Catholics campaigning for women priests detained at Vatican
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/17/idUS402290250120111017
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This article is available in its entirety at the National Catholic Reporter Website (http://ncronline.org/blogs/where-i-stand/lack-women-will-irreversibly-harm-church)
Lack of women will irreversibly harm the church
Joan Chittister
The story is an old one and I've told it before, but never has it felt so ominous as it does right now.
It happened this way:
About 15 or 20 years ago, I gave a series of conferences in a parish in Canada.
I like Canada a lot — its beauty, its pace, its seeming patience with conflict and its apparent calmer approach to otherwise disruptive subjects — subjects that lead to almost immediate choosing up of sides down here. Maybe it's the Brit in them. Or maybe, given their smaller population and more far-flung population centers, wildfire simply isn't as wild north the border as it is here. Whatever.
At any rate, what was already euphemistically called "The women's issue" here appeared at that time to be a great deal less of an issue to our neighbors to the north.
So I was surprised when the topic came up at lunch from the couple hosting my visit. More than that, I was surprised at what triggered it.
It wasn't the dearth of theology around the question of the ordination of women that piqued them. It wasn't the growing statistic on the coming decline in the priesthood that worried them. It wasn't the fear of merging parishes that troubled them.
On the contrary. They had a good parish, they said, a fine and loving parish priest, the kind of congregation that was family to them and the kind of faith to trust the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit among them.
What bothered them was their 4-year-old daughter. She was a quick-minded child. Precocious. Persistent. Confident. They knew, they told me, that some day, she would question the difference between what her brother could do in the church and what she could do. That would be years away, of course, but still — maybe more for themselves than for her — they were struggling, to no avail, to find a reason good enough to appease her, they said.
Then, suddenly, one Sunday morning after Mass as they sat at the family breakfast table, it happened.
"Mama," she said suddenly, "why don't we have any girl priests at our church?"
They looked at one another, dumbstruck, unprepared. Too late. There was nothing left to do now but be honest.
"Because, darling," the mother said, "our church doesn't allow girl priests."
The little girl pursed her lips and frowned. "Then why do we go there?" she demanded.
With the retreat to Vatican I in full force, this question and its answer get closer and closer. …
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Eucharist Without Borders: God’s Welcoming Table and
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
April 11-13, 2012
Esplendor Resort at Rio Rico, Arizona (south of
Tucson)
Download a printable conference flyer here
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The International Business Times reports on “Vatican Calls for Global Financial Reform” by Ashley Portero.
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And, ...
Spare us from Vatican
economic analysts
Catholic Culture
By Phil Lawler | October 25, 2011 8:28 AM The
Catholic Church does not claim teaching
authority on matters of economics and finance. When
the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace issues
a statement on the world's financial markets, ...
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Rich and Poor, From St. Luke to Warren Buffett
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Spain's Stolen Babies: An
Ugly Past On a Staggering Scale
ABC News
For years there had been rumors in Spain: babies
stolen from their mothers at birth by the government
in collusion with the Catholic Church. But
now the country is exploding in anger and outrage as
the scale of the baby thefts is revealed: An
estimated ...
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European rabbis urge
Vatican to renounce rebels
Reuters
The statement came as the dissident Society of Saint
Pius X (SSPX) considered a final offer from the
Vatican to end their 23-year split and reintegrate
the rebels who firmly reject modernizing reforms the
Catholic Church made in the 1960s. ...
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Exodus as pope's Legion reform lags
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/ap-exclusive-exodus-as-1210087.html