United Kingdom: service in the Church” “

The issue of women priests has split the Anglican Church in the UK, but now has become a reality. We checked out the situation of women in the Catholic Church and discovered that the role of women is being increasingly promoted both in the Catholic community of England and in that of Wales. This is especially so in the educational and social fields, but also in many offices of the Bishops’ Conference. “In the City there are more prejudices”. So says Patricia Hardcastle, a press officer in her thirties in the Catholic Media Office; she handles relations with the British press and television. “In the past – Patricia explains – women in the Catholic Church had secondary roles and they were almost invariably nuns. Today the Church has no problem in employing professionals and the treatment we receive is better than what we would have if we worked in an office in the City, because there is no discrimination in the Church: men and women are treated as equals”. “Women – she adds – have always given a lot to the Church in non-official roles. But today English society is changing”. From the sociological point of view, “the families in which it’s the woman who brings home the pay packet are increasingly numerous”. In the ecclesial sphere, “with Vatican Council II – Patricia recalls – the Church revalued the role of women, and their importance will increase further in future, also by entrusting more official roles to them. Even the preparation of priests in seminaries is changing. There’s more attention to the female world”. Many opt for part-time. In Great Britain the widespread availability of part-time jobs has led to an explosion in the women’s labour market. Anne tte Jones, 45 years old, is headmistress of the Catholic school of St. Mary’s in Loughborough, attended by 225 children aged between 4 and 11. Her experience as a career woman is positive: “I’ve never experienced any form of discrimination”, she explains. “On the contrary. I have to say that priests and bishops have always encouraged me in my work”. Nonetheless, according to Annette, Catholic women, instead of trying to occupy at all costs roles that were the prerogative of men in past centuries, ought rather to perform better the roles they assume in the light of their own femininity. “I try to perform my role of headmistress as a woman”, explains Annette. “I don’t command, I don’t ask others to do things that I am unable to do myself. Rather than take decisions alone, I encourage teachers and parents to decide for themselves. I’m very open to criticism and, indeed, feel the need to constantly change thanks to my work”. Women priests. “I don’t think the female priesthood is indispensable, because women are able to express themselves within the Church”, says Msgr. Vincent Malone, auxiliary bishop of Liverpool, and coordinator between the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales and the National Board of Catholic Women, the association that represents all the various Catholic women’s groups in England and Wales. What is important, Malone continues, is that “a female perspective should gain increasing scope within the Church”. In the view of Annette Jones too, “there’s a need for a greater theological and pastoral endeavour to promote the role of women in the Church: that’s more important than aiming at the “female priesthood”. “Through the new roles opened up to the laity by Vatican Council II, women may do a great deal”, points out Bishop Malone. “They may bring into the Church a creative dimension all of their own. So this link that the Bishops’ Conference decided to establish with women’s organizations is proving very fruitful; it is constantly generating new ideas”.