Toledo Blade: Activists mark 50 years of calling for women’s equality in the Catholic Church
A young Christine Schenk once sat in a pew at St. John Catholic Church in Lima, overcome by the beauty of the Mass, and thought she would love to be a priest.
But the second grader knew she couldn’t because she was a girl.
After graduating from Lima Central Catholic High School and earning several degrees from Catholic colleges, she eventually decided to commit her life to doing God’s work by joining the Sisters of St. Joseph in Cleveland.
Co-founder of FutureChurch, Sister Chris has become one of many voices calling for women’s full equality in church ministry and decision-making in the Catholic Church. Her organization seeks full participation of all Catholics in the life of the church.
“We continue to call for open discussion, because we believe that women have an equal right to have their call to priestly ministry discerned as do men,” she said.
Sister Chris will moderate a panel on systemic change featuring political scientists and sociologists at the Women’s Ordination Conference’s 50th anniversary gathering in Detroit on Saturday.
The panel — titled Not If, But How: Strategies and Successes for Reforming Institutions — will look at what has worked in reforming other institutions and how to apply those strategies to the women’s ordination movement.
Generations of hope
The Women’s Ordination Conference traces its founding to Mary B. Lynch, who in December, 1974, started pushing for conversation about women’s ordination.
The movement’s landmark gathering was held in November, 1975, in Detroit and was attended by 1,200 people.