Going to church is generally touted as good for the soul. But there is also evidence church attendance can be good for your health — unless, that is, you are a woman at a church that bars women from preaching or other leadership roles. A new study published in the American Sociological Review has found Read more
Sometimes you need to catch your breath when a Vatican official’s speaking echoes a theologian’s writings. Which way is this going to go? Not long ago, the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, echoed a 50-year-old passage from a book by … wait for it … Swiss theologian Hans Küng. Speaking on Spain’s church-owned Read more
Pope Francis recently announced that he would remove the phrase “lay men” from Canon 230 and replace it with “lay persons”. This change to the church’s legal code means that women can now be permanently installed as lectors or acolytes – essentially, readers, distributors of Communion and assistants at Mass and the sacraments. Although not Read more
Pope Francis recently decreed the women can be formally instituted as lectors (readers) and acolytes (altar servers) with an apostolic letter, issued “motu proprio” (by his own initiative) called Spiritus Domini. Guillaume Goubert, editor-in-chief of La Croix made this significant point in reference to the new legislation: Although he does not suggest it, Francis does Read more
The good news: Pope Francis named Xaverian Sr. Nathalie Becquart as undersecretary to the Vatican’s office of the Synod of Bishops, possibly with voting rights. The other news: the second undersecretary named, Augustinian Fr. Luis Marín de San Martín, will become a bishop. The more things change. … Still, it is important to have a Read more
In what’s being hailed as a demonstration that Pope Francis is in earnest about empowering women within ecclesiastical structures, on Feb. 5, for the first time ever, the pontiff named a woman as the Promoter of Justice for the Appeals Court of the Vatican City State. In effect, the Promoter of Justice functions like a Read more
The economic downturn caused by Covid-19 has had an uneven impact, in part reflecting the unprecedented nature of the crisis. The housing market and many domestic-orientated industries are doing well. And for many households and businesses, the economic downturn has so far had little impact on job security, incomes, or spending. For some, the increased Read more
It’s not what they say; it’s the way that they say it. Documents and Scripture translations annoyingly border on gaslighting women. Not the big-league, drive-her-crazy gaslighting, just the subtle cognitive dissonance that slips into relationships large and small. You know, “He loves me, he loves me not …” Cognitive dissonance includes saying one thing and Read more
Monika Schmelter is one of the women who crisscrosses the country to press for equal rights in the Catholic Church. The reason, she points out is that people are leaving the church in droves — including her own children. Many women share her experience of seeing their children turn their backs on the church. In Read more
Pope Francis used his post-Angelus remarks to call for more female leadership in the church. He would like women to “participate more in areas of responsibility in the church.” “Today there is a need to broaden the spaces for a more incisive female presence in the church,” he said on October 11, “because in general Read more