Joan Chittister to Pope Francis…

UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage

William D. Lindsey

Joan Chittister to Pope Francis: “It Is Impossible, Holy Father, to Be Serious about Doing Anything for the Poor and at the Same Time Do Little or Nothing for Women”

Because I do remain a bit muzzy in the head due to my recent tooth issues (and, above all, the difficulty one has in sleeping as she/he deals with pain in the night), I don’t think I can write anything of great substance or length right now. (Lucky you, right?)

But I’ll share a few top-of-head thoughts with you. Much of value is being written in the past several days about what Pope Francis has been saying and doing in the U.S. I can’t give you a comprehensive report of everything that catches my eye.

I do, though, want to zero in on the following section of Tom Roberts’s National Catholic Reporter commentary on the pope’s remarks to U.S. bishops two days ago: Roberts writes that “Francis laid out an insistent call for dialogue – with everyone and in all directions,” as he emphasized:

The dialogue should be with everyone – among bishops, in their presbyterates, with lay persons, families and with society. “I cannot ever tire of encouraging you to dialogue fearlessly,” he said.

I want to zero in not only on this observation, but on the word everyone: Francis encouraged the bishops, according to Roberts, to build within the U.S. Catholic church dialogues that include everyone.

Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.