NPR's "Radio Times" with Marty Moss-Coane

Amy,

I am tempted to go through the back files of America and cut out all of your comments and make a book out of it.
You are a most witty writer.
In the end it is a storm in a teacup  which has given many the opportunity to beat up on the Vatican and show their appreciation for Nuns .
Everybody is a winner. 

The expression "second-class citizen" is not really applicable to the Church. The Church is not a republic; it's a feudal monarchy. Laypeople aren't citizens; we're spiritual serfs. Women are low-value serfs.

God in His infinite wisdom sent a Redeemer so that mankind could be freed from slavery to Sin and handed over to the serfdom of the Apparelocracy. A lot of people think Sin was more fun.

Maria #7
Beautiful video! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. This reminds me that there is no point in fretting about the number of vocations. God will always provide what is needed.
Amy #4
You are of course right that we are not citizens of the Church. If you mean servant by the term serf, I note that all Christian men and women are servants of Jesus Christ. An official title of the Pope (since at least Pope St. Gregory the Great) is “Servant of the Servants of God”. Also, the Catholic Church designates any candidate being investigated for sainthood as a “Servant of God,” and Mother Teresa described herself as a “servant of the poorest of the poor.” So, we are in good company to be servants. You might enjoy listening to the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Washington, Jane Belford, speak on the religious freedom issue. http://www.preservereligiousfreedom.org/ourreligiousfreedom

I appreciate the balance that Fr. Martin brings to this dialogue, his giving both sides the benefit of doubt and his willingness to hear what each is saying.  Sr. Simone's admission that she had no idea how any of this would work itself out seemed to me to be an opening for th Holy Spirit.  These may be difficult time for th Catholic Church, but in this interview I felt the mystery of something happening in the challenge.  The Spirit?

This was an excellent exchange, but it was disappointing that Fr. Martin, when asked,  just couldn’t get himself to admit that women in the Church are treated as second class citizens. Ordination aside, women are systematically excluded from the key positions in the Vatican’s upper leadership structure. They are likewise excluded from key leadership positions in the Vatican’s diplomatic corps. There are pastors who still exclude a woman from carrying a candle at the liturgy. To claim that such unnecessary exclusion does not indicate second class citizenship is like saying that keeping African Americans away from the front seats in the bus is not segregation. I realize that the fear of reprisal runs deep in the lower clergy, but we priests need to stand up and say it like it is. Our Church needlessly discriminates against women. In doing so we diminish them and ourselves.


 
 
 

#2 AMEN!