Meet Alyssa, WOC’s Summer Intern

[Editor’s Note: This post is written by Alyssa, our summer intern whom we’re so excited to be welcoming to the WOC team! Alyssa (she/her/hers) is a Catholic young woman from California and an incoming college student. She has worked in women’s advocacy throughout high school, done personal advocacy for women’s ordination, and is very involved in her church through altar serving. She plans to major in Religious Studies and/or Late Antique Medieval Studies, and will continue her women’s rights advocacy and specifically, advocacy for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church into the future.]

Growing up as progressive Catholic in California, I was lucky to live in a family that was unequivocally supportive of gender equality in general and in the church. My dad is a deacon, and he legitimized my desire to become a deacon because if he could do it, so could I. Of course, with the current church rules, that is not possible. But, I will not let my call to serve be stopped by rules that do not align with the teachings of Jesus. I was an altar server from the age of 7, and by age 9, I made up my mind that I wanted to continue to serve in a more fuller capacity when I was older. So, the diaconate seemed a wonderful opportunity to fulfill this calling. Knowing that I was barred from this calling because of my gender was baffling because this was the first time I was aware that I was not allowed to become something because of my gender. To this day, women’s ordination is the most overtly sexist discrimination I personally face. I have a strong desire to advocate for changing this rule and promoting gender equality in the church in the form of all individuals fulfilling ordained roles. I began in a place that worked best for my skill set: writing. I began writing letters at age nine to the Pope, and as I grew older, I began to better articulate my thoughts on the issue. Whenever I had new thoughts and angles about women’s ordination, I sat down and wrote a letter. I have written five total letters to the pope and have yet to receive a reply (I am not discouraged, though!) In my own life, my rationale for becoming a deacon has shifted from one of simply continuing my altar serving roles to a more fuller understanding of the role a deacon serves to the congregation both in and outside of the mass. In recent times, I have learned of reasoning behind women’s ordination that has broadened my scope of the importance of the issue. The Women’s Ordination Conference has clearly outlined why all genders should be able to be ordained, and in my mind, the clear underlying reason for this is that we are all God’s children and we should love our neighbor as we love God. This key foundation of our church and our Church’s central commandment exude equity, equality, and equal respect among all of God’s children. One could only conclude that all of God’s people should be able to be ordained. That is how simple and clear it is. Our Catholic doctrine guides us to embrace all in empathy and equity, and therefore, guides us to the ordination of all genders.