| Title: | ARCHIVE-- Topics of Interest to Women, Volume 1 --ARCHIVE |
| Notice: | V1 is closed. TURRIS::WOMANNOTES-V5 is open. |
| Moderator: | REGENT::BROOMHEAD |
| Created: | Thu Jan 30 1986 |
| Last Modified: | Fri Jun 30 1995 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 873 |
| Total number of notes: | 22329 |
Acknowledging Women's Roles and Appreciating
Their Gifts
Archbishop Roger Mahony
Archdiocese of Los Angeles
In a pastoral letter to the Archdiocese on Aug. 14, Mahony
articulated his views stemming from his consultation with women in
the church. His statements are pretty bold and enlightening....
It is a lengthy statement and I excerpt as follows ....
" ..All too often in our Christian history men have been slow to listen
to what women have been saying................
....All of us need to listen carefully to what these women in our church
are saying to us. If their call for greater acceptance and for recognition
of their gifts is not heard, there is a danger that they will increasingly
find their church unable to meet their need for deeper spiritual and
communal growth..............
....
How can we as church respond to what we have heard? It is clear that the
roles of women both in society and in the church are changing. We need
to acknowlege this. We need to become sensitive, both men and women, to the
concerns which have emerged. Where we have been insensitive, we should make
changes. Where we can address these concerns, we should do so.......
...
In speaking, writing, teaching and preaching we need to develop increased
sensitivity to women. The good news is for all people a word of healing,
grace and freedom. Our language must be more inclusive in order to
communicate more effectively this saving message..... the name of God,
neither male nor female, is above every other name...
...
We need to recover a greater sense of men and women working collaboratively,
side by side. Women must increasingly be placed in policy-formation and
decision-making levels within the church....
..
.....
That is why the voices of women in the church must be heard. For truth
belongs to the whole church...
.................. "
I apologize for only excerpting statements from the lengthy letter. I hope
I have given you a flavor what the Archbishop said. There is hope..........
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 457.1 | It's slowly happening. | PYONS::HOE | Mon Aug 31 1987 13:52 | 15 | |
There are neither historical, theological or physical
arguements that supports the exclusion of women from the clergy
in the Roman Catholic or protestant churches. The current exclusion
is based on tradition from the 7th Century on. This is spelled out
in the RC cannons that limits the priesthood to celibate males.
It will probably be beyond our lifetime before these changes will
take place.
The whole issue is emotional and takes time to evolve. I for one,
am in support of women clergy and has seen the change in the smaller
Anglican communion of which the Protestant Episcopal Church is a
member.
/cal
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| 457.2 | More info, please. | DINER::SHUBIN | 'The aliens came in business suits' | Tue Sep 01 1987 19:03 | 6 |
re: .1
The usual argument for excluding women from the Catholic priesthood is
that the disciples were all men, and that the priests are
representatives of Christ and so should be male. Your note suggests
that that's not a valid argument. Can you provide more information?
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| 457.3 | One source is in the Bible | STUBBI::B_REINKE | where the sidewalk ends | Tue Sep 01 1987 22:03 | 5 |
One item of information that I am aware of is that there was at
least one woman who held the church rank of deacon, which is
equivalent to our modern ministers....she is greeted by St. Paul
by such a title in the end of the Epistle to the Romans.
Bonnie
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| 457.4 | One controversial female minister | STUBBI::B_REINKE | where the sidewalk ends | Tue Sep 01 1987 22:17 | 9 |
According to this week's Newsweek, Rev. Rose Denman (the Methodist
minister put on trial by the Methodist church because her lesbianism
went against a 1984 church law banning 'self-avowed, practicing
homosexuals' from the ministry) received the mildest possible
sentence. She was not defrocked, but only put on suspension of
minsterial duties, which allows her to tranfer to the Unitarian church
as an ordained minister. The jury chairwoman said that "It is not
clear to us that the Rev. Rose Mary Denman has received
...reconcilliation from the church."
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| 457.5 | More on Mahony | FDCV10::IWANOWICZ | Wed Sep 02 1987 09:04 | 13 | |
One reason I entered Bishop Mahony's statemnt in the base note was
the fact that it is not usual nor normative for Roamn catholic bishops
to be as definitive about recognizing the need to be sensitive to
the exclusion of women today and to be clear about collaborating
with women in decision making situations.
Unfortunately, the pastoral letter does not deal with womens'
ordination - which is anathema for the Pope and, thus, bishops
will not deal yet with that issue. However, There are few Bishops
in the U.S. whwo would publicly say as much as Mahony did.
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