Maureen Dowd: Women, the Masters and the Catholic Church!

Dear Commons Community,

Maureen Dowd takes aim at several  institutions namely the Augusta National Golf Club and the Catholic Church in their treatment of women. In her New York Times column,  she comments:

“Augusta National Golf Club, which has kept its men-only policy long after giving up its black-caddies-only rule, should stop emulating the Saudis and award a green jacket and club membership to Virginia Rometty, the new chief of I.B.M., a Masters sponsor…“The thing about Augusta is, it’s not just another golf club,” said David Israel, who was a sports columnist with me at The Washington Star. “It is the most famous private golf club in the world. It should be leading and opening doors and minds. Instead, it chooses to venerate a venal and exclusionary past, an idyll of segregation. Revering its lost traditions is like wistfully remembering Lester Maddox’s ax handle.”

And for Pope Benedict XVI and the Catholic Church:

“Pope Benedict welcomed Easter by sitting on a golden throne and denouncing the “disobedience” of Catholic priests who want the decaying, ingrown institution that sheltered so many abusive priests to let in some fresh air and allow female and married priests, as well as Holy Communion for Catholics who have remarried without an annulment.

“It seemed like a bitter statement,” said Kenneth Briggs, the author of “Double Crossed: Uncovering the Catholic Church’s Betrayal of American Nuns.” “It further erodes, almost tragically, the respect for the papacy because it looks like what you want is institutional conformity rather than obedience to the Gospel.”

The message of Jesus, after all, is not about exclusion, but inclusion.”

Happy Easter!

Tony