Women for Faith and Family

[DemBones DemBones]

Catholic women may be interested in this organization. Here's a description of how WFF began:

"In September 1984, six St. Louis women gathered around a dining room table to discuss their concern that the US bishops, who had announced their intention to write a pastoral letter on the subject of "women's concerns", might not receive an accurate picture of Catholic women. The women were concerned about the impression given in the media that most Catholic women feel "alienated" from the Church, and dissent from Church teachings on issues ranging from abortion to ordination. They were aware that feminist theology had influenced many women and Catholic leaders. They wanted to do something positive to overcome this distorted image of Catholic women.

The result of the women's discussions was an eight-point statement of fidelity to Church teachings on a wide range of issues. They began to circulate the statement, called the Affirmation for Catholic Women, among their friends and colleagues, inviting them to reproduce the Affirmation and to help collect signatures."

If you go to their site

http://www.wf-f.org/index.html

you can read the Affirmation and sign it or print it out and collect signatures in your parish. They will send you a lot of materials free, including materials

They also publish a magazine, "Voices," which has some good articles, and is online for those who wish to read it without joining the group and receiving the actual magazine. They also have links to documents from the USCCB and the Vatican, etc., plus devotional materials, including a large collection of information on Lent (which begins February 21.) If you have children at home (or teach CCD), they suggest some Lenten activities you might like to use.

P.S. Matilda, there's an article in the current "Voices" by one of your fellow Aussies (though she's not an Aussie fellow.) It includes a wonderful quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“The more he talked of his honor: The faster we counted the spoons.” O80