My confession
Deirdre Bigley
Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been a beat since my last confession. Why, may you ask? Well, you see, I am what one might call a feminist, and until the Church can truly begin confronting the many forms of harm, oppression, and degradation forced upon women – often justified by the dehumanising belief that they are inferior simply on the basis of their sex – I find it difficult to subscribe to that same Church’s ideology. This is not an act of casual defiance but the result of reflection and lived experience.
You might argue that this is merely excuse-making to justify sin, and yes, I suppose one could argue that. Truth does not, however, cancel out other truths.
While we are at it, perhaps we should also look at what we mean by ‘sin’. The general consensus is that sin is a wicked act, a transgression against divine law. Simple and straightforward, right? Not entirely, at least not in my opinion. For I think there are things considered righteous or acceptable within the Church that are, in fact, deeply wicked and unjust.
I think it is wicked that women are excluded from leadership in the Church. As if the absence of a penis makes women less capable of judgment or leadership. There is plenty of evidence of men who are led by theirs that rarely turns out well for anyone.
I also think it is wicked that, in 2026, many Church leaders still hold what I can only describe as draconian views on reproductive rights.
I refer here not only to abortion but also to contraception – the right to decide if and when to have children. Within the Catholic Church, exercising those rights is condemned, and that condemnation carries weight for women who remain believers. It denies bodily autonomy and often imposes physical and emotional burdens on women alone, while being pronounced as moral teaching by men who will never bear those burdens themselves.
This leads to a broader concern: the continued upholding of patriarchal traditions in the Church. Interpretations of scripture and tradition have frequently been used to subordinate women, promoting unequal roles in marriage and society. One glaring example is the way some women in violent marriages are encouraged to endure suffering in the name of vows or sacrifice – ‘for better or worse’ taken to mean that suffering must be borne, no matter the cost.
I am reminded of an incident in 2019 when Pope Francis slapped a woman’s hand after she had the gall to put her hand on him without his consent. Clearly, Francis did not like his body being overpowered and controlled by another person (let alone a woman) and he fought back by raising his hand to her. Surely given Church teaching, he should have endured her minor transgression or perhaps offered it up. In addition Francis’s response was ‘ungodly’ from the man who purports to be God’s representative on earth.
So, Father, if this is my sin – refusing to submit my conscience to a system that asks women to suffer silently while calling it sanctity – then I confess it freely. I confess to questioning men who claim divine authority while denying women full moral agency. I confess to believing that justice, dignity, and bodily autonomy are not modern heresies but moral imperatives.
And if that places me outside the favour of the Church, then perhaps the greater sin is not my defiance, but a faith so fragile it cannot survive being questioned by half of its own people.
Deirdre Bigley is a member of Inklings, who meet on Tuesdays at 11am and Wednesdays at 7.30pm in the Annebrook Hotel. Visitors are welcome.