Interfaith Group
Related: About this forumWomen's Equality in the Church is no Longer Negotiable
http://religiondispatches.org/womens-equality-in-the-church-is-no-longer-negotiable/BY MARY E. HUNT APRIL 23, 2015
Champagne corks did not pop on either side of the Atlantic on April 16, 2015 when the Vatican and the Leadership Conference of Women Religious announced the end of the Doctrinal Assessment of LCWR, but there was certainly shared relief that this sorry chapter in church history is closed.
The Vatican insisted, and the women agreed, to a thirty-day moratorium on discussing the final document so it will be some time before concrete information emerges. Even this small matter demonstrates what I think is the most important takeaway: pushing back against unjust authority can work, but it does not change the fundamental power equation.
Without structural changes to a top heavy, patriarchal institution, there is little to prevent a repeat of this kind of abuse, waste of resources, or worse.
Catholics can do better and we deserve better.
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Goblinmonger
(22,340 posts)but why in the world did you lock scott's version of this OP? When I saw okasha say that she couldn't post it in here because she was on her phone, I came over to post it for her and saw that scott already did. Just like I wouldn't have, he put no snark or anything in there. He just did a favor for okasha and you guys lock it and post your own version? Seems kind of petulant.
I won't be back to discuss this further unless you expressly ask me to.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)hosting decisions. I would appreciate if you did not run in here to complain about ours.
okasha
(11,573 posts)One of the things that struck me most clearly about this article was how the struggles of women in the Catholic Church continue to mirror those of women in other churches and other, non-Christian faiths. The obvious parallel here is to the Episcopal women who began seeking ordination in the 1970:s,. When they were not taken seriously, they found a sympathetic Bishop who would ordain them, and when the dust settled and the scandalized shrieks died down, their ordinations were validated. The Episcopal Church now has a woman Presiding Bishop, as have the ELCA Lutherans. That same aggiornamiento has given the Church open LGBT clergy And it all started with a group of quietly rebellious women.
In her article, Hunt makes a brief mention--so brief it could easily be missed,-that some of the religious communities subjected to Benedict's little inquisition are quietly celebrating the sacraments among themselves. In theological terms, this implies that the Holy Spirit has made an end run around the male clergy and bestowed itself where it sees fit. That is wonderfully, marvellously subversive and strikes directly at the foundations of religious patriarchy.
Bert Brecht wrote:
Aber das weiche Wasser in Bewegungung,
MMit der Zeit den harten Stein besiegt.
Du verstehest: das Harte unterliegt.
"But with time, soft water in.motion
Conquers hard stone.
Understand: the hard one is defeated."
These sisters are that water. The future of the Church lies in their soft, implacable acts of disobedience.
hrmjustin
(71,265 posts)Things will move for Women in the church. They have to because women are the ones that go to church and the old style obey the church is no longer there.
okasha
(11,573 posts)about Catholics in open revolt against Cordileone in San Francisco. There are two lessons for the Vatican here:
1. Address the concerns of Catholic women, religious and lay, before stonewalling results in similar embarrassment for the Church in general and Francis in particular; and
2. Kick Cordileone upstairs, preferably straight into the attic, where he can't continue to do harm. Give him a fancy title like Burke's: Patron of the Sacred Prefecture for the Maintenance of Holy Anchorites, for example.