What if the state forced the Church to have priestesses?

Scary thought. But they tried it in Britain and it almost passed. From Dorothy Cummings column in the Catholic Register:

Catholics in Britain do not enjoy the same confidence in religious freedom that Catholics in Canada do. Here, for example, is a headline from the Catholic Herald, Britain’s leading Catholic newspaper: “Ed Balls: Catholic schools must teach pupils where they can access abortion.” Ed Balls is the Schools Secretary, a position akin to our Minister of Education. Under a new bill, Catholic schools in England will be forced to teach students how to use artificial contraception, where to get an abortion and why same-sex sex is good.

“Is it too early to talk about home-schooling?” I asked my husband.

We don’t have children yet, but you never know.

“This bill might not apply to Scotland,” said my husband hopefully.


The bill was passed on Feb. 23. But even before it was passed, I was feeling nervous about being Catholic in Britain. A bill that could have forced the church to accept women, sexually active homosexuals and married men as priests was narrowly defeated in the House of Lords.

Heck, Dorothy, I'm not all that confident of religious freedom in Canada, especially Quebec.