(there's a video on the web page which can be accessed by using the link at the bottom of the article)

Do women run the Catholic Church?;
posted at 10:01 am on March 11, 2013 by Ed Morrissey

The prevailing view of the Catholic Church is that of a patriarchy to which women contribute very little except in subservient roles.  The media coverage of the conclave has touched on this, and commentators have repeatedly wondered whether the next Pope will finally allow women into roles of power within the Vatican and the church around the world.  In yesterday’s Washington Post, Ashley McGuire of The Catholic Association says the media has missed the transformation that began decades ago, and is in full flower at this conclave:

    One by one, I spoke with these women, asking them especially about life as a woman in the Vatican. When I told Sara, an Italian mother of two, that many in the American press have an impression that women are underrepresented in the Vatican and the Catholic Church, her eyebrow arched with suspicion and she leaned back, almost as if offended. “No,” she said. “Maybe twenty years ago.” (She was working at the Vatican then as well.) “Very important women are leading Vatican offices. Women are very, very important [here].”

    Carolina chimed in, saying:

    “We have a special place here. Because so many of the men here are priests, we have a different form of brightness and character that we come in with, it’s lightened the mood and the ambiance here.”

    She continued: When we come in the door, they’re all wearing their clerics. And us lay women, we really bring it when we come in. When people see us come in and out, they do a double take. Romina leaves on her moped, Sara’s driving in with her Badgley Mischka Carter shades. People are looking through the gates and they can’t believe how many women are coming out. Fabulous women that are very well-educated and very well put-together.”

    Carolina, who has a degree from Notre Dame, is wearing floral skinny jeans, black suede boots, purple cat-eye glasses, and her voluminous blonde waves are tied up in a chignon.

    The women pointed out that the growing presence of women in the Vatican has led to a very pro-family environment. The Vatican, whose workforce is approximately 40 percent female, has a very progressive maternity leave policy, allowing women paid leave beginning two months before their due date and allowing them a year of paid leave after birth. When the women return, they are allowed to create a “milk schedule” so that they can structure their hours around their nursing needs.

In an interview with me this morning from the Vatican media center, Ashley reaffirms that women hold an increasing  number of powerful positions in the Church, and not just here at the Vatican:

Part of the “patriarchy” misconception comes from a failure to note the fundamental changes in the view of vocations in the church.  George Weigel does a good job of covering this decades-long transition in his book Evangelical Catholicism, but any Catholic active in his or her parish would know this without explanation.  Bishops and priests don’t run dioceses and parishes as CEOs any longer, at least not in practice if still in nominal authority.  Most of those duties have devolved to the laity, in order for the ordained to focus on pastoral and catechetical tasks for which they are sorely needed for the “new evangelization.”  Anyone with personal experience in the parish will know just how many of those managerial and supervisory spots are held by women, and that’s apparently true here at the Vatican as well.

That is, of course, one reason a papal conclave can be of value, other than in choosing a new pontiff.  It’s an educational opportunity, and hopefully the attention on the Vatican now will bear some fruit in the future.

http://hotair.com/archives/2013/03/11/video-do-women-run-the-catholic-church/

 :really-mad2:That isn't the Catholic Church.  It's the Conciliar Church.  Wake up!

"It's a misinformed view that there are no roles for women in the Catholic Church, especially roles of authority."  

I did not realize the Vatican employed so many women. What a sad discovery.

When I was no they promised me the world if I went along with the church closings.  They promised me that in new catholic community that would the new ladies ancient order of Hibernians , that our names would be on stained glass windows, then they said that they would take portions of the old church and combine it with new church. I could have  choice Good paying jobs. That I could belong to a choir.  All this to be part of new "vibrant" Christian community.  
God protect the church so far.  




I didn't take the silver.  God and his people built the church.  It was built by Irish Catholics who were were persecuted for the faith.  God also protected the church too. The new ground for mega church was contaminated with arsenic.

In the past I questioned no.  Was told to conform.  Many of us were so desperate to keep our parish open that we thought about women priests and married priest.
It doesn't make sense because Jesus wasn't a woman.

The Blessed Virgin Mary is queen of angels and saints

Yes, she is! She is the model of humility and feminine dignity.

She did not bemoan her position as woman, that is to stay in the background and to be quiet, docile, and obedient. It was not she that wished to be exalted to a high position, it was God who exalted her. She merely subjected herself to Him.

I wish these women who demand ranking positions in the church would follow her example! If all Catholic women truly started following her example, our role in the salvation of souls would be fulfilled. Instead we insist on having the power that men have in governing. By doing this, women abandon their station in the Church Militant, cooperating with the enemy to help send souls to the eternal Grave.  :sad:

Mother most admirable, pray for us!

They have women Eucharistic ministers.   Nuns have paid high rank positions.
One parish made a Lutheran minister a pastor of one of the biggest parishes. I wonder what his wife's role in the so called catholic parish.