"Hope is the Oxygen of the soul. Many find it hard to breathe in the church today." Padovano described two churches - the pre-counciliar, counter reformation church (1517 - 1962) and the post-counciliar church, the Church of Catholic Renewal (after 1962). The counter reformation church was a response to the Protestant reformation/revolt and was a time of fear. We built walls around the church to keep the world out, to create a "safe place" - our own private world. We had Catholic churches, Catholic schools, Catholic universities, Catholic hospitals, Catholic neighborhoods. Consider our vocabulary of the time &emdash; "Soldiers of Christ" and 'The Blue Army". We were like the prisoners in Shawshank Redemption &emdash; we were comfortable within our walls. But the assumption that "walls are enough" is toxic. We created the illusion of perfection. Our attitude was "God did nothing without the endorsement of the Catholic church. That the Catholic church was the second incarnation of God."

In the Transfiguration story, Peter wants to build a temple - a safe place, a monument of stone. Peter was all of us in the counter-reformation church. "But the Jesus of the Transfiguration would do away with temples and reign from a cross. This Jesus would abolish structures and systems and find His place in the sanctuary of the human heart," Padovano said.

When Pope John XXIII called the Second Vatican Council it was a complete surprise to the church hierarchy. Because Vatican 1 had defined Papal infallibility, everyone thought there was no need for another council. People expected a ceremonial assembly to show off the magnificence of the church to the world &emdash; "an expensive retreat." To give the council something to do the Vatican planners set out three issues for the bishops to deal with: 1) another title for Mary - possibly mediatrix of all graces or co-redeemer, 2) the question of whether bishops became successors to the apostles at nomination or at consecration, 3) possibly issue a fuller and harsher condemnation of communism. (Padovano comments "Godís people were, no doubt, hungering for these answers.") Not a single thought was given to lay concerns, social justice, collegiality, or liturgical reforms.

But the bishops had other ideas. And one of the most profound changes in the 20th century took place.

Then Padovano turned his attention to post-counciliar church. Padovano asked and answered four questions.

Why has the resistance to reform been so strong? Because the stakes are so high for those in power. What started out as a ceremonial council escalated into a reformation and a revolution challenging the system. When last done in 1517, violence and bloodshed followed as people tried to "recover what they lost or seize what they wanted." The strength of resistance to the reform is a sign of how successful the reform has been. "What is being dismantled is the temple on which so many depended" for their encounter with God and salvation. Fear leads people to destroy what is assaulting them. This is why Jesus was crucified. Jesus took away the temple and redefined power, sex, ministry, history, and scripture.

Will the opponents of reform prevail? Not in the long run, because a return to the old ways of belligerence, exclusion and censorship is simply not possible. Cardinal Ottaviani's first draft for Vatican II titled The Church Militant became, in the end, Lumen Gentium - a light for the world. "For the restorationists to succeed women must again become silent, theologians docile, Catholics must remain in marriages that are no longer sacramental, protestants kept at a distance, and homosexuals must disappear." We no longer have the will or the energy to keep so many out.

How will we cope while we wait? Abandon the temple and the papacy as the substance of our hope. Seek hope from others who believe as you do. Small communities and reform groups are the "synagogues" of the renewal. (In synagogues of old the laity presided.)

Is hope believable anymore? Is it possible that there is a future for the church of the past? If the old church was so right, why did people abandoned it so readily and why did an ecumenical council fail to endorse it as it was? We can find support for our faith by belonging to small-faith communities. We all have a RIGHT to the gospel, the tradition of church, and the sacraments.

"The pain we feel is the pain of the incarnation. We trivialize incarnation when we make God into a temple. We lost a church along the way but found a family made up of so many we once thought of as enemies."

The bishops are confused about what's happening in the Vatican too. The top 40 department heads have an average age of 71. One-third are Italian. U.S. bishops are asking themselves "If we can't be trusted to translate the bible and liturgy (gender inclusive translation), what does this say about the structure of the church and our place in it?" Rome chooses to believe the "paranoid delusions" of the Wanderer over the American Bishops.

The early church held democratic election of bishops by the people but in the year 310 AD, 100 people were killed in a riot over the election (like Chicago in the 60's). So they switched to having the priests of the region elect the bishop. The people then approved (or not) the choice and the other bishops consecrated the new bishop. This shared responsibility for election of bishops through the whole church.

90% of U.S. bishops have been appointed by Pope John Paul II.

Fr. Reese has written a trilogy of sorts on the Catholic church. Archbishop, Inside the Power Structure of the Catholic Church discusses the local church,

Episcopal Conferences, a book on the U.S. bishops conference, and Inside the Vatican, published by Harvard Univ. press. As part of his research he spent nine months in Rome interviewing people who, as he put it, "preferred not to have their names mentioned".

Theresa Kane convincingly pointed up the sociological, political, and economic imperialism that has excluded women throughout secular history. Along side this the religious practices and patriarchical language of scripture (e.g. king, warrior, judge, lord, father) left women in a secondary or supportive role (e.g. handmaid). Women inherit and have to live in a socety dominated by men and the male image.

All the people of God are meant to be sacrament. How are women to be sacrament if they are excluded from the altar, decision making and other areas preempted by men? In the present situation where women are not accepted as equal partners, they nd courage, which she defines as "anger of the heart." Women need to persist within a church where the hierarchy has too often been on the wrong side such as the issue of slavery in the 19th century.

She ended her talk on a hopeful note. Pointing out how women in the last couple of generationshave come to the forefront in theology, history and religious education, she quoted Mary's response to the angel in the magnificat: "All things are possible with God."

"From a person who rarely stumbles for words I really don't know what to say. As I had dreamed that our church would one day be inclusive of ALL I had grown up feeling that change would take a lifetime . . . and not in mine to be sure. Yet, what I saw . . . was happening in the NOW. What I saw was the face of Christ in all of what I had wished for in an INCLUSIVE church. I saw the entire congregation invited around the table of Eucharist. Around the table I saw the blind, the lame, the profoundly retarded, old and young men, women and children. I saw the happy and the sad. I saw those with hope and those wishing for hope. I saw the well-dressed pray with the barely dressed and those that seemed well fed embrace those that needed food. Intercessory prayers lasted twenty minutes as ALL invited ALL to express their precious hopes for what God could do for the world. The passing of God's Peace lasted twenty minutes as everyone embraced everyone. Whatever problems I may have had with regard to holding another, or being held by another, was short lived by those that held me. I felt NEW. When I returned back to the hotel all I could think about was that SOMETHING HAPPENED AT CORPUS CHRISTI and I would never be the same."

If you listen to Vatican statements like "This has always been held by the church and is part of the deposit of faith . . ." and you question if it's true and wonder "What did the early church think and do about that?" , then I highly commend to you a book just released: Rome has Spoken, edited by Maureen Fiedler and Linda Rabben. Each of the 18 chapters address a different issue in the church like "Women in the Church", "War and Peace", "Evolution", "Democracy in the Church", and "Infallibility". Each chapter gives citations from scripture, church doctors and fathers, popes, councils, encyclicals throughout the 2000 year history of the church followed by an essay by someone learned in that field summarizing the trends and the reasons behind some of the changes.

On supremacy and infallibility: Councils and popes have each declared supremacy over the other for the past 1500 years. The second council of Constantinople excommunicated the current pope Virgilius. Pope Innocent III condemned the Magna Carta and threatened any king observing it with excommunication.

On conscience: Thomas Aquinas and Vatican II stood for the primacy of conscience; Pius IX, Leo XIII, and John Paul II stood against it.

On scripture reading: The Council of Toulouse in 1229 strictly forbid the laity reading scriptures except for the Psalms. Vatican II encourages scripture reading.

On Ecumenism: Boniface VIII defined a truth necessary for salvation that every human being is subject to the Roman pontiff. Pius IX said "Nobody outside the Catholic Church can be saved." Vatican II, of course, changed all that.

On slavery: The Ninth Council of Toledo in 655 declared that children of clerics were to be enslaved (This was an early attempt to enforce clerical celibacy.) In 1866 the Vatican said "Slavery itself . . . is not at all contrary to the natural and divine law." A scant twenty-two years later Leo XIII said "From the beginning, almost nothing was more venerated in the Catholic Church . . . than the fact that she looked to see slavery eased and abolished which was oppressing so many people. . . Indeed the more slavery flourished from time to time, the more zealously she strove [to liberate slaves]."

On democracy in the church: Jesus said "Earthly rulers domineer over their people. . . This must not happen with you. (Luke 22:25-27) Celestine I around 425 said "No bishop should be installed against the will of the people." The Council of Toledo in 633 said "He whom the clergy and people of his own city have not elected . . . &emdash; he shall not be bishop." Leo IX in 1049 said "Bishops are to be elected by clergy and people." Pius X in 1906 said " . . . that the right and authority necessary for promoting and guiding all the members toward to goal of society reside only in the pastoral body (clerics); as to the multitude (laity), its sole duty is that of allowing itself to be led and of following its pastors as a docile flock." And John Paul II said (before he was pope) "A loyal opposition is a necessity in any community."

I remember from my childhood that the church held Jews accountable for the death of Christ, but I didn't know that Tertullian (c. 200) said about women "You are the devil's gateway; you are the unsealer of that (forbidden) tree; . . . On your account even the son of God had to die." (Makes Paul seem like a feminist!) Gelasius in a letter to the bishops of Lucania in 494 said ". . . affairs have come to such a low state that women are encouraged to officiate at the sacred altar." So we know that women were priests for at least 450 years after Christ's death. And still the Vatican says women can't be priests and have never been priests.

I was left with the impression that the church's position on so many issues has changed and changed again through the years. And yet, though not covered in this book, the beliefs that Jesus is God, Jesus came to save us, the Eucharist is Jesus are the things that have really been held constant for 2000 years. And although the work of Vatican II still needs to be completed and there are those who would try to undo it, we have made so much progress on so many fronts since 1965 and there is great hope for the future of the church.

Women have always needed to adjudicate when hearing the term "men" to decide if they are included or not. When using the term "women" men can have an opportunity to experience that same concern.