Author: Regina Bannan

Another Laywoman” is to emphasize that most, if not all, the women in the Vatican that I have written about are religious sisters. Sisters and nuns are laywomen and we rejoice in their placement in or very near the locus of decision-making in the Church. But they are different from most other laywomen. Pope Francis…
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David Gibson says all I wanted to say this week. He is better informed than I could ever be because he’s a journalist and I’m a blogger. Nevertheless, I will forge ahead. I still have questions after his excellent article and everything else I have read on the US Bishops’ closing of the Catholic News…
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I wasn’t, for the leak of a first draft of the Supreme Court decision on the Mississippi abortion case. Late June, early July was a long time away, and I was counting on two panels to be sponsored by Catholic Organizations for Renewal (COR) on May 18 and 25 for more information. But flipping through…
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No sooner had Pope Francis issued his curial reform which opened important Vatican positions to lay women and men, did Phyllis Zagano raise the question of women Cardinals. You probably know Zagano as a member of the first papal commission considering the question of women deacons. I assume that her persistent advocacy helped that commission…
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What occurs to you in looking at this collage of recently-appointed presidents at Jesuit colleges? Only in the fourth paragraph does author Michael J. O’Loughlin move beyond his characterization of these leaders as “laypeople” by noting Pope Francis’ appointment of more women to top Vatican positions. Far be it from me to do a gender…
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This is not going to be what you expect. Holy Saturday is Limbo. It’s between the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of Easter. Thereare no rituals except to prepare for tomorrow, or, nowadays, to pretend that 8 pm is reallymidnight. Limbo is more than not knowing. It is fearing and anticipation, wanting and…
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The blue suit said it all. When Sr. Nathalie Becquart addressed the vast audience gathered by New Ways Ministry, she wore a blue suit. Immediately, there was no clerical barrier confronting those who might be less receptive yet who had decided to participate. When she spoke to Global Sisters Report, she was more casually dressed,…
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There is only so much room in a single blog, so that’s why I am focusing on three women among the excellent articles that have arrived on my desk this week: Soline Humbert, Joan Chittister, and Christine Schenk. First, Soline Humbert. If you attended the wonderful WOW liturgy last Sunday and hung around for the…
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There are only so many ideas, apparently. I thought of this wonderful beginning for today’s blog and in saving it I found this, from May 20, 2020: Step by step the longest march can be won, can be won  Many stones can form an arch, singly none, singly none  And by union, what we will…
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After rejoicing last week about women’s leadership, I must write about my response to the Pew report issued this week analyzing Black Catholics in the US. Pew has an outsize influence on American religious conversation because they have data, careful data. All religious groups come under their scrutiny, not just Catholics, though Catholics, even Bishops,…
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