From Vatican City, Phil Stewart of Reuters has filed this report on the Internet US Message Board: “The Vatican issued its most explicit decree so far against the ordination of women priests on Thursday, punishing them and the bishops who try to ordain them with automatic excommunication.”

I should have thought that, with the thousands of shepherds in the halls of the Vatican, one could have been found to interject a few words of compassion, or at least, encouragement for the homeless’ search for a safe harbor from the rough seas of excommunication.

Not to worry, friends. Christ promised he would be with us, and has inspired countless clergy, women religious and laity to face both the blessings and the challenges of feminine priests. Such a wise shepherd do we find in Father Donald Cozzins, author of Sacred Silence.

In chapter four, Cozzens opens with an inspiring quotation by Catherine of Siena: Speak the truth in love, so appropriate for a chapter dedicated to “The Voices of Women.” Come, let us listen to what he has to share with us.

Especially since the renewal of Vatican II, it is acknowledged with a certain sense of enlghtened awareness that the whole people of God – men and women – have been anointed by the Spirit. When the Church listens and when the Church speaks, therefore, it should be with the ears and tongues of both men and women.

Cozzens says that, with the growing number of highly educated women, skilled in the use of modern technologies, they speak and write more effectively than ever before.

He quotes Dolores Leckey, former exective director of the Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth at the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, saying that women are assuming roles of significant leadership in the Church.

Cozzens admits that women helped him to see their frustration, hurt and anger, but beyond that was a profound sadness – a sadness emanating from the realization that, in practice, church and papal documents notwithstanding, male voices alone continued to shape the decisions and policies, the very culture and personality of the church. He heard of urgent desires to hear the word of God preached by voices similar to their own. Cozzens goes on to say that there is a kind of sacred listening that is largely absent from the experience of many bishops, decons and priests – listening from the heart.

In the writer’s opinion,

“As long as women are excluded from meaningful positions of leadership, and continue to be barred even from ordination to the diaconate, it is difficult to see how their wisdom and insight, their vision and charisms will be adequately brought to light in service to the gospel, and the people of God.

At first glance, it would seem that the Vatican’s message is filled with threats to women and their desire for ordination. Perhaps so, but I see an even greater danger to women: that they will become disheartened, angry and even bitter, affecting our hearts, our relationships with Christ and those with whom we live and work, play and pray. A poem from one of my favorite black poets teaches us in his last line of “White Houses” how to protect our hearts in the face of injustice:

White Houses By Claude McKay

Your door is shut against my frightened face,
And I am sharp as steel with discontent
But I possess the courage and the grace
To bear my anger proudly and unbent.
The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
A chafing savage, down the decent street,
And passion rends my vitals as I pass,
Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.
Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
And find in it the superhuman power
To hold me to the letter of your law:
Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate
Against the potent poison of your hate.
~ ~ ~

For the grace of your peace, O Lord, we pray. Amen.

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