"Is Pope Really Serious About Fair Pay?"/Huffington Post /Catholic Women Priests in Inclusive, Empowered, Communities-living Gospel equality now

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The shining lights in this situation are American activist nuns and Catholic women priests, who run their own churches. There are now more than 100 ordained women priests in the United States. That and the fact that the Church hierarchy really doesn't represent most Catholics in terms of practical day to day life. Barring altar girls, however, is more than just vestigial sexism, it's obstructionist and grounded in misogynistic ideas.

A Church genuinely committed to addressing the needs of the marginalized wouldstartwith the ordination of women, not end here, centuries from now. The problem for the Church isn't girls who stay, it's the girls they turn away, each of whom realizes she is, for no legitimate moral or ethical reason, not respected as an equal, regardless of what the Pope says. As long as girls have to fight to be recognized in their own churches the Pope's protestations ring hollow. In the meantime, every altar girl this Church turns away is a gift to the rest of the world. Those girls, and the people who support them, are the ones who will eventually close the pay gap.

Portions of this essay have been published in Whatever Works: Feminists of Faith Speak, 
Trista Hendren (Editor), Pat Daly (Editor), Amina Wadud (Foreword)Follow Soraya Chemaly on Twitter: www.twitter.com/schemaly

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Pope FrancisGender EqualityGender Pay GapCatholic ChurchAltar Girls

Bridget Mary's Response: The international Roman Catholic Women Priests movement is offering an inclusive church for all! We are healing the wound of centuries only sexism in the church. Catholics who experience our liturgies report that they appreciate shared homilies, inclusive language and the open table that welcomes all to the Banquet of Christ's love.

I wrote a book, Living Gospel Equality Now,  about my journey to priesthood and the story of Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community (with married and women priests) in Sarasota, Florida. Women Priests are in 35 states, over 65 communities in the U.S.

Come and see! Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org, sofiabmm@aol.com,

703-505-0004, www.marymotherofjesus.org