Greetings!
Today is Giving Tuesday — a global day of unleashing generosity to support non-profits and movements close to our hearts.
And after what the Pope said yesterday, WOC could really use your support.
Yesterday,
America Magazine published an interview with Pope Francis where he upheld the Catholic church’s unequal treatment of women by exploiting misogynistic metaphors to dismiss the sincerely discerned vocations of women.
When asked what he might say to a woman who serves her church and experiences a call to priesthood, Francis responded with sexist smoke and mirrors theology, an indefensible attempt to obscure women’s capacity to act in persona Christi.
To make his point, Francis repeats the phrase: “The church is woman. The church is a spouse. Therefore, the dignity of women is mirrored in this way.” This “spousal metaphor” claims a male-female relationship between Christ and the church: By extension, only men can truly represent Christ, and therefore only men can be priests. The simplistic gendering and sexualization of one’s relationship with God and discipleship are not just a disservice to the Catholic imagination, but a tool of oppression.
Funny how it is only when women claim their authentic call to priesthood that the spousal metaphor becomes the central ecclesiology of the church.
Francis went on to claim that the exclusion of women from ministerial life is “not a deprivation,” revealing a man who does not know the depth of pain that women in his own church carry. He shows willful ignorance to the treasures that have been lost by denying the sacramental gifts of more than half its members.
His words are infuriating - particularly when just one month ago the Vatican's synod office published an
encouraging document acknowledging calls for women's ordination around the world, and the near universal cries for women in ministry.
While we at WOC find many reasons for hope with the ongoing synodal process - it is clear that our work is more necessary than ever. Together we must ensure that our witness for equality does not stop. This is a critical time in our church and we need WOC to be poised and resourced to truly change the tide.
Thank you for your generosity - I know there are many demands on your wallets this season, and your support is truly a blessing.
