Catholic nun blasts male power in blunt talk at the Vatican

[The Sand Reckoner]

VATICAN CITY — Catholic activist Sister Simone Campbell suggested senior clergy at the Vatican are more preoccupied with power than confronting issues that affect the faithful, like clerical sexual abuse.

The U.S. nun, leader of the “Nuns on the Bus” campaign that toured America during recent election cycles, spoke frankly in an interview ahead of a conference being held at the Vatican on Wednesday to celebrate women’s contributions to peace.

“The institution and the structure is frightened of change,” Campbell told Religion News Service. “These men worry more about the form and the institution than about real people.”

She's just now tumbling to this? No wonder that nuns on the bus thingy went nowhere.


http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/catholic-nun-blasts-male-power-in-blunt-talk-at-the-vatican/

[guillaumeb]

1. The RCC is a hierarchical institution.

And institutions like to preserve their own power. Witness the many recent posts about the DNC having too much power and ignoring dissenting voices.

[The Sand Reckoner]

2. In particular, a male hierarchical institution

That women like this continue to support. Apparently they were convinced that they were "called by god", and so they hang around despite the fundamental sexism.

[guillaumeb]

4. I cannot speak to their calling, or their reasons.

But I should have added that it is mainly an older male hierarchical institution.

[Iggo]

3. It's all bullshit, Sister!

Quit.

You only live once.

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. "Get yourself a nice dress. Fix yourself up. Find some man, find some woman..."

[Iggo]

6. Oh yeah!

Man, I haven't seen that flick in forever!

[trotsky]

8. Amen to that.

There are so many other churches in which women are viewed as fully equal. Imagine how quickly the RCC would change if women left.

[Dorian Gray]

7. SHe's not exactly

just stumbling onto this. She's been fighting it for a long time.

[The Sand Reckoner]

9. I was being a bit sarcastic

I imagine she did not just become aware of how sexist the organization she serves is.

But yet she continues to serve and support it, and persist in her naïveté that giving speeches and riding around on buses will persuade the male hierarchy to surrender any of their power. Trotsky makes a very good point...if she and her cohorts would vote with their feet (the only real vote they are permitted in the catholic church), that might actually have an effect.