Rationale for the publication of the article ‘The time is now for change in the Catholic Church’ by Professor Mary McAleese in this journal, International Studies in Catholic Education (ISCE)

This article is related to:

The time is now for change in the Catholic Church

A. Context

1. On the 18th of May 2021, I as the Executive Editor of ISCE received an article from Professor Mary McAleese, derived from a keynote address which she had presented to the International Women's Day Conference in Rome in March 2018.

2. The author suggested that she would be happy to see it published in the journal if the Editorial Board judged it to be appropriate and of value to Catholic educators internationally.

3. The draft article was shared with the Editorial Board and the results of this circulation were inconclusive.

4. In these circumstances, I decided that as the paper had been endorsed by most board members who had responded and the Editor, publication should go ahead.

5. The circulation to the Board had produced one useful development. One member, Dr Sean Whittle, had suggested that the McAleese paper needed the addition of a Commentary giving reflective answer to the question, ‘What is the relevance of this for readers of International Studies in Catholic Education?’

6. I invited Dr Whittle to write such a brief Commentary and after consultation with others, it is now published as a standalone commentary piece.

B. The rationale for publication of the article and commentary

1. In the Mission Statement for the first issue of the journal, ISCE Vol. 1, No 1, March 2009, it states the following:

   It seems essential in a post Vatican 11 intellectual and professional culture which encourages us to enter into dialogue with the wider world and all persons of goodwill, that ISCE should seek contributions from secular institutions of higher education and from writers and researchers external to the Catholic community … we may not always like what they report to us, but if we are committed to intellectual integrity, then what we do must be fully open to external scrutiny and challenge (pp. 1–2).

2. Mary McAleese is certainly challenging us, but from a distinguished and intellectual position, within Catholic practice and culture. She writes as a scholar in Law at Trinity College, Dublin, and at Queens University, Belfast, and as a former President of Ireland. It can be said that she is a powerful example of ‘faithful dissent’ within contemporary Catholic culture, especially on issues related to women, their welfare and their status.

3. It follows logically from this, that a Catholic education journal committed to openness and dialogue would welcome the opportunity to publish her article on ‘Why Women matter’ and to encourage dialogue on the argument raised.

4. As the Founding Editor of ISCE, I have always reviewed and evaluated the quality of the scholarship and the writing of all the draft articles submitted in the period 2009–2021 (as well as considering the reports of the external referees). In my view, the quality of the scholarship and analysis presented in the McAleese article reaches the standards expected by the journal.

5. This is not the first time that ISCE has engaged with the important issue of ‘Why Women Matter’ in the Catholic religious and educational culture. In March 2015 (Vol. 7, No. 1) we published two articles on the ‘Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church: arguments for teachers and students in Catholic schools to consider’. A detailed case against this proposal was written by Sister Professor Catherine Droste, OP of the Theology Department of the Angelicum in Rome and a detailed case for the proposal was written by a former Member of a Religious Congregation, Roy Bourgeois, now a member of the Women's Ordination Conference in the USA. The Editorial Board provided space for this discussion, but it did not take a position on this itself.

6. In this current publication, one member of the Board has now published a commentary to the McAleese paper arguing that the issues are wider than simply the ordination question. Whittle argues that these issues should be part of a dialogue in our schools, colleges and universities. There will be many who disagree.