LCWR in Uneasy Peacetime by Ken Briggs | Aug. 17, 2015, Leadership Conference of Women Religious Steps Away from Women's Ordination, ARCWP : Gender Equality is Jesus Vision Today, Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/lcwr-uneasy-peacetime

Bridget Mary:  Women's ordination and reproductive rights are not lesser issues! Gender equality is a crucial justice issue. Jesus led the way by treating women and men as disciples and equals in the Gospel. Justice for all, justice for the poor, justice for women including women's ordination is constitutive to the Gospel. The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP)stands on the prophetic edge  and declares joyfully that gender equality in all areas of life, including ordination is the will of God for our world and our church. As Jesus confronted the religious leaders of his times, so must Catholics today challenge the Vatican to live social justice in all areas of ministry, including women's ordination.  The good news is women priests are serving inclusive communities where all are welcome to receive sacraments.  

It looks like the LCWR has thrown in the white flag,  and "lost the edge" on this issue. This is a sad day! I was hoping that they would continue to lead the way like Sister Theresa Kane did when she addressed Pope John Paul 11 on this issue during his visit to the United States in 1976.

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

Ken Briggs: "From accounts of the LCWR's first convention since the Vatican Inquisition formally ended, it appears that a certain kind of peace has replaced resistance. At least in the early phase of the aftermath, the message that comes across is relatively tame and resigned to fit more comfortably within Rome's expectations. Rome fatigue was to be expected, of course, and any organization can only remain on high alert and strenuous defense for so long. Everyone gets tired and word from the negotiating team is that the two sides are getting along just fine, putting aside "lesser" issues like women's ordination and reproductive rights in the interests of "the church."

 " Jesus stood up to a lot of people who had more worldly authority than he did."LCWR might have done the same, though the evidence so far indicates that the negotiating team transformed its views in the light of what it understood as greater wisdom. LCWR is still recovering and has every right to determine its own future either as a chastened member of the greater church or to restore an edge that had the ring of the prophetic. From the NCR's good reporting from the scene in Houston, it looks like the organization for the moment has lost that edge and is recovering..."

ARCWP :Aida Soto and Olga Lucia in Colombia, South America