In a recent video Pope Francis expresses his gratitude and prayers for religious sisters and consecrated lay women. The Pope’s praise of the consecrated life of women is perceptive, and I am thankful for him and his compassionate leadership. To see the pope’s video to religious sisters, click here
However, dear Father Francis, I have questions. And though the video is directed to those living a vowed/consecrated way of life, my questions include all women. What follows is the text of the pope’s video with my questions inserted in bold type:
This month, we will pray in a special way for religious sisters and consecrated women.
What would the Church be without religious sisters and consecrated laywomen? The Church cannot be understood without them.
Thank you, Pope Francis, for your insight and appreciation. However, I ask if you understand why our hearts break when the denial of our gifts is based on gender? Doesn’t Scripture tell us that God said, “Let us make them, male and female, in our image?” Don’t we hear from St. Paul that in Christ, there is no longer male or female? You asked, what would the Church be without religious sisters and consecrated laywomen. My question is, what could the Church become if men and women shared equally in leadership?
I encourage all consecrated women to discern and choose what is best for their mission in the face of the world’s challenges that we’re experiencing.
We are grateful for your support, Holy Father. But do you hear us when we ask why our discernment of priestly vocations is dismissed? Do you really believe that any human can tell God who is worthy of God’s call? How can any human tell God how to be God? How can created beings tell their Creator who can be called to ordained priestly service?
I exhort them to keep working and to have an impact with the poor, with the marginalized, with all those who are enslaved by traffickers; I especially ask them to make an impact on this.
And let us pray that they may show the beauty of God’s love and compassion as catechists, theologians, and spiritual guides.
I invite them to fight when, in some cases, they are treated unfairly, even within the Church; when they serve so much that they are reduced to servitude – at times, by men of the Church.
We are grateful that you are aware, dear Father Francis, of these power abuses. However, do you know that when we do this, when we have the courage to fight, clericalism always wins. I speak from personal experience.
Do not be discouraged. May you keep making God’s goodness known through the apostolic works you do. But above all through your witness of consecration.
I can assure you, dear Holy Father, that we believe God is never outdone in generosity. When our ministries have been disrupted and our witness prohibited, God’s goodness leads us to new decisions. However, I ask why those responsible for the injustice and the abuse of power are immune from accountability? And, even worse, why are they permitted to continue in their leadership roles?
Let us pray for religious sisters and consecrated women, thanking them for their mission and their courage; may they continue to find new responses to the challenges of our times.
Dear Pope Francis, we are aware and willing, as always, to respond to new challenges. But how can our gifts be available for the mission unless we are equal at all levels of leadership? We hear your call to continually find new responses to the needs of our time. However, how can we answer those challenges when an all-male hierarchy relies on a partial and flawed image of God? If the Creator made both male and female, how can the Gospel, the good news, be proclaimed only by men? We agree, Holy Father, that our times challenge us to find new responses to the Gospel. Is not our world crying out for the combined prophetic voices of both women and men?
Thank you for what you are, for what you do, and for how you do it.
You are welcome, Holy Father, but do you see more than what we have been? And do you see more that we can do? Can you see how inclusive leadership would enable women of God to journey together with, not behind, our brothers?