Melissa Petrie, RSM, a social studies teacher at the Institute of the Sisters of Mercy of the
Americas, Bronx, NY, has mixed emotions about the Pope's visit. She believes women should be
allowed to play a larger role in shaping the Catholic Church.
"As I've linked my life more closely to the institution of the Church, I wonder at how I, and women like me, have
been able to help shape it. A woman's role in the Church is vital, we are told, yet women are unable to be in key
positions to help in the continual creating of what that Church is to be. When we have tried to [foster a] dialogue,
the reception has been chilly at best.
"And so there is a part of me that is not excited about the Pope's coming. The same Church which encouraged
me to be a leader has said that I and women like me can go 'just so far' within the organization.
"To the extent that Pope John Paul II represents the local Church communities that I was empowered within to
be all I've been created to be, I will watch his arrival with teary eyes. Because Pope John Paul II also represents
a Church that gives me a designated role only in its shaping, I will watch his arrival from afar."
How do you feel about the Pope?
