On Oct. 22, the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life hosted Women Taking the Lead: Acting on Pope Francis’ Message, a panel discussion featuring female leaders of Catholic social ministries. Sister Carol Keehan, president and CEO of Catholic Health Association, Sister Donna Markham, president and CEO of Catholic Charities USA, and Carolyn Woo, president and CEO of Catholic Relief Services all participated in the panel, which John Carr, the director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life moderated. Patricia Cloonan, interim dean of the School of Nursing and Health Studies, gave opening remarks.
The focus of the panel was twofold: to address issues facing female leaders in the Catholic church and to reflect on Pope Francis’ statement that he sees the church as “a field hospital after battle,” meaning that the church should be actively engaging with issues such as poverty, health care, violence, and hunger.
Carr asked panelists to respond to Pope Francis’ quote about the image of the Church as a field hospital.
Woo spoke of her takeaways from the Pope’s visit and how he challenges the Church not to be afraid to serve in whatever capacity each Church member is able.
“One of the points [the Pope] has is to not be afraid. We, I think, are not mean-spirited people, but sometimes we act out of fear … But I think his point to us over and over again is do not let the fear get the better part of you. Part of losing that fear is that we really believe in God,” Woo said.
Keehan spoke of the Pope’s challenge to continue to grow Catholic social organizations and do more to serve others.
“Our Holy Father pushes us to do more. Yeah, you’re doing a lot of good, but could you do more?” Keehan said.
Pope Francis also has spoken of “the indispensable contribution of women in society in particular with their sensitivity towards the other: the weak and the unprotected.” He said, “I strongly hope that these responsibilities can be further opened up to the presence and activity of women both in the church as well as in the public and professional spheres.”
The three female panelists gave advice to rising female leaders in both the Catholic church and society at large.
“How do you get people to take you seriously as a woman?… I work really hard, so when I go into a situation I am really prepared … I set very high expectations for myself and for the people I come across,” Woo said.
“I don’t feel that I’ve ever run into difficulty being taken seriously once someone knows who I am and what I do,” Markham said.
Carr asked the panelists to discuss criticism that they have received from both people who think they are “too Catholic” to be receiving federal funding and people who think they’re “not Catholic enough” because of the diversity of personal beliefs within the Catholic church. “I would say to the secular critics who say that Catholics are out of step, out of touch, and should we fund them, on that point our overall response is: judge us by the work that we do. Judge us by the way that we keep our promises to the people we serve … assess us on the basis of our quality,” Woo said.
“64 percent of [Catholic Charities USA’s] budget comes from federal funding … 7 percent of it comes from the Church … If we took no federal money, what would happen to the 9 million people [that Catholic Charities USA] serves? Is the church going to make up for that?” Markham said.
A member of the audience asked the panelists to explain their view of feminism in the context of the Catholic church. Keehan recognized that, though many Catholic women are feminists, the Catholic Church is not feminist, in fact many Catholic women outside the United States are unable to choose who they marry or are subjected to genital mutilation.
“We have to know what are the things we should take seriously in our faith and in feminism, and we also have to have patience because it is a journey … it is a challenge to bring [feminism] along, and we want, when we bring the gift of feminism from the United States, we bring the best of it, not all the junk parts,” Keehan said.
“We have to know what are the things we should take seriously in our faith and in feminism, and we also have to have patience because it is a journey … it is a challenge to bring [feminism]along, and we want, when we bring the gift of feminism from the United States, we bring the best of it, not all the junk parts,” Keehan said.
This will be tough since so much of feminism is junk.
If it were only about equality and respect for women then feminism would have a good reputation. But as it is now feminism is about hating on men, blaming others for non-existent gaps,” and insulating women from the consequences of their freely made choices in life so they’re not held accountable in the way men are, not to mention the lowering of standards for women and the affirmative action they receive.
Oh, and feminism is primarily concerned with the problems of privileged, narcissistic white chicks as opposed to working class women, minorities, or those women in other countries who lack the rights and resources of women in America.