“Any area where within the culture women tend to have more rights, they will already be doing these positions,” Rutherford said. Keeping women subordinated in the church is “very damaging” for individual women’s faith, and mental and emotional health she said.įor the role of women in all religions, “this conversation is only getting louder,” McElwee said.Ī press release from Women’s Ordination Worldwide said the Pope’s “announcement contributes to a slow chipping away at the wall of anti-women exclusion that still lingers and corrupts the official church.”īYU world religions professor Taunalyn Rutherford said this announcement is more impactful in the global South rather than North America or Europe. “There are so many areas for growth,” she said. Pope Francis formally altering the law to allow women to be lectors and acolytes “feels like a small thing and inconsequential,” McElwee said, but it is one more thing to “cross off the list” in women gaining full equality in the church. The church “can support the call to respect women’s rights, while not agreeing with everything some feminist groups propose.” “A living church can react by being attentive to the legitimate claims of those women who seek greater justice and equality,” the Pope said. Pope Francis released a “ letter to young people” in March 2019 where he acknowledged the hardships many female members have faced such as “a fair share of male authoritarianism, domination, various forms of enslavement, abuse and sexist violence.” In 2014, the National Catholic Reporter announced a “new day is dawning” as more than 200 women claimed they were official Roman Catholic priests. Women’s Ordination Conference Executive Director Kate McElwee said throughout Pope Francis’ papacy, he has encouraged more dialogue on the inclusion of women in the church.Īlthough encouraging more dialogue doesn’t sound radical, McElwee said it was a “breath of fresh air” to discuss these issues more freely.Īs the movement for women’s ordination grew, certain congregations started allowing female priests. Most notable is Women’s Ordination Worldwide, an organization dedicated to “working for women’s equality and ordination in the Catholic Church.” Since then, many Catholic women have fought for the ability to receive the priesthood. In this letter, he said the presence and roles of women in the church are “absolutely necessary and irreplaceable,” even when not linked to the ministerial priesthood. Pope John Paul II released an apostolic letter in 1994 saying priestly ordination is reserved for men alone. 11, 2021, to explicitly allow women to participate more fully during Mass, while reaffirming they cannot become priests. Here is a brief look at the changing role of women in a few religions.Ĭatholicism Pope Francis holds his pastoral staff as he arrives to celebrate Mass at St. Women’s roles in a variety of faith traditions have expanded over the last few decades to include higher leadership and greater authority, but some believe there is still progress to be made for women’s role in religions. Those who support the change think it will lead to including women in the priesthood, thus giving women greater authority in the church and helping fix priest shortages in several areas, according to The Associated Press. 11 announcement reaffirmed women cannot be ordained to the priesthood and sparked further controversy for those who advocate for expanding the diaconate to include women, and for those who oppose.Īccording to The Associated Press, opponents of the change feel that it will be a “slippery slope toward ordaining women to the priesthood.” The change formally altered canon law to allow an already common practice where women participate as lectors who read at Mass and acolytes who help serve at the altar. Pope Francis recently announced that women can now read during Mass and instituted the change to recognize the “ precious contribution” women bring to the Catholic Church. The Pope officially altered Catholic canon law to allow the common practice of women reading at Mass. A lay woman reads during a February 2020 Mass in the Casa Santa Marta at the Vatican.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |