Why aren’t more women in leadership
roles in our Catholic Church?
Sr.
Joan Chittister once told a story that I think sums it up.
“A
little girl camel said to her mother camel, “Mother, why do we have these webs
between our toes?” And the mother camel said, “Darling, camels have these webs
between their toes so we can walk in the sand without sinking.” She said “Oh!” then
asked, “Mother, why do we have these very long eyelashes?” And the mother camel
said, “Darling, camels have very long eyelashes to protect their eyes from
sandstorms in deserts.” She said, “Oh!” then asked, “Mother, why do camels have
these humps on our backs?” The mother camel said, “Well, darling, camels have
humps on their backs so they can cross the desert without needing extra water.”
The kid said, “Hmmmm. I have a problem. If we have webbed toes so we can walk
in the desert, and we have eyelashes so we can see in the desert, and we have
humps on our backs so we can have enough water in the desert, would you tell me
what in God’s name we are doing in the San Diego Zoo?!?” Now that’s what I see
as the problem for women in the church. She went on to say “We’ve got everything
it takes girls, but they’ve got us in prison…”
Here
are some quotations from our very own Church Teaching about women in the
church:
“…every
kind of social or cultural discrimination in basic personal rights on the
grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language or religion, must be
curbed and eradicated as incompatible
with God’s design. It is deeply to be deplored that these basic personal
rights are not yet being respected everywhere.” Everywhere. (Guadium et Spes, no. 29 – The Pastoral Constitution on
the Church in the Modern World, one of the four constitutions resulting from
the Second Vatican Council – no small authority.)
“We
can say with certainty that discrimination
against women contradicts the will of Christ. We are painfully aware that
sexism, defined as “unjust discrimination based on sex,” is still present in
some members of the Church. We reject sexism and pledge renewed efforts to
guard against it in church teaching and practice.”
(Strengthening the Bonds of Peace, U.S. Bishops, 1994) Emphasis all mine.
Is a
calling to leadership a basic human right? Are there people God is calling into
leadership that the magisterium will not recognize, invite into the
conversation or hear due to the sexism present in the Church?
“The Church’s
ministry fostering human rights in the world requires continued scrutiny and
purification of her own life, her laws,
institutions and policies…In the Church, as in other institutions and
groups, purification is needed in internal
practices and procedures.” (1994 Synod of Bishops)
And
yet, even at our most local level of
church leadership, the Presbyteral Council, the main consultative body that
assists Archbishop Vigneron in his pastoral care and governance of the
Archdiocese of Detroit, out of 34 seats, not one is offered to a woman. Not one
lay person or woman’s voice is heard. Just last week, Archbishop Vigneron held
a meeting with the priests of our Archdiocese to discuss the recently
reinflamed sex abuse crisis. Per Fr. Joe’s excellent homily last weekend, where
were the mothers and fathers at that meeting?
In
Jesus’ name, we as Church should be leading the charge against sexism. Let’s
see some concrete changes in our leadership. Give women and lay people our
rightful seat at the table. It is time for our experience to be heard and to
lead our Church forward.
Send your Crazy
Catholic Question to Lisa Brown at dre@ctredeemer.org or read past columns at www.crazycatholicquestions.blogspot.com.
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