priests

Currently the Catholic Church only allows men to become deacons - ordained ministers who can officiate baptisms, weddings and funerals but not mass, unlike priests.

Liberation theology became particularly controversial when priests who followed a radical strand of liberation theology joined revolutionary movements such as the Sandinistas in Nicaragua, who overthrew the dictatorial government of the Somoza family.

Sehri writes that her father was also influenced by the selfless lives of the Jesuit priests and nuns under whom he studied during his school and college years.

But his legacy was obliterated after it was revealed that he supervised the reassignment of numerous priests who admitted to or were accused of molesting young children.

Feminism, gay rights and the Vietnam War fueled additional discord, with more traditionalist congregants opposing the ordination of female priests and reacting furiously to mainline Protestant leaders who advocated from the pulpit.