text: Part I:
  To go along with my earlier comment in reply to you above, and I very much agree the Church needs to rid itself of its men-only obsession and do what it is supposed to do - concern itself with souls and spiritual life, not genitals - but I part company to some degree around the issue of clerics as having different roles then laity, and vice-versa.  Every single organization on earth, loose or rigid, has a structure of leadership (with varied definitions) and churches are no different and should not be expected to be.  Our current Church is struggling to free itself from centuries of medieval, politicized, monarchal rule, and a return to its roots in service, community, Jesus-like ministry and devotion.  Vatican II is by no means dead or ineffectual, as we are - almost more then ever before - on a journey as a Church Unfinished.  We have a long way to go!  The walls of resistance and regression are slowly coming down.
  
  Continued -