Priests’ statement on women’s equality is ‘insulting’

Staff reporter

A leading Catholic activist has criticised as “insulting” a joint statement from 12 priests which claimed that women were oppressed within the Church.

The 12 priests, many of whom have been prominent in the Association of Catholic Priests (ACP), agreed in the statement that they could “no longer remain silent because to do so colludes with the systemic oppression of women within the Catholic Church”.

However, Petra Conroy of Catholic Comment told The Irish Catholic that “the idea that women are oppressed in the Church is almost insulting,” claiming that it suggests Catholic women have “accepted a very inferior role”.

“I couldn’t be part of a Church that didn’t have at its heart, which the Catholic Church does have at its heart, a respect and value for the dignity of every person.

“That idea that women are treated as second class citizens in the Church is a clerical view that sees the clergy at the top and a serious lack of understanding of the lay vocation,” she said.