Women in the Catholic Church

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Although Catholic women have long kept up the church's hospitals, schools and parishes, they have never been allowed to be ordained, say Mass, or vote for a Pope like the newly installed Pope Francis.

But some women in the Catholic church are hopeful change will soon be on the horizon.

"I think women are as talented, and as intelligent, as men are," said Sister Nancy Reynolds of Sisters of Providence at St. Mary of the Woods.

Reynolds believes women are now educated and able to assume certain roles long held by men, "If the church is open to receiving women."

"I would support women in more roles," shared Reynolds, a trailblazer herself. Reynolds is a Canon lawyer:  a professional trained in the law of the Catholic church, in other words.

In 1984, Sister Reynolds was one of the first -- and the few -- graduates in Canon law who happened to be female. Before about the mid '70s, she explained, women in Catholicism were not even allowed to go to college for that particular degree.

But on the other hand of the Catholic continuum is women like Amy McClain, principal for the fourth year at Terre Haute's St. Pat's school.

"I don't want to be misunderstood," McClain shared with News 10. "I think that women can be empowered within the church. For example, the Roman Catholic church -- the arch diocese in Indianapolis -- their Chancellor is female."

Though McClain is undoubtedly a career woman, she appreciates a more secondary role as a female in the Catholic church.

"We are not elevated to Priest level," she said. "But we do have a very significant role in the church."