I feel grief over all the rejection I have experienced and that other women have experienced in the Church and the crippling effects rejection can have when internalized. It is not the rejection of being excluded from ministry. It is rather the daily rejection of the insult, the slap down, the slammed door, when I have tried to express an unconventional question. “Sit down and shut up” is the slap down message either verbal or non-verbal. “You don’t mean that!” or “You may be on to something, but we can’t talk about it now” are the patronizing responses that are almost as hurtful as the slap-down. I have found that Catholic women, well-formed in the Catholic male-dominated culture, can slap down and patronize as well as men. There will be people reading this who will say “This is not a heartfelt story. It is an opinion.” It is my story. I don’t know if the issues based conversation is helpful in cultural consciousness development or not. I guess we will see.