Pope Francis has a broad—and brave—vision of what being a pastor means, writes Sam Sawyer, S.J. And that vision has room for bishops to disagree with each other about the best way forward.

It was 100 years ago—on Sept. 12, 1921—when the Maryknoll Sisters assigned its first group of sisters to China, the order’s first mission.

Classical education provides students with exactly the analytical tools that they need—logic, philosophy, rhetoric, poetry, history—to both grasp and critique the great books, taking both their original context and their modern significance into account.

When the Covid pandemic gave us a chance to kiss the mantle of poverty and self-sacrifice we rebelled, writes Gloria Purvis. When offered the cross, we ran.

Better sexual education can help uphold the dignity of women’s embodied existence and diminish damaging stigmas.

While at the surface the question about women’s ordination has been asked and answered, rarely has it been asked in this new context where women’s full human dignity is unreservedly affirmed and defended.

More pressing than the question of whether women can be ordained to the priesthood is the reality that clericalism and sexism have created and sustained a system in which women are treated as second-class citizens.

Human beings matter to our common life regardless of whether they are seen as independent and productive members of society.

There is a long way to go before women’s voices are satisfactorily integrated into the central leadership of the church.

In the July 23, 1966, issue of America, the cover story featured an essay from a prominent female Catholic philosopher, Mary-Angela Harper, on the nature of womanhood and the question of women’s ordination. Below is a curated selection of some of the letters Ms. Harper’s view evoked