Mrs Robinson I can recall, when living in the United States almost twenty years ago, listening to an interview on National Public Radio with Mary Robinson. The American interviewer enthusiastically introduced Mrs Robinson as the first ever woman to be President of Ireland. During the interview Mrs Robinson was asked if she could see the day when a woman would be elected President of The United States. Our former president gave an interesting answer when she said that she was hopeful but that the first female president of the USA would probably have to come from the right, the conservative wing of American politics.
I thought of those words of Mrs Robinson again last week when, for the second time in eight years the people in America rejected a woman candidate for president in favour of a man who, to quote one of our former Taoisigh, is somewhat of “flawed pedigree”. I know there were many reasons why Kamala Harris was not elected but you cannot get away from the basic fact that there is a significant number of people in the USA who even in 2024 cannot countenance the idea of a woman holding the highest office in the land.
Just a few weeks before the US election The Synod on Synodality called by Pope Francis ended in Rome after two years of deliberation. The idea of the synod was to chart a new way forward for our Church at every level. One of the hopes of many people leading up to that gathering was that there would be a new recognition of the role of women in the Church particularly in leadership and perhaps even ordination, at least as deacons. Despite some generous language in the final document, it is very clear that there is huge opposition to even look at women having anything like an equal role in Church leadership and ministry. However, as every reader of this paper knows, this Church of ours cannot survive without the incredible contribution of women at every level.
When it comes to discrimination against women and girls we tend to think of countries like Afghanistan where the Taliban don’t want females to be educated. We think of some of the Arab cultures that confine women to a second-class role in society. Our Church and almost all western countries, particularly the United States are very vocal in their criticism of such discrimination but, is there a whiff of hypocrisy and double standards here? My sad conclusion is that these past few weeks have not been the best of times for women in terms of equal access to participation and leadership in both the Catholic Church and in what is the most powerful country in the world. It is hard to avoid the reality that in so many parts of the world and in various institutions, many groups of people and women, are still discriminated against in very powerful ways.
**
From For Grief by John O’Donohue
When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you gets fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence.
Your heart has grown heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded others too,
No one knows what has been taken from you
When the silence of absence deepens.
Flickers of guilt kindle regret
For all that was left unsaid or undone.
There are days when you wake up happy;
Again inside the fullness of life,
Until the moment breaks
And you are thrown back
Onto the black tide of loss.
Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And, when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.
***
What a life is worth!
A life insurance salesman visited a woman who had recently been widowed. For 35 years her late husband had contributed to a substantial life insurance policy. So, the salesman said to her, “Your husband often told me how determined he was that you would be well provided for after he was gone. And so here I am,” he continued, “to present you as the sole beneficiary, with this cheque for €500,000” The widow tearfully accepted the cheque. She wiped her eyes and said, “but nothing can replace that wonderful husband of mine who left me this €500,000. And I can tell you this for certain: I’d give at least half of it now to have him back”