Not long ago, editors of major newspapers around the world were each asked the same question: what was the single most important event of the 20^th Century?

It was a century unlike any other. On the negative side, there were two world wars and countless other armed conflicts in which hundreds of millions of people died. On the positive side, there were almost unbelievable advances in technology, from space exploration to medicine. One hundred years ago, no thought one would walk on the moon or that a human heart could be transferred from one body and function in the body of another. One hundred years ago, there were no televisions, no computers, no spaceships, and no cell phones. It was a century of change unlike any other in the history of the world.

Yet, from all these monumental events, the newspaper editors selected a different issue as the most significant event of the century: the changing role of women.

In 1900, there was only one woman head of state: Queen Victoria. But her authority was limited, and inherited. Otherwise, not a single country in the world had a woman head of state and no government was led by a woman.

In most places, women could not own property, could not vote, could not make contracts, and could not earn university degrees. There were no women tenured professors in universities, no female heads of corporations, no female members of congress or governors of states. There were only a very few women state legislators, much less city councils or even local school boards.

In the Church, women were not allowed in the sanctuary, except on the day of their wedding and only then if she were a Catholic being married to a Catholic. Women could not serve Mass, proclaim the readings or distribute communion. In retrospect, these are small matters, but when the changes came, they were hugely controversial. Even today, some men – and even some women – oppose these no – brainer advances.

Today, no one is surprised that 3 women have been Secretary of State, 3 Justices of the Supreme Court are women, several U.S. senators and even more members of congress are women. Corporations are run by women, universities are run by women and many nations are led by women heads of government.

At one point in the last century, England, a once chauvinist country, had a woman Head of State, a woman Speaker of the House of Commons and a woman Prime Minister.

All of this has changed human kind forever. Despite reactionary forces to the contrary, women are achieving genuine equality with men in every sphere of human activity. The way we think, the way we live and even the way we worship is on a fast – moving track.

How has this happened? In the long history of human life on this planet, what is the underlying force to bring about such monumental change?

The changing role of women did not happen overnight. It has taken thousands of years and a great deal of opposition along the way.

Even though the Catholic Church is run at the top by men, call any parish church on the planet and odds are the phone will be answered by a woman. It is not possible to stop a tsunami with intellectual argument.

The central debates within the Catholic Church directly involve women. While teachings of the Church are clearly settled, the debate still goes on. At some point, a crisis will reach a decision point and men will be compelled to listen more clearly to what women are saying. Speaking as a man, that is almost never an easy conversation.

The Catholic Church has in fact been a major institution which has protected women and their role in society. While respecting tradition and the biological uniqueness of gender, the Church is increasingly sensitive to several issues of gender equality.

It has taken centuries to realize the full implications that this progress is directly attributed to one woman. We celebrate today the feast of the only woman in history uniquely favored by God to be the Mother of the Messiah.

We have long believed that the sacrament of baptism washes away all sin, it was impossible for Mary to have been baptized, at least in her infamy. There are several types of baptism: by water, by the Spirit, by desire and by blood – that is, dying for the faith. Mary was baptized, so to speak, retroactively.

Although this feast is known as the Immaculate Conception, there is often confusion as to who is conceiving whom. It is not about Jesus directly. It is about Mary when she was conceived in the womb of her mother, in the normal way. The ancient name of this feast was called “The Conception of Many by St. Anne”. That takes this feast out of the Advent Season, with only a remote reference to Christmas. In fact, today’s feast was celebrated in the early Church even before there was a universal celebration of Christmas.

It needs to be noted that this day is the patron feast of the United States. Ireland has St. Patrick, Scotland has St. Andrew, and Italy has St. Francis of Assisi. We have Mary, conceived in her mother’s womb, free from sin from that moment until her assumption into heaven.

If there’s any place in the world where women have unlimited progress on their side, it would be the United States of America.

We are not without serious moral and social problems. But looking back at the last century and the ones before it, it must be said that men by themselves have not always done the best job of remembering St. Paul’s famous teaching that in Christ, there is neither male nor female, Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, but all are one.

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