Dear friends,
While staunchly rejecting women's ordination, John Paul II has been urging the whole Church to make "full use of the ample room for lay and feminine presence recognized by church law." We need to take him at his word. A place to begin is the lectionary of Bible readings we use at liturgy.
We reprint in these pages an article by Ruth Fox, OSB revealing that a shocking disproportion of passages about women in the Bible have been omitted, truncated, downplayed or declared optional in the lectionary. Catholics who rely on the readings and homilies at Mass for their only knowledge of Scripture are left largely in the dark about women's books, women's experiences and women's accomplishments in the Bible. Fox not only reveals this injustice. She also offers practical suggestions for liturgists and presiders to help correct the problem (page 4).
CTA continues its strong advocacy of women's ordination. We urge you to get involved with We Are Church: A Catholic Referendum, by helping to gather at least a million U.S. signatures by Pentecost, 1997 on an agenda for reform that includes women's ordination (page 7). In Detroit Nov. 15-17, 1996, our WE ARE THE CHURCH National Conference will be at the historic site of the U.S. Bishops' original Call To Action 20 years ago, when 2,500 official delegates voted for an inclusive church, open to women and married priests. We hope you can come.
Meanwhile, we commend all your other efforts to make our church gender-inclusive -- including your work to open up the lectionary to the women of the Bible.
the January/February issue of Spirituality/Justice Reprint
For more information on Call To Action contact:
Call To Action
2135 W. Roscoe
Chicago, IL 60618
(773/604-0400; fax 773/604-4719)
or e-mail comments to cta@cta-usa.org