Inside NCR
In 1992 when the U.S. bishops
finally gave up trying to write a pastoral on women, the real tragedy was not
the loss of a document -- it was such a mess by that time that the only thing
they could have done was dump it. The real tragedy was the very deliberate
excising of womens voices from the bishops forum that had occurred
well before the document idea was finally pitched.
The symbolic significance was overwhelming and continues to be
telling to this day. The first attempt at drafting the document was bold and
fresh, alive with the voices of women. It was a document that considered women
on their own terms and, often powerfully, in their own words.
Rome would have none of it. Leaders in Rome simply could not stand
to hear women address issues of deep concern to women. By the time it was right
by standards of the Roman curia, it was worthless to most Catholic women in the
United States. Scrubbing their voices from a document, however, did not make
women or their concerns disappear.
Their voices and their stories remain, and this issue contains a
fascinating range -- from those who struggle to stay in the church despite
deeply felt calls to ordination, to those who feel compelled to answer the call
elsewhere, to those women who have found their home in the church (see the
articles on pages 15 and 22) despite deep reservations about some church
rules.
We present these stories and images in the hope, to use Mary Alyce
Pearsons image, that they serve as drops of water wearing away the rock.
Some day the Christian community will look back on these stories and images and
wonder how they could have been so radically threatening.
Rich Heffern, formerly associate
editor of Praying magazine for 14 years and its editor for 6 months, has
joined the staff of the National Catholic Reporter. Praying,
which ceased publication in 1999, was the NCR Publishing Co.s bimonthly
spirituality magazine.
Heffern is author of two books: Adventures in Simple Living
(Crossroad) and Daybreak Within: Living in a Sacred World (Forest of
Peace Books). Daybreak Within is a compilation of his Praying
columns. He has been a frequent contributor to NCR and writes a
monthly column for our sister publication, Celebration. At NCR,
he is helping with editing copy, proofreading pages and doing some writing,
particularly on environmental issues. He will continue to contribute the
occasional column on spirituality.
He is an avid gardener and environmental activist. With his wife,
Linda, he frequently flees Kansas City to a small cabin in the Missouri Ozarks
where they spend a lot of time quietly sitting on the porch, keeping the
hummingbird feeders filled and watching the seasons go by.
-- Tom Roberts
My e-mail address is troberts@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, March 9,
2001
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