ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

And I think a lot of people have a hard time understanding that women can thrive spiritually within or on the edges of patriarchal religions.

Only if you live in ignorance or only hearing what you want to hear.

When your eyes and ears are opened, everything changes.

Today I was questioned by one of my collegues as to why I still belong to the Church.  (She has been listening to the news stories about the rehabilitation of the holocaust negator.)  I said, 'People in the Church come from both the cream of the crop and the bottom of the barrel and all in between.  There  beauty along with the challenge.'

I still belong also. But I wouldn't say I was thriving spiritually.

Blessed are the poor... blessed are those who thirst... you know there is more...  it is a journey... and not one experience is without some sort of wisdom....

seek and ye shall find.

i know these may sound trite but really, if you know you are not thriving spiritually, you are being spiritually called to dive deeper

 
The deeper I go the more alienated I become. The patriarchy just isn't working for me.

where are you trying to connect?
 
is it in a deeply patriarchal parish?  or in a community that acknowledges the sins of patriarchy and works with a spiritual centre that is focused on holistic, egalitarian spirituality?

someone here once shared the metaphor of a crashing plane. we must put on our own airmasks before we can start helping others... or rooting out structural sin.
 
 

what sorts of spiritual community connections do you have?

ORIGINAL: Guest

where are you trying to connect?

is it in a deeply patriarchal parish?  or in a community that acknowledges the sins of patriarchy and works with a spiritual centre that is focused on holistic, egalitarian spirituality?

 
Try any Catholic Church.

what about a women's spiritual community?

ORIGINAL: Guest

what about a women's spiritual community?

 
Example?

or some place that is more on the margins? does this make sense?
 
 

ORIGINAL: Guest

or some place that is more on the margins? does this make sense?

 
No ...give an example if you can.

ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

what about a women's spiritual community?

Example?

 
here are some of the places that i find nurturing, nourishing, enriching:
 
- a benedictine women's monastery that is about 3 hours away.  Not ideal because of the distance but I routinely take part in the retreat activities they have that are more 'feminine' focused.  We usually have eucharist.  Except for the fact that it is a male priest, it is an open table.
 
- an interreligious retreat centre for workshops
 
- cnwe -- their listserv is great.  They hold a couple of retreats every year.  And there is sustenance and support in the community of like minds.
 
I still go to mass in my home parish although not as regularly as I used to.  I go for several reasons which are in no order of importance:
 
- because of committment to community
- because I love eucharist
- because I love the music
 
I do a lot of personal preparation for the readings.  Besides the eucharist, I focus on deeply listening to scripture for hearing what 'I' hear.
 
Because of my committment to the work for change in the Church, I also routinely take in workshops that are offered by a non-religious community that helps people become better equipped with skills that support progressive social change.
 
I try to apply what I learn there in the work that I do for cnwe.
 
 

I live in a fairly small city. There is only one Catholic Church.  It is pretty much focused on serving 'families'.  I am a single woman who has never been married. 
 
Local parish is not meeting my needs so I try to keep a variety going...
 
probably cnwe, the benedictines, and the progressive change community are the places that i find to be the most nourishing.

ORIGINAL: Guest

I live in a fairly small city. There is only one Catholic Church.  It is pretty much focused on serving 'families'.  I am a single woman who has never been married. 

Local parish is not meeting my needs so I try to keep a variety going...

probably cnwe, the benedictines, and the progressive change community are the places that i find to be the most nourishing.

 
Do the benedictines discuss ordination of women?

ps the cnwe listserv is not limited to canadians.  we have a member from bangladesh, one from puerto rico, quite a few from the usa and most of us are from canada.  there are a variety of points of view that are shared in discussions.  it is a little different from this website in that cnwe is more of an advocacy organisation than it is an information + academically oriented one like this one this.

ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

I live in a fairly small city. There is only one Catholic Church.  It is pretty much focused on serving 'families'.  I am a single woman who has never been married. 

Local parish is not meeting my needs so I try to keep a variety going...

probably cnwe, the benedictines, and the progressive change community are the places that i find to be the most nourishing.

Do the benedictines discuss ordination of women?

 
The ones I am connected with -- absolutely.
 
Joan Chittister is a Benedictine.  Are you familiar with the stand she and her particular congregation took against the Vatican when they tried to silence her from speaking at an ordination conference in Dublin, Ireland?

ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

ORIGINAL: Guest

I live in a fairly small city. There is only one Catholic Church.  It is pretty much focused on serving 'families'.  I am a single woman who has never been married. 

Local parish is not meeting my needs so I try to keep a variety going...

probably cnwe, the benedictines, and the progressive change community are the places that i find to be the most nourishing.

Do the benedictines discuss ordination of women?

The ones I am connected with -- absolutely.

Joan Chittister is a Benedictine.  Are you familiar with the stand she and her particular congregation took against the Vatican when they tried to silence her from speaking at an ordination conference in Dublin, Ireland?

 
How do I find such a group? How do I find out how progressive they are in advance?
 
No Church retreat or Church function will allow the discussion of women priests.
 
How few and far between are such groups?
 
Perhaps these are not questions easily answered.
 
 

my suggestion for finding out 'where' is to ask around.
 
post something on this board about where you live and ask for suggestions.
 
or send an email to someone at this website's team (eg Sophie)
 
or if there are women's ordination groups in the country where you live, contact them. I am sure they will have suggestions.
 
or join the cnwe listserv and ask people there.  they are a great group of people.
 
i struggle for a long, long, long time.  i still do but not as much as i used to. transitions are happening.

No Church retreat or Church function will allow the discussion of women priests.

 
it is starting to come up more often in church groups where i live.

you can tell it definitely makes some people uncomfortable.

No Church retreat or Church function will allow the discussion of women priests.

 
Is it not desperately sad that we live in a Church where academic people have to suppress their honest views and academic opinions on a question such as the ordination of women while almost 90% of theologians agree the arguments for excluding women do not make any sense
 

ORIGINAL: Guest

No Church retreat or Church function will allow the discussion of women priests.

it is starting to come up more often in church groups where i live.

 
 
I see no evidence of it. I have lived in parishes all around the USA and none were terribly progressive. The parish I now attend has two groups. A Mother’s Club and a Men’s Society. Since I am a professional woman and not interested in the Mother’s Club there is nothing for me. My husband on the other hand could (if he were so inclined) attend the Men’s Society.
 
I once mentioned to my husband that he attend one of the Men’s Society meetings. I told him that they discuss the challenges men face in the world today. His response was “Wow. That sounds like a fun group. No Thanks.”
 
It is a pity that men and women are segregated in the Church. A healthy group should include both men and women.
 
I have tried to find a group I could relate with, but have not had a lot of time to devote to the search. So far I have not found one.