Church Reform Group is Calling for an End to Discrimination against Women and Gays in the Church
"The Vatican has barred former President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, from participating in a conference to mark International Women's Day which was originally scheduled to take place at the Casina Pio IV within Vatican City. The venue has now been moved to a site away from the Vatican and McAleese continues to be a speaker. McAleese, who is a criminal lawyer, has a doctorate in canon law and is the mother of a gay son. She has been outspoken in her criticism of the Church's position on women and LGBT issues.. "It's hard to believe in Pope Francis's vision of a 'welcoming Church' when a Dicastery of the Vatican, that is meant to support women, censors their voices," says Astrid Lobo Gajiwala, Advisory Board member of Voices of Faith and a Strategy Team member of Catholic Church Reform Int'l. Although the event has been held in the Vatican for four years, not a single Cardinal has ever attended it. " Mary McAleese and Voices of Faith
"Why is this International Women’s Day in the Vatican different from virtually every other International Women’s Day in the Vatican? It isn’t. Women still have no power to make and implement decisions. The proof is painful, but clear.
For the past four years on March 8th, Voices of Faith (VoF), a project of the Liechtenstein-based Fidel Götz Foundation, has held a symposium on women inside the Vatican. Chantal Götz is the project’s director. This year, the theme is “Why Women Matter,” for which the answer seems to be, they don’t.
The group’s goal is “to bring together leaders in the Vatican with the global Catholic community, so they can recognise that women have the expertise, skills, and gifts to play a full leadership role in the Church. Why does the Church continue to deny women that right based purely on gender? We amplify the capability of women in education and programs of social transformation, especially in areas of marginalisation and extreme poverty. Above all we showcase the enormous and under-utilised potential of women to exercise leadership at all levels of the Catholic Church.” The Vatican’s decision to prohibit the participation of some of their invited speakers provided all the data needed to show the importance of their mission.
The first four meetings have featured speakers from around the world talking about relatively safe topics like immigration and education. Planners have studiously avoided the sticky wickets of women’s ordination, abortion, and same-sex love, not to mention the elephant in the Sistine Chapel, which is Catholic women’s lack of jurisdiction or decision-making in the church.
This approach, facilitated by the fact that the women in charge have (and/or have access to) considerable financial resources and clerical friends in ecclesial high places, has been touted as an inside strategy. Feminist groups like Women’s Ordination Conference, the Catholic pro-LGBTQ group Dignity, Catholics for Choice, and many other member groups of Women-Church Convergence have never had a prayer of getting a toe inside the Vatican for meetings. There’s an argument to be made about needing multiple strategies to change a two-thousand-year-old institution. But VoF women have now come up against the reality of male-only decision-making that Catholic feminists have been trying to change for decades.
The live-streamed sessions of Voices of Faith reveal cordial meetings of women articulating their values and hopes in front of modest sized audiences. But even in the short few hours of focus on women there is the odd choice to have men, especially Jesuits, lead panels, make opening remarks, etc. On the one annual occasion when the focus is on women by women these valiant efforts to avoid any suggestion of turning the gender tables for even a moment are understandable. But I’m not sure in the long run they’re very helpful unless the men involved take principled stances when needed. Where were they this time?
This fifth year, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, an Irish-born American who began his theological studies with the Legion of Christ whose leader Marcial Macial went down in sexual abuse flames, thwarted these women’s polite and inclusive efforts. Mr. Farrell rejected three of the announced speakers without apparent comment.
That the names were submitted to him in advance—perhaps a regular practice in earlier years even though allegedly no one was rejected—begins to show just how expensive Vatican real estate can be. Since the event was at but not of the Vatican, Ms. Götz observed, “Ultimately, we did not see a reason why these women should have to go through an ‘approval process’ by anyone.” So why did she submit the names in the first place?
At this writing, the only banned speaker known is Mary McAleese, the former President of Ireland. The other two are thought to be Ugandan LGBTIQ activist Ssenfuka Joanita Warry, and Polish theologian Zuzanna Radzik who specializes in Christian-Jewish relations. But it’s anyone’s guess who caught the cardinal’s ire and why.
There is no official confirmation of the reasons why Mr. Farrell saw fit to bar them. But it’s widely speculated that among Mary McAleese’s sins is her strong support for LGBTIQ rights, beginning with her own gay son’s right to be as Catholic as his mother. Like so many queer kids, he reported being bullied because of his sexual orientation. The Church’s teachings against him and all queer people are damaging. His mother, like any conscientious parent with a tongue in their head, would not stand idly by as someone else’s child suffered the same pain.
Perhaps the former president’s support for the ordination of women is in the mix too. Surely her studies of canon law make her someone who can’t be lied to in such rarified spaces. At least she will not make nice by ignoring the hard issues of male power and female subordination that are baked into the fabric of institutional Catholicism.
After efforts to reason with Mr. Farrell proved fruitless, Ms. Götz and her group decided to change the venue of the event from their customary room inside the confines of the Vatican to a Jesuit hall just outside the walls. Ms. McAleese, they countered, will be the keynote speaker instead of simply a panel member as she has been before. It’s one way for the women to make clear to the prelates that they can make their own decisions when they pay for meeting space. The Götz Foundation is a generous donor to the Jesuit Refugee Service so it’s safe to assume some influence there.
Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin made clear that he was informed of the dissing by Ms. McAleese, not by his Roman colleagues. In fact, she has remained silent publicly on the matter, awaiting response to her private letter to Pope Francis who is Mr. Farrell’s boss. I wonder if this time the men are a little over their skis. Stay tuned.
In an added twist, the same Cardinal Farrell is the Pope Francis-appointed head of the Vatican Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, which is sponsoring the World Meeting of Families on August 21-26, 2018 in Dublin. Pre-conference publicity included pictures of same-sex families, giving the impression that this would be a more inclusive gathering than the session held three years ago in Philadelphia where LGBTQ Catholics were made to feel as welcome as the flu. Alas, new, recently released materials from which all traces of happy, good, healthy and moral same-sex families were erased have superseded the earlier ones. The WMOF2018 promises to be another contested space.
What’s more, Ireland will have a May 2018 referendum on abortion. It’s difficult to predict whether the Irish will overturn Amendment Eight which bans abortions under virtually all circumstances and develop new legislation that will stipulate under what circumstances abortions will be permitted. For a country in which many people of my grandparents’ generation went to daily mass, Catholic influence is on the wane. Many Irish Catholics are so thoroughly disgusted with priest pedophilia, episcopal cover-ups, anti-LGBTIQ blather, Magdalene Laundries, and now the running roughshod over a once-popular president that the famous bookies of Dublin aren’t ruling out anything. Catholicism has lost its hegemonic sway over the culture.
Several points bear further scrutiny in this debacle. First, the notion that women, even those who pay their own way like the Götz group, can set the parameters of debate inside the Vatican is naïve, or at least premature. It was, in my view, only a matter of time and issues before the curtain came down even on the most cooperative of Catholic women.
Voices of Faith’s way is one among many strategies to transform the Roman Catholic Church from a kyriarchy into a “discipleship of equals” in the helpful terminology of Catholic feminist biblical scholar Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza. A patriarchal pyramid of power that functions with this kind of impunity is the antithesis of justice and has no claim on the values it purports to represent.
The value of Voices of Faith’s method will be measured by how it uses its unique access, made possible by the wealth and connections of its leaders, to advance a holistic agenda with myriad voices involved. While this first foray into the hard issues of church power has been thwarted, the group aims for a church inclusive of women capable of mature discussion even when not everyone agrees on basics. The Vatican would do well to take a lesson, though I fear it will try to coopt them first.
Second, the move to the Jesuit location is a mixed blessing. Given the fact that there is a Jesuit pope, there will be some who see this as a way for Pope Francis’ supporters to appear to help women without rocking the big boat. But the fact that the same Götz Foundation gives substantial financial support to the Jesuit Refugee Service makes it clear that there is some leverage involved.
Jesuits have a long history, well before one of them became pope, of helping out the institutional church when it suits them. For example, in 2004 their Boston College in Massachusetts offered to buy more than 40 acres from the Archdiocese of Boston for over $100 million cash with proceeds going toward settling myriad cases of sexual abuse by clergy members.
I see no reason to laud them this time without explicit proof that they actually stood for women in the face of a patriarchal church. It would be a welcome first in my experience and reading of history. In fact, one interpretation of the move is that the Jesuits bailed out the Vatican, providing a place so near yet so far away, ostensibly supporting the women by softening the hierarchy’s blow.
It reminds me of a time some years ago when the local bishop ordered the Massachusetts Women-Church group off of ecclesial property, including Jesuit places where the women had met once in a while. The women’s group had about a dozen members with a median age of 74, obviously a dangerous crowd! One Jesuit suggested that they would still meet with the women at a Dunkin’ Donuts. What courage.
Third, the real story is what will happen for International Women’s Day in 2019. Will the women expect to be back inside the Vatican walls? Will they be able to set their own agenda, invite their own speakers, and come to their own conclusions? Time will tell, but meanwhile, their 2018 conference invitation is telling:
We live in times marked by change, but there are places where gender equality is being systematically overlooked. The Catholic Church is one of them. Today, women are asking why the Church is so slow in recognizing their value and opening governance and ministerial roles to them; roles that incorporate their faith, gifts, expertise and education into structures of authority at all levels. Our world is facing a future more meaningful by the inclusion of women in significant positions. We will not let gender inequality undermine the longevity of the Church. Our voices stir the winds of change, so we must speak. Will Pope Francis and our pastoral leaders listen?
For now, the answer is apparently not. Cold, hard real estate rights—my house, my rules—hold sway.
So March 8th 2018 at the Vatican will be like every other March 8th. The sacred real estate and its inhabitants will remain untainted by the demands of Catholic women for “a full leadership role.” If not even very well shod women can get a foot in the door, imagine how the cleaning women, cooks, and secretaries are treated. "
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/una-mullally-vatican-s-mary-mcaleese-ban-is-the-act-of-a-snowflake-1.3379576
..."A group called Voice of Faith booked Mary McAleese and a Ugandan LGBT advocate for a conference scheduled for March 8th, International Women’s Day. Then Cardinal Kevin Farrell barred McAleese, leading to the event having to take part outside the Vatican. She was effectively banned from speaking in the Vatican.
Just to recap, McAleese is not about to launch into an extreme point of view on the Catholic Church. The Women’s Ordination Worldwide organisation said: “Pope Francis has called repeatedly for fearless dialogue in the church. Yet, within the Vatican bureaucracy silencing and policing of women’s voices continues to be the status quo.”
What is it about people’s deeply held beliefs that when held up to a certain light they appear so vulnerable, so undeserving of scrutiny, such humouring?
One thing this ridiculous incident does offer is a point of reflection for those who crow about free speech, and no-platforming, and people in third-level institutions repeatedly obsessing over who gets to say what and where. “Free speech” has in itself become a euphemism, a point of privilege that should remain hierarchical and elite.
Victimhood stance
To go further, many oppressive forces co-opt a victimhood stance in order to double down on their double-think; that control equals helplessness, that being an oppressor equals oppression, that dominance equals vulnerability.
It’s quite difficult to give out about echo chambers when one’s entire belief system is built on doctrine and dogma. It’s hard to crow about “free speech” as a Catholic when the Catholic Church is pulling stunts such as this.
“I find it tragic,” one of the organisers said on RTÉ Radio 1, “I think especially given Pope Francis’s call for dialogue. I think many in the Catholic Church including cardinals and bishops, many of them are taking it very seriously.
“They’re having conversations and dialogue that was unheard of prior to Pope Francis coming on board . . . Of course it’s disappointing, but we’ve had quite a few millennia of disappointments, women’s voices have been sidelined and so forth.”
When it comes to rigorous debate, one wonders what is happening in those sensitive bastions of liberal extremism, such as Trinity College. Actually the day the Catholic Church was scratching names off its party list, students in Trinity were hosting a talk from Nigel Farage. How’s that for open-minded?
So the next time someone who you think gets more than enough time to talk about whatever they want, yet remains convinced they are being silenced, perhaps look at who’s doing the silencing.
For all its perverse desire for the perceived protections of the oppressed, remember that free speech, even when it’s from as uncontroversial a source as Mary McAleese, is under threat, once a system decides to once again simultaneously close ranks while giving out that people aren’t open to it."
https://www.ncronline.org/news/vatican/vatican-rejects-three-women-speakers-voices-faith-conference
http://www.thejournal.ie/mary-mcaleese-barred-vatican-event-3830326-Feb2018/
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/views/silence-not-an-option-in-war-for-free-speech-826155.html
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| Mary McAleese: Image: Sasko Lazarov via Rolling News |
Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP, www.arcwp.org If the Vatican keeps pushing gays and women out the door, how can the Church proclaim the good news of inclusivity it refuses to live? We need Christian feminists, like Mary McAleese and groups like Roman Catholic Women Priests to illuminate the path toward gender justice, and equality in inclusive faith communities.
Blocking Mary McAleese from speaking at "Voices of Faith, an international conference on issues of concern to women, is a major blunder on the part of Cardinal Kevin Farrell, and "embarrassing" as Irish Priests Association states.
Silencing women's voices fosters patriarchy and business as usual in contradiction to the inclusive spirit of Jesus who welcomed everyone around the table. The Vatican needs to hear the voices of women, like Mary McAleese, who reflect an open and compassionate spirit toward the marginalized everywhere.
Bridget Mary Meehan, www.arcwp.org
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| Mary MdAleese with son, Justin, |
The Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) group noted, following the Vatican’s barring of Mary McAleese, how “Pope Francis has called repeatedly for fearless dialogue in the church. Yet, within the Vatican bureaucracy silencing and policing of women’s voices continues to be the status quo.”
Mrs McAleese, it said, was “known as an outspoken advocate for women’s ordination and LGBT rights.” WOW executive director Kate McElwee said that “while this turn of events is unfortunate, perhaps it is an opportunity to bring the Vatican’s role in the structural and spiritual oppression of women into this year’s discussion.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/archbishop-had-no-prior-knowledge-of-vatican-bar-on-mcaleese-1.3377942
Sinister development
Meanwhile, there has been a call on the Government to withhold state assistance to WMoF2018 and a visit by Pope Francis to Ireland until assurances are received from organisers “that the event will welcome and include families headed by LGBT couples”.
The liberal Catholic We Are Church Ireland group said “such assurances are necessary in view of the removal of images and text relating to LGBT people from the WMoF2018 brochures”.
In the Dáil last month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said “even though it is not formally a State visit the assistance provided to Pope Francis will be the same as if it were. So Pope Francis will be given the full supports of the State in terms of protocol, security and any other matters”.
We Are Church Ireland spokesman Brendan Butler said: “The Government should not use Irish taxpayers’ money to fund any organisation that discriminates against LBGT families.”
He also described the barring of Mrs McAleese as “a very sinister” development. “Mary McAleese is an incredible woman with a backgroud in canon and civil law and it is shocking that she should be treated in this way,” he said.
The communications office at WMoF2018 has not responded to requests for comment.
Dismay
DignityUSA, an organisation of Catholics committed to full inclusion of LGBTQI people in church and society, responded “with dismay” to reports that images of same-sex couples has been removed from a preparatory booklet for WMoF 2018 .
It was “a tragic denial of reality that increases the sense of unwelcome for LGBTQI people and our families in our church,” the group said in a statement.
DignityUSA executive director Marianne Duddy-Burke said removal of the photographs represented “an alarming and sad setback.” Having the pictures “deliberately deleted and replaced with photos deemed more ‘acceptable’ is really hurtful,” she said.
She, her spouse, their two adopted children and 22 other people representing LGBTQI families, attended the last WMoF2015 in Philadelphia which was attended by Pope Francis.
Noting that Bishop Brendan Leahy of Limerick and Archbishop Martin both indicated they wanted the WMofF 2018 to be open to all families, including same-sex couples and their children, she said “it seems that the goodwill of the local hosts has been overshadowed by doctrinal orthodoxy in a way that threatens to increase the alienation felt by so many.”
She called on Archbishop Martin and other Irish Catholic leaders “to stand up for all of God’s families, and make every effort to restore the photos of same-sex couples to the conference’s resource materials.”
Meanwhile the Association of Catholics in Ireland have inserted an addition to the Prayers of the Faithful for weekend Masses .
It reads: “We pray for those who feel excluded, neglected and isolated within our church. We pray that they be strengthened and comforted in their lives and that they be reassured that ours is a just Father who bestows his love on all his children equally.”
Mrs McAleese, it said, was “known as an outspoken advocate for women’s ordination and LGBT rights.” WOW executive director Kate McElwee said that “while this turn of events is unfortunate, perhaps it is an opportunity to bring the Vatican’s role in the structural and spiritual oppression of women into this year’s discussion.”
Sinister development
Meanwhile, there has been a call on the Government to withhold state assistance to WMoF2018 and a visit by Pope Francis to Ireland until assurances are received from organisers “that the event will welcome and include families headed by LGBT couples”.
The liberal Catholic We Are Church Ireland group said “such assurances are necessary in view of the removal of images and text relating to LGBT people from the WMoF2018 brochures”.
In the Dáil last month, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said “even though it is not formally a State visit the assistance provided to Pope Francis will be the same as if it were. So Pope Francis will be given the full supports of the State in terms of protocol, security and any other matters”.
We Are Church Ireland spokesman Brendan Butler said: “The Government should not use Irish taxpayers’ money to fund any organisation that discriminates against LBGT families.”
He also described the barring of Mrs McAleese as “a very sinister” development. “Mary McAleese is an incredible woman with a backgroud in canon and civil law and it is shocking that she should be treated in this way,” he said.
The communications office at WMoF2018 has not responded to requests for comment.
Sarah MacDonald
An Irish Cardinal has forced a major international conference on women's rights to move from the Vatican as he objected to former president Mary McAleese, who is the keynote speaker at the event.
Dublin-born Cardinal Kevin Farrell, who is overseeing the Vatican's preparations for the World Meeting of Families in Ireland in August, attempted to block Dr McAleese from addressing the '2018 Voices of Faith' conference, which will take place on International Women's Day on March 8.
Correspondence seen by the Irish Independent reveals a stand-off occurred between the conference organisers and Cardinal Farrell over his withholding of approval not just for Dr McAleese but two other speakers as well.
The Irish Independent understands that Dr McAleese's views on gay rights is the reason the prelate objected. She has previously spoken about how son Justin, as a devout young Catholic, was bullied because he was gay.
She said that Justin went through "torture" when he discovered what his Church taught about homosexuality. Another conference speaker Ssenfuka Joanita Warry is a Catholic who campaigns for LGBT rights in Uganda and is herself gay.
This is the first year the Vatican has withheld approval of any speakers for the annual 'Voices of Faith' gathering, which brings together high-profile international speakers to address issues of concern to women around the world.
For the past four years, the conference has taken place within the Vatican. But this year's event ran into trouble with Cardinal Farrell, who heads up the Congregation for Laity, Family and Life and has taken up oversight of the conference.
Chantal Götz, who is executive director of the Catholic philanthropic Fidel Götz Foundation and is the main organiser of the conference, took the decision to move the venue of 'Why Women Matter' from the Vatican to the Jesuit Aula in Rome rather than cave in to the Irish prelate's demands.
"The list of speakers required approval from Cardinal Farrell," Ms Götz, who is based in Liechtenstein, told the Irish Independent. "He sent the list of names back to me with those names to which he gave permission. Mary McAleese and two others were not on it."
In correspondence, Ms Götz described the Cardinal's failure to respond to her efforts to compromise and "barring" women's voices as "unacceptable".
The Irish Independent understands that efforts were made to get Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin to intervene to help resolve the impasse but to no avail. She said unsuccessful efforts were made to get the cardinal to change his mind.
Rather than exclude the three high-profile speakers from the conference, the organisers decided to move the conference to a venue outside the Vatican.
"We realised it is crucial for us to bring voices that represent perspectives often not heard at the Vatican," Ms Götz said. She added that, as a non-Vatican entity, "ultimately, we did not see a reason why these women should have to go through an 'approval process' by anyone".
She also highlighted that on his recent visit to Chile, Pope Francis told young people that "opinions often arrive to Rome filtered" and she said the women's event "aims to change that".
Invitations have been sent to Pope Francis and a number of cardinals to attend the conference. A spokesperson for the Vatican told the Irish Independent the event was "not a Vatican conference" and suggested that questions should be directed to the organisers.
Irish Independent
Mary McAleese and the Vatican
Sir, – I was appalled to read in Patsy McGarry’s report (News, February 2nd) that Dr Mary McAleese has been barred from taking part in a conference to mark International Women’s Day. The conference was originally intended to take place in the Vatican, but Dr McAleese was officially excluded by the Vatican. The conference, “Why Women Matter”, was then transferred by its organisers to premises outside the Vatican and Dr McAleese was invited to be its keynote speaker.
As an Irishman I protest about the manner in which Dr McAleese, a former president of my country, was treated by Cardinal Kevin Farrell, a fellow Irish Catholic, and prefect of the Curial Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, who is heavily involved in this year’s World Meeting of Families in August, when Pope Francis is expected to be present.
As a Catholic priest and theologian I also protest at the implications of Cardinal Farrell’s partisan action. In addition to being a cardinal, he is a Roman curial official with status and power. He has acted with high-handed presumption, using the authority of his office to foist on his fellow Catholics his own ultra-conservative disdain for movements for reform in the Catholic Church. His views are not argued; they are imposed – which is a patent abuse of office.
How much longer do Catholics have to wait before there is reform of attitudes to such matters as homosexuality and opposition to women’s ordination (ordination being a symbol of power in a heavily clerical church)? Denial of the freedom even to discuss these topics would be laughable were it not also a denial of justice and of the right to human dignity. By all means let traditionalists hold their views in freedom; but let them also remember that their views are liable to legitimate and expert contradiction and argument, of the kind that often occur at conferences. Both sides should avoid the careless arrogance of describing their convictions as “the teaching of the Church”. – Yours, etc, Gabriel Daiy
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