he did not make a couple of connections that I wish he had made. The prohibition of women becoming Catholic priests is bound to have profound effects on the self-confidence and assertiveness of women in this mostly Catholic country. This contributes to overpopulation and its consequent poverty in the Philippines. How can a woman refuse a man wanting to have as many children as he can when only men are leaders in their faith?
Pope John Paul’s assertion that Jesus chose only men as apostles is not accurate. As we know, Jesus did not ordain anyone. Jesus also chose a woman, Mary Magdalene, to be the first witness to His resurrection, which is at the core of the Roman Catholic faith. Mary Magdalene became known as “the apostle to the apostles.”
ROWLAND LANE ANDERSON, andersonlane47@yahoo.com