NCR: Catholic women urged to ‘strike’ over inequality in the church
What would the Catholic Church do without women? If some activists have their way, we’re about to find out.
A new project is urging women to strike by withholding time, labor and financial resources from the church during Lent, which begins March 5. The planned action is in response to the Vatican’s synod on synodality, which concluded in October without action on women’s leadership, including the opening of ordination to the diaconate or priesthood.
“The strike is for Catholics who are looking for a way to express their disappointment, frustration or anger at an institution that refuses to recognize the equal dignity of half of its members,” said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, which is organizing the strike.
The project, called “Catholic Women Strike: Global Witness for Equality,” calls on women to “make your presence in the church known by your absence.” It was launched earlier this month.
“Our hope is to make visible what is often invisible,” McElwee told NCR. Women make up more than half of the Catholic Church in the United States and compose a majority, about 80%, of lay ecclesial ministers.