When I was a girl, the rule was that a female couldn't be a priest. I embraced that rule right up through my freshman year of college, when I defended the male-only priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church as "sacred tradition."
In the fifteen years since then, I've met dozens of female clergy, Christian and Jewish, who have helped me reimagine who can be a pastor. A year and a half ago, a discernment committee helped me affirm what I had come to suspect: that I, a woman, had a vocation to priestly ministry.
This year, I've embraced that vocation, becoming a house-church priest.
And the other day, I received clergy apparel in the mail.
Can a woman wear a clerical collar?
I'm wearing one. The garb is the outer sign of an inner truth: I am minister, pastor, priest.
It's just clothing. But now my outside matches my inside. I'm humbled by what I see in the mirror, and I yearn to embrace all that that means for me.
In the fifteen years since then, I've met dozens of female clergy, Christian and Jewish, who have helped me reimagine who can be a pastor. A year and a half ago, a discernment committee helped me affirm what I had come to suspect: that I, a woman, had a vocation to priestly ministry.
This year, I've embraced that vocation, becoming a house-church priest.
And the other day, I received clergy apparel in the mail.
Can a woman wear a clerical collar?
I'm wearing one. The garb is the outer sign of an inner truth: I am minister, pastor, priest.
It's just clothing. But now my outside matches my inside. I'm humbled by what I see in the mirror, and I yearn to embrace all that that means for me.
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