December 2000 Call to Action News

Women as church leaders: No oxymoron

Three panelists on Women in Church Leadership (WICL) pointed to current signs of hope, and gave participants concrete how-tos for advancing women’s roles in the church.

Chris Schenk of FutureChurch, director of the WICL project, mentioned several signs of hope:

• According to Diarmuid O’Murchu, by 2010 an estimated 60 percent of all Catholic theologians will be lay people, and 75 percent will be women.


• The debate on women’s ordination is heating up, not slowing down. In Theological Studies (September), John Macy documents that women priests ministered up to the 12th and 13th centuries — a tradition which the Vatican ignores.

• The story of Ludmila Javarova, the first 20th century woman priest, is about to be published.

• The Irish Bishops recently called for deleting seven lectionary texts that subordinate women. Within days the U.S. Bishops told the press that 10 years ago they had sanctioned other readings as substitutes for texts calling for “wives to be submissive to their husbands.” (Few parishes have used these options.)

Gloria Ulterino, former director of the now defunct Rochester, N.Y., diocesan women’s commission, recapped that group’s efforts on inclusive language, storytelling, listening sessions for young Catholic women, domestic violence and women in poverty . She said Vatican pressure probably was a factor in closing the commission. But she now conducts a storytelling ministry: stirring the “dangerous memory” of biblical women like Prisca, Junia and Phoebe, women leaders in the Pauline community. (For resources from the women’s commission and for storytelling, e-mail glorialbf@aol.com.)

Patricia Dailey offered practical ideas from Lydia’s House, a women’s spirituality ministry she helped found in Fresno, Calif., in 1993. Named for the businesswoman who founded the church in Macedonia after her conversion by Paul (Acts 16: 12-15), the gathering draws 60-70 women to monthly sessions where they can listen to each other's stories. Women come to trust their own voices, then go out trusting their own call from the Holy Spirit. Many become leaders in education, peace and justice. Asked why no men are allowed, Dailey said, “Women are different around men. We have internalized the oppression and it takes a while for us to find our own voice.”

Participants signed up to push WICL actions, and even to become, like Ulterino and Dailey, WICL anchors in their locales. They got materials for the feast of Mary of Magdala, and signed up for a new resource packet, Celebrating Women Witnesses, coming in 2001. Get information about any of the above by contacting FutureChurch (info@futurechurch.org).