https://www.religiondigital.org/espana/Cristina-Moreira-presbitera-sacerdotisa-Victorino-altar-Papa-Gaillot_0_2770522935.html
Cristina Moreira, priest:
"Something tells me that there's not much time left, that the process is accelerating. If it's from God, it will be."
Very soon, little Cristina began to realize that, in her Roman Catholic tradition, there was only one way to make her dream come true: to become a priest. But that was unthinkable.
“And yes, passion, in all its meanings—including that which leads to Calvary—with all that it entails in terms of total and unconditional love; passion for the Meaning without which my life would have no meaning; passion at any price, and passion to share, without limits or restraints, as far as God and life allow me to live it.”
As he feared, when he told his dream, "they told me to shut up forever, I was showered with criticism, insults, and even arrests, and a lot of misunderstanding."
"My husband, Victorino, was the first priest who dared to listen to my story of vocation without fear and with openness, with affection and reciprocity, accepting my testimony as valid, without judging me or prohibiting me from doing anything."
Even as a child, Cristina Moreira had a passion: “To celebrate Mass, to perpetuate the memory, to obey Jesus' last will, the bread, the wine, to wash feet, to gather her friends around his table and pray until they tried to understand and experience what he wanted: the communion of heart and life, made of service and love.”
Very soon, little Cristina began to realize that, in her Roman Catholic tradition, there was only one way to make her dream come true: to become a priest. But that was unthinkable. “It wasn't possible in my imagination to imagine myself in that profession.”
Then, “the passion for the only way open to obedience to the command heard in my heart was born… foolish me, foolish Jesus who trusted me to receive him and carry out what I was sent to do?”
But passion doesn't ask if it has the right to be born in the heart, nor does it explain the steps to take to make it a reality. It simply arises and grows. "And yes, passion, in all its meanings—including that which leads to Calvary—with all that it entails in terms of total and unconditional love; passion for the Meaning without which my life would have no meaning; passion at any price, and passion to share, without limits or restraints, as far as God and life allow me to live it."
A taboo passion in the Catholic universe that Cristina had to hide for a long time . “Thirty years of my life hiding a secret, a treasure I feared would be trampled like the pearls of the Gospel. And that could have been destroyed so many times afterward, when I told it.”
Because, as he feared, when he told his dream, “they told me to shut up forever, I was showered with criticism, insults, and even arrests, and a lot of misunderstanding . ”
But Cristina didn't give up on her dream and learned "to forgive as she went along, to get up again and again." And after years of discernment, "first alone and then accompanied and valued from outside, I studied theology and set out with the ARCWP, to receive the sacrament of Holy Orders from the Roman Priests and their bishops."
Moreira was ordained a deacon in A Coruña in 2013 by a female bishop. Or a female bishop, a word that is recognized by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE). Two years later, in 2015, he became a priest, but to do so he had to travel to Florida; that wasn't possible in Spain.
A sacrament that he now practices daily in the midst of his “wonderful” Christian Community of Home Novo in A Coruña .
One of her faithful followers is her husband, who is also a priest and prestigious theologian: Victorino Pèrez Prieto .
“My husband, Victorino, was the first priest who dared to listen to my story of vocation without fear and with openness, with affection and reciprocity, accepting my testimony as valid, without judging me or prohibiting me from doing anything. For the first time, I heard a priest say: 'Of course you have a vocation and you would deserve to fulfill it. I understand.'”
And from that shared vocation and passion, love was born between them . “It was only to be expected that such a shared relationship would unite us more than any other bond. It is the unbreakable and eternal quality of our marriage, which was first a communion of soul to soul.”
And the culmination of her joy was when her young daughter took up and embraced her mother's passion . "My daughter surprised me on the day of my diaconal ordination, which she participated in with pride and joy, saying that she had always known who her mother was, that you can't hide that from a daughter."
And how does the Church hierarchy react to the challenge posed by Cristina Moreira? Well, although it may seem surprising, the majority reacts with respect toward the priestess, sometimes in silence and other times even with gestures and words. "I remember a cardinal I met with during the Synod in Rome, who tried to convince me to redirect my vocation, and I convinced him. We said goodbye, I saw he was moved, and he concluded by saying: 'You've shaken me out of my certainties. I don't know what to think anymore. I want to see you again. We have to keep talking.'"
Shortly before her ordination, Christine went to visit Jacques Gaillot , the famous bishop of the poor , forced to resign by John Paul II for his radical criticism of ecclesiastical clericalism. To ask for his advice.
-“If you tell me to back down, I will,” she said, absolutely convinced.
- “I just have one question before I give you my opinion: Do you have ground under your feet?” asked the bishop.
-“Yes, a community has sent me that I am going to serve.”
-“Then go ahead, you have my blessing.”
After the meeting, in which Christina received the French prelate's approval, they met the rector of the Paris major seminary in the courtyard of Gaillot's residence . The bishop, prophetic as ever, said to her: "I present Christina. She is to be ordained a priest." To their surprise, the rector congratulated her.
Therefore, Cristina, always conciliatory, concludes: "There is much goodness left within the walls of the Church, and I can attest that I have enjoyed some of it. The critics? May God help them understand that we have come to help."
And what do ordinary people, on the street, say to the priestess? “The most common thing is surprise, admiration, and lots of questions of all kinds. It makes me very happy to talk to ordinary people, with whom everything is usually very logical and reasonable. Anyone who has attended our community celebrations doesn't come away criticizing us. We are family-oriented, warm, hospitable, joyful, and people of faith, adults, and responsible.”
After so much struggle, Cristina sees a clear horizon for her passion to be fully fulfilled and for the glass ceiling that the female priesthood still has in the Church to fall . “I believe that time and space are inventions that allow people to realize the love that we are, necessary frameworks for life. Kairos, God's time, will come when it is ripe. Something tells me it's not long now, that the process is accelerating. If it's from God, it will be.”
That's why it hurts her even more that Pope Francis, the Pope of Spring, didn't want to receive her or her fellow priests . "It hurts that a brother doesn't receive you. I have so many things to tell him, so much to say, even from Jesus. I would love to keep nothing inside in his presence. Women, all human beings, are needed in this family, as in all, in their beautiful and holy diversity. God's plan is humanity standing, dignified, free, and loving. That is the Eucharist, and something tells me we need it."
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