Podcast: Strong words on women in the church

Image: Priscilla du Preez on Unsplash

An American Catholic speaks her mind in this week's All Kinds of Catholic podcast episode. Judy says, 'I'm pretty turned off by the Catholic Church's refusal to allow women full leadership roles and it makes it really hard to sit through services. Certainly the church here in the United States, all over the world, has done profound damage to children and vulnerable people and it's part of the power thing.' The conversation turns to the current political upheaval in America which Judy characterises as, 'sickening and heartbreaking.' Nevertheless, faith helps her to find hope: 'People are gonna keep showing up and taking care of each other and resisting and praying, and those are all lights - and the darkness shall not overcome it.' (Episode 43 The Light Shines in the Darkness, All Kinds of Catholic podcast).

Podcast host Theresa Alessandro recounts how she was asked recently if being part of the weekly conversations has changed her. 'It absolutely has,' she says. 'It's a privilege to encounter so many Catholic people who I might otherwise never have met. I thought I understood what being a Catholic is like but every week I hear things that connect with my experience and things that make me look again at what I thought I knew.'

Here's what one listener said about recent episodes, 'So many of them so different in so many ways from me - but that is what I love. Hearing how different people find God in their lives is immensely inspiring. I'm very seldom able to get to church nowadays because of my health. So your podcast provides me with a way of, virtually, meeting brothers and sisters.'

Do find the podcast on all the usual platforms, as well as YouTube and Facebook. This is an opportunity to share in what Pope Francis, in Evangelii Gaudium, calls, 'a genuine experience of fraternity, a caravan of solidarity.' Catch up now on how Catholic people are marking Lent - then you will be ready for the fantastic episodes planned for Holy Week and Eastertide. Subscribe (free) on your podcast app and stay tuned to hear more about the exciting developments planned during this Jubilee year. Soon listeners will be able to choose to engage more closely with the conversations and with each other.

See the podcast webpage here: https://kindsofcatholic.buzzsprout.com