I have always been a rule follower: I liked wearing uniforms at my all-girls Catholic schools, and I get annoyed when the priest goes off-book saying some of the prayers during Mass.

I even enjoy the Latin Mass, at least during the few times I have attended.

So this realisation, which I had soon after I started working at America, surprised me: The church needs (more) women in the hierarchy of the Vatican and its decision-making processes.

Again, I usually do not call for big changes or support radical ideas.

If the church has worked this way for 2,000 years, I used to think, who are we to change it now?

But then I ended up working in an organisation that is mostly male, and I realised that for the first time, I was a minority. (America Media has more women and lay staff than it did a decade ago. But there are still more men than women.)

Up until a few months ago, every religious space I had ever been in was mostly or all female.

The religious authorities I knew (outside of my parish priest) were all women, and from what I saw, they never felt the need to have their decisions validated by men.

I went to a small all-girls Catholic school from fourth to eighth grade, then I attended a slightly larger all-girls Catholic high school.

My university's student body skewed mostly female (nearly 60 percent), and the Catholic studies program I was in had an even more pronounced majority of women.

Thus, almost every religious conversation I had with leaders or peers or family, was initiated by women who were not afraid to speak their minds on church teaching or anything else.

I never really considered the role of women at the Vatican.

In my mind, the authority that Sister Mary Thomas, or my lay teachers, had behind school gates extended to the wider church. Who would dare to tell Sister Mary Thomas that her opinion is not welcome on church governance?

Now as a woman, I am part of a minority at America, and yet I am working in a religious space that is otherwise familiar to me. I find it strange, though it is probably normal for working women in the rest of the world, to have life experiences that are different than, and perhaps not fully understood by, my male colleagues.

Some examples: I would avoid going to the halal cart outside my apartment alone after about 9 p.m. (the man who works there is a little too friendly with the women in my building).

I would not think to go on a walk when it's dark out, nor would I be comfortable sending a friend home late at night by herself. Some of these could be attributed to my self-ascribed status as "mom friend": the person who acts in a quintessential "mom" way, slightly overprotective and responsible for others.

But the fact is that as a woman, I react to personal safety issues in a different way than men do.

What does this have to do with running the church? Continue reading

The delegation is led by Irish-born Bishop Mary Bridget Meehan, who is visiting Ireland to recruit female priests.

Meehan, who leads the US-based Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP), says the women seeking ordination "already have theology degrees and diplomas in spirituality".

Meehan is a former nun and was ordained a priest in Pittsburgh, USA, in July 2006. She was later ordained a bishop in California.

She now ministers as a priest in Sarasota, Florida, even though the Catholic Church forbids the ordination of women on pain of excommunication.

In 2007 Meehan and fellow women priests were excommunicated by Pope Benedict. He decreed that anyone "who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order" was automatically excommunicated.

This decree has been rejected by the ARCWP.

In North America, there are about 250 Catholic women priests and 11 women bishops, Bishop Meehan says.

She says their ordinations were valid "because of our apostolic succession within the Roman Catholic Church".

Source

• The Irish Times
• Irish News
• Image: thinking catholicism

Meehan who is originally from Rathdowney in County Laois and is now based in Florida, has the position of bishop within the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.

She holds weekly services with parishioners at a Christian church in the city of Sarasota and says she responded to an invitation from a faith community of "reform-minded Catholics" to celebrate the Eucharist at a community centre in Rialto.

Her organisation has ordained around 230 female members around the world, and she wants the orthodox Catholic Church to accept women as well as gay and transgender individuals into the clergy.

"I'm going to celebrate an inclusive Roman Catholic liturgy just like everybody has in their churches in Ireland.

"I'm going to celebrate that with a local community here of renewed, reform-minded Catholics who are interested in justice and equality for women in the church," she said at the weekend.

Meehan said her services are attended by a diverse congregation rather than just like-minded women, but added that there was no attempt made to persuade Catholic authorities to allow the celebration be held in a consecrated church.

Her movement has been officially excommunicated by the Catholic Church since its inception in 2002, when it was claimed a male bishop privately ordained a number of female bishops on the Danube river, and is generally prohibited from holding services on church property.

Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW), a coalition of international groups supporting women's ordination, hosted the meeting and march in Rome to urge church leaders to re-open a dialogue on the question of ordaining women.

Source:

• Irish Times
• National Catholic Reporter
• Image: National Catholic Reporter