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“Hear the voices of women from around the world.”
A newly released Catholic Women’s Council report makes that message clear.
A delegation from the Council (CWC) presented the report to Sister Nathalie Becquart in Rome last week. She is the undersecretary at the general secretariat of the Synod of Bishops.
The CWC is the umbrella group for over 60 organisations from across the globe. All the organisations contributed to the 18-page report, which is based on interviews with Catholic women on five continents.
“Despite the differences in the cultures and lives of the women interviewed, one word continually comes up: frustration,” says Carmen Chaumet, a CWC-group member from France.
“Women are frustrated by the abuse of power, clericalism, discrimination, sexism and fear they feel in Church circles,” the report says.
Women are treated as assistants
The report begins by reviewing the issues raised on each continent.
“Women are treated as assistants and are moving away from the Church to form groups that offer spaces for sharing and prayer,” it quotes.
The Church’s sexual abuse crisis is another concern the report raises.
Another is the “purely male Catholic networks” that “censor” reports and documentation on “issues of abuse, exploitation and the position of women in the Church”.
The report also reflects that the sacraments, including the Eucharist and its language “denies, excludes, or symbolically diminishes the metaphor of the female face of God”.
The CWC report suggests a number of recommendations for bishops to consider. These include action to:
- facilitate women’s full participation in the life of the Church
- build “communities that are inclusive, participative, and welcoming of all people at the celebration of the Eucharist
- open all ordained ministries to women.
Very frank words
The document is intended for the bishops.
“We wanted to participate in the ongoing synodal process,” says Chaumet. She conducted “listening sessions” in France when helping prepare the report.
A delegation from the Catholic Women’s Council was in Rome on Tuesday and presented the report to Becquart.
“We had very frank words, but Nathalie Becquart was completely attentive,” says Chaumet.
Last Pope Francis received the continental synthesis’s first draft for the “Synod on Synodality”. The draft text includes syntheses from national espicopal conferences from around the world.
Chaumet says several episcopal conference syntheses raise similar issues to the CWC document.
“Nevertheless, our document has stronger words, because the women we interviewed didn’t take a backseat,” she says.
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