Friday, September 25, 2015

Being Nice to the Women

Hallelujah, the Catholic Church's inquisition against its American nuns is over!

Pope Francis made a point of praising these women in his speech at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York
City on September 24.


http://www.religionnews.com/2015/09/24/st-patricks-cathedral-pope-embraces-nuns-vatican-fire/

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious is officially off the hook and publicly praised.

But really, not much has changed.  The Women's Ordination Conference was not praised or mentioned.  

http://www.womensordination.org/

Earlier this week Fr. Jack McClure was removed from ministry for speaking at the Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Philadelphia on the weekend of Sept. 20-21.  He is the fourth priest to be sanctioned for supporting the ordination of women.

http://www.womensordination.org/2015/09/23/fr-jack-mcclure-removed-from-ministry-for-speaking-at-womens-ordination-worldwide-conference/

Francis is correcting the error of his most recent predecessor, but he has not yet crossed the big line of changing women's second-class status in the church.

Words are cheap.  Ending the mistaken oppression of of women by Pope Benedict XVI is a no-brainer.

If these are preliminary steps to actual change for Catholic women, I will applaud Pope Francis.

But if he is just being nice to women without substantive change down the road, may he have a road-to-Damascus event like St. Paul.

May he hear the voice of God and be blinded--so that his eyes may be opened.


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