John Paul II's passing calls for new vision in the Roman Catholic Church

Catholic New Times, April 24, 2005

The Catholic Network for Women's Equality joins the world in prayers of thanksgiving for the life of Pope John Paul II, a man of extraordinary peace and justice. John Paul II's stance against war most recently in Iraq--and his preaching against poverty and suffering across the globe, continually called the world to a higher sense of consciousness.

John Paul II preached about the dignity of women, yet we are saddened that women's full and equal place in the Roman Catholic Church regressed considerably during his papacy. Within the Church itself, John Paul promoted a centralized, authoritarian style of governance that did not fully embrace the liberating precepts of Vatican II. We regret that John Paul II and his cardinals and bishops implemented a very conservative response to the modern issues and challenges facing the world today. We look forward to a more progressive and liberating model of being church, one that includes the full and equal participation of women as priests, cardinals, and one day as pope. We look forward to a model of church that is egalitarian in nature; one that welcomes the full and equal participation of lay people and married priests, as well as supports theologians who question without silencing them. We look forward to a church that supports birth control and condom use, especially in places like Africa where AIDS is decimating the population.

As cardinals gather to select a new pope, we envision a new church, whose male and female leaders go to her people to choose a new pope, rather than depend on an elite all male group to make the selection. We join our voices in proclaiming the equality spoken of in holy scripture, and practiced by Jesus the Christ, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

--Catholic Network for Women Equality, Toronto, Canada. www.cnwe.org