Women In Major Decision-Making Roles for Catholic Church: Ground-Breaking Study Results Released on International Women’s Day

(Silver Spring, MD, 6 March 2002) – On the occasion of International Women’s Day, The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) will hold a press conference March 8, 2002, to release the results of the first academic study of women’s experience in Catholic Church leadership roles. Following four years of research, this LCWR study provides empirical proof that Catholic women – married, single, and religious sisters - are already participating in the administration of the Catholic Church by making high-level executive decisions affecting Church personnel, property and policy.  

 “LCWR chose to release the Women and Jurisdiction study on International Women’s Day to acknowledge women and the ways in which their professional contribution in Church administration enriches the Catholic Church,” states LCWR president Kathleen Pruitt, CSJP. “Women and Jurisdiction builds on a vision of Church, which emphasizes the call of baptism as that which disposes the faithful to exercise influence and leadership within the Catholic Church.” 

Scholars have been equally impressed with the study. “This important study shows that while scholars have been busy debating whether lay people can exercise jurisdiction in the Church, lay people have been busy exercising jurisdiction,” says John P. Beal, Chair, Department of Canon Law at Catholic University of America. “Women and Jurisdiction provides a much needed look at the extent to which lay people are actually engaged in decision-making processes in the Catholic Church in the United States.” 

Entitled Women and Jurisdiction: An Unfolding Reality – The LCWR Study of Selected Church Leadership Roles, the study was commissioned by LCWR, the national organization that represents over 1,000 elected leaders of U.S. Catholic sisters, to “study the experience of the exercise of jurisdiction (the power of governance) by the non-ordained”. The study task force designed a two-phase study focusing on the experience of women in six roles within the Church: chancellor, tribunal judge, diocesan finance director, director of Catholic Charities, vicar/delegate for religious and pastoral director of a parish as described in Canon 517, paragraph 2. 

Phase One conducted focused interviews with 25 women from 24 different dioceses and 23 states throughout the United States. The group was composed of both laywomen and vowed religious with an average age of 55.9 years. The groups were also diverse in its ethnicity, as well as the sizes of dioceses served, their education levels and their salary levels. Phase Two was a survey of all women occupying these roles in the Catholic Church in the United States and had a high return rate of 76.7 per cent. 

The results of the study show that the women interviewed and surveyed do indeed make decisions for the Catholic Church affecting its persons, property and policy. The findings also provide considerable detail about the contexts in which these women participate in governance and ways in which they influence the exercise of jurisdiction. 

The Women and Jurisdiction Research Project Task Force was headed up by sociologist Anne Munley, IHM, former LCWR president and current president of the Sister, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Other task force members included specialists in pertinent fields to this study: Rosemary Smith, SC (canon law); Helen Maher Garvey, BVM (pastoral planning); Lois MacGillivray, SNJM (sociology) and Mary Milligan, RSHM (theology). “This project was a wonderful experience of interdisciplinary collaboration,” states sociologist Anne Munley, IHM. “ As a task force, my colleagues and I hope the findings of the study will contribute to an ongoing dialogue and creative utilization of women’s gifts for the life and well-being of the Catholic Church.”

A press conference via conference call will be held on March 8, 2002 at 3:30 p.m. EST with Kathleen Pruitt, CSJP, Anne Munley, IHM, Rosemary Smith, SC, and one of the professional women surveyed for Women and Jurisdiction to share her experiences.  Media can join the “press conference” by calling 1-877-270-2157 in the US and 800-78137 overseas (please call LCWR for individual country phone numbers).  Media are encouraged to indicate their interest in participating in the press conference call to ensure enough phone lines will be available for all. To do so or to arrange for interviews, please call Sheila George or Eva McCrae at LCWR, 301-588-4955.
 

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has approximately 1,000 members who are the elected leaders of their religious orders, representing 76,000 Catholic sisters in the United States. The Conference develops leadership, promotes collaboration within church and society, and serves as a voice for systemic change.