Gender Equality
-
Ancient ordination rites for women deacons sit in Vatican
Medieval liturgical manuscripts housed in the Vatican’s own library describe women being ordained to the diaconate during Mass, with the laying on of hands, invocation of the Holy Spirit and the placement of the stole by the bishop. Zagano’s research brings these forgotten rites back into focus.
-
“Pure-blood” bishops sound more like Harry Potter than the Gospels
Jesus measured faithfulness by whether people fed the hungry and visited the imprisoned, not by tracing clerical lineage. The doctrine of Apostolic Succession, built on mistranslation and selective memory, distracts from the radical simplicity of the Gospel’s own demands.
-
Sexual morality is over-emphasised — Pope Leo
Freedom of religion, equality, justice for men and women — these are the moral questions Pope Leo XIV says the church should be leading on. His pointed critique of the over-emphasis on sexual ethics echoes a growing frustration among Catholics who feel the tradition’s full moral vision has been narrowed and distorted.
-
When clericalism becomes narcissism, the altar turns into a stage
Clerical narcissism perpetuates itself when a newly ordained priest is assigned to a pastor who demands unquestioning obedience, creating successive generations of leaders hostile to collaboration.
-
From hope to silence: when the Church blinked
A Jesuit bishop reached for a medieval image — bridegroom, bride — to slam the door on women’s ordination. He didn’t stop there. He criticised fellow Jesuit, Pope Francis, for leaving the question open at all. The message was unambiguous: this conversation is over.
-
In the Easter story, women are the first to proclaim the resurrection – but…
Women made up only 14% of U.S. congregation leaders as of 2018-19, despite constituting nearly a quarter of professional clergy. That gap sits uneasily alongside Easter Gospel narratives in which women are the first — and sometimes only — witnesses to the resurrection.
-
Bishop’s 2028 ultimatum: married priests or collapse?
With Belgium’s seminary pipeline effectively empty, Bishop John Bonny argues that importing clergy from other continents is a form of pastoral colonialism. His 2028 target is a direct challenge to a Church model he believes is structurally broken in the secularised West.
-
Synodality, local churches, and the end of Eurocentric theology
Asian theologians shifted the language of mission from ad gentes (“to the nations”) to inter gentes (“among the nations”). That single preposition change carries enormous weight: it replaces a one-directional, subject-to-object model with a dialogical encounter between communities, cultures, and equals.
-
The forbidden tree and a troubling picture of God
Placing a forbidden tree in a garden created out of love raises hard questions about the nature of God. Read literally, the Genesis story portrays the Divine as setting a trap, then punishing all humanity when the trap is sprung.
-
The young women the Church is losing — and why
Young Catholic women are abandoning institutional religion for direct action—caring for the homeless, demanding equality, and fighting for human rights. They embody the Beatitudes’ values but reject religious identity, motivated instead by humanitarian concern and compassion.
Get Flashes of Insight
Donate
All services bringing Flashes of Insight are donated.
Significant costs, such as those associated with site hosting, site design, and email delivery, mount up.
Flashes of Insight will shortly look for donations.