Will Pope Francis Lift Excommunications Against Catholics Who Follow their Consciences in the Holy Year of Mercy?

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

I  pray that  Pope Francis, in this Holy Year of Mercy, will lift the excommunication decree against Roman Catholic Women Priests,  our supporters, communities and all Catholics who faithfully dissent from Church teaching and follow their  consciences in loving service to the people of God. 

Our movement has grown from the Danube 7 and now numbers approximately 215. We are not going away. We are presiding at sacraments where all are welcome at the Banquet of Christ's love. We are not leaving our beloved church. We are leading our church into a more loving , inclusive community of equals who live the Gospel in our local grassroots communities. 

It is time for the Vatican to change its teaching that men resemble the image of Christ more than women do , which is their argument against women's ordination. When the Vatican affirms the call of women to be priests and opens the top leadership jobs to qualified women, the church will reflect Jesus' vision of  a community of equals.  Until then, the all-male clerical structure that privileges men as superior and women as inferior within church governance and liturgical worship, will remain. 

Until women are equals in the church, the full equality of women in the world will not be a reality. It is my hope that Pope Francis will make the connections between poverty, oppression, and violence toward women in the world and the discrimination against women in the church. 
This article indicates that Pope Francis is moving in the right direction, but much more needs to be done to promote women's equality now.  What a blessed opportunity for our Catholic community to grow in deeper oneness in our church and in our world! Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/women-leading-positions-vatican-increasing

..."According to Sailer's own research, there are about 750 women working in the Vatican, which means that one fifth of Vatican employees are women."And they are not doing the cleaning jobs, moreover, as those are done by men. Most of the women are academics," she added.

The percentage of women working in the curia is particularly high. Women work as archivists, art historians, office heads and journalists. The number of women in leading positions is also on the increase. The film archive, the maintenance department of St. Peter's Basilica and the German edition ofL'Osservatore Romano are all headed by women now, Sailer said..."