Word: priesthoods
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...Notre Dame. The bishops have set aside a full afternoon to air their views on an 81-page third draft of the proposed letter. As the bishops deliberate, the campus will provide space for a simultaneous gathering of liberal caucuses that are dissatisfied with the church, its all-male priesthood and its reigning Pontiff, John Paul II. The counterconference will feature an ersatz Mass, celebrated by women...
...These new roles for women are in accord with church law. But conservatives claim that the "feminization" of the church may be causing the slump in men entering the priesthood. TIME's poll also shows a gender gap in Mass attendance, with women outnumbering...
...current imbroglio started in 1975, when 2,000 Catholics who favored priesthood for women met in Detroit. The result was the Women's Ordination Conference (WOC), a group with 4,000 members -- and ceaseless debate. In 1977 the Vatican doctrinal office sought to halt the discussion with a decree insisting on an all-male priesthood. In 1979, during Pope John Paul's first U.S. visit, Sister Theresa Kane, then president of the organization for leaders of women's orders, publicly informed the Pontiff of "the intense suffering and pain" many churchwomen experience...
...women have been weeded out of the text and papal pronouncements brought to the fore. The current draft proclaims sexism to be a sin, in church or society. Dioceses are asked to establish women's commissions. Willingness to treat women as equals is a criterion of fitness for the priesthood. But the text drops previous urgings that the Vatican immediately consider letting women join the order of deacon, thus permitting them to perform many pastoral functions also filled by priests. The text weakens proposals for allowing women preachers and altar girls, which Rome rules out and American parishes routinely permit...
...same point is made by a more conservative thinker, Ronda Chervin, a philosophy professor at the seminary of the Los Angeles archdiocese. Chervin is one of the three official consultants on the bishops' pastoral letter who have remained throughout the project. She does not see the all-male priesthood as an injustice and predicts, "There will be more and more women confidently within leadership positions. It will be taken for granted that women will teach in seminaries, manage finances or act in diocesan or parish leadership roles...