COMMENTARY: Women: still a problem for the Catholic bishops

c. 1998 Religion News Service (Frances Kissling is president of Catholics for a Free Choice, an independent organization involved in global reproductive policy issues, and is part of the RNS Voices of Women in Religion project.) UNDATED _ As the nation’s nearly 300 Roman Catholic bishops come together this week for their annual fall meeting, […]

c. 1998 Religion News Service

(Frances Kissling is president of Catholics for a Free Choice, an independent organization involved in global reproductive policy issues, and is part of the RNS Voices of Women in Religion project.)

UNDATED _ As the nation’s nearly 300 Roman Catholic bishops come together this week for their annual fall meeting, it is difficult to know which of the prelates’ many current problems and setbacks will be uppermost on their minds.


There are several irksome topics to choose from.

Their No. 1 political issue _ abortion _ did not live up to their hopes in the recent election. Beyond that, the pope has recently seriously weakened the power of bishops’ conferences to act on matters of doctrine and morality without permission from the Vatican or without total unanimity in their own ranks.

But it is another nagging issue that could be most worrisome to these church leaders _ and they have, in fact, shown recent concern about it. It is a subject that can be summed up in a word: women.

A recent issue of Origins, a publication of the National Conference of Catholic bishops which prints all of the consequential statements of the conference and individual bishops, contained two texts on women the NCCB issued on the same day in mid-October.

One, written by the NCCB Committee on Doctrine, is entitled”Ten Frequently Asked Questions About the Reservation of Priestly Ordination to Men.”In lay terms that translates to”Oft-repeated Answers as to Why Women Can’t Be Catholic Priests.” The other is from the NCCB Committee on Women. Their”From Words to Deeds”is a statement, the committee said, reflecting three goals:”to appreciate and incorporate the gifts of women in the church; to appoint women to church leadership positions; to promote collaboration between women and men in the church.” Sounds good. But as the bishops themselves acknowledge, they have been declaring their commitment to putting women in top positions open to lay persons for years _ and they have largely failed. Priests and lay men continue to hold far and away the lion’s share of top level positions.

It is not hard to see why this promise is so hard for church leaders to keep. At the moment, the only real mechanism is the good will of the all-male body of bishops to see that women get the jobs as diocesan chancellors, finance officers, directors of ministries, and myriad other positions canon law permits to be filled by non-ordained Catholics.

But bishops are men who have been in an overwhelmingly male world from their seminary years to their regular visits to meet in the Vatican with the pope. Women do not occupy a prominent place in their field of vision. How can these men possibly expand their sights without a fundamental change in the landscape?

It is just as easy to see why church leaders want this pledge to succeed. Putting women in significant church jobs, they hope, will go some way in quieting the drive to allow women into the priesthood. At the same time, it could alleviate some of the problems created by the increasing shortage of priests.”Ultimately we need more priests,”wrote Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles in a recent open letter to the people of his archdiocese. But while the church figures out a way to attract more priests _ while retaining the ban on both married priests and women priests _ Mahony suggests the laity take up the slack by developing”their proper roles”in helping to meet”the many spiritual, pastoral, organizational and administrative functions of our parish communities.” In other words, lay people, including (especially?) women, could shore up the labor force while having little or none of the power. For women in the church, it’s an old story: all work and no say.


The bishops and other church leaders often preach to secular society on the importance of women’s equality. But if they want to be credible on women’s issues, they should first confront the inequality of women and men in their own institutions.

They could learn something from the more than 20 years of experience business and industry have made in the same effort. Perhaps they could establish gender workshops for bishops; produce benchmark data on women’s employment; generate and implement real affirmative action policies, even targets and goals. Maybe they could even institute an annual award to the diocese that most improves its gender balance in top positions.

The main meeting room of the bishops’ assembly in Washington is a sea of mostly older, mostly white, entirely male clerics. It is a discomfitting sight for anyone who has become accustomed to more diverse representation _ or at least attempts at such diversity _ in governing bodies in the secular and religious realms.

If they fail to make some headway in welcoming women into their heretofore all-male bastion, Catholic women will surely suffer, but so will the church.

DEA END KISSLING

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