E52: Why I Became A Female Priest ft. Former Catholic and Anglican Priest Marie-Louise Ternier

Can - and should - women be priests? What is the experience of a woman who has been ordained outside of the Catholic Church? 

Reverend Marie-Louise Ternier - who, as a woman, is an ordained priest within the Anglican Church of Canada. Reverend Marie-Louise was born and raised Catholic but - through an extensive journey - left Catholicism and joined the Anglican Church of Canada in 2016, due to the Catholic teaching on female ordination.  In this episode we have a dialogue between her perspective as a former Catholic and Anglican priest and my perspective as a Catholic woman who enthusiastically agrees with the Catholic teaching on female priesthood. 

In November  2017, Reverend Marie-Louise was ordained as an Anglican priest at the age of 62. She currently lives in the rural Saskatchewan town of Humbodlt and serves as the priest and rector at All Saints Anglican Parish/Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, in Watrous, Saskatchewan. 

This is a two-part series. Watch for Part II, a conversation in defense of the Catholic teaching on priesthood. 

Note: I am a practicing Catholic and I agree with the Catholic teaching on why priesthood is a calling created solely for men and Reverend Marie-Louise is coming from a different theological perspective than myself. It is also worth mentioning that the basis of this podcast is dialogue - which is very much distinct from debate, so while we certainly go back and forth about our differing views and we do conversationally debate - I did not take a position of outright debating or arguing with Reverend Marie-Louise, although we still do nonetheless, disagree on several essential points, especially regarding the interpretation of Pope  John Paul II’s Theology of the Body and how it may connect to the women being ordained as priests.  The goal of this dialogue is to clearly hear someone’s story and to have clarity about what they believe and why they believe it and Reverend Marie-Louise is a gracious and open partner in this endeavor. 

Reverend Marie-Louise’s personal blog, which includes a more in-depth narration of her story and theological perspective:
https://graceatsixty.wordpress.com/

Pope John Paul II’s 1994 Letter Which States Why The Catholic Church Does Not Have the Authority To Ordain Women
https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/apost_letters/1994/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_19940522_ordinatio-sacerdotalis.htm