Roman Catholic Womenpriests: "Mary Ward:Then and Now" by Gemma Simmonds CJ

Mary Ward: Then and now
Gemma Simmonds CJ
Thinking Faith (UK)
January 22, 2010
http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20100122_1.htm

"Celebrations to mark the 400th anniversary of Mary Ward’s foundation of the first unenclosed religious order of women on the Jesuit model continue this weekend with a Mass at Westminster Cathedral. Gemma Simmonds CJ looks at the life and writings of this woman of ‘heroic virtue’ who wanted to secure a better role for women in the Church and in society, and at how this struggle continues today. Why is Mary’s vision for women, yet to be fully realised, still a vital goal to strive for?"

"In December 2009 Pope Benedict XVI formally promulgated a Decree recognising the ‘heroic virtue’ demonstrated by Mary Ward, conferring on her the title ‘Venerable’ and setting in motion her cause for canonisation. This judgement reverses that of Pope Urban VIII who condemned her as a ‘heretic, schismatic and rebel to Holy Church’ and her sisters as ‘poisonous growths in the Church of God [which] must be torn up from the roots lest they spread themselves further’. "