The first ten years

...The draft, he said, "does not sufficiently analyze feminism in its cultural and philosophical roots...

...Those who wanted to drop the pastoral offered some alternative suggestions...

...Though he agreed that "sexism is surely a sin," his review of feminist theology over the past year led him to ask why the draft "make[s] no reference to what radical feminist theology is doing to our church...

...The key to their dilemma was captured by Charles Buswell, retired bishop of Pueblo, Colorado, who said at the Notre Dame meeting: "The document seems a response to our and the Vatican's concerns, not women's...

...The bishops ought to "be opposed to how society views women," and for the bishops as an all-male body (the afternoon's only reference to this fact), the obligation was even greater...

...Bishop Francis George, O.M.I., of Yakima, Washington, wanted to know "Why is [the draft letter] not clear on who can be ordained...

...As the bishops began their meeting, there were predictions that criticisms of both "right" and "left" would combine to end the effort to produce a pastoral on women's concerns...

...Most women, he said, rather than being concerned about women's rights "wonder how I can hold my family together and raise my children...

...Finally, and it would seem decisively, to the extent anything was decisive, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, bent into a microphone and told the group, "I want to pursue this document...

...Bishop Raymond Lucker of New Ulm, Minnesota, asked for "a brief position statement acknowledging the process in which we asked how women are discriminated against and communicating our consensus that sexism is wrong and exclusionary language is offensive...

...Not so the bishops...

...Then dinner won out, and who could blame them...

...In a pastoral letter, the bishops "must show why we hold our position," and, in light of recent opinion-poll findings, "we have a lot of work to do on this...

...an apparent reference to the necessity of an all-male priesthood...

...No official vote was taken on June 18...

...The pastoral on women is "addressed to an intellectual elite" and repeats the church's positions on abortion and other matters "apologetically, as if we're stuck with it...

...Even so, several bishops argued that those hierarchical concerns were not forthrightly addressed, especially the nature of "radical feminism" and a reasoned defense against the ordination of women...

...As a result, Imesch's committee went to Rome to discuss it with Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's Congregation on the Doctrine of Faith...

...I do not understand, therefore, how people can discuss ordination [of women...

...Faith is relativized in light of one's personal experiences...

...But a "straw vote," asking whether the bishops should continue the discussion at their November meeting, resulted in a virtual draw, suggesting the draft could not garner the two-thirds vote required for approval of a pastoral letter...

...The first draft (1988), extensively quoting this testimony and giving voice to some of the most pressing of women's concerns, was sent back by the body of bishops for redrafting...

...There had been a "universal change of consciousness among this generation," he said...

...In view of the "many hurts among women on both sides," Weakland thought this was a shame...

...Some of the critics were unrestrained...

...Feminism has "laudable goals," in the cardinal's view, but the push for women's ordination has made the "Eucharist a sign of division...

...Until we do a [pastoral] job which puts us in touch with the hearts of our people, we'll limp along...

...It was better to say less than more...

...We have to explain our position...

...The people who disagree on this are among our very best people...

...Bishop Vaughan then moved on to matters of content, enumerating issues not addressed by the text, including "bad direction on birth control" in the confessional, "bare mention of single parents in poor areas," and "nothing on the plight of women who have given up a child to abortion...

...And in the letter, he said, "we do little to explain the exclusion of women from positions of authority" in the church...

...He argued that "this will be as close as we can come to an honest exposition of our position...

...But perhaps the more honest answer was Imesch's conclusion: "It's best not to try to explain...

...A committee of six bishops, chaired by Bishop Joseph Imesch of Joliet, Illinois, have been at work since 1982...

...They had begun by taking testimony from women around the country as well as from diocesan convocations...

...James J. Byrne, retired bishop of Dubuque, reminded the bishops that, "we had a synod [in Rome], followed by a clear statement of the magisterial position...

...He went on say, "Ten pages on why we don't ordain women would be out of proportion...

...Is the end in sight...

...Bishop Pierre DuMaine, of San Jose, California, thought that a document "should be published in three parts: this [third] draft, the voices of testimony gathered in its preparation as a record of what the conference has done, and a few brief essays in reaction to it...

...It would be a serious mistake to walk away from it, would give the wrong signal after all our discussion, as if we have nothing to say or don't have the courage to exercise our responsibility...

...To hesitate further would give the impression of avoiding the issue...

...Anyhow, he observed, "awareness is the most important thing," and "it's come, from this pastoral...

...Archbishop Rembert Weakland, a veteran of the pastoral letter writing business, agreed that people would not read it, but for him that was not a drawback, since he believes that the "process," which had "kept the issue out on the main stage," was the important thing...

...As the bishop of a local church, I meet people every day for whom this teaching [of the universal church on women's roles] is not resting peacefully...

...In Sheets's view, feminists have "a sense of evangelization, and [we have] no argument to resist it...

...This has been a long process...

...Their own views and their teaching role were being stinted, the bishops thought...

...Imesch attempted a reply, "We tried to keep it short...

...Publish the document and move on to continuing dialogue," urged Bishop Edward Head, of Buffalo, New York, who said he sensed "an impatience building among many active Catholic women...

...There are huge questions out there to which we don't adequately respond by reinforcing our tradition...

...But Bernardin did not have the last word...

...We can at least alert the faithful that here is a threat to the church as never experienced before...

...But finally, in Vaughan's view the letter would "do no harm," because "nobody will read it after a week or cite it after a day...

...The majority would be in accord, I suspect...

...Then came the "straw votes" leading to bare majorities in favor of bringing a revised version to the fall meeting and opposed to voting on producing a downgraded document, that is, a position statement or a committee report rather than a full-blown pastoral...

...A little "cultural discernment" was in order...

...We have to address it in a substantive way, so it doesn't look as if we are saying [since] we can't do anything about it, [we have decided to] say nothing...

...Threats to the church from the women's movement" take on the character of "another religion...

...I'm moved to reflect on the teaching role of the bishop," he said...

...The third draft bears the scars of this protracted treatment...

...it was "not a good teaching tool...

...As Robert Banks, auxiliary bishop in Boston, had said earlier, "There is anger, hurt, and a pervasive Commonweal sense of being ignored...

...Bishop John Sheets, S.J., an auxiliary of Notre Dame's own diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, was one of a disproportionate number of religious-order bishops who joined in the debate, in his case echoing Vaughan's fear of feminism...

...The more negative aspect of feminism in the ecclesial context has to be faced...

...Moreover, for Bernardin, "the critical issue [was] ordination...

...Still, Weakland urged the committee to "step back a bit and try it again...

...In other words, back to the drawing board for version four...

...From the proceedings, it seemed clear that regardless of whether this draft or a revised version is voted up or down, the bishops find themselves in a no-win situation...

...Right now, I'm willing to take almost anything," he said, in reference to a question about a downgraded status for his ten years' work...

...And he went on, "the church is sharply divided, even [among] some of our most committed members...

...It was not, he said, "a healing" document...

...After him came Bishop John Cummins, of Oakland, who wanted "a little more exploring...

...We've heightened awareness of the concerns of women...

...JIM BOWMAN Jim Bowman, former religion editor for the Chicago Daily News, is now a free-lance journalist...

...Yet, as several bishops recognized, abandoning the effort would suggest that they had nothing to say at all...

...In the press conference that followed, Imesch made and twice repeated his widely quoted judgment that it would take "a miracle" to get a women's pastoral passed in the fall...

...6:17 July 1992 Commonweal But Chaput pressed his question: "Why didn't we warn against the danger of radical feminism...

...As Imesch later said, passage would require "a miracle...

...The second draft (1990) got close Vatican scrutiny...

...Bishop Charles Chaput, O.F.M., Cap., of Rapid City, South Dakota, demanded of the now beleaguered Imesch, "Why are issues of radical feminism not dealt with...

...Nor does it analyze these roots from the point of view of the church...

...And then his colleague on the committee, Bishop Matthew Clark, of Rochester, New York, chimed in with this observation...

...Catholic bishops displayed a striking and perhaps unprecedented range of disagreement in debating the third draft of their pastoral on women's concerns (Origins, April 23, 1992...

...Why nothing about Christ's spousal relationship to the church, a position which is not controversial, and [nothing] about how Christ's leadership is made visible...

...By contrast, a parallel meeting of groups gathered on the same Notre Dame campus to discuss women's issues, especially ordination, was amiable, even tame...

...Ordination is not the only issue...

...In places it was "brusque and harsh...

...For him the draft could not be "a pastoral letter, [because] it fails to teach clearly...

...At this point, Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston entered the discussion...

...In view of this process, Vaughan said, "If we were voting on the Hail Mary, I would vote it down...

...This matter had aroused "more dissatisfaction at home" in Oakland, he said, than it had among the bishops...

...Bishop Austin Vaughan, a New York auxiliary, attacked the "procedures" involved in developing the letter, calling it "ridiculous" that this was the bishops' first debate of the text...

...If any at the alternative conference disagreed, they kept their opinions to themselves...

...The letter, he concluded "needs more work...

...This is asked of me often...

...He sharply criticized what he called lack of communication from the committee—"never a revelation of problems, no revelation of a minority report, no revelations of why seven women left the committee...

...Bishop William Levada, of Portland, Oregon, also a committee member and with Imesch up front facing the bishops, tried again: "Our agenda was to be faithful to documentation...

...He urged the bishops "to make this clear to our people...