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Good Catholic Girls: How Women Are Leading the Fight to Change the Church

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I couldn't put this book down. It is so beautifully written and easy to read. It covers everything -- women in the church -- priests -- priest pedofiles -- ordained women -- the pope - the Vatican - HIV - aids - sexuality. All the problems of the church. However, most women (including me) still love our church. We just want some of the rediculous rules changed. We want women to be able to be ordained.

In "Good Catholic Girls: How Women are Leading the Fight to Change the Church,"
Angela Bonavoglia provides profiles of many different women who are pushing to reform the Roman Catholic Church. Each of these women has her own agenda, her own "cause." None of them came to the decision to challenge the Church lightly. Rather, circumstances demanded it and they responded. Bonavoglia herself is one of the women pushing for change and this book is her contribution to that effort. She acknowledges that there are many Catholic women who see things differently and who support a "vision that maintains the Church's status quo." She states that "they are spirited and devoted, too. But they don't represent the future I want to see for the Church."

Bonavoglia provides a useful service in bringing a female face to the recent sex abuse scandal in the Church. While the media has focused primarily on the abuse of young boys, there are also many girls and women who have been taken advantage of by priests in power. In some cases, the abuse extended into the confessional, with women who worked up the courage to share their experience of abuse being told that *their* sins are forgiven! Obviously, there is no room for such abuse in the Church. Bonavoglia rightly condemns those in hte hierarchy who refused to take reports of abuse seriously and instead simply moved offenders from parish to parish. She makes the interesting contention that if women had a role in the hierarchy, they wouldn't have allowed this to happen - they would have protected the children.

Bonavoglia celebrates the work feminist theologians have contributed to the field. They have" reenvisioned God as not necessarily male or female, but male or female or neither." In addition, they have reexamined the role of women in the early Church. They have found "evidence that women in the early Christian Church were apostles, ministers, and deacons, that they served Mass and were called bishop, and that Jesus accepted them equally and whole-heartedly into the ranks of his disciples." Such work serves to illustrate how "hallow" the "theological arguments for women's ostracism from the Church's highest rung of sacramental authority" are.

The other issues Bonavoglia addresses are more controversial. She attacks the Church's ban on artificial contraception stating that most of the faithful choose to ignore it. While that certainly is the case, her depiction of the Church's position is faulty. She repeatedly refers to the natural family planning method allowed by the Church as the unreliable rhythm method. While that may have been true forty years ago, the natural family planning methods of today are highly scientific, easy to learn, and very reliable. She should have done more research in this area. This error does not undermine her thesis, however, that in this case the Church failed to listen to the sense of the faithful.

She also condemns the Church's position on divorce and considers the annulment process an unnecessary burden and intrusion into the lives of the faithful. Marriage is no doubt difficult and divorce painful. The Church does need to provide appropriate pastoral care and not ostracize people simply because their marriage did not last. Bonavoglia suggests that the Church get out of the marriage business all together. She puts forth an idea by Rosemary Radford Ruether that there instead be "'sexual friendship covenants for couples entering into a sexual relationship. These couples, not ready to have children or make a permanent commitment, would take temporary vows that can be evaluated or periodically renewed." There would be a second ceremony for entering into a "'lifelong effort' toward permanency," and lastly a ceremony similar to a baptism when children came in which both parents would promise to be faithful to the child whether or not their own union lasts. This idea borders on the ridiculous. As if life was ever that neat! People who are not ready to have children should not be having sex. Sex has consequences and no contraceptive method is foolproof. And to say that we will make an effort at permanency provides little incentive to do so when times get tough. Marriage has lasted since time began. The Church is right to promote and defend it.

Bonavoglia also profiles women working to promote equality of homosexuals in the Church, and women who have chosen to not wait for the Vatican to allow women's ordination but have taken that step themselves. By far, however, the most difficult subject is that of abortion. Even Bonavoglia acknowledges that this is a contentious issue, even among reformers. In her defense, she does present both sides of the issue. She interviews both Frances Kissling of Catholics for a Free Choice as well as Maria Coffey who staunchly holds the opposite opinion. She states that many Catholic women, especially young women fall somewhere in between, believing that "you can believe that a woman has a right to choose, and you can also believe that abortion should be the last possible option." That position is certainly understandable. I think almost any woman can relate to the fears of a pregnant woman in difficult circumstances. However, we are talking about a life. If we as a Church, as the people of God, a God who gave us life, don't defend it, who will?

"Good Catholic Girls" does make you think. Bonavoglia brings up almost every serious issue facing the Church today. This book is a good starting place for debate. The Church, contrary to what many think, is always in a state of flux and pushing for change can be a good thing. I agree with Bonavoglia that women need a greater role in the Church. I think that if the Church made every change that she wants, however, there would be very little left of the Church. The Church does need to follow Jesus' message of love and acceptance, but Jesus also taught us to follow the commandments. The Church should speak for God. It should provide a moral compass. Perhaps those morals are the ideal and not every one will live up to them, but that doesn't mean we should move the standards to the lowest common denominator. Instead, the Church, both the hierarchical and the people in the pews, need to be loving and encouraging and help all of us, men and women, to live the lives God wants of us.

Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur is editor of http://www.spiritualwoman.net and the corresponding blog http://spiritualwomanthoughts.blogspot.com

While the bishops of our country fiddle, the Church continues to be burned by abusive priests. This is a book that speaks to some real issues that need the attention of our bishops. Angela writes about a number of sad occurences that continue to plague the church. She shows how a great number of women who love the Church with a passion but who name the abuses that cause crisis for the People of God are working and praying with great energy to right some of the wrongs that have happened in our century. She is not afraid to call the abuse by its real name and her documented pages tell us that real people are struggling with some hard topics that need healing. These are women who have opted to stay in the church but can no longer stay with a church that is not ready to return to the values of Jesus. Angela shows how women are striving to change the church to a servant leadership model where power and prestige have very little place in the hearts of those who are called to be our leaders.
This is truly a book that indicates that we can no longer remain a status quo group but need to move back to the original values of the Church found in the Acts of the Apostles and in the letters to the early Churches.

As a deeply conservative Roman Catholic, it would be dishonest for me to suggest that I read Good Catholic Girls with a terribly open mind. Billed as a fight for change, the introduction featured calls for "an end to mandatory clerical celibacy" and arguments for "women's moral authority on birth control, homosexuality, divorce, and abortion". Here was reform of the revolutionary variety.

Nonetheless, I read with curiosity. While Pope John Paul II's "Theology of the Body" is causing a sensation in more orthodox circles, it will be sometime yet before the rest of the world catches on: tellingly, it receives no mention in Good Catholic Girls. Meanwhile, the heresies which author Angela Bonavoglia presents are the sort paraded out every time the Church is believed to be poised for reform. Thus, for instance, when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger--ubiquitous villain of the book--was chosen pope, journalists bemoaned the election of another traditionalist who was content to allow the Church to lag helplessly behind the times. The implicit assumptions seem to be: 1) that the Roman Catholic Church will one day shake loose the bonds of tradition and embrace modernity in all its forms; and 2) that the reluctance to do so is what prevents Her from once again playing a meaningful role in society. Specifically, Good Catholic Girls argues that it is high time the Church stops silencing women and starts embracing their role as "equals". Of course, this is to be done on progressive terms.

Although I reject both assumptions, the book contains some value because it offers for examination a variety of arguments in their favor. This allows us to ask, charitably, how much can be said in favor of the drastic changes which Bonavoglia and her compatriots insist that the Church undertake. Setting aside the fact that many of these reforms are effectively impossible, the Church having settled the doctrinal dispute already, it remains unclear whether they would be beneficial.

As with so many feminist writers, Bonavoglia sees everything in starkly feminist terms: "The history of women's place in the Catholic Church is one of fits and starts, of rising power followed by backlash, of emerging authority squelched and denounced by a threatened all-male hierarchy." This explanation is too simplistic, and does nothing to explain why men have also been denounced by an "all-male hierarchy". For instance, some of the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas--who is called to the carpet for his "misogynistic theology"--were denounced as heretical a scant three years after his death. As Flannery O'Connor once put it while speaking on similar matters, "If they are good, they are dangerous." The Church would not have lasted these two thousand years if She did not tread very carefully when it came to new and alarming thought.

Given the title, one assumes a predilection with women's issues. But her obsessiveness often exceeds the bounds of prudence. For instance, in covering the sex abuse scandal of the Church--which is done quite well for the most part--she notes that women too have been abused; and, whatever one's feelings for the "patriarchy", the male clergy of the Church bear immense responsibility for what occurred. But to argue that it is women who are sexually involved with Catholic priests who "are arguably in the greatest danger of exploitation" is absurd: first, because it suggests that adult women are even less capable of removing themselves from abusive situations than are children and adolescents; and second, because it undermines the whole point of her book, which is that strong women cannot and will not be silenced by a Church that they are changing.

One mostly good chapter highlights the hypocrisy inherent in a clergy which takes a vow of celibacy and then lives licentiously, and a Church which seems nonplussed. To which I say: preach it sister. She then pleads for a change which is ultimately at odds with her fundamentally sound criticism: "One might have expected, in the face of the onslaught of outrage engendered by the sex abuse crisis, that the hierarchy would back off its rigid prohibitions concerning premarital sex, artificial birth control, infertility treatments, condoms to prevent the spread of AIDS, sterilization, homosexuality, remarriage after divorce, and pregnancy termination." Why would one expect that? When confronted with an abuse of an ethic, it doesn't do to overhaul the whole edifice. The Church's teachings on human sexuality can be difficult to understand, and, but for Grace, impossible to follow completely. But their difficulty does not mean we should cease trying to adhere to them.

Despite the focus on sex and power, Bonavoglia is actually a bit confused about what she wants for the Church. After deprecating the institution of the priesthood, she implores that women be allowed to join it. Intent on improving the role of women in the Church, it is understandable that she may sometimes be unclear about the best way to do so. But it hardly makes the cautionary observer wish to join the crusade for an undefined panoply of reforms.

Bonavoglia offers insight into the progressive mind, but she seems incapable of understanding the mind of one who believes and strives earnestly to follow Church teaching on all issues. Her chapter on abortion, for instance, bemoans the fact that the Church pays so much attention to this one issue when there are so many other battles to be fought. The reasoning is simple: if the Church is correct that abortion is murder, then the silent holocaust is far and away the most important issue of our times. Noticeably, she completely fails to make this identification, instead offering her usual claptrap about sex and power.

Regrettably, this flaw pervades the book. Despite her frequent calls for dialogue, Good Catholic Girls is decidedly and disappointedly one-sided. Rather than extensively cover the reasoning behind a particular doctrine, which the Church has painstakingly defined after centuries of thinking on the matter, Bonavoglia finds a few excerpts to fit with her sophistical thesis. Thereupon she charges at the windmills of perceived oppression. The reader is left to scramble for the Catechism to provide a much needed counterpoint. It is a bit difficult to find cause to scramble on back.

I'll lay out my own biases right from the beginning, which seems necessary in reviewing a book as controversial as this one is bound to be: I identify strongly with the author, who considers herself irrevocably Catholic but troubled by the Church's treatment of women. I personally find it hard to stay in the Church in light of its strict teachings- so I really wanted to enjoy this book.

And I did. Sometimes.

Perhaps the subject is just too divisive, but I found myself agreeing with her vehemently in one chapter and scratching my head the next.

Some of the descriptions were more than enough to raise my ire- numerous examples of the real-world misogyny of the Church much more tangible than the esoteric teachings. For example, she describes how Mary Ramerman, who became an ordained Catholic priest by having a bishop of the Old Catholic tradition perform the ceremony, receives strong rebuke from the Vatican about how her breach has wounded all Catholics worldwide. In contrast, the Vatican says of Mel Gibson, who is also starting his own "Old Catholic" following, that they disagree with him generally but are sure his heart is in the right place. Examples such as these go well beyond ancient teachings about the nature of women into a very real rebuke of the way the Church hierarchy clearly feels threatened by women it cannot control. Some of the passages of women standing strong in the faces of such injustices almost brought tears to my eyes.

Other passages had me rolling my eyes in disgust. Obviously the title implies that the book would focus on women, but it suffers greatly for the lack of a male presence. Very little is said about the men who stand beside these reformist women, and in some cases men are treated with such disdain that the feminist in me cries for the bridges being burned. One passage decries the Church's ban on condoms in light of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, then opines, "In the United States, women represent 30 percent of all new HIV infections." Now, I only have a bachelor's degree in engineering, so my math might be a little off...but doesn't that mean that 70% of all new infections are in men? Meaning that men are more burdened (in the U.S. in any case) by 40 whole percentage points! The same paragraph states, "Women make up 50% of HIV infections worldwide." Surprise! I mean, is that supposed to make some kind of point? Because I'm not getting it. Granted, this paragraph goes on to talk about the disproportionate burden borne by women in the developing world, which is certainly a problem- but not whatsoever related to the topic of the book. Instead she tries to spin these statistics into a weary tale of female oppression- and fails. As I said, I'm aware that the book is going to focus on women, but it does so to a fault. Writing several pages about women suffering from STDs because of the Church's outdated and unrealistic sexual ethics without a single mention of men borders on the nonsensical.

Overall, it's a good overview of the subject. If you're interested in finding out more about the women who are leading the reform movement in the Church, it's great for ideas. I've certainly added a few titles to my "must read" list after reading about some of the remarkable women and their stories. But like any politically charged book such as this, the author's desire to make her point can get in the way. At times she artfully tugs at the heartstrings, at times she strikes logical arguments for equality with such magnificent clarity it's hard to imagine the Pope himself mounting a logical response, at times she grasps at straws, and at times she gets so excited about criticizing everyone that she doesn't realize she's argued both sides of the same issue.

For those inclined to read on the topic, you could do worse for a general introduction, but as with anything so controversial, be sure to bring your critical thinking to the table before you crack this one open.

Angela Bonavoglia has written an up to date view of the Catholic Church in the United States. She has researched and interviewed wherever she could find Catholic women. These Catholic women are enrgetic, hard working and faithful. Faithful in the broadest sense of the word, followers of the good news to the outcasts of society and the good news of mutuality which Jesus preached. Most importantly she brings the beauty of Catholicism into full view through her stories of the women in the Church. "Ah beauty, ever ancient, ever new..." Augustine wrote. The new beauty of the Catholic Church is found in her women.
Gaile M. Pohlhaus, Ph.D.
Coordinator Villanova Theology Institute
Villanova University

Well it appears as if another person doesn't get the fact that the Roman Catholic Church isn't a "club", and the members don't get to "vote". The failed experiments they espouse have been tried in the American Episcopal Church which is falling apart before our eyes. I know that there will always be heretics with a "but I want" attitude towards the Church, but I still can't help being sad every time I read about them.

In the midst of the abuse scandals surrounding the Catholic Church, the ongoing disaffection of many Americans who would like a little more protection that the rhythm method, and the isolation of the "ownership society" (taking care of "me" first) comes this book that reminded me how inspiring some religious activists can be. This is a heartening and heart-felt story about women activists in the Church, told with verve. If you are at all interested in spirituality and the search for something greater than yourself, read about these women who keep on fighting for their beliefs and women's equal role in the Catholic Church.

Good Catholic Girls is the good news story coming out of the Catholic Church today. At long last, we are heartened by living beacons of hope and courage and faith. These women are walking to Jerusalem, taking on the status quo mired in laws that exclude, proclaiming the gospel message of a banquet table set for all people, and, most importantly, willing to surrender to the consequences of their life's calling -no matter what is required. Why? Because they believe in a church that is embued with relentless resurrection. A church, in imitation of the Christ, that is always coming into a new way of being - no matter what the price. Thank you, Angela, for reminding us of who we are called to be!

This is the real essence of what Ms. Bonavoglia is writing about. Just as so many people so many times have made the same decision - do you stand and fight or do you cut and run? It's not always an easy choice, but certainly not one which should be trivialized. Just try applying the same "why don't you just leave" logic to social reformers and see how biased it is to do so.