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Sister Sara Butler, M.S.B.T., S.T.L., Ph.D. is a female theologian whose primary focus is female ordination.

Education and career

She holds a PhD from Fordham University, a STL from University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein, and an MA from The Catholic University of America. She has served as instructor and professor at a variety of institutions, including 14 years at Mundelein Seminary in the Archdiocese of Chicago. She also taught dogmatic theology at St. Joseph's Seminary in Yonkers, NY. She is currently the Chester and Margaret Paluch professor of theology at the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in the archdiocese of Chicago. .

Works and ideas

Sister Sara Butler has written numerous articles, including Women's Ordination: Is It Still an Issue? which have been published in the journals Worship, The Thomist, Theological Studies, Theology Digest, Anglican Theological Review, Communio, Ephemerides Mariologicae, Chicago Studies, and the New Catholic Encyclopedia. Her main area of interest is female ordination. In 1978, Sr. Butler led a task force of the Catholic Theological Society of America which supported the ordination of women to the priesthood. Once an advocate of women's ordination, after many years of reflection and analysis, she has changed her perspective as seen in her most recent book, The Catholic Priesthood and Women: A Guide to Teaching the Church. In response to a call for a full articulation of the Church’s position, Sister Butler seeks to both clarify and defend the Church’s teaching as well as explore why so many have struggled to accept it. Sister Sara also advocates a fuller explanation of the church's teachings in order to prevent fellow Catholics from seeing the all male priesthood as a symbol of patriarchal power and sexism.

Accomplishments

In 2004, Sister Sara was one of the first two women to be appointed by Pope John Paul II to the International Theological Commission. She has served on the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission since 1991.