The Journey of a Young Female Catholic in Advocacy for Women’s Ordination: My Personal Experience

[Editors Note: Alyssa is our Spring 2023 intern at WOC, and she will also be joining “The Table” as a Tuesday guest blogger for the month of February.]

My name is Alyssa and I would like to share with you my past and present journey with advocacy for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church. I have always been a devout Catholic, and I began altar serving with my siblings when I was seven years old. I was always empowered by my family and community, and at the age of nine, I aspired to become a Catholic deacon when I was older. I knew that women were not allowed in that role for reasons that seemed counter to experience, and my family encouraged me to pursue my advocacy for women’s ordination. 

Around my tenth birthday, I sent out my first letter to the Pope, who was at that time the newly elected Pope Francis. I focused part of my letter on congratulating him on becoming Pope, but also urging him to act on changing the church laws against women’s ordination. Unfortunately, I received no reply, and never have on the five subsequent letters I sent over the next ten years. As the Pope of 1.3 billion Catholics, I know he receives a multitude of mail, and never expected a reply. I just hoped someone had read them. The second letter focused more on women’s ordination and was more pointed, but I was still a young teenager writing only about my personal experience as a girl in the Catholic Church. 

The third letter was sent some time later, in September of 2019. I was a junior in high school, and since writing my last letter, I had founded the Women’s Advocacy Club at my high school two years prior, and had been an active altar server in my church for over eight years by this time. I had also grown in my own wish to become a deacon when I was of age; it was not to be like my dad when I was older, but because of a personal call to the diaconate. I was more knowledgeable about women’s ordination, more inspired to act, and more empowered by my experiences. In this letter, I touched on not only my personal experiences, but theology, and my response dug into the passion and emotion of fellow women advocating for this change. I was pointed, and checked the flaws of my argument for women’s ordination I had discussed, and drawbacks to his public support and advocacy for women’s ordination. Lastly, I signed the letter, “a fellow child of God,” to remind him of our common faith and place in God’s eyes. I also highlighted the consequences for women if he did not advocate. I tried to walk the line between humility and disrespect, but remain convicted and clear. This letter really displayed my journey, not only as a Catholic, but as a woman. To increase the chance of my letter getting read and replied to, I wrote it in English, and translated it into Spanish and Italian, the languages the Pope is most comfortable in. I also sent the letter to his personal residence (address available online) and the main address for letters, the Apostolic Palace. I would send the letters with translated copies of them to the two different addresses each time I wrote a letter going forward. 

On my winter break of 2019-2020, I felt compelled to reach out to the Pope yet again, even though it had only been four months since my previous letter. I began writing this fourth letter to the Pope, and though it mirrored the third letter in vigor and general ideas, I highlighted different concepts than before. I told him of my future plans for a career in diplomacy in mediating religious conflict. But most notably, I criticized him more, coupling that with encouragement that the difficulty of this advocacy will be worth it in the pursuit of justice. In my critique, I specifically wrote, “these steps you have taken are good, but you must take more to truly come closer to having Christ’s church on earth.” This was bold, but as I became older, I felt it necessary to share bold strokes of knowledge, so that more of an impact could be made. This time I signed it, “a fellow Catholic,” which again reminded him of our similar position as Catholics. 

The fifth letter was sent during the pandemic, which I touched on in the letter, as it was a common experience between us. In August of 2020, I was gearing up for my senior year of high school, college applications, the 2020 election, all in this dystopian environment of isolation and a lack of normalcy. I wanted to further my advocacy for women’s ordination beyond my individual letters and work. I specifically remember watching the Democratic National Convention and hearing Sister Simone Campbell from NETWORK and “Nuns on the Bus” do the invocation, and was inspired by her words of advocacy and social justice. She inspired me to not only reach out to her, but to write to the Pope yet again. When I did reach out to her and shared my experiences, she warmly encouraged me to continue my advocacy, and made me aware of the Women’s Ordination Conference. I then became a member of this wonderful organization and eventually worked for them in the summer of 2021 and continue to work for them now (I am so grateful to have been led to this organization!). I wrote with more authority now, as I grew into young adulthood, and touched on the theology, passion and emotion of this movement. In this letter, I specifically focused on the importance of the Pope’s support and advocacy for women’s ordination, and how so many individuals would stand by him in this advocacy. It was a strong letter, but one filled with hope, something we all needed in August 2020. This time, I signed the letter, “a fellow servant of God,” which yet again, denoted our equality as human beings in God’s eyes. It had now been over seven years since I had written that first letter, and so much had changed for me personally and in the world, and the letters reflected this accordingly.

The most recent letter, my sixth one, was written over two years after the previous letter. It was now December 2022, and I had changed so much as a person in the previous two years. I was a sophomore in college, and had so many great experiences. I was more knowledgeable about the women’s ordination movement, and had participated in collective advocacy for it. This letter spoke to my experiences in church and life before college, and during it. As a religious studies major, with a concentration in Christian studies, and a late antique medieval studies minor, I had already taken many courses in the study of Christian theology and the history of Christianity. I had also conducted my own research and scholarly writing on Saint Brigit of Kildare, an inspiring female saint, who was very representative of the role of monastic women in the Catholic Church in 5th and 6th century Ireland. I used this knowledge to write theological and historical arguments on behalf of women’s ordination, speaking with an academic authority I previously did not have. I touched on scriptural interpretation, and yet still discussed the contemporary politics of Pope Francis’s circumstances, and the passion and emotion of this movement. I maintained my complimentary close of “a fellow servant of God,” and sent the letter in three languages to both addresses yet again.

Every time I send a letter, even though I have yet to receive a reply, I am once again empowered and feel as though I am making a ripple in the pond of women’s ordination advocacy. We must each use our skills we have to improve this movement, to make it stronger, to make it more successful. I am a writer at heart, so along with using my other strengths to further the movement, I will keep writing letters to the Pope. When will I write my next letter? I could not tell you, but when the spirit calls me, and I have new thoughts and experiences to share, I will write.