Here is a short interview with Fr. Fessio which ends with an interesting reason for why he became a priest.
Friend on high
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"It is the test of a good religion whether you can joke about it." GKC
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I don’t think Fr. Fessio allows women to work side by side with him. They’ve got cooties.
It’d be interesting to know if the girl who entered the convent is still in it and, if she is, if she and Fr. Fessio would be able to work side by side now.
There’s got to be a more in depth explanation of this….but Fr. Fessio sure knows how to give the media their soundbites.
On the cootie issue….there were a lot of male/female saints who worked together establishing religious orders, etc…..I don’t know why there doesn’t seem to be the same sort of parallel nowadays. Maybe JPII/ Mother Teresa. Part of the problem may be the blending of identity of genders in our modern culture….. or maybe it’s the cooties.
What about Hans Urs von Balthasar and Adrienne von Speyr? Yeah, neither of them have been beatified, but they both had a reputation for holiness while they lived.
My best friend and I are doing the same thing. I am enterring the convent in September and my best friend will be a seminarian. We have worked side by side for almost 7 years now and are a lot like Francis and Clare. We dated for three months and that was a big part of discernment for both of us!
Way to go Alyssa (and I just said a prayer for the both of you!).
I agree with Lourdes. It was always understood that religious orders were strengthened by having both the male and female communities working together, under the same charism, but with appreciation to the specific graces given only to women and those only to men. They were and are in harmony with one another.
While our local Capuchin brothers do some terrific work for the homeless, they started with the understanding that they needed their Poor Clares as soon as possible (and got them, praise God!). They felt they were without a limb without their sisters with them.
The reaction by some who may feel Fr. Fessio (and others like him) are “anti-woman,” I believe, comes from our culture’s disdain to recognize any unique difference between men and women.