Perhaps when we ask if women can be ordained, we are asking the wrong question.

Archbishop (later Cardinal) John Francis Dearden of Detroit (1907-88) played an exceptionally significant role in paving the way for what Pope Francis is trying to do in reviving the ancient practice of including all the baptized in the work and mission of the church.

If we can treat others and their ideas with such humility and gratitude, the only thing we will ever want to cancel will be our pride.

Taking women seriously as students, staff and faculty means that the Jesuit institution considers them as essential to its mission.

Classical education provides students with exactly the analytical tools that they need—logic, philosophy, rhetoric, poetry, history—to both grasp and critique the great books, taking both their original context and their modern significance into account.

While at the surface the question about women’s ordination has been asked and answered, rarely has it been asked in this new context where women’s full human dignity is unreservedly affirmed and defended.