Atlanta, Ga., Oct 27, 2017 / 14:07 pm
Today, October 27, the organizers of January's historic Women's March are starting their convention in Detroit with the theme "Reclaiming Our Time." But while the event was covered in the news, is it really "new" that women are doing just that?
The theme reminds me of a proclamation from Pope Paul VI at the Second Vatican Council, "the hour is coming, in fact has come, when the vocation of woman is being achieved in its fullness, the hour in which woman acquires in the world an influence, an effect and a power never hitherto achieved."
Saint John Paul II expanded on this special quality in his 1995 Letter to Women, noting that women, "perhaps more than men…acknowledge the person." Through their gift of seeing and acknowledging others, women find new ways to give of themselves, and in doing so, achieve what they were made for: relationship with others.
It is easy to see truth about women at work in the sweeping vision of the Women's March. Their unity principles state, "We must create a society in which women…are free and able to care for and nurture their families, however they are formed, in safe and healthy environments free from structural impediments." They seek to build a world in which people of all genders, races, sexual preferences, religions, and abilities are protected and respected and in which the environment is cared for. In a beautiful, feminine way, they connect the welfare of all human beings to each other and clearly recognize the goodness of each person "in their greatness and limitations."