Agony and Anniversary

Forty-five years is longer than many of the leaders of our movement have been alive. I am so cheered by that. 

Kate McElwee sets the tone of the celebration in her letter inviting participation in this weekend’s events: we have been together “sometimes in the wilderness, always in hope, and with an unwavering love for justice.” 

Did we think women’s ordination would happen soon? I remember Sara Howard, who died too young, saying that Judy Heffernan probably expected the Pope to accept women into the priesthood in the late 1970s. What a shock to be faced with Inter Insigniores the year after the founding of WOC. 

But that’s the way our movement works, like all social justice movements, really. The first reply is a big NO. The movement percolates. Judy is ordained by the Community of the Christian Spirit in 1980. 

Then A BIGGER NO: Ordinatio Sacerdotalis in 1994, just before WOC’s twentieth anniversary. More percolation. Roman Catholic WomenPriests ordains seven women on the Danube in 2002, and a whole new era begins. Authority is taken; waiting ends for many. And then a feeble no: excommunication in 2007. Does it matter? 

The larger movement for justice in the institution goes on. All must have what some have now, basic Catholic social justice teaching. There are so many milestones; I am sure WOC will remind you of them this weekend. I am going to remind you of the latest: Pope Francis dreaming. 

Of course I have reservations in writing about a book I haven’t read yet, Let Us Dream: The Path to A Better Future, by Austen Ivereigh and Pope Francis. The relationship of author and author/subject is clearly explained in the various reviews, to avoid the unpleasantness around the “autobiography” of Pope Benedict XVI a couple of years ago. I will accept that this book does reflect what the current pope wants to say, even if he did not write every word himself. 

My reservations will not stop me writing about it on this important weekend because this book reflects the agony that WOC has imposed on Francis. Forty-five years later women who want to be priests cannot be dismissed with faux theological arguments. No. Maybe they can be mollified, reassured, complemented. 

In discussing the response to the pandemic, Francis says: “The countries with women as presidents or prime ministers have on the whole reacted better and more quickly than others, making decisions swiftly and communicating them with empathy.” Christopher Lamb in The Tablet expands on this: “His comments echo the plaudits given to female leaders in countries such as New Zealand, Germany, Iceland, Taiwan and Finland for their handling of Covid-19, often placed in sharp contrast with strongmen populist leaders who have tended to use a narrative of blame and struggled to manage the crisis.” 

Colleen Dulle in America reports: “Speaking about his appointment of six women to the Vatican’s Council for the Economy, Francis says, ‘I chose these particular women because of their qualifications but also because I believe women in general are much better administrators than men’ because they do the bulk of organizing day-to-day in their jobs and households. ‘They understand processes better, how to take projects forward.’” 

The project he’s proposing in this book, by the way, is a universal basic income; think former US Presidential candidate Andrew Yang applied to the whole world. He would need a very strong phalanx of women to get that done! Like everything Francis writes, there’s a lot of good in this book, a lot of love for the world.

Yet Joshua McElwee sums up the agony: “The pope’s words about women in the church are striking, as they seem to be the first time the pope has directly addressed critics who say he has not done enough to promote women to positions of authority.” He quotes extensively:

“The pontiff points especially to his 2016 appointment of Italian Barbara Jatta to lead the Vatican Museums and to several other women he has named as under-secretaries of Vatican departments. 

Francis also notes that in Catholic dioceses across the world women often serve in leadership positions, running Catholic schools or hospital systems, or heading up diocesan departments.

“Perhaps because of clericalism, which is a corruption of the priesthood, many people wrongly believe that Church leadership is exclusively male,” the pope states in the book.

“To say they aren’t truly leaders because they aren’t priests is clericalist and disrespectful,” he adds. [No. It’s just saying they aren’t priests, who have distinct roles in ministry and governance.]

Francis says he has tried to “create spaces where women can lead, but in ways that allow them to shape the culture, ensuring they are valued, respected, and recognized.” [Women can lead in any spaces.]

The pope says he has also focused on naming women as consultors to several Vatican congregations, “so that they can influence the Vatican while preserving their independence from it.” [WHAT does he mean by that? How free are they to speak out?]

“Changing institutional culture is an organic process which calls for integrating, without clericalizing, the viewpoints of women,” states the pope. [I will just link to an article about the USCCB’s agonizing debate on involving the laity in the selection of bishops. They are sincere; the integration is so limited.]

Beyond Jatta’s appointment, the pontiff points to his naming of Linda Ghisoni and Gabriella Gambino as undersecretaries at the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life; and to his naming of Francesca Di Giovanni as an undersecretary at the Vatican’s Secretariat of State. 

Later in the volume, Francis appears to chide those who campaign for women’s ordination. 

In a section that widely focuses on how some conservative Catholics continue to criticize the reforms of the 1962-65 Second Vatican Council, the pope says that some people demonstrate an “isolated conscience” and “remain huddled in ‘their’ group of purists, [as] guardians of the truth.”

“Under the banner of restoration or reform, people give long speeches and write endless articles offering doctrinal clarifications or manifestos that reflect little more than the obsessions of small groups,” states the pontiff. [A little defensive about his culture warrior critics.]

“Those who declare there is too much ‘confusion’ in the Church, and that only this or that group of purists or traditionalists can be trusted, sow division,” he continues, adding: “The same is true of those who claim that until the Church ordains women as proof of its commitment to gender equality, the local parish or bishop cannot count on their involvement.” [Is this a reference to the Maria 2.0 proposed strike? Let’s hope we can do that next year.]

As I said, I have not read this book; it is being published December 1. Whether this book is infallible is not being debated as the documents I mentioned before were in their time. Rather, we have here a conversation, a dialogue, a plea: “why don’t you understand me? I’m doing all I can.” Women get these all the time, though by saying that I myself am universalizing gender traits. Enough!

I am quoting so extensively because I think it’s incredibly important to understand the agony of Pope Francis and our role in it. He feels he has made such progress for women. Yet I say that this progress is the result of forty-five years of WOC. We have created an environment in which equality for women cannot be ignored. 

We join with Francis to identify the persistence of clericalism. We deplore power games and pettiness. 

Yet Francis is hiding behind clericalism as others hid behind theology and scripture and tradition. This is a change. Not satisfying change, but one we can approach with a new spirit. 

We will not be blamed for our aspirations. Leaving women out of the church’s ministry and governance is a loss that has implications for every parish and every synod and every conclave. 

WOC will be around for as many years as it takes to right this wrong. We will do so in as many ways as we can think of. For every no, we have a yes.