Washington DC, 9/23/15 (535 words)

His Holiness – the first Jesuit pope, named for the great Saint from Assisi whose life insisted the church was for the poor – will speak at the United Nations General Assembly about something hopefully human development related, like social justice or war.

I find it terribly exciting that Pope Francis is a potentially transformative leader and disruptive thinker, and that he is at the UN to tell the highest level of global development something important and striking.

Had I a meeting with the Holy Father my gift would be stories of my grandmother, Esther Civita Riley, the source of my large family’s rich personality and love, a direct line to my faith – my pope, if you will.

Yet, no matter how much she had to give, as a woman, she could never play an official role in her church.

I’d urge his Holiness to do more to give women their rightful place as faith leaders.

Across religions, contexts and economies, a common denominator is how off-to-the-side yet central women are when it comes to religious governance and power. Whether that’s how health services are delivered in Ecuador, female genital mutilation in Thailand or the stoning of an apparently adulterous wife in Syria; that women don’t drive in Saudi Arabia is another side of the same coin as gang rape in India and the total void of female leaders in Christian parishes –particular cultural reflections of a lack of power and respect.

The Catholic Church is losing followers due to relevance. Empowering the compassionate, creative and coordinating networks in communities, usually women, is how to become more relevant. Overcoming dogma and including women in religious leadership is a key to solving poverty, to more caring communities and considerate growth and to advancing faith in the world.

That would mean beefing up community and social services through women across the globe; raising the ranks of nuns and females in official leadership positions; and in development terms: working through the woman, the driving force behind spiritual and social growth within the poorest communities.

Faith based development organizations are fit and ever-present. But with a more genuine (Christ-like) approach, they could create even more sustaining outcomes for the poor. Rather than top-down institution building, decentralizing and integrating programs; working across factions, budgets, silos and beyond politics; treating touchy social situations and targeting the most vulnerable; and, really listening to those who being served in order to deliver truly empowering solutions.

Based on the literature you know Jesus would be among the poorest of the poor, sitting with mothers under a tree somewhere hearing what the family or a community really needs. Chances are, Jesus would be at truck stops with transsexual sex workers in Southeast Asia following HIV transmission, holding forbidden family planning education sessions with Afghani women, and working with the LGBT community in places like Uganda where they are outcast.

St Francis of Assisi believed the Church must go out to the world. Because it is beyond the walls of a religious institution, or any development compound, in homes and communities – in life – where poverty and injustice chip away our faith.

/ /