Category: Rome

The contributors and supporters of a collection of essays called, “Catholic Women Speak: Bringing Our Gifts to the Table,” gathered yesterday at the Pontifical University, Antonianum for the landmark launch of their book. The full day affair involved support from several embassies to the Holy See, and special guests Mary McAleese, Sr. Mary Melone, and Lucetta…
Read more

In his debut novel Red Sash of Thorns, Thomas Munoz takes his readers on a suspenseful journey from the Eternal City to Israel’s Negev Desert to the American Southwest, as Robert Susio, an American archeologist and devout Catholic, battles Rome over a discovery that, if revealed, will shake Christianity to its very core. When the…
Read more

For the second time the “Collaboration of Men and Women in Ministry,” a working group of the Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) promoters in Rome, hosted Italian theologian Marinella Perroni for a Saturday lecture. Mostly women religious and handfuls of non-religious attended the discussion, “Women and the New Testament: The Apostolic preaching…
Read more

The Pontifical University Antonianum, with the Embassies of Chile, Great Britain, the United States, and the delegation of the European Union to the Holy See hosted a full-day program on Tuesday 28 April, titled: “Donne nella Chiesa: Prospettive in dialogo.”  The event was in Italian and Spanish (except for two presentations in English).  Sister Mary…
Read more

Over the weekend I had the opportunity to attend the Voices of Faith gatherings at the Vatican, which included a mass, storytelling event, and panel held to mark International Women’s Day. In its second year, this Goetz foundation initiative has rallied around a quote from Pope Francis: “It is necessary to broaden the space within…
Read more

In the beautiful Teatro Argentina around one hundred people, including actress Nancy Brilli and Cardinal Ravasi gathered to experience the production of the Pontifical Council for Culture and RAI tv’s collaboration on “Women’s Cultures” (#LifeofWomen). Videos and live-testimonials crowd-sourced over the ill-timed week of December 23 – January 4, were broadcasted for the first time…
Read more

The Working Group on the Collaboration of Men and Women in Ministry is a small but mighty group organized by the Justice and Peace, and the integrity of Creation (JPIC) promoters. Last weekend nearly one hundred people (mostly sisters) attended a seminar organized by the group with Catholic theologian, Marinella Perroni, Professor of New Testament at…
Read more

In a connection that Roman Catholic woman priest, Diane Dougherty fostered, (she described the serendipitous networking as feeling “like Mary and Elizabeth… a baby is jumping in my womb……maybe all of ours”), I had the opportunity to sit down with Forbes writer, Cathy Huyghe on her recent trip to Rome. Cathy is a dynamic woman…
Read more

In a two-part series, “Psalms in Latin American Feminist Perspectives,” theologian Mercedes Garcia Bachmann of Buenos Aires, Argentina, brought a slice of feminist hermeneutics to the Faculta Valdese di Teologia, and unintentionally, a sliver of understanding to Pope Francis’ “blindspot.” Bachmann began her presentation by noting that many biblical scholars and teachers in Latin America are often…
Read more

I recently came across an article by an Italian theologian, Lilia Sebastiani, “Chiesa, ciò che manca alla parità,” where she describes why ordained ministry is important in the Roman Catholic Church: “Non perché io consideri il ministero ordinato così centrale nella prospettiva redenta,” but because Jesus did not intend to prioritize one community over the…
Read more