Author: Regina Bannan

Reading the first three dreams of Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the Amazonian Synod, I am inspired enough to be merciful when I read the fourth. Those of you who are more concerned for the future of the earth than you are for women’s ordination – and I know you are out there – will be…
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Joan Chittister’s “Prayer for Leadership” inspires me today (Thursday, February 6, 2020). She begins, Give us, O God, leaders whose hearts are large enough to match the breadth of our own souls and give us souls strong enough to follow leaders of vision and wisdom. This prayer puts in context not only our national politics,…
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Russ Petrus, in FutureChurch’s newsletter, draws our attention to the readings for this Sunday, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. There’s an option: to leave out the widow and prophet Anna. She “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child,” as did Simeon, but only he is quoted in Luke 2:22-40. Why did…
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Next time someone tells you that women can’t be ordained because the church moves very slowly, put on your most mysterious face and whisper “pope emeritus.” Wiggle your eyebrows. As Massimo Faggioli says, “The ‘emeritus’ as an institution was created on the fly in those hectic weeks right before the conclave that elected Benedict’s successor,…
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In his comment about last Saturday’s blog, Luis Gutierrez provided the perfect segue to my discussion of the second La Croix International series – and a new term for me: “equivalence.” He quotes Kari Elisabeth Borrensen: “In fact, no actualisation of gender equivalence is documented in any society before the twentieth-century European welfare states.” There’s…
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The feast of Mary, the Mother of God, tempts Pope Francis to begin the year talking about women, not just Mary. I am always fearful that gender stereotypes will take over, but Francis seems to get beyond that by condemning violence against women and then calling for women to be “fully included in decision-making processes.”…
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Charles Dickens’ Christmas Carol is the perfect vehicle in which to travel from Christmas to New Year’s. Past, present, and future haunt Scrooge. Redemption comes because he really sees a child who suffers after a life without charity and justice. Make the journey with me through our own past, present, and future. PAST: the death…
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Last week I wrote about the German synod and women. This week I want to write about synods more generally, inspired by Massimo Faggioli’s article in La Croix International, “Synodality and the abuse crisis: The Church is still stuck in Trent.” But he begins by writing about the First Vatican Council convened in 1869, which…
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Last Saturday I wrote about Anglican women and I said they get noticed. The second half of that blog was supposed to be about Roman Catholic women who get noticed, but it was too long. We decided to split it and continue today. I did note that WOC and The Grail, among others, are represented…
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Anglican women get noticed. Is it because they are ordained? La Croix International reports that eight women will represent the Anglican Communion at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York in March 2020. I am surmising, based on official titles, there are five laywomen, two “reverends,” and one bishop selected…
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