Yesterday was the “Sunday Without Women?” when outraged Catholic women all across the globe were supposed to boycott Mass in order to prove that the Church needs to change its mind on celibacy or ordination of women or any other issue they can be outraged about.
It all started with Jennifer Sleeman, a Catholic convert from Ireland, urging women to send a message to the Vatican that “women are tired of being treated as second-class citizens in the Church.”
Rose Marie Berger, an associate editor with Sojourners magazine in Washington DC, got all “You go girl” about it and said something like “hey, let’s all do that.”
Berger, cribbing some phraseology from Karl Marx, wrote:
Catholic women of the world unite. September 26 is the day to boycott Mass and pray for greater inclusion of women in the Catholic church.
Then some sympathetic organizations jumped on board:
Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) stands in solidarity with Catholic women in Ireland who call for a widespread boycott of Mass on Sunday, September 26, 2010.
“Women make up 60% of Mass-goers and 80% of lay ministers. If each one of us took action on one single day, there is no doubt that this would be a powerful and significant event,” stated Erin Saiz Hanna, Executive Director of the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC). “The practical, financial, and political implications would be substantial to say the least,” Hanna continued.
I’m not sure I understand this. Let’s break a commandment in order to prove that the Church should do what we say?
Uhm, I’m not sure I see the logic. Do you?
Let’s hope the same people call for “Let’s all go to Confession to confess our Mortal Sin Day” next week.
September 27, 2010 at 4:19 pm
@ Anon@9:34
Very funny. My greatest hope in all of this is that most of these women have grey hair.
September 27, 2010 at 5:53 pm
This is a very sad thing! We must pray for these misguided women. They choose mortal sin here. So serious. They know not what they do. They can fulfill all these worldly endeavors in the protestant churches–you know those that protest and dissent from Catholic teachings.
September 27, 2010 at 6:03 pm
Yikes. So should I round up all my girlfriends and have the barefoot and pregnant storm troopers to ward off these minions? On second thought, we couldn't, we'd have to leave the kitchen for that…:)
September 27, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I was at Latin Mass with my head covered like a good girl 🙂
September 27, 2010 at 9:50 pm
Come to think of it, we did take up a second collection this weekend for the Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, a group that smells fishy to me…No wait! I didn't mean it like that! LOL!
September 27, 2010 at 10:20 pm
Well actually they did encourage the women to go to the Vigil Mass or to a Noon mass. So really it wasn't a boycott in anyways, just a foolish protest.
September 28, 2010 at 2:45 am
I voted against the Catholic Church with my feet years ago due to the disclosures of sexual abuse by priests and women's second class status in the church. Man made rules are just that "man" made. I don't think God cares one bit whether a person goes to church or not.
September 28, 2010 at 3:58 am
Man made rules are just that "man" made.
quod gratis asseritur, gratis negatur (Hat tip Fr. Z.)
God deserves worship at the appointed time. Out of gratitude we give it. Refusing to do so is an offense against justice. I'd say He cares about that.
October 5, 2010 at 8:04 pm
My understanding is that at least according to the local organizers in Portland, people actually were only being encouraged to skip their normal Mass, not to miss their Sunday obligation. But that's Portland's organizers' official stance.
I didn't participate, by the way, I just happen to have been the Alum of a more liberal Catholic high school. I found out that nobody was being officially encouraged to miss obligation by word of mouth ultimately through a theo prof I know. Of course, said professor is probably more intelligent/nuanced about these things than the majority of the people involved, many of whom probably thought it was just A-OK to skip Mass entirely.