A STANFORD U. SWIMMING STAR WAS APPREHENDED IN THE ACT OF RAPING AN UNCONSCIOUS STUDENT.

At the trial the father of the boy said his WHOLE life should not be penalized for 20  minutes of action!

The judge handed down a lenient sentence of six months and that he should carry the label of a sex offender.

It is an old story.

In today's gospel  a "SINFUL"woman--by whose standards? ...enters the house of the pharisee and is rejected by him but welcomed by Jesus who over and over rejected the double standard which still persists today.

Jesus liked women, affirmed them, and depended on them as helpers in his ministry.

 Later on the Gospel tells us of the group of women who accompanied the apostles and who "supported their ministry out of their means."

Pope Fancis has appointed a commission to explore the possibility of women deacons. This is noteworthy and needed.

The deaconate is all about service and it is evident from today's Gospel that women from the very beginning of the church have been in the vanguard of faithful and devoted servant ministry. The re-establishment of the deaconate for them would only recognise what has been a reality in the Church from the beginning.

 And so we pray:

O God, Jesus lifted up women,

never putting them down.

Deliver us from the double standard.

Help us to work for equal pay for work done,

and for recognition in our Church by a male hierarchy

that the whole structure would collapse

wothout their support.

Amen

l/