The Nation - News from Nov. 13, 1988

Women, who make up 51% of the overall Roman Catholic population, are almost invisible in the top policy-making jobs in the church’s 175 dioceses in the United States, a new study said. The study, “All Work and No Say,” looked at 19 top-level jobs in chancery offices, finance and administration, education and other ministries. It was prompted by the release last April of the first draft of the bishops’ pastoral letter on women’s concerns. Women, including lay women and nuns, hold only 16% of the jobs, the report by Catholics for a Free Choice said. The report by the independent group, which supports the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion, was the third in the organization’s “Bishops Watch” series.