December 2002 Call to Action News

Kane: All-male priesthood a form of idolatry

In 1979 Sr. Theresa Kane became an icon for the women's movement in the Church by publicly calling on the Pope during his first U.S. tour to open all ministries to women. "If I had another chance, I would be much more urgent about it now," she told CTA. "Until women are in all ministries, we continue forms and expressions of idolatry. It's not possible to realize full Eucharistic community. We're diminished when the male can be a priest and can offer the Eucharist but women are always recipients, never initiators. These forms of idolatry are still with us."

Kane enthusiastically endorsed the FutureChurch/CTA resources for promoting women in church leadership. Beyond the church realm, she also emphasized that women's gifts are needed for leadership in peacemaking. She noted that before the war in Afghanistan the U.S. was making 700 "smart bombs" per day. Now it is making 1,500. Such increased militarization by the U.S. and many other governments leaves few resources for necessities like food and clean water for the world's poor, most of them women and their children. "God is not American, Asian or African," she said. "We are all made in God's image, but sometimes we want to make God in our image."

Where does Theresa Kane find hope? Much thinner after a serious illness but with the same old sparkle in her smile, she said, "I find hope in contemplating God, being with the creator God in new and creative ways. I have found great comfort in discovering God as my friend, my companion and advocate."