Once when Cardinal Francis George spoke in the Rockford Diocese, he shared a bit of what it was like when he and the other cardinals from around the world were voting for the next pope.

 

He said they dropped their ballots in a box placed right in front of the magnificent painting of the final judgement by Michelangelo at one end of the Sistine Chapel. With that painting right in their face, he said, they all were trying to vote to please the Lord!

 

Bishop Malloy’s column last week about the testy subject of women priests noted that since Jesus only ordained men as His priests, the popes and bishops through the ages have trusted His lead and have not felt it to be their place to make a change.

 

Years ago, Bishop Thomas G. Doran expressed the same concern even as he said he had met women he thought would make good priests ­— even better than some of the priests he knew. But he, like most other good, God-fearing bishops, did not presume to know better than Jesus.

 

I’m sure there are some who think that sounds like an excuse not to make a change, or like the “old boy network” in operation. But the bishops are aware of their mortality and, like Cardinal George, are reminded of God’s supremacy. Hopefully most of them (and most of us) take the Almightiness of God seriously.

 

We can trust that He has a plan and a purpose for our being, our gifts, our abilities and even our disabilities. If we don’t have that level of trust in God, we might need to stand before Michelangelo’s painting and ponder it until we have a more realistic sense of our smallness before God. 

 

Even so, it can be powerfully hard to be told “no,” whether it is by bishops or parents or bosses or God Himself. It doesn’t help that we’ve been inundated by society with the idea that we can be whatever we want to be — no matter what. Such notions may lead us to blame others for somehow derailing our goals, even when our dreams and efforts are misplaced from the get-go.

 

 Always I think of Bishop Robert Morneau of Green Bay who grew up wanting to be a Green Bay Packer. He’s French-Canadian — not physically structured for that kind of career no matter how much weight-lifting he might do. He figured it out and came to realize that God wanted him to be a priest instead. And many of us have thus benefited from his vocation.

 

By and large, people do figure life out as they try things, look around and hopefully come to know God’s dreams for them.

 

Once we get over being so attached to our own dreams, God can guide us toward the work that will most perfectly serve Him and His goals.

 

I have pondered the all-male priesthood, and my theory is that Jesus knew what He was doing, did it deliberately, and simply doesn’t want all the talented leaders of His Church to be a part of the hierarchy, necessary as it is. Why not?

 

For one thing, people in positions of responsibility often become immersed, even stuck, within those roles because their workload takes over. The television show featuring CEO’s who anonymously come to work in their company’s workplaces shows this clearly through their surprise over how much they don’t know about the on-the-ground activity in their companies.

 

Church leaders are needed within the hierarchy as it works to keep the “bones” of the Church — the parishes mostly — strong. Great leaders also are needed outside that inner structure.

 

The service of women religious in all corners of the world is a prime example. It is likely that some of those women would have gravitated into the priesthood if that had been an option — but so much of God’s work would not have been done if those women leaders had gotten caught up in the hierarchy. 

 

All of the work that people do for God is important — whether or not it comes with a title. Recall that Jesus was not a fan of important positions. He preached to his Apostles to be servants, even slaves, in spite of their great responsibilities.

 

Jesus has a plan. He knows what He is doing — and our job is to listen to Him, let Him lead us through His Church until we find His dream for us. May we do just that.