WOC responds to Pope Francis' appointment of women to Vatican dicastery, My Response- More is Needed-Time to recognized 20 year ministry of women priests leading the Church toward gender equality- Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

ARCWP Retreat July 7-10 2022

 

It is time for Pope Francis to take the next step - remove all penalties against women priests including excommunication and the category of "grievous crime"  in canon law and affirm our prophetic leadership in ordaining women to foster the full equality of women in the Church since the Ordination of 7 women on the Danube. 

I look forward to Pope Francis taking this important step toward healing the grievous sin of sexism in the Roman Catholic Church by dialoguing with women priests who have been living a new model of inclusive, egalitarian ministry with the people of God in our communities around the world. 

Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP 

 The Women’s Ordination Conference welcomes Pope Francis’ July 13, 2022 appointment of three women, Sr. Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E., Sr. Yvonne Reungoat, F.M.A., and Dr. Maria Lia Zervino, to the Dicastery for Bishops as an important step in removing all barriers to women’s full participation in the life of the church. 

These appointments follow Pope Francis’ recently announced reforms of the Vatican bureaucracy, which emphasize “canonical mission” or baptism as the criteria for leadership in the Vatican. This encouraging shift creates greater opportunities for co-responsibility and collaboration between men and women.  

However, the appointment of women to Vatican positions cannot alone address the injustices women face in the church. Without gender parity within the Vatican’s dicasteries, women will undoubtedly confront a culture of clericalism and sexism that has long thrived within those walls. 

We also note the deep irony that women may now aid in selecting bishops, a role they themselves are prohibited from holding on account of their gender. The exclusion of women from ordained ministries continues to deprive the church of women’s sacramental 

leadership and reinforce cultural inequalities in the Vatican and around the world. As we prepare to celebrate the Feast of Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, on July 22 we urge Pope Francis to listen to the calls of women who have heard the Good News of equality and long for equal recognition of their ministries. ### Contact: Kate McElwee, Executive Director, kmcelwee@womensordination.org

More about Dr. María Lía Zervino... In a 2021 Crux article, Argentine María Lía Zervino, (newly appointed member to the Dicastery for Bishops and President of the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations) describes a letter she wrote to Pope Francis thanking him for expanding women’s roles during the past eight years as Roman pontiff, while also demanding “a further step.” She writes to Pope Francis: "With all respect, trust and affection, that as a woman I feel something is owed to us. You fight against machismo and clericalism, but I think that not enough progress has been made in taking advantage of the wealth of women who make up a large part of the People of God.”