Your thoughts: Each month, NCR gathers up a sampling of letters to the editor from our readers in response to articles and columns that appear on NCRonline. This week, we will focus on letters received in April 2020.
Your thoughts: On April 8, Pope Francis announced he had created a new commission to study the ordaining of women as deacons in the Catholic Church. This is the second commission on the topic under Francis, however several members of this new commission seem to be opposed to women deacons.
Simply Spirit: We remembered Jesus as we broke bread and raised our cups of wine in front of our webcams. No one could accuse us of attempting to say Mass. But there were many priests around our virtual table.
Pope Francis' apostolic exhortation on the Amazon disappointed those hoping for an opening of clerical roles to married men and women. The document's language of complementarity outraged many women.
In 1974, they became the first women ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in the U.S. This November, five of them gathered again to celebrate the life of one of their own, Alison Cheek, who died Sept. 1.
Grace on the Margins: In my time in Rome in October, I frequently heard the synod fathers lament the degrading treatment of the Amazon and the indigenous in the region, particularly women. Yet none of them seemed conscious about the root of all of this suffering: patriarchy itself.
Your thoughts: The Synod of Bishops for the Amazon is winding down this weekend, but what decisions come out in the final documents could lead to some big changes for the Catholic Church. Discussions have been swirling around two topics in particular: married priests and women deacons.
New research suggests women had a greater role in the early church's ministries and liturgies than previously thought, and were present at church altars as deacons, priests and even bishops.
