Many have expressed surprise at Ireland being the venue for such a ground-breaking event as the first international conference on the ordination of women. Perhaps the reason lies with the Pope himself. When he visited the United States several years ago, a young priest shouted from the crowd: "Holy Father, are you going to ordain women priests?" The Pope answered: "It's a long way to Tipperary . . ."
For many women, and for all who support them, it has indeed been a long, long way to having their vocations welcomed by the church community to which they belong. Long and arduous, with many obstacles and roadblocks.
But tomorrow at least 345 people from 27 countries on five continents will gather at the O'Reilly Hall in UCD to celebrate the call of women to a renewed priesthood in the Catholic Church.
They will be responding to the call of the Spirit, to give public witness to what they believe God is doing in the church today. They are celebrating the good news that God does not have a favourite gender, and that women as well as men are called to minister on behalf of the God in whose image they are made.
Because of the climate of fear now permeating the church community, attending to such a conference takes courage and love. Cardinal Daneels of Brussels made the telling comment at last month's consistory in Rome that "what is most needed in the church now is freedom of speech".
The most damaging structure in the church today is the parapet behind which so many of us - lay people, priests, religious, bishops and even cardinals - hide. At least one bishop took Cardinal Daneels's words seriously.
Bishop Roger Vangheluwe of Bruges has since spoken out in favour of the ordination of women. Where there is no freedom of speech, the truth is not heard and the spirit is quenched.
The conference opens on the feast of Saints Peter and Paul. One remembers how Paul confronted Peter and told him he was wrong to allow human rules to stifle the good news.
Paul had the courage to speak up and Peter the humility to listen. What would the church be today if this kind of courageous dialogue hadn't taken place?
What will the church be tomorrow if it doesn't allow dialogue on women's ordination? A patriarchal remnant? Mairead Corrigan Maguire, the Nobel Peace laureate from Belfast, will open the conference tomorrow night.
Some have wondered what a passionate commitment to peace and non-violence has to do with women's ordination. The answer is to be found in the chapter "A Peacemaking Church" in her book The Vision of Peace.
All forms of violence in the church need to be faced and repented of. This includes the violence of sexism.
The message is clear: a community which does violence to women's vocations cannot be a bearer of God's peace.
With prayerful, joyful celebration, challenging reflection and discussion, will also come the action. An important part of the conference will be the voting on resolutions for action.
There are 13 draft resolutions, distilled from over 70 received from groups and individual members of Women's Ordination Worldwide.
Discernment will be facilitated by the contributions of the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, a priest in the Church of England, Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister and scripture scholar John Wijngaards, as well as an international panel.
The moving words of Father John J. Egan, a priest for 60 years in the Chicago archdiocese who died last month, sum it up. In his own "last testament", titled Use the Gifts God Gives, he wrote in the US National Catholic Reporter on June 1st this year: "Now I have to ask our church to open its eyes and lift its voice on behalf of another justice issue - the church's commitment to the broadest possible inclusion of women in positions of leadership and authority in the church, including further study and discussion of the ordination of women. The church has the obligation to use all the gifts God has given it to fulfil its mission. My plea and prayer on behalf of the church I deeply love is to affirm this commitment and to act upon it."
This week the relics of St Therese of Lisieux were in Co Tipperary. She wanted so much to be a priest! It has been a long way . . . but now is the time!
Soline Vatinel is spokeswoman for the WOW 2001 Dublin Conference and for Brothers and Sisters in Christ (BASIC) which was founded in 1995 in Ireland to promote the cause of women's ordination in the Catholic Church. Website: www.wow2001.org