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Wednesday, June 18, 2008

A time of Optimism and Justified Anger: "Women in my church have no voice." Joan Houk's Letter to Editor in Pittsburgh Gazette


Joan Houk is second from the right in this picture of the ordinations that took place in St. Louis on Nov. 10, 2007

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08170/890614-110.stm
Thank you to Ann Rodgers for her article on May 31, Vatican moves against ordination of women. As a Roman Catholic Womanpriest, I have received many phone calls and e-mails of concern and support. This is a time of transition in the Catholic Church, a time of optimism, but also of justified anger.


Anger because women in the Middle East are stoned for violating Islamic law; brides in India are burned for dowry; girls in Africa are genitally mutilated; women in war-torn countries are impregnated by enemy soldiers; and females in China are aborted simply because they are female. Around the world wives are beaten by their husbands; female children are sexually abused by their fathers, uncles, brothers; women of all ages are raped and murdered. Single mothers are abandoned by the fathers of their children; hard-working women are unfairly paid; many females are denied education; and women in my Church have no voice.

Anger because the all male clergy have pronounced excommunication for women daring to be ordained to the priesthood, but there is no excommunication of Catholics committing crimes of violence against women. The refusal of the Church to treat women as equals makes women in society vulnerable to violence in all its forms. The Church must affirm that a woman is holy, is a full human being made in the image of God, and can image Christ in the priesthood. To affirm this, in justice, the all male clergy must ordain women.

Joan Houk
McCandless

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