Silent women seek justice in the Church - provide amazing witness

From NCR - Women's longtime protests at Mass decrying discrimination, war receive bishop's praise by Claire Schaeffer-Duffy

Week after week, for over twenty years, a small group of women in Washington D.C. have stood during Mass silently protesting the church's discrimination against women and complicity in war.

In 1993, then-parishioner Gigi Gruenke, a clinical social worker, began standing during Mass as a simple "direct witness" on behalf of women, she said.

"Every time a woman goes to Mass, we are being discriminated against because we are women," Gruenke said. "We are not priests, not deacons, not dispensers of the sacraments. Mass at St. Aloysius used to be the better part of two hours. It was not comfortable for standing. The discomfort of standing was congruent with the discomfort of being a woman in the church."  

…Mary Helen Washington, a professor of english, said "I will keep standing during Mass until women have positions of equality. I plan to stand for a long time."  full article

If you are tempted to pass by reading this -- Please stop and take a few minutes.  These Women are amazing.  The RCC is not going to change until many many more of us follow the example of these tremendous women and STAND UP in protest against the profound sexist injustice at the core of the Roman Catholic Church.

"It is a gesture to say, This is a church that does not acknowledge us," Washington said, later adding that she never "intended to stand for so many years. Now, it would be impossible to sit down. My natural position is to stand up for women in the church and in the world."

Amen Sister!