IF THE Catholic Church does not allow women priests it will die, the outspoken west of Ireland priest, Father Padraig Standun, has said in a homily at Maynooth.
An extract from the homily is reprinted in the current issue of The Furrow. In it, Father Standun says: "When I dodder back here in 25 or 50 years time I don't want to look out on serried ranks of male clerics, on a one legged Church that denies women equality at the altar.
"Right now the Spirit is saying above all else to the churches: `Women are equal, women are equal, women are equal'. If we deny that we die as an institution, and rightly so.
"I would rather that there wouldn't stand a stone upon a stone in this building, which I have loved for more than 30 years, than we carry on as we are, complacent, self indulgent, misogynist.
"An explosion of imagination and courage could place the Church at the centre of the modern world. Priests on the ground know that a married priesthood would be accepted with alacrity and a certain amount of relief and to a certain extent it has already been accepted by the people of God who, in their wisdom, move much faster than their leaders in this area, as they have in the area of family planning, personal confession and Mass attendance.
"Certain tidal waves sweep the Church from time to time that are irresistible, and tend to leave us fighting shadows and defending the indefensible.
"John XXIII opened the fenestra when you and I were young, and we have watched hatches being battened down ever since. Was that what the Spirit wanted? I'd ask the same Spirit, better known in the incarnational church as `Thundering Jesus', to let us have a bit of thunder in us, to guide us along the right path and be true to His name."