The Catholic Church should adopt a new pastoral approach to homosexual couples by accompanying them and blessing what is good in their lives, according to Bishop Peter Kohlgraf of Mainz. In…
December 8th will mark sixty years since the formal end to Vatican II, described by the late Fr Gabriel Daly (an Augustinian, like the new pope) as ‘a massive surgical operation carried out without…
From Julieann Moran General Secretary: “Living Synodality Now” a one-day symposium “Living Synodality Now” is a one-day symposium on the synodal pathway and its implications for faith life in contemporary Ireland….
Gina Menzies was a guest on Faith Alive on Midwest Radio on Sun 13 Nov 2022 ahead of a public lecture in Ballina. Speaking with Monica Morley she was exploring…
Western People 7th October 2025 I think it’s fair to say that a sense of humour is not among the most obvious of our national characteristics. Unlike, for example, our…
In debates about how to counter the declining number of priests in the Catholic Church it is often argued that despite having a married clergy, women and men, the Church of England is not attracting vocations either. In a recent interesting article in The Tablet Jonathan Wynne-Jones seems to give the lie to that argument with an account of 1000 ordinations in the Church of England this year.
An interesting article from Robert Mickens in La Croix (link below):
Catholic women are still relegated to second class Musings on the pope’s “motu proprio” on female readers and altar servers
Read more at: https://international.la-croix.com/news/letter-from-rome/catholic-women-are-still-relegated-to-second-class/13639
The People of God lead – and Pope follows belatedly
13 January 2021 We welcome the recent announcement by Pope Francis that women will now officially be allowed to act as Acolytes and Lectors.
For more than 50 years women have been carrying out these roles. Now rather belatedly Pope Francis makes it official. Real change comes from the People of God at the grassroots and not from the curia in the Vatican.
Women remain officially excluded from:
• Reading the gospel at mass
• Preaching at mass
• Presiding at the Eucharist
• All ordained ministries
• Decision making at all levels
For centuries women have been treated as inferior to men by the patriarchal leaders in the Catholic Church. The full equality of women in the Catholic Church is still officially being denied, but the People of God know it is a reality in our church all around the world.
Sadly, the announcement by Pope Francis did not include any apology to women for having officially been denied these roles for decades.
Colm Holmes
Chair, We Are Church International
E colmholmes2020@gmail.com
M +353 86 606 3636
W http://www.we-are-church.org
We Are Church International (WAC) founded in Rome in 1996, is a global coalition of national church reform groups. It is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.