1 In our Church, we who are not male gendered persist in trying to get our messages through to hierarchical powers. Like the people who never acknowledge or reply to our phone or text messages, however, they “ghost” us. They vanish, and they banish us. Andrea Cohen in her poem Ghosting tells us just how…
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Sometimes I do wonder at the contradictions. How do we make sense of it all?  Do women need to be encouraged to lead? I can’t find a text – maybe I don’t want to – of a welcome Pope Francis sent to the Women’s Forum G-20 at their meeting before the global summit. It was…
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I think all who champion the cause of women’s leadership and ordination within an oppressive and suppressive institution like the Catholic Church could relate to the body of works of the Nobel Prize for Literature honoree, Abdulrazak Gurnah. Furthermore, and more significantly, I think all those who perpetuate this oppression and suppression could learn, grow,…
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Yes, I say. I am going to trust the outcome regarding the ordination of women as deacons or as priests. How can I say that? First, Germany. The church there is in the midst of a “Synodal Path,” on which representatives of the clergy and the laity gather to discuss “power and checks and balances,”…
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I thought October 3, the 27th Sunday of Ordinary Time, should have been renamed Misogynistic Sunday, the 27th Sunday of “Extraordinary” Time. What a choice of readings! I was transported back to childhood listening to fairy tales, surely not written nor inspired by God, but by men. “Once upon a time” we had listened, so…
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You have probably heard the Catholic news from France this week. The dimensions are truly tragic: “216,000 people were sexually abused by clerics and another 114,000 by lay people in Church-related functions such as catechists and schoolteachers since 1950,” according to The Tablet. That’s about half the number of those who have died so far…
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“If you’re going to be a feminist on a hot planet, you have to be a climate feminist.” — Katharine K. Wilkinson, a co-author of the climate anthology “All We Can Save” The United Nations recent landmark climate report either terrified or inspired or managed to do both to all of us. Writing for the…
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The October issue of America is finally out: “Women in the Life of the Church.” Many of the articles are online already, but the overall impact surprises me because of one very strong article.  Jesuit editor Matt Malone’s writings about women always leave me lukewarm. His note in this issue says boldly: “we should always…
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Add some imagination to your concept of Church, I’ve argued with its hierarchy. Give something new, even radical, a chance. It just might save you. And, by the way, giving what we are doing to the environment, opening our minds in all areas might save us, too. So, let’s just do that and see what…
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We were so optimistic in the beginning. We rejoiced over the appointment of Sr. Nathalie Becquart to the Synod of Bishops and wondered what kind of expanded representation her presence portended. Then we looked at the responses and the “handbook” and we had second thoughts. The local bishop as the synthesizer was not good news…
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