In his Gospel, St. Luke typically paired a story about a man with one about a woman. When Jesus told the story of the man who sowed a mustard seed he immediately added a story of a woman who mixed yeast with flour. You can imagine Mrs. Luke saying to him while he was writing, “Don’t forget the women. Jesus was very inclusive of women in his ministry.” The history of the Church has not demonstrated that kind of inclusion. We are at a new moment when the just concluded synod on youth issued a resolution for the inclusion of women in the Church’s all-male decision-making structures, calling the matter a “duty of justice” that requires a “courageous cultural conversion.” Let the work begin!
