<p>I can’t see my handy quote button but daaaaad said the following </p>
<p>“My late aunt, a Dominican Nun, was an unapologetic believer in the need for female priests. A recently retired Nun from from my parish felt the same. Were they bad Catholics? Of course not. They lived through the clergy crisis and they believed that women needed a stronger role in the governance of the parishes and the Church. As a “DNA Irish Catholic” I happen to agree.”</p>
<p>They were not bad Catholics because that issue is not a part of doctrine so you can be a good Catholic and can disagree. It is like the Iraq war, you can disagree and still be alright. It is important to know that you can debate these issues, but where it gets murky is when you talk about doctrine. If you don’t believe in the Real Presence of the Eucharist then you are not Catholic because that is part of Catholic doctrine and something that makes Catholics Catholics. That being said, there are a lot of debates that are fine to have.</p>
<p>As you guys know, some Theology professors and honestly some orders of priests make me nervious because I think they step over the line between their opinion on certain issues and saying things about doctrine. I don’t want to stifle the debate; the debate is good and necessary…but there are some things that either make you Catholic or not and it is important to know about those and to just be honest about where you fall on those issues.</p>
<p>Big picture: debate is good (mostly).</p>