The Convergence panel at Saint Mary's will draft a charter for women in the Church in the new millennium this weekend. The annual conference will address women and their role in the Catholic Church Dolores Leckey, one of the Madeleva lecturers who will be returning this weekend, sees women's roles expanding in the American Church. Today, which was not the case in the past, diocesan agencies are as likely to be run by women as men.
Women serve on marriage tribunals, and more and more have become canon lawyers.
These women are leading prayer services, and in some places, carrying out limited sacramental roles. In Alaska, for example, women are performing funerals, Leckey said. Although the priesthood is not an option for women in the Catholic Church, Leckey sees both religious and lay women as having an integral role in parish life. Eighty-five percent of parish lay ministers are women. Women played a role in the foundation of the Church and their roles will continue to grow, according to Leckey.