Donna Hanson, 65; Advocate for Diversity in the Catholic Church
Donna Hanson, 65, a Catholic lay leader from Spokane, Wash., who once advised Pope John Paul II to reach out to women, minorities, homosexuals and divorced people, died of cancer Friday in Spokane.
Hanson, the director of the Diocese of Spokane’s Catholic Charities organization, was asked to address John Paul II in 1987 on behalf of the laity during his visit to San Francisco.
She told him that the church had not always listened to her perspective as a laywoman, and urged him to reach out to others like her, as well as to minorities, gays and lesbians, and to those who were divorced.
Hanson was recognized with the U.S. Catholic Award as the woman who had done the most to further the cause of women in the Catholic Church.
Pope John Paul II also awarded her a medal for lifetime achievement.
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