A month to claim women’s rights
During the month of March, women’s month, demonstrations have taken place all over the planet to claim that there is still a long way to go to achieve equality as human beings, men and women. The Church is not alien to this reality, but is behind society in recognizing the equal dignity of men and women.
The Church, a masculine and hierarchical institution
Far from being the community of equals that Jesus formed, where they served as disciples and deaconesses, the Church of our times is a pyramidal structure with celibate men in command. In recent weeks, groups of Catholic women have been organized in Spain in 26 cities under the slogan “Memory and Hope, until equality becomes customary”.
Catholic women, prophetic and hopeful voice
These groups demand that clericalism cease to be, as Francis says, this “scourge that harms the Church and enslaves the holy and faithful people of God” and that, instead, fraternity, the dignity of every person become a habit and their full right to participate in the whole life of the Church, including sacramentality and decision-making.
In their path of vindication these groups unite their voices with those of women (and also men) from all over the world in the Catholic Church. It is a seed of hope that is already sprouting and being experienced at the synodal table and at so many tables shared between men and women followers of Jesus of Nazareth.
