We Are Church

An international movement of Catholics committed to renewal of the Catholic
Church

Press Release: April 15, 2005

Contact: Christian Weisner, 0049-511-800.010

Church Authorities Would Rather Close Parishes Than Give Women a Greater Role,
Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, Charges

Since the 1990s Vatican authorities systematically have downgraded the role of
women in the church, giving the lie to Pope John Paul II's declarations that women
must be accorded equal dignity in the church, says Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, a
prominent lecturer and writer from the United States.

"In [American] diocese after diocese, where they have served in official
capacities for years, women are being removed from every office in the chancery
except, perhaps, as vicars for religious," says Chittister.

These events are occurring despite a papal letter to women in 1985, in which
Pope John Paul II famously apologized for the church's historic failure to
recognize the equality and value of women. In it, John Paul II wrote, "respect (for
women) must first and foremost be won through an effective and intelligent campaign
for the promotion of women, concentrating on all areas of women's life and
beginning with a universal recognition of the dignity of women."

Chittister's remarks were given in Rome during an April 15, 2005 press
conference at the Cavour Auditorium near St. Peter's Square. Her presentation was
one of four media presentations sponsored by the International Movement We Are
Church (IMWAC), focusing on the problems facing the successor of Pope John Paul
II.

The question of women is at the heart of the survival of the American church,
says Chittister. In March 2005, the National Leadership Roundtable of Church
Management released a study that concluded there has been a long-term decline in
the bishops' authority in the US church, which was compounded by the sex abuse
scandal; a rising demand for lay leadership; an expectation of financial
accountability; and serious alienation among post-Vatican II Catholics, especially
young women.

The report shows that the laity are open to more deacons and lay ministers, and
are most opposed to closing parishes-which are seen already as too large and
impersonal-and not having a priest to visit the sick or perform last rites. By more
than a two-thirds majority, American Catholics "think it is a good idea to make
celibacy optional, ordain married men, allow the return of married priests to
ministry, and ordain women," Chittister says.

Although there is an acute shortage of priests, there is no shortage of women
who are prepared for ministry. By 2002 in the United States alone, there were
34,000 lay ministers who had graduated from Lay Ecclesial Ministry Programs. Two
out of three were women; only 3 percent of them were nuns. Women were trained as
theologians, canon lawyers, liturgists and parish administrators.

In 1965, 549 parishes were without a priest. In 2002, there were 2,929 US
parishes without a resident priest. Worldwide, those figures rose from 94,846
priestless parishes in 1980 (the first year in which such data were collected) to
105,530 priestless parishes in 2000.

"One by one, inner-city parishes find themselves done away with for lack of
priests or served only by men too old, to tired themselves to do more than say an
occasional Mass. But women, even those with degrees in lay ecclesial ministry
programs, who ask to be allowed to serve those parishes, get no welcome,"
Chittister reports. She concludes the bishops would rather close parishes than give
women a role in the operation of the church.

Moreover, the document on the liturgy, "Liturgiam Authenticam," issued in 2001
"completely obliterates female references from the prayers and hymns of the church,
even in scriptures clearly addressed to the whole Christian community, let alone in
references to the infinite, unknowable and totally spiritual Godhead who has been
made completely captive to maleness," Chittister says. "The door to existence for
women, even in the pronouns of the church, has been closed."

She adds, "Philosophers and social psychologists alike know that what is missing
in the language is missing in the mind and what is missing the mind will never be
embodied in the structures of a people, a culture, an organization, a
church…. Language is not a trivial issue. Language is the ultimate
delete."

Chittister is a member and past prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie,
Pennsylvania, USA. Author of 27 books, she has lectured world wide on spirituality
and is a member of the International Peace Council, and co-chair of the Global
Peace Initiative of Women since its founding in 2002.

Sr. Joan may be contacted in Rome at 0039-339-6841-509.

IMWAC is the international movement We Are Church, founded in Rome in 1996. it is
committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church on the basis of the Second
Vatican Council (1962-65) and the theological spirit developed from it. We
Are Church is represented in more than 20 countries on all continents, and is
networking worldwide with similar-minded reform groups. As international
studies of renowned religion sociologists confirm, We Are Church as a reform
movement within the Church represents the "voice of the people in the pews" and
has demonstrated this in several Shadow Synods in Rome.

Conclave Project Team/contact in Rome

Luigi De Paoli (Italian/Spanish/English) Tel 39-06-56.47.06.68 luigi.depaoli@liberio.it

Mobile 39-333-178.4147

Isaac Wust (Dutch/Spanish/English/German) mobile 31-(0)6-1509.2185, Isaac.wust@wxs.nl

Sr. Maureen Fiedler, SL,(English/Spanish) faithmatters@quixote.org,
01-301-699-0042

Rea Howarth, (English) cso@quixote.org,
01-301-699-0042, cell 01-301-538-4420

Anthony Padovano, (English/Italian) tpadovan@optonline.net

Tobias Raschke (German/English/French/Spanish/Hebrew) 49-(0)171-5464 950 media@we-are-church.org

Chair of the International Movement We Are Church

Christian Weisner (German/Engllish) Tel: 49-(0) 511-80 00 10 mobile
+49-(0)172-518-40 82

Internet: www.we-are-church.org
www.somos-iglesia.org