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I’ve been trying to track down the original source of a quote relative to women pastors that goes something like this: “If you don’t want God to call them, don’t baptize them.” Or a variant form, “If you don’t want God to call women, don’t baptize girls.” Or the more straightforward “We ordain women because we baptize girls” (which Chuck Poole has been known to say).

I’ve heard the sentiment attributed to various people, but have had no luck in tracking down an ur-version — the truth is so self-evident, I suppose, that it’s been said in many contexts and over many years. In poking around on the web, in fact, I found it applied more often in Roman Catholic contexts than in Protestant conversation.

The situation of the Catholic Church suggests one reason why Baptists who believe it’s God’s business to call people should give serious consideration to calling a woman as pastor. Catholics have suffered from a serious shortage of priests for some time now. Many churches have gone for years without a priest, and are served by lay leadership with occasional visits by someone who has the ordination papers required to perform functions limited to priests.