Sir, _ To be a priest is a vocation. Anyone who says he is worthy to be a priest has already disqualified himself.
A priest is ordained primarily to offer the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Only a male can do this, for the Mass is Calvary brought into time. When Christ said "It is consummated", He was saying that a mystical marriage between divinity and humanity was being consummated, and when Christ said: "Woman, behold Thy Son", John became the first cell in the mystical body of Christ which at that moment came into being. John was the one cell in the mystical body, inactive, until Pentecost, when there was an explosion of cells.
When Christ said: "Son, behold thy Mother", Mary became the mother of the whole Mystical Body and carries the members in her mystical womb to be delivered to the Father at death. Mary was essential to Calvary, as essential as any bride in a marriage, her role to care, to nurture to bring to fruition.
For a woman to say she can become a priest is as ludicrous as to say she can father a child. It is not her role. Each of us is called to be another Mary. What a glorious vocation. - Yours, etc.,
Deirdre Manifold, Dalysfort Road, Galway.