The real issue is the continued discrimination against women and their exclusion from decision making authority including a renewed priestly ministry in inclusive, communities of equals in the church. Neither Peter, Paul nor any of early apostles were ordained. In the early centuries of the church's history women served leaders and presided at the Eucharistic Table in house churches.
Contemporary Canon law links decision-making with Holy Orders. Pope Francis will have to change this church law to give women leadership positions.
In our age there is no excuse for excluding women from Holy Orders. Women are equal images of God, and should be leaders of sacramental worship, as well as decision makers in our church.
The reality is that the international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement are leading inclusive, egalitarian communities now. The full equality of women is the voice of God in our time. Once again, Mary Hunt hits the nail on the head, plenary indulgence or not! Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org, www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/atheologies/7216/
...."In the same press conference, Francis is reported to have said:
A church without women would be like an apostolic college without Mary. The Madonna is more important than the apostles — the Church herself is feminine, the Spouse of Christ and a mother…The role of women doesn’t just end with being a mother and with housework. We don’t yet have a truly deep theology of women… We talk about whether they can be this or that, can they be altar boys, can they be lectors, about a woman as president of Caritas (Catholic charities). But we don’t have a deep theology of women in the church…On the ordination of women, the Church has spoken and said no. Pope John Paul II, in a definitive formulation, said that door is closed.
Boom. This is the same old same old theology—the Virgin Mary is more important than anyone else in the story, but living women cannot make ecclesial decisions, exercise sacramental ministry, or make ethical choices. Apparently, the question of women’s ordination is so yesterday in the Vatican Francis doesn’t think it needs to be revisited.
So much for democracy and making a mess (not to say “screwing up”) when it comes to internal church matters. I shudder to think what a “deep theology of women in the church” will look like, much less who will write it. So while I am delighted to see some small movement on the part of this pope on gay issues, I think it’s crucial that he not be given a pass on issues related to women. They are all of a piece.
Gender discrimination is at the heart of kyriarchy. No blithe generalizations about the wonders of women without concrete, structural changes that reflect those realities are acceptable. Women will not be trivialized, and we certainly will not stand by and watch men, including this pope, make excuses for why women cannot be full members of the church.
Furthermore, there’s no surprise in clergymen covering for one another, passing over just how gay things really are, whose youthful capers continue into late middle age, and the like. Few Jesuits would have the nerve to be anti-gay given the make-up of their congregation. I have seen and heard enough over the years from clergymen to recognize the patterns when I see them. Structural change or no change, gentlemen. Let the buyers beware.
The proof of whether this off the cuff press conference, following a well-staged week in Brazil, signals real change will unfold in the months ahead. Will there be stirrings of democracy, a Vatican spring complete with líos in every diocese capable of upending a kyriarchal church and letting a mature, diverse community emerge? Will women finally and definitively share power with men in a democratic church? Or, will there simply be a little tweaking of the rules to make sure that a few favored sons who happen to be gay can remain in power?
Once again, how women are treated, indeed what ministry, decision-making power, and moral authority women share, will answer the question. I will be watching live, plenary indulgence or not..."
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