Currently, one of the hottest op-eds on the National Catholic Reporter (NCR, the progressive Catholic newsweekly) takes a harsh and critical look at the church hierarchy's response to both the excommunications in Brazil and women's ordination in light of the Vatican's statement on International Women's Day:
These recent developments are part of an all-too-familiar pattern. In the past year, women and men who publicly support increasing women’s roles in the church have been penalized and excommunicated, under the same automatic and self-imposed penalty that the mother and doctors in Brazil supposedly incurred.
The authors, Aisha Taylor and Erin Saiz Hanna are leaders of the Women's Ordination Conference , the oldest and largest organization advocating for the expansion of women's roles and voices in the Catholic church. (I don't recommend reading the comments section unless you'd like a head-shaped dent in your desk.)
Anne Eggebroten, a commentator at Women's eNews, also weighs in and highlights the voices that have condemned the bishop's actions, including Taylor and Hanna, as well as Frances Kissling, best known as the former president of Catholics for Choice. Eggebroten highlights a unique way for those who oppose such excommunications to respond:
To demonstrate the irrelevance of the church's position, women's groups around the world need to start an honor roll of people excommunicated by the Roman Catholic Church, starting with Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois, who attended and affirmed the ordination to the priesthood of a Roman Catholic woman in Kentucky last August.
I know there's been a lot of back and forth between feminists on here about the appropriate role of religion in regards to the larger feminist movement. I know there are many who believe that those who identify as feminist should walk away from religious institutions such as the Catholic church. It is my belief, however, that injustice in the church is a threat not only to Catholic women, but to women everywhere. The work of individuals and groups like Women's Ordination Conference and Catholics for Choice are part of the larger feminist movement, and are taking the fight right to the front steps of the Vatican.
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Thank you for posting this.
Personally, I cannot think of anything more useless and absurd than asking women to choose between their gender on one hand, and their faith and their culture on the other.
It is precisely because the Catholic church remains influential that it is worth fighting over.
I wanted to address this since this cropped up as an edit to the page recently. Feministing is avaliable to everyone and is read widely by young & old, women & men, and liberal & conservative. However, the target audience of Feministing is young progressive women. There are some posts about other groups of people, and different voices are welcome, but that is the target bedroom furniture audience. Thanks!
I am so confused by your posts. You make clear and intelligent assesments of the topic but you always put a like to a furniture site.
What does furniture have to do with Catholic feminist out-crys against this situation?