Dear Editor:
In response to your Sarasota Herald Tribune article “Did Pope
Francis open a door-or minds-for women?”,
I believe that there is a sliver of
light, and a positive change in tone.
Yes, women have much to tell us and
are able to ask questions men cannot understand if the hierarchy will listen.
However, in order to achieve gender
equality in the Catholic Church, the Pope must affirm women priests as
sacramental ministers and listen to women’s experiences on issues such as birth
control, marriage equality, divorce and remarriage.
Where is the all-male, celibate
hierarchy’ s openness to women’s experiences in the following example? The Roman
Catholic diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend Indiana wants a judge to dismiss a
jury’s verdict that it discriminated against a former teacher who was fired for
trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization. According to church teaching on primacy of
conscience, all Catholics must follow their consciences in making moral
decisions. St, Thomas Aquinas , a medieval theologian, once stated that he’d
rather be excommunicated, than violate his conscience.
In my view , Pope Francis should have
a world- wide gathering , a Synod, in which women share how they see things
with different eyes so he can deal with the questions that men can’t
understand. That is why it is so
imperative that women be part of the decision-making process in the Vatican.
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP,
Sarasota, Fl.
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