THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9501030090
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B9 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
While the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy in the United States is chiefly a male domain, the Catholic Diocese of Richmond says about half of its administrators are women.
The Washington-based Catholics for a Free Choice, which is not affiliated with the church, studied the listings of the Official Catholic Directory for the top 19 nonclerical positions in 175 dioceses.
The study, called ``All Talk and Little Action,'' included diocesan chancellors, vice chancellors, finance officers, directors of communication or public relations, directors of religious education, tribunals and ethnic ministries. It covered covered 1988 through 1993, the last year for which figures were available.
Laywomen and nuns, it concluded, lag far behind their male counterparts in most leadership positions. In 1993, 80 percent of the chancellors were men. Of the church's 975 tribunal judges in 1993, who rule on marriage annulments, 44 were women. Eight percent of the dioceses' 195 finance administrators in 1993 were women.
The Catholic Church has 59 million members in the United States.
In contrast, the Richmond diocese, which covers four-fifths of Virginia excluding an area near Washington, has women in a number of posts: vice chancellor, superintendent of schools, assistant superintendent of schools, director of the Diocesan Tribunal, director of the Office of Black Catholics, director of the Office of Migrant Ministries, executive director of the Office of Refugee and Immigration Services, three regional directors of immigration, coordinator of older adult ministries, director of management information services, director of the Office of Development and director of the Office of General Services.
Also, women are assistant heads in the departments of Campus and Young Adult Ministries, Office of Justice and Peace and personnel.
Beyond that, nine women in the diocese run parishes. They perform all ministries, lead liturgies, and preach, although a priest must come to the parish to dispense sacraments.
``In this diocese, our gifts are being used and all our potential in ministries is encouraged,'' said Sister Cora Marie Billings, director of the Office of Black Catholics and one of the pastoral coordinators. She was the first black woman in the American church to be appointed a pastoral coordinator.
``The leadership isn't only at the diocesan level,'' she said. ``Women are in leadership positions in the various parishes. They are heads of parish councils, catechists and musicians.
``I feel that if any position of ministry is available for women it will happen in our diocese.''
Frances Kissling, president of Catholics for a Free Choice said the true figures on women's involvement are worse than represented in the study because some diocesan jobs are open only to priests. Those jobs were not included in the study because women are barred from the priesthood.
Kissling suggested that dioceses with higher percentages of men than women in posts hire outside firms that specialize in helping corporations diversify their employment forces.
Billings said she has noticed that in other dioceses where there are plenty of available priests, women are kept out of the leadership roles.
She said that rather than waiting for the priesthood shortage to strike the larger dioceses and have them turn to women out of necessity, ``there has to be an educational development and a change in attitudes.'' ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Sister Cora Marie Billings says women play a major role in the
Catholic Diocese of Richmond. However, a new study shows that,
unlike Richmond, the American Catholic Church continues to give
women more talk than power.
by CNB