Women remain barred from the Roman Catholic priesthood -- but worldwide they're filling more and more leadership roles within the church, including at the Vatican.
What’s new is that female empowerment is “more and more an issue carried also by men, including priests, bishops and cardinals. Even the pope,” said Sister Nathalie Becquart, the first woman appointed undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops.
The first woman appointed to a Vatican congregation was Sister Luzia Premoli, a nun from Brazil. She says her 2014 appointment by Francis to the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples demonstrated his commitment to include more women as decision-makers. Worldwide, a growing number of women serve as chancellors in dioceses and as members of bishop’s councils. In January, Francis changed canon law to allow women to be lectors and acolytes, giving official recognition to female service during Mass.
A leadership opportunity arrived quickly. At 22, with a newly earned bachelor’s degree in education, Haddad became a substitute teacher at a Catholic school in her hometown, Gillespie, Illinois. The parish priest was so impressed that, within two months, he asked her to become the principal. “My father died in car crash when I was 3, and I saw my mother taking on his roles — she did it all,” Haddad added. “There’s nothing a man can do that a woman can’t.”
“When I meet with young women, there’s an undertone of ‘Women really don’t have much influence,’” she said. “It takes time to engage, to explain, ‘No, there are a lot of opportunities for women to lead.’”
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