The primary vocation of the laity does not lie, as so many lay people today seem to think, in service to the local parish, however important such a service might be. Women are Called to Bear Christ Women in particular are called to bear Christ, first, into their families, bringing up children who are the sons and daughters of God, and second, into the larger world, by living out and bearing witness to the order of love, in which the sacred values of human life and personhood from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death are placed ahead of the secular values of power, fame, and fortune. As regards these secular values, it should be noted, finally, that nothing is more misinformed than the feminist notion that the priesthood will give women access to power in the Church. The Magisterium exercises not power but authority , and there is a world of difference between the two. Power is the exercise of the human will over reality, to change or affect it in some way.
Authority is the ability to discern a reality and define the doctrines of the faith.
The Magisterium has no power to change the reality of revelation. The Magisterium has only the authority to discern the mind of Christ and the truth as Christ embodies and reveals it. But they have no power to change what Christ has revealed. They have only the authority to discern that revelation. The Pope and the bishops are as bound to the faith of the Church as is every other member of the Church.