About the publisher: Rosa Manriquez, who is quoted extensively in your article on Pope Francis’ ten-year tenure, is a member of the Immaculate Heart Community, of which I am a member. Bishop Jane Via, also quoted, is a former member. Both are examples of the path women took when they were denied participation in ordination.
The denial of women’s rights is a global problem, not just a Catholic one. Witness the women who took to the streets to assert their rights in the face of male oppression and dominance in the political arena.
Let’s hope that women’s voices will be heard in the Catholic Church and in the wider world community, so that one day justice will prevail and women will no longer be subject to the power and authority of men who stand in their way.
Creative women will look for alternative ways to fulfill their calling to work towards a more just and peaceful world – with or without men at their side.
Lenore Navarro Dowling, Los Angeles
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About the publisher: Nothing exemplifies Francis’s papacy more than his answer to a question about gay men in the clergy: “Who am I to judge?”
It was a very level-headed, friendly answer. According to Lumen Gentium, a document of Vatican II, ratified by Pope Francis, the Pope of Rome, by virtue of his office as Vicar of Christ and Shepherd of the whole Church, has full, supreme and universal authority over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise without hindrance.”
As such, he is empowered and expected to use his authority to judge one way or another and lead his herd with clear leadership.
It is no wonder that the Church, both hierarchical and lay, is now hopelessly and needlessly confused and divided.
Kee Kim, LaHabra
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About the editor: The noble women in the Oscar-nominated film Women Talking, who chose to remain in a community that despised and dehumanized them, would show complicity and drop out. A wise elder advises them to look further to the horizon when disagreements arise.
I continue with Rosa Manriquez and Bishop Jane Via, hoping for an inclusive, compassionate Catholic Church just over the horizon.
May Pope Francis look around, we see and understand that women lead with wisdom. We are equal partners in divine and human affairs.
Nan Cano, Westlake Village
Source: LA Times