Can Women Become Priests? : A Catholic Feminist Perspective

Can women become priests? The answer to this question depends on whom you ask. For many Protestants, the answer is both yes and no. The only priest is Jesus Christ and all Christian share in the priesthood. As Luther wrote, we are all priests to one another, but there is no special ministry of priesthood that makes one person distinct from others. There are pastors, people who are called to preach and lead worship, but they are not priests. Luther, of course, did not consider women able to be pastors, but his followers (at least the non-Wisconsin or non-Missouri Synod ones) have thought otherwise. But they are not priests. For an Episcopalian who considers him or herself in union with the American and Anglican communions, the answer is yes, although this issue has been a very divisive one within the denomination. At least three dioceses within the American Episcopal Church do not think this question can be answered affirmatively. Indeed, a number of former Episcopal priests have become Roman Catholic priests, largely because of their opposition to women\u27s ordination. But then the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize the priesthood of the Anglican Communion. I will not address here the issue of the Orthodox priesthood, which deserves a separate discussion. These are just a few of the complicating issues surrounding this question

Facing up to Facebook: politicians, publics and the social media(ted) turn in New Zealand

Social media have an increasingly important place in the lives of citizens, and their potential to expand the reach of communication messages beyond individual networks is attractive to those looking to maximise message efficiency. The influence of Facebook in Obama’s 2008 campaign success galvanised many politicians into taking it seriously as a campaign tool. Our study explored the Facebook wall posts (1148 in total) of New Zealand Members of Parliament (MPs) leading up to the 2011 general election to determine posting behaviours and differences. Among other things, we found that women posted more frequently than men and that Labour MPs posted more than their National counterparts. Additionally, most politicians do not invite dialogue with readers of their posts, rarely get involved in comment threads and mostly take a monologic approach, using Facebook as a way of broadcasting information rather than as a medium enabling two-way flow. In other words, same old, same old

White Supremacy, the Election of Donald Trump and the Challenge to Theology

This article is a transcript of an interview conducted by Susan Ross on 12 January, 2017, with Professor Bryan Massingale. Following the election of Donald Trump to the US Presidency, there was a surge in the number of racial and ethnic attacks on minorities across the country, and an increased concern over the place of minorities in the United States. During the previous two years, a number of shootings of black men and women had attracted much attention and protest, particularly around the Black Lives Matter movement which began after the killing of Michael Brown in the summer of 2014. Massingale is a leading voice among Catholic theologians and has spoken widely on the situation of African-Americans in the US and particularly in the US Catholic Church

MS

thesisAn exploratory study was designed to investigate the verbal interactions of nurses with fatally ill children and their mothers as compared with non-fatally ill children and their mothers on an inpatient pediatric unit. The verbal behavior of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse's aides was tape recorded as the came in contact with four children with fatal illnesses and four children with non-fatal illnesses. Verbal behavior of mothers and children were also recorded. All units of verbal behavior were coded and classified using the Dier Nurse Orientation System. Percentage profiles of verbal units per category of the Nurse orientation System were calculated. The major findings were: a) All nursing personnel were patient-oriented in their verbal behavior toward both groups. b) All nursing personnel were oriented to the patients as physical persons in greater proportion than they were oriented to the patients as thinking-evaluative or feeling persons, regardless of patient group. c) All personnel were oriented to the fatally ill children and their mothers as feeling persons in lower proportion than they were to the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. d) All nursing personnel were oriented to the fatally ill children and their mothers as thinking-evaluative persons in greater proportion than they were to the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. e) All nursing personnel were oriented to themselves in greater proportion when interacting with the fatally ill children and their mothers than with the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. f) Licensed practical nurses had a greater proportion of patient-oriented response in the feeling dimension for both groups than did the registered nurses and aids. g) Mothers of fatally ill children were more patient-oriented more thinking-evaluative-oriented, and more nurse-oriented than the mothers of non-fatally ill children. They were less feeling-oriented and less other-oriented than the mothers of non-fatally ill children. h) Fatally ill children were less patient-oriented, less feeling-oriented, and less nurse-oriented than the non-fatally ill children. They were more thinking-evaluative-oriented and more other-oriented than the non-fatally ill children. the findings of the study suggest that although nursing personnel were predominantly oriented toward their patients in their verbal behavior, differences were present in their patterns of interaction with fatally ill and non-fatally ill children and their mothers. In particular, the findings revealed lower proportions of patient-oriented interactions, especially in the feeling dimension, with fatally ill children and their mothers. Fatally ill children and their mothers had patterns of interaction which differed from the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. the study suggests that further investigation of the verbal interactions of nurses, mothers, and children is warranted as a basis for developing a therapeutic nursing role with fatally ill children and their families

MS

thesisAn exploratory study was designed to investigate the verbal interactions of nurses with fatally ill children and their mothers as compared with non-fatally ill children and their mothers on an inpatient pediatric unit. The verbal behavior of registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse's aides was tape recorded as the came in contact with four children with fatal illnesses and four children with non-fatal illnesses. Verbal behavior of mothers and children were also recorded. All units of verbal behavior were coded and classified using the Dier Nurse Orientation System. Percentage profiles of verbal units per category of the Nurse orientation System were calculated. The major findings were: a) All nursing personnel were patient-oriented in their verbal behavior toward both groups. b) All nursing personnel were oriented to the patients as physical persons in greater proportion than they were oriented to the patients as thinking-evaluative or feeling persons, regardless of patient group. c) All personnel were oriented to the fatally ill children and their mothers as feeling persons in lower proportion than they were to the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. d) All nursing personnel were oriented to the fatally ill children and their mothers as thinking-evaluative persons in greater proportion than they were to the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. e) All nursing personnel were oriented to themselves in greater proportion when interacting with the fatally ill children and their mothers than with the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. f) Licensed practical nurses had a greater proportion of patient-oriented response in the feeling dimension for both groups than did the registered nurses and aids. g) Mothers of fatally ill children were more patient-oriented more thinking-evaluative-oriented, and more nurse-oriented than the mothers of non-fatally ill children. They were less feeling-oriented and less other-oriented than the mothers of non-fatally ill children. h) Fatally ill children were less patient-oriented, less feeling-oriented, and less nurse-oriented than the non-fatally ill children. They were more thinking-evaluative-oriented and more other-oriented than the non-fatally ill children. the findings of the study suggest that although nursing personnel were predominantly oriented toward their patients in their verbal behavior, differences were present in their patterns of interaction with fatally ill and non-fatally ill children and their mothers. In particular, the findings revealed lower proportions of patient-oriented interactions, especially in the feeling dimension, with fatally ill children and their mothers. Fatally ill children and their mothers had patterns of interaction which differed from the non-fatally ill children and their mothers. the study suggests that further investigation of the verbal interactions of nurses, mothers, and children is warranted as a basis for developing a therapeutic nursing role with fatally ill children and their families

Reconstructing First Amendment Doctrine: The 1990s (R)Evolution of the Central Hudson and O\u27Brien Tests

In this article, the Supreme Court\u27s shifting and expanding approach to intermediate scrutiny of commercial free speech under the First Amendment is examined. The author maintains that the Supreme Court has increased the level of review for content-neutral laws regulating commercial speech, while decreasing the level of review of laws affecting the media. The author argues that these analytical shifts have eroded First Amendment protection for the media, replacing the traditional notion that the media is central to a functioning democracy with the view that the press is simply a powerful, commercial enterprise. The author concludes by contrasting two recent Supreme Court cases that reflect the deeply divided court and unclear jurisprudence of current First Amendment doctrines