Last week I wrote about the Pope’s comments on the plane about schism. I imagine he’s wishing he hadn’t opened that can of worms – because everybody’s talking about it. The latest to reach in is Villanova’s Massimo Faggioli, dealing with what a schism actually is and when they’ve actually happened. I had the feeling…
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If you are reading this and are female, you will know exactly what the “likability trap” is and probably have been at some point been at its mercy. I sure have and sometimes, I shudder to think, may still be. It’s a snare that entraps women who want to use their power to effect change…
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I expect more from the Jesuits. I admit that I idealize the intellectual tradition I have always believed they embody. So I cannot understand why America magazine has begun publishing Pia de Solenni, who recently ended her tenure as Chancellor of the Diocese of Orange in California. Her first article in May is “What the…
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In October of 2017, Reverend Mary H. Lee-Clark, minister at the Second Congregational Church, United Church of Christ in Bennington, Vermont, wrote a piece called, If You Came to My Church…You wouldn’t have to say the Creed. After I recovered from my envy that her congregation had a female minister, and the longing it produced,…
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Are our bishops men with poor, even malicious intentions? Is that why abuse and corruption have flourished? Not quite. Acknowledging this reality does not excuse their countless moral and, at times, criminal failings. But to solve a problem, it must be accurately diagnosed. The philosopher Hannah Arendt’s concept of the “banality of evil” seems fitting:…
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“It was painting, he said, that brought him to theology.” The “he” is Brother Emmaus O’Herlihy, an Irish Benedictine monk, whose liturgical paintings fit so beautifully in a ‘new church for a new day’ or even for revitalizing an old one hobbling along in its entrenchment. I’m so glad I save articles that I’m too…
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I just turned down a ticket to attend the ordination of our next diocesan bishop.  Each parish was given two tickets for members of the laity along with a ticket for each clergy member. Twenty years ago, I would have been honored to be picked to attend such an event. Today, I couldn’t bring myself…
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I came across a piece I saved from the February 19, 2019 issue of NCR about the need for warmth, which, believe it or not, may be even more relevant now that it is summer rather than chilly mid-winter. In August, our warmth is easy to gain; just step outside. We become complacent about how…
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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 –…
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On vacation in northern Michigan (and I do promise this is the end of my musings on how-I-spent-my-summer-vacation!), I visited Mackinac Island. No way could there be anything there relevant to women’s ministry and leadership in the Catholic Church there, I thought. Oh, how wrong. The relevance is truly everywhere we go. Here is a…
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