Home Forums Introductions Is there a place for me in the Church? Reply To: Is there a place for me in the Church?

#2976

[quote:3pq9l3ss]I left the Church about 20 years ago. I was raised Catholic, even graduated from a Catholic university (Marquette). Got disillusioned with the faith, especially the way I’ve seen women treated (no say in Church affairs, dominated by a patriarchy…have to be content to make brownies for “Father” and belong to the Altar and Rosary Society, etc.) I’ve had some REAL bad experiences with clergy, and so started church-shopping, and came full-circle, I guess.

I wanted to rejoin the faith of my childhood. I want to make a difference in the lives of others. I’m trying not to be a “cafeteria Catholic”, but I also don’t believe in unquestioningly following orders. (I think that was the “Nazi defense”, no?) [/quote:3pq9l3ss]

Well, you know, [i:3pq9l3ss]a lot[/i:3pq9l3ss] has changed in the last 20 years. <img decoding=” title=”Wink” />

There is much more lay involvement and women have an active voice in shaping their church. Perhaps in more rural areas the parish revolves around the priest, but that has not been my experience as of late. It’s really about Jesus and the people – we meet God in church.

I’m wondering if you could tell me more about the Rosary Society – I’ve never heard of it.

The dynamics of parishes are changing and I really hope that you get a chance to have better experiences. I know this is coming from a male so you may not be as receptive to it or perhaps you think that because I am a male I cannot identify with you quite the same – which probably has some truth to it.

If you ask me, these days it’s women who run the parishes anyway considering most of any given parish staff is female (in my experience). I’ve been to several churches where the whole religious education team was female, the secretary, nurse, youth minister, liturgist, etc. There might have been a couple other guys and the pastor – that’s it for male representation. <img decoding=” title=”Smile” />