A religious leader at a secretive Christian faith group linked to Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett seemingly admitted that the church’s teachings about gender made women cry.
In a leaked video obtained by The Guardian, Dorothy Ranaghan — the wife of People of Praise founder Kevin Ranaghan — recounts how women who first joined People of Praise in the 1970s wore sunglasses to hide their tears when they heard teachings about “hardships and the role of men and women.”
“Some of the women – who are still in my women’s group, as a matter of fact – were wearing sunglasses all the time, because they were always crying and would have to hold on to their chairs every time somebody started teaching, because ‘What are we going to hear this time?’” Ms Ranaghan said.
She added that “it all worked out just fine in the end.”
People of Praise is a Christian Charismatic group, a movement that inspired the dystopian series The Handmaid’s Tale. The group reportedly only favours men in leadership following biblical interpretations of gender roles, the Washington Post reported.
Ahead of Justice Coney Barrett’s confirmation hearing to the Supreme Court in 2020, the Post reported she had an active role in the group.
A directory obtained by the outlet listed her under the title of “handmaid,” a role held by women in the community. Handmaids usually advise fellow women about their marriages and how to raise their children, sources told the Post at the time.
The justice also lived in the Ranaghan household while she was in law school at Notre Dame, according to the Guardian.
Sources told the Guardian that the group calls “for complete obedience of women to their husbands.” A previous report by the outlet also found a former member filed a lawsuit in the 1990s complaining members of the group’s finances and dating lives were controlled by Mr Ranaghan.
People of Praise have never officially confirmed Justice Barrett to be a member of the group.
