{"id":8612,"date":"2023-12-13T11:08:42","date_gmt":"2023-12-13T16:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/?p=8612"},"modified":"2023-12-13T15:59:25","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T20:59:25","slug":"miami-woman-leads-the-call-to-open-doors-for-women-in-the-catholic-church","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/christnewstoday\/2023\/12\/miami-woman-leads-the-call-to-open-doors-for-women-in-the-catholic-church.html","title":{"rendered":"Miami Woman Leads the Call to Open Doors For Women in the Catholic Church"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For over a decade, Ellie Hidalgo has been campaigning to expand the role of women in the Catholic Church. The Miami woman is co-director of a nonprofit, Discerning Deacons, which invites other Catholics to consider ordaining women as deacons, a clergy role that has always been opened to married men.<\/p>\n

That would allow women, for the first time in centuries, to preach the Gospel, preside at baptisms, direct charitable services, and perform other duties long confined to males. From her past work, she knows the value women can add to the church. As a pastoral associate at a Jesuit parish near downtown Los Angeles, she worked with immigrant women from Central America and Mexico. In times of need, Hidalgo, who is trained in pastoral theology and fluent in Spanish, was called on to preach, assisting a priest who had issues communicating with congregants.<\/p>\n

She\u2019s also met with Catholic indigenous women in the Amazon region of Brazil who are on the front lines of defending land and human rights. Hildalgo, who now attends Our Lady of the Divine Providence in Sweetwater, recognizes that her devout Cuban grandmothers would never question why only men could serve pastoral roles, but that\u2019s not the case in conversations with her nieces. They want to hear someone with \u201ctheir own lived experience, from somebody who\u2019s a sister or a daughter or a mother.\u201d Now, for the first time in years, Hidalgo can envision a day when the church might actually open some leadership doors to women.<\/p>\n