Called and Chosen

What would it be like if Catholic women could become priests? This book answers the question by giving ten women the opportunity to tell the stories of their paths to ordination.

According to historical church documents, during the first millennium tens of thousands of women served the Catholic Church as ordained deacons. Since that time women have been denied both diaconal and priestly ordination. In this book ten contemporary women tell the stories of journeys that have been both difficult and joyful on the path to ordination as deacons, priests, and bishops, and of the ritual experience at altar and in living rooms where they are led to rediscover the sacred meal, with all its meanings, hopes, humility, and blessing.

Sheila Durkin Dierks earned a master's degree from the Iliff School of Theology and is currently a Pastor in Boulder, Colorado. She experienced a persistent invitation to ordination beginning when she was called at age seven. She has been married to Peter for fifty-three years, and is mother to four, grandmother to eight, and mentor to many. She was ordained a deacon in the Ecumenical Catholic Communion in 2017, and a priest in 2018. She loves her journey.