John Shea: Letter to United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)

Pentecost 2024

Dear President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB),

In this interim time of the working Synodal Assembly of Bishops, millions of Catholics have some version of this question:

Are women “consubstantial” in the eyes of the church­­­­? Are they consubstantial enough “for us men and for our salva­tion” to relate to them as equals in persona Christi?

This is, as it turns out, the question for our time. Unfortunately, in the church women have suffered ab initio from crippling preju­dicial exclu­sion because of their gender—an initial problem somewhat like the one over which St. Paul successfully confronted St. Peter in the church’s early days. (For this initiative, I suspect, we all are very, very grateful.)

Now, we have an exceptional opportunity—ecclesia semper refor­man­da—to reconcile women and dogma. As our leaders of today, you are respon­sible for how we face this vital, church-configuration issue. Will you publicly affirm the full imago Dei status of women in the church or take cover in the dialogue-ending letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, of 1994?

If we all have gender, nothing is more important in the church than gender inclusion. He-He-He, for example, treats the Blessed Trinity as a band of males, not a divine mystery. ICEL could give us gender inclusive read­ings and language in the liturgy with transla­tions far less wooden. 

It is hard to find any evidence that Jesus is infec­ted by misogyny or is the source of this evil. We inherit this sinful, ugly, utterly cor­rosive and deadly social disease from patri­archal culture. Leaders of the USCCB, do you see how ruinous this disease remains in our church’s ongoing life?

A simple apology could come from the Synodal Assembly of Bishops to every woman and girl found “onto­logically deficient.” If a number of prophetic bishops regret and lament this benighted teaching, our sexist nightmare ends. Come October, care, justice, healing, and growth—in and with the Holy Spirit—transform the church. The time to act is now. 

Millions of Catholics wait, hopeful but exhausted and near despair. 

Sincerely, 

John J. Shea, O.S.A., M.P.S., Ph.D., MSW (Fordham University, 1981-2002; Boston College, 2003-2012)