I have a feeling that if St. Teresa of Ávila were alive today, she would have quite a few things to say about the Church. And I suspect some of them would make the hierarchy very uncomfortable!
Teresa was not the sort of woman who would just sit in a corner and wait for the Holy Spirit to speak to her. She was a mystic, a reformer, a spiritual leader, a very gifted writer, and a woman with a fantastic sense of humor. She loved God with all her heart; she was a sharp critic of religious complacency, and she would by no means let any powerful man have the final say in what God could do through a woman.
In other words, she'd have been absolutely at home with a lot of the women priests I know!
On her feast day (October 15), I celebrate Teresa not just as one of the great mystics of our Catholic tradition, but as a spiritual sister to the women priests working so hard today for a Church that is more inclusive, more compassionate, and more just.
A Woman Who Refused to Give Up
Born in Ávila in 1515, Teresa entered the Carmelite Order and concluded that religious life needed renewal. She envisioned communities of simplicity, contemplative prayer, friendship, and a very personal relationship with God.
Her vision was not universally welcomed.
The religious authorities met her with suspicion, opposition, investigation, and resistance. Some saw her reforms as dangerous. Others questioned whether a woman should hold such spiritual authority at all.
Sound familiar?
Teresa was absolutely determined. She went on to found 17 reformed Carmelite convents during her lifetime and worked with St John of the Cross to reform the order.
What strikes me most is that Teresa didn't walk away from the Church because of its failings. She loved the Church so much that she was prepared to challenge it.
That's something I can totally relate to.
When I was ordained as a Roman Catholic woman priest in Pittsburgh in 2006, I knew full well that the institutional Church did not recognize that ordination. I also knew, deep down in my soul, that the Spirit was calling women into priestly ministry.
Like Teresa I think that fidelity to God can at times mean that we have to challenge the very structures which prevent the Church from living the fullness of the Gospel.
We're not leaving the Church. We're helping to renew it from within.
Teresa Knew That Women Had Spiritual Authority
Teresa lived in a society and a Church where women were expected to be obedient, submissive, and largely silent in the sphere of religious leadership.
Yet she became one of Christianity's most influential spiritual teachers.
Through her writings (The Interior Castle and The Way of Perfection) she taught countless generations of Christians how to discover the Divine Presence which is in their soul.
In 1970, Pope Paul VI declared her a Doctor of the Church, the first woman to receive this honor.
Imagine that! A woman whose spiritual authority was doubted in her lifetime is now an official teacher of the Universal Church.
And here we are over 500 years after her birth, still hearing the arguments that women cannot represent Christ sacramentally at the altar.
I wonder what Teresa would think.
I think she'd probably raise an eyebrow, smile, and remind us that the Holy Spirit has never been all that interested in human restrictions!
Of course Teresa never campaigned for the ordination of women. That wasn't her role in history. What her life does show is that women have spiritual insight, leadership, and divine authority in abundance. It's just that this has been so completely subsumed by the expectations of a patriarchal culture.
Holy Friendship and a New Way of Being Church
One of the most beautiful things about Teresa's spirituality was her notion of prayer as friendship with God.
For Teresa, prayer was not just reciting the words or doing the religious thing. It was an intimate relationship with the One who loves us.
This vision speaks very much to our inclusive Catholic communities.
At Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota, FL, we come together at the Eucharistic table as equals. Everyone is welcome. Everyone's voice is important. Everyone has something to offer.
Our dialogue homilies invite the wisdom of the whole community. We are listening for the Spirit speaking through one another.
Teresa knew that real spiritual transformation comes about through love, friendship, prayer and community.
She also knew that reform starts in our own hearts.
We simply cannot build a compassionate Church while we are still attached to domination, exclusion and fear.
We cannot preach equality while at the same time excluding women from full participation in sacramental leadership.
We cannot claim that all are made in God's image and yet treat half the human family as spiritually unfit for the priesthood.
Women Priests and Teresa's Spirit of Reform
Today women priests are a contemporary form of Catholic reform.
I am not suggesting that Teresa secretly shared our 21st-century understanding of ordained ministry. We simply see the same Spirit in her life, who has continued to call women to leadership in the Church.
Like Teresa, women priests are creating new spaces in which faith can grow.
We are forming inclusive communities, celebrating Eucharist, accompanying the marginalized and proclaiming a Gospel of radical equality.
We're challenging clericalism by adopting a model of priesthood based on service rather than on privilege.
We're reminding the Church that baptism is the basis of our dignity and our participation in the mission of Christ. Not gender.
And like Teresa, we have found that reform takes patience, perseverance, prayer, and occasionally a sense of humor.
I frequently say that I have a ministry of holy irritation.
Teresa may have understood that ministry very well!
She also went on to irritate quite a few powerful people as she founded communities based on prayer and love.
Maybe holy irritation is what happens when the Spirit won't let us get comfortable with injustice.
A Saint Who Reminds Us to Keep Going
Teresa's famous prayer begins:
"Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you."
I think those words are especially significant for women who have answered the call to the priesthood despite rejection, criticism, and exclusion.
There have been times when the going has been tough in our movement. We've had our share of misunderstandings, painful splits, and resistance.
But we have also seen incredible grace.
I've seen women answer God's call with courage and with joy. I've laid hands on women whose lives are a living expression of Christ's compassion. I've celebrated Eucharist in homes, in churches, and in all kinds of inclusive communities where people who once felt very much on the outside have found that they do, in fact, belong.
These experiences serve to remind me that the Spirit is always doing something new.
Teresa's life assures us that opposition doesn't necessarily mean you're on the wrong track. It may simply be that a new movement of grace is challenging an old structure.
Her witness also reminds us to stay in contemplation, humility, and love. Reform without love can become yet another form of domination. Reform in love, however, can transform the Church.
What would Teresa say to women priests today?
I like to picture Teresa at one of our inclusive Catholic liturgies.
She might well be surprised to see a woman leading Eucharist.
She may well have some very important questions about our theology and ecclesial structures.
Knowing Teresa, I'd expect nothing less!
But I can also imagine her listening carefully to the stories of women called to the priesthood, meeting people who have returned to the Catholic community after so many years of exclusion, and seeing the sheer joy of a Eucharistic table where everyone is welcome.
Perhaps she'd recognize something familiar in it all: women listening to God, trusting the Spirit and courageously building communities of faith and equality.
And of course perhaps after a bit of a lively discussion she'd bring us back to the point that the real issue is not who has the power but whether our lives are evidencing the love of God.
That's a question every reform movement has to keep asking.
A Prayer for the Feast of St. Teresa of Ávila
Loving God, Holy Wisdom, Divine Fire of Love,
Today we give thanks for our sister Teresa of Ávila, whose love for you was so intense that it completely transformed her life and revitalized the Church.
Thanks for your courage when others didn't believe in you, your determination when the powerful were against you, and your sheer joy when the going got tough.
May her holy fire burn brightly in the women priests and in all who work for Gospel equality.
Bless the women who hear your call to the priesthood. Give them the courage to trust the sacred voice within their hearts.
Bless our inclusive Catholic communities. May they be places of healing, friendship, justice, and joy, where everyone has a place at the table.
Bless Pope Leo XIV and all the Church leaders with open hearts and listening ears. Let them see you in the gifts and ministries of women.
Help us, like Teresa, to love the Church so much that we will work to transform it.
And when we are weary, when we are discouraged, when we are tempted to just give up and go home... remind us that your Spirit is still dancing, still surprising and still calling us on.
May we never lose our courage, our compassion, or our sense of humor!
Amen.
On St. Teresa of Avila's feast day, I want to thank God for a woman who would not let the constraints of her time keep her from hearing God's call.
Her life reminds us that the Church is not a museum where everything has to be exactly as it was. It is a living body, constantly being renewed by the Holy Spirit.
Teresa reformed the Church she loved. Women priests today are carrying on that work of renewal.
And I think Teresa would remind us that the journey of reform is not over.
The Spirit is still speaking.
Women are still answering.
And, thank goodness, the holy fire is still burning!
Happy Feast Day, St. Teresa of Ávila! Pray with us as we continue to make room for everyone at the table.
Rev. Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, Co-founder, People's Catholic Seminary, Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program at Global Ministries University, Presider at Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community, Sarasota, Florida
