Irish Author Questions Catholic Church’s Decision To Ordain Women A ‘Crime’
It is the 21st century and the Catholic Church’s hierarchy remains wilfully deaf to the entirely reasonable question explored brilliantly here. They need to read this book and respond before a lot of women (and men) stop bothering to care about the answer or the Church. – Mary McAleese
The question of full equality for women, in ministry and decision making, is a major challenge facing the Catholic Church. Sharon Tighe-Mooney’s meticulous research makes this an essential read for anyone who wishes to fully understand the question and how the Church can move forward. I would love to think it will find a place on the desk of all the men in positions of leadership in our Church. –Fr Tony Flannery
In 2010 the Vatican upgraded the ‘crime’ of ordaining women to Catholic ministry, rendering it one of the most serious crimes against Church law. But where did the exclusion of women emanate from? How can the institutional Church be so certain that women priests were never to feature in Catholicism? Why is the Catholic Church so determined not to discuss the issue of women priests? Where does the implicit antipathy expressed towards women in the institutional Catholic Church come from? How are women in the Catholic faith supposed to digest and understand such views? This book sets out to answer these questions.
In What About Me? Women and the Catholic Church Sharon Tighe-Mooney investigates the role of women in the Christian church since its inception, counters the Roman Catholic Church’s arguments for excluding women and examines the arguments given to exclude her from ministry. Using her research skills, Sharon examines the New Testament, Christian writings and Papal documents. This book sheds light on the story of women in the Christian movement from its earliest days to the present.
What About Me? Women and the Catholic Church details a personal quest to find out where the strong antipathy towards women in the Catholic Church’s institutional mindset comes from.
About the Author
Sharon Tighe-Mooney Mooney grew up in County Roscommon and now lives in Meath. She has an MA in English, Sociology and Theology and a PhD in English from NUI Maynooth. She is co-editor of Essays in Irish Literary Criticism: Themes of Gender, Sexuality, and Corporeality (2008) and is a contributor to Reality magazine.