What is it about change and the Church?

Monday, August 1st, 2022

“What is it about women and the Church?” Sister Patty Fawkner SGS, recently asked.

Writing as a member of the just completed Plenary Council of the Catholic Church in Australia, she spoke of her experience during the moment of “protest” once the motion on women failed to get the required vote.

But her very reasonable question may equally have been the following: “What is it about change and the Church?

It’s glib to answer that few like change, so what’s news?

Surely, it’s not too much to expect that a Church in crisis would be open to considering change, to actually welcome change, albeit gently.

In his patient drive for a synodal Church, Pope Francis speaks of a “different Church” (not a new Church). In doing so, he is picking up the wisdom of Yves Congar OP from all those years ago.

A different Church can only come about only with change.

The motion on the equality between women and men

The papal prescription for that change is synodality. That does not mean a free run, or a lot of hot button demands, or a majority vote as in a parliament, but a genuine listening, active hearing and prayerful consideration to reach a discernment of what is right.

The Holy Spirit is mostly blamed for what is claimed to be the right answer.

Clearly, the Holy Spirit was temporarily rejected during the Plenary Council. One may rail about the unfortunate circumstance of the Australian bishops’ rejection of the motion on equality between women and men.

Surely after four years of discussing and preparing the Plenary Council, the bishops were well aware of the equality issue. The terms of the decree had been on the table for months.

Where was the application of a synodal approach? What conversations occurred? What attempt was made to reach a proper accommodation?

Where was the benefit of four years of preparation, appreciation of the significance of the issue, the importance of the second assembly of 277 members, the consciousness of the Catholic faithful (a majority of whom are women)?

We all appreciate that the synodal journey is not a straight downhill run. We know that potholes and delays abound.

But, apparently, not even nationwide shame and disbelief among Catholics, women and men alike, served to offer help to some bishops to work out an acceptable course before voting in the negative.

Sister Patty notes that the subsequent good news of the endorsement of the decree may be drowned out by the initial outrage. Fair call.

But there is a bright side.

Humble pie will be food for the journey, with a dollop of trust and goodwill

Plenary members did re-group. They worked to revise the language of the motion and, ultimately, it was enthusiastically supported. Importantly, that included the support of most of the bishops.

The Holy Spirit is still alive and well!

But much more than that, the journey of this decree on the equality of women and men — including its major blemish — may be seen as an outstanding synodal example that has the capacity to open a national conversation among all the People of God.

That means a less hierarchical conversation with more trust and fortitude.

Unavoidably, we go into that conversation with wounds. We may assert they are self-inflicted and demeaning wounds, but against an outcome that should become a watershed for future deliberations.

The event (not the spin) presents an opportunity for a different way of doing things; of trying a journey on the same track and eschewing the parallel precipice.

Humble pie will be food for this journey with a large dollop of trust and goodwill.

A disposition to genuinely embrace synodal change for a different Church will be the shared goal.

Justin Stanwix is a deacon at St Mary’s Star of the Sea Parish, Milton in the Diocese of Wollongong (Australia).
First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.