Dissenters gather at Sister-L's Internet address

National Catholic Reporter, Dec 15, 1995 by Pamela Schaeffer

Looking for a way to express objections to the recent statement from the Vatican labeling the ban on ordaining women infallible teaching?

You could fax a message to the Vatican, wear a black arm band or engage in prayer and fasting.

Those are some of the options being proposed on the Internet -- all scheduled for Dec. 15.

One particularly busy Internet site is Sister-L an electronic bulletin board with some 650 subscribers, including nuns and priests, canonists and theologians and members of the laity.

Said Sr. Ritamary Bradley, co-owner of Sister-L: "I can think of no previous topic that has so engaged the interest of subscribers." The electronic conversation is "very intense at this moment"' she said. "It's serious but at the same time it's very good-natured."

Postings have averaged 10 to 15 a day on the subject -- a very high number "concentrating on a single topic," Bradley said. "It has practically absorbed the list." A call for prayer and fasting was issued Nov. 28 by the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, based in Silver Spring, Md.

Bradley said she expects each of the actions will be taken by some people, although she has no way of gauging how many will do what.

People signing on to the Internet are as likely to find ideas and questions as well as initiatives for action.

"Some on the list are canonists or theologians and have sent us substantial postings about how to interpret the statement. Some said it's a statement of infallibility by proxy," she said, in a reference to the document's source.

Many have noted that the statement was issued by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger with the pope's approval rather than directly by Pope John Paul II.

"Others keep raising the question of where are you going to get priests? How are you going to get the pastoral needs of Christian people met?" she said.

A significant subtopic is "that women are continually defined as a complement of the male" by the Vatican, she said. "This is just a refined way of continuing the view that woman is somewhat below the normative human, which is the male," Bradley said.

There have been four to five postings from people who support the Vatican's position, she said. "They have all been courteously written" -- a requirement for disagreement on Sister-L.

In its call for a day of prayer and fasting, the LCWR expressed concern about pastoral implications of the Vatican's action.

"We are troubled about the credibility of the church and alienation of women, given the gap between Pope John Paul 11's teachings on respect for women and the lack of women actually involved in decision-making in the church," the organization said in a news release. "We fear that the direction from the congregation, rather than engendering a higher degree of faithfulness in communion within the church, will instead cause division and disillusionment."

Bradley, professor emeritus at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, founded Sister-L with Dr. Margaret Thompson, history professor at Syracuse University in July 1994.

While the aim is to provide a forum for discussing the history and contemporary concerns of women religious, subscribers include many men and women who do not belong to orders, Bradley said. All are welcome "except those who would come to scoff," she said.

Persons wishing to subscribe should send a message to LISTSERV@LIST-SERV.SYR.EDU via E-mail. Leave the subject line blank (that's important, Bradley said), then in the message area write: Subscribe Sister-L your E-mail address your name spaces, no commas, (as shown). If there's a problem, send a message directly to one of the owners: THOMPSON@MAXWELL.SYR.EDU or BRADLEY@SAUNIX.SAU.EDU