Category: Rome

I had the opportunity to be with WOC in Rome for the first two weeks of the Synod and Synodality. The experience reaffirmed my vocation to continue to fight for the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.  There are so many things to write about regarding the Synod, and with the release of the…
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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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I’ve been nursing for a week my annoyance at a column by Michael Sean Winters in NCR in which he said: Miriam Duignan, a member of the leadership team at Women’s Ordination Worldwide, recently told NCR, “the synodal dialogue will be painfully incomplete and dishonest if it does not adequately address the widespread calls to open all ordained…
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Last week, I wrote about five – and ultimately, six – “non-bishop” delegates from the United States to the Synod. All were delegates to the North American Continental Assembly, as were four other non-bishops chosen from Canada. You probably remember that Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean Islands were made part of the Latin American…
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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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“Francis is Stuck. Let me count the ways.” That was my first title for this blog. I saw no change in what he said to a gathering of people who work at America magazine. Deliberately diverse, the group posed questions one after another. Executive editor Kerry Weber was third and set up her first question:…
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Terrifying! The headline on AP’s article by Nicole Winfield was reinforced by “unsourced speculation” that Pope Francis might be getting ready to resign. Visiting Pope Celestine V’s tomb (he resigned in 1294), appointing enough new cardinals to have a majority in the college, planning a briefing for ALL cardinals on the rules he just issued…
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Traditionis custodes is the name of the motu proprio issued by Pope Francis in which he ordered Bishops to reduce the use of the pre-Vatican II liturgy. I was not going to write about this because I didn’t want to take on the Pope about something else that I thought was a mistake. But then…
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When I woke up Thursday morning, I was going to write how sad I was that Cardinal Reinhold Marx of Germany was resigning. When I was making breakfast, I heard on the BBC that Pope Francis had refused his resignation. What! Is that possible only in the church?  Our good leaders must not resign, which…
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Many people are still writing about Hans Küng and church blessings for those in same-sex unions, but I’m going to shift back to the priesthood. Specifically, to Pope Francis’ call for a three-day symposium in February 2022 to discuss the issues involved. I have to hand it to him; he acts on his belief that…
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