My Response:
Fr. Luke Hansen is almost at the precipice of women's full equality as he makes the connection between the Vatican's slow progress in placing women in the top jobs there and the systematic exclusion from certain roles. Might he be referring to women's ordination?"We have to think about the messages we’re sending."
As we celebrate International Women's Day everywhere on March 8th, the Vatican gets a D for little progress shown, more action needed on expanding women in leadership roles there. See my article on five steps that Pope Francis could take now to make real progress toward the full equality of women in the church.
1. Ordain women deacons as a first step toward full equality.
2. Lift excommunication and all penalties against Roman Catholic Women Priests and Supporters and affirm movement as prophetic and members as beloved sisters and brothers in the church.
3. Expand Council of Cardinals to include women in decision making process.
4. In each diocese and parish, incorporate women as equals in decision making.
5 Affirm women in every ministry on the parish level including preaching, teaching and administering sacraments. Anointing of the Sick, for example, was not always reserved to the priest. Either is baptism or Marriage. The priests in the parishes would probably welcome such changes.
http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2018/03/five-steps-roman-catholic-church-can.html
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org #TimesUp.
"Thursday March 8th marks International Women’s Day, an event marked in countries around the world to celebrate progress in moving towards equality for women in all areas of political, social and economic life.
The event is also being marked here in Rome with a number of events, sponsored by embassies and other groups seeking to bring women’s voices to the fore.
Fr Luke Hansen is a Jesuit priest and former associate editor of America magazine. As a deacon, he worked at a women’s federal prison in California, a ministry which, he says, significantly affected the way he sees the role of women in the Church.
Listen to the interview with Fr Luke Hansen
Fr Luke says his long Jesuit formation brought him into contact with women as spiritual directors and university professors. Women, he says, have already taken on leadership at parish and diocesan level, but one place where they have a less prominent role is in the Vatican. It is an important issue, he adds, “for me to see a greater presence of women in Vatican”.
Incremental progress
Commenting on the recent appointment of two new female undersecretaries at the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, Fr Luke says there has been incremental progress. He mentions also the director of the Vatican museums and the first female rector of a pontifical university, but adds these examples “should never be used as an excuse to think we’ve done enough or that the presence of women in strong enough in Curial leadership”.
We have to remain persistent, Fr Luke says, and ensure that qualified women are considered and hired when employment opportunities open up. It’s a process that we must keep moving forward, he says.
Women in ministry
Fr Luke also speaks about his experience serving as a deacon in the federal women’s prison near Oakland in California, an all-female Catholic facility. That experience, he says, “gave me the opportunity to see women ministering to each other, consoling each other, supporting each other in really powerful ways, in ministerial ways”.
He also talks about the stories of sexual violence that he heard, bringing home the reality of how women are treated differently and “are oppressed in every country in the world”. Such inequality, he says, has terrible consequences in women’s lives, and has impacted his views about women in society and the Church. We have to think about the messages we’re sending when women are systematically excluded from certain roles in the church”, he concludes."
2. Lift excommunication and all penalties against Roman Catholic Women Priests and Supporters and affirm movement as prophetic and members as beloved sisters and brothers in the church.
3. Expand Council of Cardinals to include women in decision making process.
4. In each diocese and parish, incorporate women as equals in decision making.
5 Affirm women in every ministry on the parish level including preaching, teaching and administering sacraments. Anointing of the Sick, for example, was not always reserved to the priest. Either is baptism or Marriage. The priests in the parishes would probably welcome such changes.
http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2018/03/five-steps-roman-catholic-church-can.html
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org #TimesUp.
"Thursday March 8th marks International Women’s Day, an event marked in countries around the world to celebrate progress in moving towards equality for women in all areas of political, social and economic life.
The event is also being marked here in Rome with a number of events, sponsored by embassies and other groups seeking to bring women’s voices to the fore.
Fr Luke Hansen is a Jesuit priest and former associate editor of America magazine. As a deacon, he worked at a women’s federal prison in California, a ministry which, he says, significantly affected the way he sees the role of women in the Church.
Listen to the interview with Fr Luke Hansen
Fr Luke says his long Jesuit formation brought him into contact with women as spiritual directors and university professors. Women, he says, have already taken on leadership at parish and diocesan level, but one place where they have a less prominent role is in the Vatican. It is an important issue, he adds, “for me to see a greater presence of women in Vatican”.
Incremental progress
Commenting on the recent appointment of two new female undersecretaries at the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, Fr Luke says there has been incremental progress. He mentions also the director of the Vatican museums and the first female rector of a pontifical university, but adds these examples “should never be used as an excuse to think we’ve done enough or that the presence of women in strong enough in Curial leadership”.
We have to remain persistent, Fr Luke says, and ensure that qualified women are considered and hired when employment opportunities open up. It’s a process that we must keep moving forward, he says.
Women in ministry
Fr Luke also speaks about his experience serving as a deacon in the federal women’s prison near Oakland in California, an all-female Catholic facility. That experience, he says, “gave me the opportunity to see women ministering to each other, consoling each other, supporting each other in really powerful ways, in ministerial ways”.
He also talks about the stories of sexual violence that he heard, bringing home the reality of how women are treated differently and “are oppressed in every country in the world”. Such inequality, he says, has terrible consequences in women’s lives, and has impacted his views about women in society and the Church. We have to think about the messages we’re sending when women are systematically excluded from certain roles in the church”, he concludes."
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