The Independent News Source
NCR on Kindle - NCR classifieds - YouTube - Twitter - Facebook - Email Alerts - RSS
Printer-friendly version
PDF versionWhere Catholic Women are Heard -- and Not
by Ken Briggs on Mar. 19, 2010
The latest "Room for Debate" in the New York Times pays an indirect tribute to the National Catholic Reporter.
All five of those asked to comment on what the Vatican should do about clerical sexual abuse of children are men.
Every one of them is worthy. Each has something valuable to say. By not including a single woman in the mix, however, the Timesreflects a widespread absence of women's voices in the media's coverage of critical church debates.
Excluding women from official church councils has, of course, been standard practice in the hierarchy's exercise of rule. When the Vatican decided to investigate American nuns, for example, nuns weren't consulted in any formal sense. It was done, as usual, by fiat.
For the mainstream media largely to repeat this pattern of neglect has been irresponsible, lending credibility to a bias against women (my interpretation) and furthering it. Occasionally women are asked to join in, but not nearly often enough.
That's where the role of NCR is so significant. It is a forum where women with stature such as Sandra Schneiders, Rosemary Reuther, Demetria Martinez, Joan Chittister, Elizabeth Johnson, Maureen Fiedler and others too numerous to mention have an honored place. It is not the only outlet for these valuable perspectives -- America and Commonweal are among others that are open to women as editors and writers -- but NCR has been more inclusive by sheer volume.
This openness has much to do with NCR's stance as a an advocate of liberal-progressive Catholicism. Tranditionalist publications take women seriously in standing for their own theological views.
But in my eyes, at least, NCR deserves special recognition in light of the secular media's tendency to imitate the church's pattern of marginalizing women.I suspect it isn't so deliberate as an unexamined mimicking of church behavior.
NCR has something to offer them.
Well said, Ken. As long as
Well said, Ken. As long as women our second class members of the Catholic Church there is little hope for meaningful reform. The secular press has unwittingly colluded with the forces of oppression.
Steve
Ken - Coming from the guy who
Ken - Coming from the guy who dismissed Mother Millea as a "charming and cultured woman" (you forgot to tell us whether her accessories matched her shoes and what kind of pastries she served), it is hard to take you seriously on this. Jean Brookbank
God Bless NCR and her
God Bless NCR and her inclusion of many voices, even, although it catches in my craw, the pedestrian mr. winters.
for such is our truly catholic church, universal, collegial, with voice for all.
Thank you once more Mr. Briggs.
PLEASE NCR MORE DEMETRIA!!
and would someone please check on the well being of Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estes. They tried to stop her at the border.
Did not Nicole Sotelo share a
Did not Nicole Sotelo share a spot (with a male)?
I appreciate your note. You
I appreciate your note. You are right. I had assumed, perhaps wrongly, that she had not been the principal contact or had been given second billing. Your comment suggests to me that I should have given the Times the benefit of the doubt. Ken Briggs
"Excluding women from
"Excluding women from official church councils has, of course, been standard practice in the hierarchy's exercise of rule."
An excellent study of the nearly unknown WOMEN of Vatican II:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0824515471/ref=oss_product
Where women were SEEN but not heard!
I have been reading NCR since
I have been reading NCR since 1968, first its print publication and in the past few years, online. Joy and peace quiet my struggling mind when I read the powerful insights written by, as Ken Briggs states, "women with stature...have an honored place." These wonderful women help me not to leave the Roman Church in my striving to follow Jesus in His truth. Thank you NCR!
wow. that was so not worth
wow. that was so not worth reading. not even worth writing. we are woman! that's it? that's all you've got? how about: so what. if you want a voice in the media market place, you have to do like everyone else - earn it. You don't get kudos just for BEING woman. This is a working world, not a sit-on-your-butt-and just-"BE"-world. nobody cares THAT you're women, you can save that stuff for your husbands, fathers and brothers and cousins and uncles and people who give a care. In this working world the only thing having any merit whatsoever is that you earn your keep, and you don't do that just by simply BEING woman. All you get for that is a big fat SO WHAT and NOBODY CARES.
If you want to rest on womanliness as a credential then you're going to hear this - So, you're a woman, EARN YOUR RIGHT TO BE A WOMAN, but You're forcing me to assert that I am a man, who deserves to be heard on NCR. There is clearly not ENOUGH manly representation on NCR and it deserves to be reckoned with.
Hey, brave "anonymous:" When
Hey, brave "anonymous:"
When was the last time you had to earn your right as a man? You, like all of us men, have always taken for granted the being a man would open doors, assure you of employment, be in charge, and get your way more often than not.
Women do NOT have to "earn their right to be a woman." That is a God-given right, not subject to your approval, recognition or blessing.
Get over it: this is the 21st century, not the 19th.
Grow up!
Thank you Jim McCrea for your
Thank you Jim McCrea for your stand regarding women not having to "earn their right to be a woman." Yes, it is a God-given right, but unfortunately, our patriarchal society has made it subject to male approval, recognition and blessing/curse.
Too bad for "anonymous" who has NOT been subject to the same critique and therefore cannot understand the necessity for women to claim their power. We celebrated African-American History Month in Chapel and a white older adult male asked when we were going to have White History Month. Like "anonymous" this man could not see his own racism/sexism because of his pridefully placed anger at how things are just not fair.
Post new comment