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COMMENTARY
Women’s
Place in the Church: A Report Card on the Status of
Women
The Women’s Justice Coalition, a network of organizations
committed to conducting a joint action each year to promote
the full equality of women in the Roman Catholic Church,
has formed. Their 2006 action, “Rating the US Dioceses:
A Report Card on the Status of Women” as church
employees and church members should help point the way
forward.
The idea grew out of a 1996 “benchmarks” study
by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. Although
John Paul II and then Cardinal Ratzinger decreed the
church does not possess “the authority to ordain
women to the priesthood,” they affirmed the dignity
of women, condemned every form of discrimination, and
called for women’s full inclusion in the life
of the church. Recently, Pope Benedict XVI said, “It
is right to ask…if it’s not possible to
offer more space, more positions of responsibility
to women.”
To participate in the study, please visit their website. The report card work sheets can be downloaded from
the web site. Questions? Call 301-699-0042 and ask
for Rea Howarth. The group expects to publish the results
in early November.
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