Dissertation Journey: The Struggles of Catholic Women Priests and How We Can Support Them

  This past week has been both exhilarating and deeply concerning.  I debated whether to write about a health concern that affects my life, my family, my dissertation journey. I don't know how it affects me yet, I'm awaiting biopsy results.  I decided to share it, here on this platform because this news is part of my dissertation journey.  First, I want to share that I completed three pláticas last week and each was unique, precious and healing. I'm thankful to the three Catholic women priests who opened their lives to me, their gifts, their struggles and joys. I learned that a fourth woman priest is willing to join the study. We'll have our conversation at the end of February. I haven't heard from the other women priests yet. I'll reach out to them next week.  I let my dissertation committee know about the health issues I'm facing and also shared that I'm grateful to have this study to work on during this time. I almost cancelled a plática because I lea...

Interviews - Pláticas    This past week was a hard one for those of us living in the U.S., especially watching rioters storm the Capitol. My heart and head hurt. Even as I watched and listened to drama being played out, I worked on my research study.  I now have three appointments set up this week to interview or pláticar with the women priests who have agreed to participate in the study. I'm grateful for their willingness to pláticar with me.  I sent them the letter I wrote and a link to the video that I had uploaded to YouTube. The video was too large to send it within the email. I also created a meeting for each of the women on Zoom.  I also followed up with the other women priests that I had also reached out from the list of Roman Catholic Women Priests that I found on the https://romancatholicwomenpriests.org/ website.  One of the priests invited me to her community's online Mass on Sunday, 1/10/21. I have known this priest before she became a priest. ...

Today I wrote drafted a short letter (one page) to the women priests who will be participants in my study. I shared who I am and why I am studying the struggles of women priests. I wrote in part: "I am a woman who loves deeply and tenderly. I have a fire in my heart that refuses to give up no matter what hardships come my way. . . . I call myself a recovering Catholic, a Chicana feminist who bases her life (personal and professional) in spirituality. I jokingly say “recovering” because I go back and forth, trying to decide if I’m going to stay in or leave the Church. . . . I’m a cultural Catholic and more, Jesus’s teachings of inclusivity, love, hope, serving the poor, strike a deep chord within me. . . . Learning about Catholic women priests gives me a renewed hope for my Church." I also created a brief video (3:25 mins) to further discuss why I conducting this study. I want the women priests to get a chance to view me, to get to know me a little more. I shared that I want t...

 I'm very excited to write that I have scheduled my first plática, interview/conversation, with one of the participants in my dissertation study! She was one of the first Roman Catholic Women Priests who responded to an inquiry about being in my study that I sent to the organization, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, in 2017. We are planning to meet via Zoom in mid January 2021.  This coming week I want to prepare a letter introducing myself and a short video discussing who I am and why I am studying the struggles of Catholic women priests. I got the idea from a dissertation by Cindy Fierros (2017), Chican@ Scholar: Narratives of Spiritual Activism. She used the methodology of plática for her dissertation and sent the participants in her study a short letter discussing who she was and why she chose her dissertation study. Fierros shared the letter with them because she did not know them personally, yet, because she was asking the participants to be open and vulnerable with her...