Observe, imagine and create a feminist future

Catholic New Times, April 24, 2005 by Mary Hunt

The death of Pope John Paul II brings to a close an era in the Catholic Church, inviting people of good will to ob serve, imagine, and create a new future. WATER joins billions of people who take this opportunity to express gratitude for the Pope's contributions and to reflect on how spiritual leadership can make a difference in a troubled world.

We invite everyone to observe through feminist eyes the funeral and burial of this pope, and the conclave that will elect his must-be-male successor. The scandal of the exclusion of women, and indeed of all lay people, is transparent for the world to see. This must be the last time an all-male clergy ever perform such functions if Catholicism is to have moral and spiritual credibility.

--Mary Hunt, Co-director, WATER, (Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual), Silver Spring, MD