Category: Pope Francis

After watching the US House of Representatives self-destruct on Tuesday, I’ve had it with parliaments. I trust the processes of the synod much more.  That’s how I answer the first discussion question Commonweal poses about Shaun Blanchard’s article, Synodality & Catholic Amnesia: “If you had to describe the Synod on Synodality to someone who knew nothing about…
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Of course, you know what I mean. The Synod. I have been collecting articles but not writing about them, so today you get a smorgasbord of summaries that might set you searching for one or two that sparks your interest. Claire Giangrave for Religion News Service in NCR summarizes the state of the women’s ordination question by effectively…
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World Youth Day did not interest me until I thought about events that inspired me as a young person. I’ve been asked to comment elsewhere on the March on Washington, sixty years ago on August 28, 1963. I marched on Minneapolis with the National Federation of Catholic College Students, NFCCS. Does that organization even exist…
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This is my response to the list of Synod participants followed in short order by 21 new Cardinals late last week. I’m sure the Synod office had a lot to say about the first group, but I wonder if anyone other than Francis tapped the Cardinals on the shoulder. Impulsive, that list seems to me.…
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Whenever Pope Francis goes into the hospital, the Catholic world goes on edge. I know exactly what’s happening to him because I had the same test a couple of months ago; fortunately, no surgery for me this time, unlike the Pope. Gerald O’Connell has the most complete examination of the Pope’s medical history, and Christopher…
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Oh, our dear, impulsive Pope. I have long felt that if women could get Francis’ ear, we would see change. I wonder who got to him about women voting at the Synod. Maybe he saw the photo of the German Benedictines from 2018, and was reminded of the scandal of sisters who lead religious orders…
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Does it seem to you that I’ve been unusually positive this month? That’s because I have been ignoring the US bishops, but I’ve been thinking about them. Two articles in NCR, three dueling bishops, and a scandalous document brings them into focus, not in a good light. The headline writer for Michael Sean Winters lays…
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The actual anniversary is next Monday, March 13, but pundits have been ruminating for a month. Amidst this effusion of commentary, I am going to highlight the articles in which the analysis advances the conversation about Francis and women. First, of course, is Kate McElwee’s in NCR. What McElwee does is document particular changes over…
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As daughters of Vatican II, my friends and I were energized by Pope Francis’s call for a Synod on Synodality. It was a chance for us to share our concerns—and our joys and our hopes—with one another and with the wider church. Since there were no synod meetings held at our parish, we formed our…
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[Editors Note: Alyssa is our Spring 2023 intern at WOC, and she will also be joining “The Table” as a Tuesday guest blogger for the month of February.] My name is Alyssa and I would like to share with you my past and present journey with advocacy for women’s ordination in the Catholic Church. I…
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