Category: Rome

I love Molly Burhans’ story as told in the February 8 issue of The New Yorker (titled “Promised Land” by David Owen) because it shows, once again, what women, if they assume leadership in the Church, can do. I also love that she is a young Catholic woman with all the energy, hope – and…
Read more

Pope Francis was safe in Iraq. His venturing out to such an unstable place is a testament to his willingness to take risks for the good of the people, Christian and Moslem alike. America and NCR had reporters covering this trip and generating stories about this remarkable outreach; about 75 journalists on the papal plane…
Read more

Pope Francis is safe in Iraq as you read this, I hope. His venturing out to such an unstable place is a testament to his willingness to take risks for the good of the people, Christian and Islamic alike. America and NCR will have reporters covering this trip and generating stories about this remarkable outreach;…
Read more

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…
Read more

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,…
Read more

On October 26, the day of the vote, I posted a blog predicting what the final document that the Synod on the Amazon would say. Ellie Harty, my fellow blogger and editor of SEPA WOC’s Equal wRites, suggested that I write what actually was done “in the room where it happens.” Sorry. That’s my trite…
Read more

Looming over my August has been the letter Pope Francis wrote to priests on August 4. Apparently this is what he did on vacation. As the organization having its unique purpose to ordain women priests, WOC should know what the Pope is thinking about this role. Not that he’s thinking about women in it –…
Read more

Marie Collins of Ireland will be the speaker for the third Tipping Point tour sponsored by Catholic Organizations for Renewal. Collins was a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and resigned because – well, this is the quote used to publicize the tour: “Survivors will not be satisfied with more…
Read more

Since I’m writing this blog early this week, I am hoping that there are no news flashes that I wish I had covered. Instead, I am going back to two articles I have saved on women deacons. They came to mind because of articles in NCR about a talk by Ally Kateusz that looked for…
Read more

Perhaps you’ve heard that Joseph Ratzinger (formerly known as Pope Benedict XVI) published a letter last week about the causes of sex abuse and other problems in the church. He does not once mention the evils of feminism! He makes glancing references to women, like the danger when a “girlfriend” of a lay pastoral worker,…
Read more