'I'm A Catholic Feminist And My Church Needs Me Now More Than Ever'

'I'm A Catholic Feminist And My Church Needs Me Now More Than Ever'
A Sri Lankan Catholic devotee prays at a church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. Pope Francis is scheduled to begin a three-day visit on Jan. 13, five days after the countryâs presidential elections. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
A Sri Lankan Catholic devotee prays at a church in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2014. Pope Francis is scheduled to begin a three-day visit on Jan. 13, five days after the countryâs presidential elections. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

I recall standing in my grandmother’s kitchen with her yellow Bakelite phone to my ear, waiting on hold for a talkback radio program. I was eight years old, and my family was in another room listening to the Catholic Bishop of Toledo take questions from callers on the local AM station.

Finally it was my turn. “Bishop Donovan,” I said, “I’m in third grade. The priest at our school has come to our class to ask for boys to volunteer to be altar servers. Why can’t girls volunteer too?”

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