Category: Vatican

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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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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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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Much of what we do in our circles of progressive Catholicism today draws directly on the work of those who acted for change in the wake of the Second Vatican Council. One of these key post-Vatican II leaders is the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez, OP (1928-), whose foundational text, Teología de la liberación, perspectivas (1971),…
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You may have heard the big news from earlier this week that the Vatican has included a link to WOC’s website on the “Synod Resources” page of the Vatican’s own website. It seems that, in advance of the 2023 Synod on Synodality, Pope Francis wants to hear from ordination justice advocates. Alleluia! In the wake…
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You know what it’s like when you return from vacation: a huge pile of mail. One magazine cover leapt out to me: “Prayer and Power,” with a photo of Paula Clark, “the first Black and first Episcopal Bishop of Chicago, on building a truly inclusive ministry.” My welcome home! I am always thrilled when our…
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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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On April 30, 2021, my colleague Ellie Harty, co-editor of Equal wRites (the publication of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Women’s Ordination Conference), asked me to write an article on the 2022 Vatican Synod. I agreed. On May 21, 2021, the Vatican announced that Pope Francis has changed the date of the Synod to October 2023 and…
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[Editor’s Note: As an NGO in consultative status with the UN, WOC can submit written statements to ECOSOC meetings. The following statement is being submitted to the ECOSOC High-level segment on the theme “Sustainable and resilient recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, that promotes the economic, social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development: Building an inclusive…
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Dan Stockman begins his retrospective of Sister Simone Campbell’s career at Network with the bounce that Vatican criticism gave to the organization: new support, energy, and money. She said what I say every time the Vatican condemns women’s ordination: “We often joked that we should send the Vatican a thank-you note.”  This is a reflection…
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