The Committee is responsible for gathering and summarising responses to questionnaires for the Irish Synodal Pathway.

The young Catholics wrote that they love the Church's teaching, but their voices have not been heard.

The process leading up to the Synod on Synodality in Rome did not pay attention to their views, they said.

They express concern that the synodal process might give a false impression. As it stands. it suggests all Catholics in Ireland would like to see changes made.

Ireland's bishops also received a copy of the letter..

Peadar Hand, one of the letter's organisers, said making changes may not be the way to go.

"Among people who are actually practising and trying their best to live their faith, there's no desire for a change in Church teaching," he said.

"The duty of the Church is not to change with the world, but to change the world."

The letter says:

"As young practising Catholics, we would like you to hear our voices regarding developments with the Synodal Synthesis" it begins.

It goes on to explain young Catholics' concerns following the presentations at the pre-Synodal National Gathering in June.

Issues of concern include "the emerging synthesis risks presenting a false conclusion".

"The Sensus Fidei is in conflict with current church teaching and practice" they say. "This relates in particular to human sexuality, marriage and ordained ministry."

The Catechism defines sensus fidei or sensus fidelium. It is "the supernatural appreciation of faith on the part of the whole people when, from the bishops to the last of the faithful, they manifest a universal consent in matters of faith and morals".

The Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference has been asked for comment.

In March 2020 Pope Francis announced a Synod on Synodality.

Its aim is "to provide an opportunity for the entire people of God to discern together how to move forward on the path towards being a more synodal Church in the long-term".

The three-part synodal process started in October 2021 with consultations at the diocesan level. A continental phase is scheduled to commence in March 2023.

The final and universal phase will begin with the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. This will be themed: "For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission."

The Assembly will take place at the Vatican in October 2023.

Source

• CNA

The Synod's final document must be accepted since it constitutes church teaching, says Francis.

"The Final Document participates in the ordinary Magisterium of the Successor of Peter and thus I ask that it be accepted as such" he wrote to bishops when he was handing them the document, using the church's term for its teaching authority.

Many of its reforms will be a matter of implementing existing canon law, not rewriting it, he clarifies. When necessary, local churches can "creatively enact new ministries and missionary roles" and present their experiences to the Vatican.

Bishops responsibility

Francis said the document offers instruction on enacting the Synod's final report proposals which is now up to local churches to accept and implement.

Reporting will coincide with bishops' "ad limina" meetings with the pope and Vatican officials every five years.

Francis is firm about the reporting schedule, stressing that "each bishop will make sure to report which choices were made at his local church regarding what is contained in the final document, what challenges they faced and what were the fruits".

The Pope also says help with implementation will be provided.

He says the General Secretariat of the Synod, along with other Vatican departments, will ensure "individual national churches join the [ongoing] synodal journey".

What will bishops reports contain?

Particular issues the Pope will be seeking from the bishops' reports will reflect the key priorities the final Synod document highlights.

The way these are implemented will vary, he says. That's because the bishops of each country or region are being encouraged to seek "more encultured solutions" to issues involving local traditions and challenges.

Local churches are given freedom to implement these within their "different ecclesial, cultural and local contexts".

Key priorities (that are now part of Church doctrine) aim to promote a more horizontal Church structure. There must be greater transparency and more accountability for bishops and church leaders, increased lay involvement through new ministries and adjusted governing structures, and a guarantee there is space for previously marginalised groups.

Source

• Our Sunday Visitor
• Religion News Service

This is how the Synod on Synodality proceeded over two long years at the round tables, above all with the explicit non-dispute over the church's controversial issues that had been removed from it.

These are serious and will determine the real significance of the synodal negotiations.

The synod is not responsible for this, as it was a papal decision taken over the heads of the synod members.

It turned the synod into a torso, but Rome knows all about that.

Even as an overstretched torso, treating synodality for its own sake, the synod produced a long text with lines and between-the-lines that even attempt to stand up in some places.

Did this Pope mean such a standing up when he concluded by warning that the Church must not remain seated?

There was universal agreement in favour of this - of course in remaining seated, especially on irreconcilable positions on the outstanding issues.

The two go well together, as the power struggle is simply postponed, which is as certain to materialise in this church as the proverbial Amen.

But this power struggle should not be allowed to happen now and must not disrupt the overstretching of the synod format, which it will put an end to as soon as it breaks out.

This is why the text was immediately adopted by Pope Francis. What appeared to some to be an enormous and surprising step smells more like a dodge to others who are more legally savvy.

Now the head of the synod does not have to comment further on the synodal recommendations that do not suit him completely or at all.

Francis simply does not have to explain himself, especially not in a semi-definitive way, and can continue to pretend that he and his office are not a factor in the power struggle.

But somehow it doesn't fit that he quickly sent an encyclical on devotion to the Sacred Heart in the final phase of the debates on women's issues, which then became even more heated.

Why couldn't it have waited, unless it was to divert the remaining public attention to it?

Agonising power struggle over synodality as destiny

These debates were always somehow clandestinely present, unstoppable either by the mere non-publicity of the negotiations, fatally reminiscent of the Pian era, or by the method of mere non-argument, as if a parallel ecclesiastical universe were available.

But the kairos that these two years have been for the women's issue was so natural to sit out. Its window has now closed.

This kairos will not return, no matter how much, how gladly or how often the Holy Spirit is invoked, to whom we should now listen.

All that remains is an agonising power struggle for a synodality that is now a "constitutive dimension" (no. 29) of the Church.

It is only through the power struggles that it so ostracises that it can rise above this.

After all, it is not without reason that the contemporary world did not take any particular interest in the Synod on Synodality.

How could it, since it was definitely kept outside. It simply radiated little to the outside world if it is of so little importance there.

Now the Holy Spirit is supposed to sort it out; after all, he is unstoppable, according to No. 60. Will he soon storm in on synodal tracks? We shall see.

Delays are inevitable, no matter how slowly the trains are travelling with the serious problems that remain unresolved.

There are no overtaking tracks and well-developed high-speed lines.

The decisive passages on women and their marginalisation in the church are proof of this.

They do not recognise any good reasons that prevent women from holding leadership positions in the church, and they keep open the possibility of ordaining women as deacons (No. 60).

Those who consider both to be a serious step forward completely misjudge the situation of the Catholic Church.

It cannot afford not to recognise this openness without making itself completely untrustworthy and downright ridiculous; this applies on all continents and in all serious cultures on the planet.

No synod, no pope, no council is in a position to declare this question clearly closed. The only problem is that keeping a space open does not mean actually taking action to enter it.

Women in the Council of Cardinals

But this has now become the litmus test for synodality as well as for pontificates; they can only be active and activated after the end of patience with them.

The Church's magisterium has been signalling that it is time for women to stop being discriminated against ever since John XXIII's last encyclical, Pacem in terris.

If the current pope and his pontificate really took their own programme of devoting themselves to the marginalised in this world seriously, they would have to apply it to their own church and not just to a gallery of pretty pictures.

This is about women and also about victims of sexualised violence in the church.

There is no more patience here with non-openness for the definitive end of marginalisation and nothing will change.

Synodalities and pontificates will be judged by this; they can no longer get away with appeals for patience from anyone.

This applies to the current pontificate with the topos of the ordination of deaconesses.

But it also applies to the world synodal demand that the more synodal the church becomes, the more women should be allowed to take up positions of leadership in the church.

This is of little help and is suspected of not being taken seriously as long as there are no women in the cardinalate and the synodal voices accept this.

That is where the power is, because cardinals elect the Pope, i.e. the decisive Catholic governing body.

As long as this exclusion is not tidied up, the other appointments of women to influential positions will remain a waste of time, however synodally beneficial they may be, which is of course to be wished for these women.

Two or three legal strokes of the pen would suffice for the change.

Cardinal is not an ordained office. And of course women cannot be appointed to this body without recognising their possible eligibility in the conclave.

If the worst came to the worst, a cleric would probably still be found for the internal Roman episcopal see.

That would not even be clericalism.

• First published in english.katholisch.de
• Hans-Joachim Sander (pictured) has been Professor of Dogmatics at the University of Salzburg since 2002

The Most Rev. Anthony Randazzo of Broken Bay, Australia (pictured left), who is President of the Federation of Catholic Bishops Conference of Oceania, (New Zealand, Australia and the South Pacific Islands) says thousands of networks will be developed.

They will be used to provide pastoral and practical assistance, and better employment and healthcare to thousands of migrants and refugees.

After making the initial announcement last month in Rome where he had been attending the Synod on Synodality, Randazzo said the Migrant and Refugee Oceania Network will serve as a unifying voice offering much-needed support for the region's unique challenges.

"This is what a Synodal Church looks like - where words are supported by actions that foster and generate real human relationships, a region not on the periphery but a region in which we live and work together in solidarity, making sure no-one is forgotten" he said.

The region

Oceania's four episcopal conferences are based in New Zealand, Australia, Florida (the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific) and in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (located in PNG).

The region covers a vast area of the Pacific. Of the 41-million people living in Oceania, international migrants make up almost 22 percent of the population.

Over a million of those originating in Oceania stay within the region.

Oceania faces unique and increasing challenges as a result of climate change, rising sea levels, floods, cyclones, droughts and disease.

What the support network will do

The Network will identify urgent problems and build programmes to respond to and protect the needs of people displaced within and across Oceania.

This will require cooperation and advocacy for the region at international levels.

The four episcopal conferences have committed to sharing information, skills, resources and practices.

The conferences will also connect smaller Pacific Island countries and dioceses through the International Catholic Migration Commission (ICMC) and the Dicastery for Integral Human Development at the Holy See.

"The key focus of this Synod is one of listening, dialogue and discernment, and that is very much the essential part of our shared journey in Oceania where every voice matters" Randazzo says.

"To counter the dominant voice from the North that forgets the vulnerable people and region from Oceania, we need to lead by example" he says.

"We can do this by calling others back to the Christian faith, not because we are dominant or powerful, but because we are walking with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"Labelling us in Oceania as the periphery is unhelpful when we are proclaiming the Christian Gospel as one people in Christ.

"Together we can offer direct practical support as well as bringing our needs to the attention of the global community.

"This will lead to renewal, unity and a future filled with hope" Randazzo says.

Source

• BB Catholic

As you know, I belonged to the initial Pontifical Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women. We were named in August 2016 and first met in November of that year.

I traveled to Rome several days in advance of the scheduled meeting, so I could recover from jet lag.

As soon as I arrived in Rome, I attended the celebrations honouring the three US bishops—they call bishops "monsignors" in Rome—the three US bishops named cardinals then: Blasé Cupich, Kevin Farrell, and Joseph Tobin.

Arriving in Rome

I resided outside the Vatican at the generalate of the LaSalle Christian Brothers for a few days, and on Thanksgiving Day, 2016, I arrived at the Vatican City gate called Porta Sant'Uffizio, in the Palazzo Sant'Uffizio.

That is the Vatican City gate near the building known in English as The Holy Office, where the business of the Congregation, now Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith takes place.

I presented my passport to the Swiss Guard and was permitted through the gate. I walked past Saint Peter's Basilica on the right and the German cemetery on the left, to the guard booth of the Pontifical Gendarmerie, the Vatican military police.

Again, I presented my passport.

The officer looked at the list of expected guests. He looked at me. He looked again at the list. He looked at me. I asked if there was a problem. No madam, he answered.

But you are listed here as "Monsignor Zagano."

He would not let me take a picture of the list.

I proceeded to Domus Sanctae Marthae, the small guest house where Pope Francis lives, and, as a guest of the Holy Father, was saluted as I entered the building.

The desk clerk greeted me, took my passport, and looked at her list which included "Monsignor Zagano."

She looked at me, looked at her list, looked at me, and we both had a good laugh. She let me get a copy of the list.

That was a Thursday, and my first meal at Domus Sanctae Marthae was Thanksgiving dinner with other guests, including an American Nobel Laureate. This, I thought would be some ride.

My Commission met for the next two days, and again in March 2017, September 2017, and June 2018, for a total of eight days over nearly two years. Of course, there were many, many Zoom meetings and emails during those years.

I suppose you would like to know what we gave to the pope.

So, would I.

I'll get to that.

Women - managers not ministers

The question before us this evening concerns the future of women in the Catholic Church.

Please believe me, the future of women in the Catholic Church is the future of the Catholic Church because the future of the Church depends on women.

Women comprise the largest segment of church-going people in the world, Catholic or not.

In the Catholic Church, women staff the Parish Outreach. Women teach Catechism, Women bring their children to church. Women bring their husbands to Mass, at least on Christmas and Easter.

But women at every level of Church life are restricted to management and cannot perform ministry as it is formally understood.

Let me define the terms.

By "management," I mean all the non-ordained and therefore non-ministerial tasks and duties in Church organisations, from parish centers, to diocesan offices, to episcopal conferences, to the papal Curia.

That includes the parish secretary, the diocesan chancellor, the bishops' conference spokesperson, and every employee of every Vatican dicastery. These, except for the jobs (called "offices") that have legal authority over clerics—over deacons, priests, and bishops—these management positions are jobs that any layperson can have.

I am not saying the people in these jobs (or offices) are not "ministering," for they truly perform "ministry" as the term has been enlarged over the past forty years or so.

Yes, the head of the parish religious education program, the organizer of the diocesan CYO, the employees of the USCCB, and the people in the papal Curia are all "ministering" in a sense. But they are not performing sacramental ministry in the classroom, on the playing field, or behind their desks.

So, by "ministry" I mean sacramental ministry, as performed by ordained deacons, priests, and bishops. You know the differences. Deacons may solemnly baptize and witness marriages.

In addition to these sacraments, priests may anoint the sick (give "last rites"), hear confessions and offer absolution, and celebrate the Eucharist.

Performing confirmations is generally restricted to bishops, who sometimes delegate their authority to confirm to priest-pastors.

All these are "clerics," and as such can legally preach at Masses and serve as single judges in canonical proceedings.

So, "Management" is open to women. "Ministry" is not.

It might be helpful to use the distinctions known in military and business organisations: "management" would be "admin", and "ministry" would be "ops."

That is, "management" handles administrative matters, and "ministry" would be the core operations of the organisation.

The analogy may not be perfect, but the important word here is "admin" or "administration." That is what, in his own words, Pope Francis believes women are capable of.

In November 2022, when the pope met in Domus Sanctae Marta with the editors and writers of America Magazine, the journal's executive editor, Kerry Weber, asked him the following question:

Holy Father, as you know, women have contributed and can contribute much to the life of the church. You have appointed many women at the Vatican, which is great.

Nevertheless, many women feel pain because they cannot be ordained priests. What would you say to a woman who is already serving in the life of the church, but who still feels called to be a priest?

Francis' long and thoughtful answer expanded the notion of "ministry" somewhat.

However, he retained the great divide between the ordained and non-ordained, between those people who are central and those people who are not central to the essential operations of the church, to the ordained tasks and duties of performing sacraments, and (because of their ordained status) of preaching and judging.

That is, Pope Francis clearly distinguished the people who can be ordained—men—from those who cannot be ordained—women.

His comments were based on a theoretical construct presented by the long-dead Swiss priest-theologian Hans Urs von Balthasar (1905-1988), a former Jesuit of whom several prominent theologians are critical.

The Petrine Church and the Marian principle

One theologian central to Vatican doctrine since his appointment to the first iteration of the International Theological Commission (ITC) in 1969, Joseph Ratzinger—the future Benedict XVI- said "[von Balthasar] is right in what he teaches of the faith."

Some of what von Balthasar "taught" is what Francis presented to America Magazine: "the Petrine church" and "the Marian principle.' So, the pope said, "The church is a woman. The church is a spouse."

Specifically, in response to the question about ordaining women, Francis distinguished the "ministerial dimension, [which] is that of the Petrine church" from "the Marian principle, which is the principle of femininity (femineidad) in the church, of the woman in the church, where the church sees a mirror of herself because she [the church] is a woman and a spouse."

The pope continued, describing the church as female, and then said, "There is a third way: the administrative way….it is something of normal administration. And, in this aspect, I believe we have to give more space to women."

Francis went on to extol the "functioning" of women in management, summing up his comments by saying, "So there are three principles, two theological and one administrative."

To sum up his belief, the "Petrine principle" covers ministry and the "Marian principle" presents the church as "spouse" and these two so-called "theological principles" are complemented by the "administrative principle" to which women are suited.

Francis concluded by asking, "Why can a woman not enter ordained ministry? It is because the Petrine principle has no place for that."

The Executive Editor of America Magazine, Kerry Weber (a woman) did not ask a follow-up question.

We can return to the question of women in ministry, but let us examine women in management more closely, the idea that women exemplify the "administrative principle" that Francis presented that late November day in 2022.

Management

The Church has advanced somewhat in its inclusion of women in management, in administrative positions in local dioceses.

For example, in the United States today, 54 women serve as diocesan chancellor, an important, non-ministerial position. (c.f. The Official Catholic Directory, Athens, GA: NRP Direct, 2023. There are 28.73% Latin Rite and 11.11% Eastern Rite female chancellors. In Latin Rite dioceses, 23, or 12.71% of chancellors are deacons, none in Eastern Rite dioceses.)

The chancellor is the senior administrative officer, the highest-placed office manager of a diocese, but the chancellor—in his or her role—is not performing "ministry" as it is formally defined, and the chancellor has no jurisdictional authority.

In Rome, especially in the Roman Curia, the question of women in managerial or administrative positions gets complicated.

We know women have been appointed to positions in the Curia, but these appointments are not to offices with jurisdiction. It is important to remember that only persons with jurisdiction can make decisions.

The easiest way to understand the situation is to look at the Instrumentum Laboris—the working document-for the coming session of the Synod of Bishops this October (2024):

In a synodal Church, the responsibility of the bishop, the College of bishops and the Roman Pontiff to make decisions is inalienable since it is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Church established by Christ." (IL #70)

Listen carefully: "the responsibility…to make decisions is inalienable since it is rooted in the hierarchical structure of the Church."

And who makes up the hierarchy? The hierarchy is the ordained men of the Church.

The paragraph asserting the "inalienable" right of the clergy to make decisions underscores the "you discern, we decide" fact of ecclesiastical discipline, of church law.

Its roots are in Canons 129 and 274 of the Code of Canon Law. (Can. 129 §1. Those who have received sacred orders are qualified, according to the norm of the prescripts of the law, for the power of governance, which exists in the Church by divine institution and is also called the power of jurisdiction. §2. Lay members of the Christian faithful can cooperate in the exercise of this same power according to the norm of law. Can. 274 §1. Only clerics can obtain offices for whose exercise the power of orders or the power of ecclesiastical governance is required.)

Canon 129 states that ordained persons are qualified for the powers of governance and jurisdiction, and that lay persons can "cooperate" in this power.

Canon 274 states that only clerics can obtain offices requiring the power of orders or governance (or jurisdiction.)

But this same paragraph in the coming Synod meeting's Instrumentum Laboris later goes on to give ample room to the actual process of synodal discernment and it even throws a lifeline to the non-ordained of the Church.

The paragraph ends by suggesting the Code of Canon Law restricting the non-ordained to a "consultative vote only" (tantum consultivum) should be, in its words, "corrected."

It remains to be seen what correction could be made. As the synodal processes in Australia and Germany, for example, have proven, requests for change meet great resistance, and at least in the case of Germany rebuke, from Rome.

Having said all this, we must acknowledge the fact that there are more women in more responsible managerial roles in the Roman Curia than during prior pontificates.

The Roman Curia comprises the staff offices for Pope Francis, each managing a specific part of the Church's organisational needs, for example, the choosing of bishops, matters involving other clergy and religious, oversight of finances, and the operations of Vatican City State, from managing the library and museums to overseeing the pope's representatives (called papal nuncios) abroad, etc.

In the Roman Curia, there are sixteen curial offices called dicasteries.

There are also the Secretariate of State, three Institutions of Justice (Apostolic Penitentiary, the Supreme Tribunal, the Tribunal of the Roman Rota), four Institutions of Finance (Council for the Economy, Secretariat for the Economy, the Office of the Auditor General, and the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (A.P.S.A.)).

Of these, only A.P.S.A. has a woman undersecretary, Sister Silvana Piro, F.M.G.B

Curial offices with women as senior officers include:

• the Dicastery for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life (Secretary Sister Simona Brambilla, M.C.; Under Secretary Sister Carmen Ros Nortes, N.S.C.),
• the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life (Under Secretaries Dr. Linda Ghisoni and Dr. Gabriella Gambino),
• the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development (Secretary, Sister Alessandra Smerilli, FMA). These women hold paid professional appointments.

Other dicasteries of the Roman Curia have women who are termed "members," and who, alongside clerics (usually cardinals and bishops), largely act as trustees for the dicasteries' work and who meet in Rome from time to time.

All dicasteries have female staff who assist with day-to-day operations, as clerks, secretaries, and translators, but clerics retain the overall organisational power in the Vatican.

While women are also members of Councils and Commissions, for the most part, these are not full-time professional appointments. For example, one of Pope Francis' initial endeavors was to regularise Vatican finances, and so within one year of his election, he established the Council for the Economy, as mentioned earlier.

The title of Pope Francis's Apostolic Letter establishing the Council for the Economy as a dicastery of the Roman Curia is Fidelis Dispensator et Prudens, (faithful and wise manager).

The fifteen-member Council for the Economy has consistently maintained a clerical majority and is coordinated by a cardinal. However, its website describes seven members as "experts of various nationalities, with financial expertise and recognised professionalism," and six of those seven are women, each a financial professional.

Its deputy coordinator, Dr Charlotte Kreuter-Kirchhof, is a law professor who is also an advisor to the "Women in Church and Society" sub-commission of the Pastoral Commission of the German Bishops' Conference.

As you move down the Vatican's wire diagram to the groups with a consultative role, more women are present in "titled" roles.

The Secretary for the Pontifical Commission for Latin America is Argentinian Dr Emilce Cuda, and the Adjunct Secretary for the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors is American Dr Teresa Kettelkamp.

The Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission is Spaniard Dr Nuria Calduch-Benages, a well-known biblical scholar and professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Dr Calduch-Benages is the unpaid Secretary of the Pontifical Biblical Commission. I do not know if Dr Cuda or Dr Kettlekamp is paid.

You see, not every Vatican appointment comes with a salary.

The voluntary nature of participation in certain positions in the Vatican increases as the commissions and institutes that are ad hoc, or adjunct, to one or another dicastery proliferate.

While participation is unpaid, travel expenses are covered, including (if needed) a few nights' lodging in Domus Sanctae Marthae. However, budgetary and language restrictions within the Vatican cause a significant default to choosing participants and members already residing in Rome and its environs.

And it is important to recall that women -whether secular or religious women - have no guarantee of ecclesiastical salaries outside their voluntary Vatican work.

So even if chosen, it is sometimes difficult for a woman to accept a consultative Vatican appointment.

So, yes, there are many women involved in Vatican operations. Those central to actual management functions of the Curia are salaried Italian women, including many religious sisters, and others fluent in Italian.

Those in more consultative roles are from a larger pool of qualified individuals. Those in even more peripheral positions, such as the members of the two Pontifical Commissions for the Study of the Diaconate of Women, include more women.

But even the commission I served on was comprised of members of other, more permanent Vatican commissions, or they were members of university faculties in Rome. Except me. I was the only member of my commission with no Roman or Vatican connection.

Ministry

The Commission I served on was about ministry as the Vatican formally defined it then and how the Vatican realistically defines it to this day. If you ask the folks at Merriam-Webster, "ministry" comprises the office, duties, or functions of a minister.

That is, ministry is about the office, duties, or functions of a member of the clergy.

As I noted earlier, Pope Francis seems to depend on categories invented by Hans Urs von Balthasar, categories the pope calls "theological."

He said the ministerial dimension is that of the Petrine church and the Marian principle is the principle of femininity in the Church. That appears to eliminate women.

As grating as these categories are, it is important at this point to recall how Pope Francis has referred to women from the very beginning of his pontificate.

In May 2013, during his first address to the International Union of Superiors General, Francis recommended that the sisters be mothers, not old maids.

His repeated "jokes" and other comments about women have fallen flat time after time.

Who can forget his calling women theologians the "strawberries on the cake"? That was ten years ago, but it signaled one way Francis saw women professionals then.

What about now?

Francis has repeated his feminine analogies about the Church.

Just last March, in an address to participants in a conference entitled "Women in the Church: Builders of Humanity," the pope said, "The Church is herself a woman: a daughter, a bride and a mother."

While the qualities he attributes to women are laudable for everyone, he emphasises two aspects of "women's vocation": style and education. He notes that "style" includes the ability "to bring love where love is lacking, and humanity where human beings are searching to find their true identity."

He speaks directly to the conference participants about "education," expressing his hope that "educational settings, in addition to being places of study, research and learning, places of ‘information,' will also be places of ‘formation,' where minds and hearts are opened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit."

Without digressing to the 1967 Land O'Lakes Statement and its controversy or Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Constitution Ex Corde Ecclesiae on Catholic universities, I must note here the distinction between theology and apologetics, as well as the tasks and duties of the diaconate.

As for Catholic education, the fact of the formative influence of Catholic education cannot be disparaged nor denied, but theology is not apologetics.

As for the diaconate, the deacon is ordained to the ministries of the Word, the liturgy, and charity. If we consider the historical position of the deacon as the principal coordinator of the charity of the Church, then the duty of the deacon to proclaim and preach the Word in the liturgy becomes evident.

If we apply the pope's words to the diaconal ministry of women throughout the centuries, in the West up through the mid-12th century, we can see that it was women deacons who brought love where love was lacking and who provided formation to women and children.

We know women were ordained in Lucca, Italy in the mid-1100s, but realistically in the 12th century, no person who was not destined for priestly ordination could be ordained deacon.

Since by that time, most women deacons were monastics, with few serving as what might be termed "social service" deacons, and because the diaconate as exercised by men had become mostly ceremonial and generally moribund, the sacramental ordination of women to the diaconate ceased in the West.

I spoke at length about women in management. But what about women in ministry?

It is impossible to ignore Pope Francis' emphatic "no" when he was asked in a CBS television interview about the sacramental ordination of women as deacons.

He seemed to support his "no" with his opinion that the "deaconesses" in the early church—and "deaconess" is the word he used—that the "deaconesses" in the early church served diaconal "functions" without being sacramentally ordained.

That understanding is not supported by scholarship.

A little recent history

Since 1971, the Church has, at various times and various levels, directly discussed the ordination of women as deacons.

In 1971, the second meeting of the Synod of Bishops included substantial discussion about women in ordained ministry.

By 1973, Pope Paul VI established a Commission on the Role of Women in Church and in Society, which met intermittently over a period of two years. In that Commission, the question of women priests was immediately off the table.

But at its first meeting, one of the commission's fourteen women members asked to discuss women deacons.

The Commission's president, an Italian archbishop, immediately closed the discussion.

He said the diaconate was a stage of orders directly connected to the priesthood—this argument would soon be termed the "unicity of orders" -and therefore women deacons could not be considered.

Even so, he augmented the commission's final two-page report with a seven-page private memorandum to Pope Paul VI, which was much more positive about women deacons.

Meanwhile, in 1969 the International Theological Commission had been created to address questions of doctrine.

The world's foremost (male) theologians gathered in Rome on occasion to discuss pressing issues for the Church.

Women in ministry soon became one of those pressing issues, and the Secretary of the International Theological Commission, perhaps at the suggestion of the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, named a small sub-group of theologians to study the female diaconate.

Their discussion was quite positive—even Yves Congar thought the ordination of women as deacons was possible—but despite some members urging a positive vote on the question, none was taken, the question was tabled, and the ITC proceeded to write a document that opined women could not be ordained as priests.

The official commentary to that document stated that the question of women deacons would be left for "further study."

Academic debate continued, and there remained no consensus as to whether the women deacons of history were sacramentally ordained.

However, to say the women of history were not sacramentally ordained would be to dispute the intent of the ordaining bishops, who used the same ritual for women deacons as for men deacons.

The formal rituals used to ordain women were performed within the Mass, where the persons to be ordained as deacons—whether male or female—were ordained by the bishop inside the sanctuary, through the laying on of hands with the epiclesis (or calling down of the Holy Spirit); they were invested with a stole, self-communicated from the chalice, and the bishop called them deacons.

That is, both male and female candidates were ordained in identical ceremonies and were called deacons, or, in some languages, the women deacons were called "deaconesses."

So, why could women not be ordained today?

Several reasons are given, all of which fall to either logic, history, or both. They are,

• Women deacons were blessed but not "ordained";
• "Deaconess" always means the wife of a deacon;
• Male and female deacons had different functions;
• The unicity of orders limits ordination to men (cursus honorum);
• Women cannot image Christ (iconic argument);
• Women are not valid subjects for ordination;
• Women are "unclean" and restricted from the sanctuary.

Since the 17th century, scholars have argued over the history of women deacons, one or another questioning whether the women deacons of history were sacramentally ordained.

In the 17th century, one scholar, Jean Morin, studied all the existing liturgies in Latin, Greek, and the languages of Syria and Babylonia.

He determined that the liturgies met the criteria for sacramental ordination set forth by the Council of Trent.

A century later, another writer disagreed.

When we arrive at the 1970s, the question of women in the church, especially the question of women priests, was in the air.

Nothing came of the work of the ITC sub-commission, except one member, Cipriano Vagaggini published a long and dense article stating his positive view.

Vagaggini was so well thought of, that the 1987 Synod of Bishops asked his opinion on women deacons, which he freely shared.

After reminding the assembled bishops that in 1736, when Pope Benedict XIV approved ordained women deacons in the Catholic Maronite tradition, he permitted them to administer the sacrament of extreme unction within their monasteries, Vagaggini continued:

If that is the case, one senses the legitimacy and urgency for competent authorities to admit women to the sacrament of order of the diaconate and to grant them all the functions, even the liturgical functions that, in the present historical moment of the church, are considered necessary for the greater benefit of believers, not excluding—as I personally maintain—if it is judged pastorally appropriate, equality between the liturgical functions of men deacons and women deacons. (- Cipriano Vagaggini, "The Deaconess in the Byzantine Tradition" in Women Deacons? Essays with Answers, Phyllis Zagano, ed. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016, 96-99, at 99.)

His recommendation went nowhere, and around that time I was told in Rome by the highest placed women in the Curia that "they can't say ‘no'; they just don't want to say ‘yes'".

The discussion continued and was picked up by the 1992-1997 ITC, which again formed a subcommittee and again found in favor of restoring women to the ordained diaconate.

Their 17-page document was printed, numbered, and voted on, but not promulgated. The ITC president objected. He was then the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. He was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

So, the question went to yet another ITC subcommittee, which in 2002 published a paper stating that the question was "up to the Magisterium" to decide.

Nothing happened.

Until, in 2016, the International Union of Superiors General (UISG) asked Pope Francis to form another Commission. And so I went to Rome that following November in 2016.

There was another pontifical commission, which met twice for one week each, in September of 2021 and July of 2022.

The Synod on Synodality

The first session of the current Synod on Synodality asked for the reports of each Commission because in synodal discussion some felt ordaining women as deacons would restore a tradition, while others disagreed.

The Synod stated that questions about women were "urgent," and so, one of the ten "study groups" charged by the pope and the Synod office to provide detailed reports to Synod members was charged with the question of women deacons.

Meanwhile, as I mentioned, in his televised interview with CBS-TV's Norah O'Donnell, the pope said "no" to women deacons.

Specifically, he denied the possibility to Norah O'Donnell, who asked him:

Norah O'Donnell (23:05): I understand you have said no women as priests, but you are studying the idea of women as deacons. Is that something you are open to?

Translator (23:15): No. If it is deacons with holy orders, no. But women have always had, I would say the function of deaconesses without being deacons, right? Women are of great service as women, not as ministers. As ministers in this regard. Within the Holy Orders.

That could be the end of it, or not. I am attempting to get the Spanish recording or the Spanish transcript.

What did the pope understand?

Was he being asked about the diaconate as a preliminary step to the priesthood?

On the face of it, his response is wholly incorrect.

There was no distinction between women deacons and deaconesses throughout history. It is a fact that some, if not all, were sacramentally ordained.

What the Church has done the Church can do again.

And the Church has done it.

On May 2, the Greek Orthodox Church of Zimbabwe ordained a woman deacon—they prefer the term "deaconess"—using the liturgy it uses for ordaining men as deacons.

The ordaining prelate, Metropolitan Seraphim, just changed the pronouns.

We know that Synod reports from every corner of the world ask the Church to recognise the baptismal equality of all people.

While women are increasingly added to church management, the only response to requests for women deacons has been Pope Francis' televised "no."

We sit and wonder what the future holds.

I cannot tell you what my Commission did.

Despite my three requests to the Commission president, then-Archbishop Luis Ladaria, twice in writing and once in person, I have not seen what he gave Pope Francis in the name of the Commission I served on.

I can tell you one thing, however.

After our first meeting formally closed, I asked to say just one more thing, to the group and to the Commission president.

I said: "When I arrived at the Vatican, I was listed on the guest list as ‘Monsignor Zagano.'"

One member asked: "If she's a monsignor, what are we doing here?"

Exactly.

• Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D. is senior research associate-in-residence and adjunct professor of religion at Hofstra University, Hempstead, New York.
• Transcript from Rita Cassella Jones Lecture at Fordham of September 17, 2024.

The absence, confirmed to the National Catholic Reporter by multiple sources, triggered frustration among some delegates.

Fernandez absence sparks discontent

Fernandez was notably absent on 18 October during a scheduled forum for the working groups of the ongoing synod on synodality.

Under Fernandez's supervision, the focus of one of these groups is to explore women's ministries and access to the diaconate.

Fernandez cited a scheduling issue, not a lack of willingness, as the reason for his absence.

"I have learned of the displeasure expressed by some synod members with the fact that I was not present at this afternoon's meeting with working group number 5".

"This was not due to a lack of will, but to my objective inability to participate on the day and at the scheduled time."

Delegate frustration

Delegates expected to discuss one of the synod's most anticipated and contentious topics under his guidance.

Instead, the session was led by two junior staffers from the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The National Catholic Reporter tells that one delegate, who requested anonymity citing synod communication rules, called the meeting a "disaster".

Another expressed disapproval, labelling the absence a "disgrace". Both spoke to the National Catholic Reporter on the condition of anonymity.

Fernandez' study group 5's key role

Study group 5, shrouded in secrecy, is tasked with examining "theological and canonical matters regarding specific ministerial forms", addressing in particular the potential restoration of female deacons.

During the opening day of the synod, Fernandez described the topic as an "open question" but advised against rushing any decisions.

Unlike other groups, the membership of Study Group 5 remains undisclosed.

This opacity has sparked questions among observers and participants, particularly in light of the group's central role in discussing the evolving role of women in the Church.

Ongoing work until 2025

The work of the synod's 10 study groups, which began on 2 October, is expected to continue until June 2025.

The synod, a multi-year initiative of Pope Francis, is addressing significant questions for the Church including authority, women and ministry in the Catholic Church.

Source

• The Pillar
• National Catholic Reporter

The significance of his address cannot be overstated, as it sheds light on key issues that demand our attention not only around his two niche issues but also around the framework of episcopal thinking that goes with niche thinking.

The two niche issues of governance in the church and women's ordination are handled very cleverly rhetorically, especially with his summation of women's issues in the Church, where he presents false alternatives.

Correctly, in Europe, North America, Australia, and New Zealand, women have all the rights and opportunities for women, both in public and private life, which is surely a good thing.

Because some people take it upon themselves to advocate for certain things, it becomes clear that there is a question here that is important and needs to be considered. The false alternatives are obfuscated by rapping them in the false clothing of exceptionalism and colonialism.

Australia and the Oceania perspective

From a political and cultural perspective, Australia and New Zealand are associated with the Oceania region, which includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

Oceania is a broad and diverse expanse of islands and cultures across the Pacific Ocean. However, where it is politically expedient, New Zealand and Australia do not belong to Oceania, and the Church has historically shown this preference.

Contemporary Aotearoa New Zealand would consider itself more linked to Polynesia through the cultural and linguistic relationships between the Maori of Aotearoa than the bishop seems to understand.

The concern here is that the Church is again too clumsily speaking about regions of the world, cultures, peoples, traditions, histories and geo-political masters that, when oversimplified, become used as a means of secondary colonisation, which is what the bishop later does in his address, when he addresses his ‘niche issues'.

In describing countries in Oceania that he describes as "ecologically fragile," Papua New Guinea is given as the example of a country rich in minerals and natural resources that ‘many nations look hungrily at' to mine for their wealth and companies that offer ‘sweet packages' to nations are ‘economically poor and vulnerable'.

This is true, and the Australian government and companies are in their "boots and all" alongside governments and companies from New Zealand, China, and the United States, to name a few.

People not ecology?

Turning attention to the care of the planet's people and not just its ecology, the bishop asks us not to care for the planet at the ‘expense of the people who live on the planet'.

This is where his real agenda comes to the fore.

He describes those who cross untamed oceans to Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to settle as what one might describe as "climatic refugees" or "economic migrants", without a single reference to Australia's immigration detention facilities on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, and other facilities in Papua New Guinea, Nauru, and Manus Island.

There are also other processing and detention centres around Australia. These centres are used to detain people under the mandatory immigration detention policy for those who arrive illegally "in boats from across the seas" under the "Operation of Sovereign Borders".

While the situation of illegal economic migrants and climate refugees are not similar in Aotearoa, New Zealand, to those in Australia, these are both "migrant" nations that profited from those who travelled across the world to come to these countries.

Nevertheless, all non-Aboriginal Australians and Manuhiri New Zealanders need to speak carefully about such issues, given our histories of colonialism and our treatment of our respective indigenous peoples, not to mention our respective colonial histories, geopolitical ambitions, and use of the Island nations of Oceania to our geo-political ends.

The bishop then uses reverse colonialism and Oceanian exceptionalism to defend his rejection of the "niche issues" of the wealthy and powerful Europeans and North American churches with access to money and technology: (1) the use of the language and thinking of business governance and management when describing the governance of the Church; and (2) the ordination of women when women in other parts of the world are not being respected as women.

Niche issues

"Niche issues" emerge ‘out of churches that have great wealth' with ‘access to technology and resources' and become an all-consuming ‘imposition on people who sometimes struggle to feed their families, to be able to survive the rising sea levels or the dangerous journeys across wild oceans trying to resettle in new lands;' and they take the synod away from its presumably authentic trajectory into ‘a new form of colonialism' that oppresses the most vulnerable people.'

This argument is used to justify detaining and killing gay and trans people in Africa because these issues are not "African" but "European".

Exceptionalism and Colonialism

Hearing this, one needs to ask what a synod is for if not to listen to all the church and, in that process, reject an "Oceanian exceptionalism" that places the people of Oceania in a non-synodal place.

As a person of Oceania, I reject the bishop's position as naïve and patronising. I know of plenty of women in Aotearoa New Zealand, and in Australia who advocate both for women's ordination and for women in poverty.

The bishop's understanding of colonialisation linked to ecclesial exceptionalism reflects that of the African bishop's exceptionalism in their rejection of Fiducia supplicans, because it is a "niche issue" for the amoral West and a place of exception for the African bishops.

This creates and sustains a false understanding of ecclesial communion that ironically relies on a "secularised" and limited understanding of colonialism to justify itself.

Church Governance

Restructuring the Church's management and governance along more "secular lines" according to the "secular world" is another niche issue to be rejected, for which I offer four considerations.

Firstly, being offended when individuals describe restructuring ecclesial offices and structures using "secular" language is often the default position of hierarchs who do not want to give up power.

It is often linked to an inability to see that the presumptions of church governance are essentially exclusionary and lack transparency. It tends to forget that the processes of selecting a bishop, which use the current ecclesial processes, are not foolproof or transparent.

Secondly, it creates and maintains a dualistic understanding of language as "secular" and opposed to the "sacred", which is arguably not the language of the Christian Scriptures or the Councils of the Early Church, where the secular and the sacred are put aside in the Incarnational.

Generally, when a church cleric condemns modern business management and leadership tools, processes, and languages, they display their central confusion regarding the difference between management and governance.

To decry the word "networking" in favour of ‘communion, fellowship and community' is ok as far as it goes but let us not be naïve to think that networking is not also a means used by the Holy Spirit to attain the ends of God.

In this regard, perhaps the Spirit is more sophisticated in the administration of the Church than we would like to think.

Thirdly, this division, which argues for a unique sacred culture that is immutable, has been revealed as an abject failure in the numerous investigations and Royal Commissions into the abuse of minors and vulnerable people.

Indeed, understanding that the structures of culture, governance, management, and leadership that have led the Church to this place are part of the scandal!

Finally, it is worthwhile to consider that many of the "secular" goals of governance and management have Christian roots and that many—though not all—seek to work for the good of the employee, except in places where people are exploited for their labour, it is worth remembering that if the Church used modern management and leadership practices and processes, albeit using our lexicon, we might have avoided or dealt with the scandal of abuse more quickly and emphatically.

Women's Ordination… But don't mention the Diaconate!

The second "niche issue" concerns women's ordination but avoids the elephant in the room, the female diaconate.

This issue seems to vex the bishop, even when he admits they are essential, but not for women in non-European and non-North American contexts. We aren't told where Australia and New Zealand stand on this, but the presumption is that women in Oceania stand with the bishop.

Women's ordination is a "hot button" topic that has been going ‘going on for years' perhaps like a weeping sore with a scab that just will not heal.

In this, he avoids the issue of women's ordination to the Diaconate, the tangible element that breaks open the question or rips the scab off the sore.

Thus, the medical analogy is not to be discounted. Most wounds need sunlight to heal, and this one will not be ignored or bandaged with the "mummy" or "womb" adoration of celibate men, which is so often the default position of those who are caught in a concretisation of the theology of the Church as a woman to her Lord Jesus.

The concretisation of this theology may account for the question coming back repeatedly.

A more worrying example of exceptionalism is used to reject the needs of wealthy, technological women as colonialism and to place the women in economic and technological poverty as a new class of colonised people.

The use of exceptionalism in this way, when linked to colonialism and economic, social and ecological power on the one hand and poverty on the other, pits women against women.

If this is true, then it is insidious that women are doing this to each other. Therefore, such a claim must be supported with empirical evidence because it is the abuse of women by women through the medium of synodal structures.

If this is true and the bishop can support it with empirical evidence, he is right to call it out. If not, he should apologise and resign.

Women, the Church

It sounds patronising to say that women have been at the heart of the Church since its inception.

Indeed, one can easily turn to Mary of Nazareth and to the first proclamation of the resurrection—a diaconal event—in the person of Mary of Magdala, but is it enough in the twenty-first century to state this as if it answers all questions?

Similarly, it is reasonable to state that the voice of strident, wealthy, educated, literate, well-fed women in North America, Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand, Central and South America, Asia, Africa and not to forget Oceania may be the ones who know why, if or how the management and leadership structures of the Church need to change?

Similarly, is it potentially true that these same women, rather than being "exceptionalised" and "colonialised" might be the best ones to meet in synod and discuss the question of women's ordination, if that's not a blatant patriarchal suggestion?

• Dr Joe Grayland is an Assistant Lecturer, Department of Liturgy at Wuerburg University, Germany. He is the author of "Catholics. Prayer, Belief and Diversity in a Secular Context: A New Zealand Perspective" and of "Liturgical Lockdown: Covid and the Absence of the Laity. A New Zealand Perspective".

It highlights some of the inherent tensions between the use of synods and the power of the papacy in modern Catholicism.

Speaking to Jesuits in Belgium on September 28, Francis said Eastern Christians have not lost synodality, but the Western Catholics "have lost it."

In the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches, synods of bishops are responsible for the election of new bishops and the establishment of inter-diocesan laws within each province. Eastern Catholic Churches also use synods for such purposes.

In the West, synods were often held in the early centuries of the Church, and included important theological debates.

However, as the powers of the papacy grew, the synods became less common, although "councils" - which are arguably synods by a different name - still continued.

Ecumenical Councils, such as Vatican II, continue to issue theologically definitive statements, but more localized councils generally tackle administrative affairs, with theological questions reserved to the Vatican.

However, synods did take on some different definitions in the West.

First, diocesan synods - which used to be required to happen once a decade (admittedly, a rule observed more in the breach than in the execution) - involved both clergy and laypeople. Much like the more traditional synod, it involved looking at local diocesan laws and reforming them if needed.

More prominently, after Vatican II, Pope Paul VI established the Synod of Bishops, which had no real authority at all.

This synod could make "proposals" which could be accepted or rejected by the pontiff.

Soon, these meetings became talking shops, where many of the participants were more interested in Church gossip at the local restaurants in Rome than the official issue being discussed at the Synod meeting in the Vatican.

When Francis was elected, he wanted to make the Synod a more prominent feature of the life of the Catholic Church - but which Synod was he talking about?

"Synodality is very important. It needs to be built not from the top to the bottom, but from the bottom to the top," he told the Jesuits on Sep. 28.

Yet, historically, synods at best were built from the top down, although the little-used diocesan synod did allow lay participants.

"Synodality is not easy, no, and sometimes this is because there are authority figures that do not bring out the dialogue aspect. A pastor can make decisions by himself, but he can make them with his council. So can a bishop, and so can the pope," he said.

However, in the case of the papacy, his council is usually very much "his." The Ecumenical Council of Vatican I confirmed the doctrine that the Bishop of Rome has universal primacy over the Church and is "infallible" when he speaks ex cathedra.

In practical terms, this means a "Synodal Church" is whatever the pope says it is. Read more

• Charles Collins is an American journalist currently living in the United Kingdom, and is Crux's Managing Editor.

In an interview with Vatican News on Saturday, Söding stressed the importance of unity. "For us, deliberation and decision-making belong together. For us, commonality in decision-making is also part of this."

Söding's remarks come as the Synod on Synodality in Rome continues. It is highlighting the Church's focus on greater participation in decision-making processes.

Söding, Vice President of the Central Committee of German Catholics (ZdK), explained that the Church's decision-making structure is evolving to reflect a more collaborative approach.

"Participation, joint consultation, joint decision-making 'in Catholic style' - that is the tradition that we now want to continue" said the theology professor.

He noted that this aligns with efforts in Germany's Synodal Way, where deliberation and decision-making are closely intertwined. While acknowledging the distinct roles of bishops, priests and the laity, Söding underscored the need for commonality in reaching decisions.

The Catholic Church wants to stay together. "But we also need greater sovereignty to play on the respective local contexts so that unity and diversity can be brought into a good balance in a completely new way" Söding stressed.

Localised regulations warning

Söding went on to warn against creating a fragmented Church through localised regulations. "The Vatican should not use the synod to develop as many individual regulations as possible for as many individual countries as possible" he stated.

Pope Francis' decision to invite bishops, other men and women to the Synod of Bishops changed the atmosphere, said Söding. "New voices are being heard. People talk to each other differently, even when speaking as bishops."

Söding described the fact that people from the southern hemisphere also have their say at the Synod on Synodality as "a great asset for the Catholic Church, also in Europe".

The ongoing Synod discussions in Rome are focused on "Ways", part of the Instrumentum laboris document. It looks at the future organisation of decision-making in the Church.

Söding concluded by stating that Germany and Europe, more broadly, support these developments in the global Church.

Sources

English Katholisch

National Catholic Reporter

CathNews New Zealand

One suggested option is to establish continental advisory and decision-making bodies with their own rules alongside or in addition to the existing national bishops' conferences.

This authority-sharing might even involve deciding on issues such as priestly celibacy.

Paolo Ruffini, the Vatican's head of communications, outlined the ongoing discussions.

Key topics include the relationship between local churches, fostering communion within and between bishops' conferences, and exploring the possibility of granting bishops' conferences greater doctrinal authority and local authority over practice.

However, a senior member of the Synod warned, "A fragmented faith also means a fragmented church!"

Call for concrete change

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the synod's content coordinator, emphasised the importance of sharing the experience of "synodality" with all church members.

"If we keep this treasure only for ourselves, we transform it into a privilege rather than a service to the whole church" he said on 15 October as discussions on the third and final part of the working document began.

Cardinal Hollerich urged participants to propose concrete changes to the Church's institutions, asking -

"How do we need to rethink our institutions? Which institutional and organisational forms need to be changed and how?"

He highlighted the need to consider different local and cultural conditions while maintaining the unity of the worldwide Catholic Church.

A global perspective with local roots

The debate on decentralisation has highlighted the importance of balancing global unity with local diversity.

Benedictine Mother Maria Ignazia Angelini reminded members that faith is always practised within specific cultural contexts.

"If the ‘place' of the Church is always a concrete space-time of gathering, the journey of the Gospel in the world goes from threshold to threshold: it shuns being static, but also any ‘holy alliance' with the cultural contexts of the age" she said. "It inhabits them and is led by its life principle — the Spirit of the Lord — to transcend them."

Limit the scope of local and cultural universal faith

Despite the push for inclusivity, some church leaders have expressed concerns over the potential implications of decentralisation.

Australian Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP voiced his apprehension, warning against the idea of "reinventing" the Catholic faith.

"We cannot ‘reinvent the Catholic faith' or ‘teach a different Catholicism in different countries'" he said this week in an interview with conservative-leaning EWTN News Nightly.

The Archbishop acknowledged that our understanding of the deposit of faith has developed and will continue to develop but told the programme that he is "very concerned" that Catholics "hold on to the deposit of faith, the apostolic tradition".

Fisher wants limits on the scope of the ‘local and cultural' elements in a universal Catholic Church.

Fisher took over from Cardinal George Pell as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Sydney, NSW and was recently overlooked in being elevated to the position of Cardinal.

Sources

• Katholisch.de
• CathNews NZ
• Our Sunday Visitor
• CNA
• Crux

At a theological forum of the Synod on Synodality in Rome on Wednesday evening, she explained that canon law already stipulates that the composition of advisory bodies should reflect the composition of the people of God.

So far, however, this has not applied to the gender composition, although this is an essential dimension of human existence. In future synods, this must change so that the proportion of women corresponds to the proportion of the people of God, said the canon lawyer who teaches in Vicenza.

Horak also presented her thoughts at the most recent meeting of the Council of Cardinals "K9" in June in the presence of Pope Francis. The Council is the Pope's most important official advisory body.

Read More

He explains that this way they'll hear different world views from Catholics who come from different countries and cultures or have different life experiences from theirs.

"Perspective is not the enemy of the truth. It's the normal way of the Church. That's why we have four Gospels."

Flores is one of nine people Pope Francis has appointed to serve as president delegates at this year's Synod - just as they did last year.

Listening serves understanding

Flores told a news conference last week that the global pre-synod 2021 and 2022 listening process has helped synod members learn to listen to diverse perspectives.

"The central reality is to be aware that the perspective approaches the same mystery, but from its own context.

"It's important for the rest of the body to hear it, not because we have to kind of pay due to that, but because we don't see as clearly if we don't hear what the local perspective is."

The discipline

Listening is a discipline, Flores says.

"If it were easy for everyone to listen, we would all do it, but obviously we don't."

He explains that the synodal reality into the future will see "a disciplined, patient listening, a perspective that we all need to hear if we are to get the full picture. But what is the picture? The picture is the face of Christ".

The synod's work involves firstly taking all the perspectives offered by the listening sessions from local, diocesan, national and continental meetings.

Then it combines them with the findings of synod members who were at the first assembly to try "to find a cohesive voice".

Rather than one person or one country's voice, it will be the voice of the church, he says.

Jesuit Father Giacomo Costa, special secretary of the synod, said after last year's assembly he recalls how many people were amazed by the diverse experiences of the Church "they would never have imagined".

He says now the task is to "identify convergences, divergences and possibilities".

Women's place

Recognising and strengthening the role of women in the church has been a constant theme since the synod was first mooted.

Synod president delegate, St Joseph Sister Maria de los Dolores Palencia Gómez, says "a path is being carved and is already bearing fruit" although the pace varies by culture and context.

"The gifts of women and their contributions to a synodal church are being recognised more and more.

"We are taking steps, but we have to take even bigger, faster steps, with greater intensity while also taking into account the contexts, respecting the cultures, dialoguing with those cultures and listening to the women themselves."

• Catholic Weekly

That tone was set days before the gathering got underway this week at the Vatican, when in his speech in Belgium on Sept. 27, Pope Francis said that the synod wasn't meant to advance what he called "trendy reforms."

Now it seems clear that while the delegates may discuss many things over the next three weeks, nothing will be decided. There will be no doctrinal changes. No diminution of the role of the bishop. No rush to resolve the question of opening the diaconate to women.

Instead, this month's real challenge may well be how to manage the expectations of those hoping and pushing for sweeping changes.

Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the synod's general rapporteur, alluded to that danger at the end of last year's assembly when he noted that many would be disappointed if women were not given a greater role in the Church.

Change unlikely

But is a major change in Church governance in the offing? That seems unlikely.

Pope Francis himself, in his remarks at the opening of this year's assembly Oct. 1, emphasised that "the presence at the Assembly of the Synod of Bishops of members who are not bishops does not diminish the episcopal dimension of the assembly," a reference to the dozens of laypeople and women religious participating as voting delegates.

He added, with evident annoyance, that suggestions to the contrary were due to "some storm of gossip that went from one side to the other." Indeed, there is not even "some limit or derogation to the authority of the individual bishop or the episcopal college," he said.

Rather, the pope tried to clarify, the assembly "indicates the form that the exercise of episcopal authority is called to take in a Church aware of being constitutively relational and therefore synodal." In short, it is a "modus gubernandi," a way of governing. Yet it remains a government rather than an open forum.

There have been plenty of other signals that no revolution is imminent.

For example, there was Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, the prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, who in his report on new ministries said that Pope Francis does not consider the moment for the female diaconate to be "ripe."

The reflection continues, in other words. The Church will endeavor to give more space to women in decision-making roles, but further discussion is needed as to any kind of ordained ministry — something the pope had already indicated in his in-flight press conference Sept. 29 on his way back from Belgium.

Also, in their intermediate reports to the synod, the study groups commissioned by the pope to examine questions of a female diaconate and other controversial issues showed a certain prudence on the part of the bishops in addressing doctrinal questions.

The bishops may concede to giving the laity a greater say in decision-making, perhaps, but not when it comes to doctrinal matters.

The study group tasked with examining the role of the "bishop-judge" is a clear example. Pope Francis has placed the bishops at the center of the marriage annulment process, asking — indeed almost imposing — that they are the final judges.

But the bishops called to speak on the issue have instead reaffirmed that the bishop, in some cases, ought to have the option of delegating that responsibility to regional and national courts that "could guarantee great impartiality in decisions." Is this a step back from what Pope Francis already has requested?

And when it comes to making the process of selecting bishops more transparent, much depends on how the apostolic nuncio in each country exercises the selection process.

There is a call for "more attention to the local Church" and "more involvement of the local Church," but this is a question of approach, not revolutionary change. Read more

• Andrea Gagliarducci is an Italian journalist for Catholic News Agency and Vatican analyst for ACI Stampa. He is a contributor to the National Catholic Register.

"She said, ‘I just don't think this Church is set up for somebody like me,'" Hidalgo recalled in a recent interview. "‘I don't think God would speak to me only through the voice of a priest.'"

The young woman's elders, said Hidalgo, were shocked to realise that despite their own deep Catholic faith, the religion had failed to pass to the new generation, and particularly that, like many young Catholic women, Hildalgo's niece felt the Church had inhibited her from truly experiencing her faith.

Discerning Deacons

Her niece's experience is the kind of story that drove Hidalgo to co-found Discerning Deacons, an organisation that argues for the ordination of women deacons.

The group launched in 2021, spurred in part by the 2019 Synod for the Pan Amazon Region, a meeting in Rome that highlighted the dire need in South America's remotest regions for more contact with clergy.

Deacons can preach at Mass, baptise children and marry couples, though they cannot say Mass, hear confession or anoint the sick.

But Hidalgo's 12 years spent helping with pastoral duties at a Jesuit church in the Latin American immigrant community of Boyle Heights, California, suggested that giving women the responsibilities of the diaconate would also hold out a promise of empowerment and stanch an outflow of women that has become more pronounced in recent years.

A study released in April by the Survey Center on American Life found that women, especially Gen Z women, are now leaving religion at a more rapid rate than men. The same poll found that 65 percent of young women said they don't believe religious institutions treat women and men equally.

The effect seems to be hitting Catholics even harder.

In 2018, a survey of more than 1,500 Catholic women by America Magazine found that only 24 percent attend Mass at least once a week — a lower share than the 27 percent of women of all faiths who attend, as is often cited in a recent study by political scientist Ryan Burge.

Consultation

Pope Francis has opened new opportunities for women to be heard, but compared to the gains made by women elsewhere, the Church's attempts at equality seem feeble.

At the Pan-Amazonian Synod in 2019, bishops voted by a staggering 137-30 tally in favor of female deacons, but the proposal was shelved for further study.

In 2021, Francis invited the Catholic faithful in parishes around the world to gather and speak about their hopes, fears and concerns for the future of the Church.

The massive, three-year consultation, given the underwhelming name of Synod on the theme of Synodality, rattled the hierarchy by showing they had questions about priestly celibacy, welcoming of LGBTQ+ Catholics and even monogamy.

No issue, however, was more urgent to rank-and-file Catholics than the lot of women. The quest to ordain women as deacons, long swept under the rug, reemerged with a newfound energy.

"The Synod process was asking: what's in your heart? What do you think the Holy Spirit is asking of you?" Hidalgo said. "Suddenly, all these women started saying: ‘Oh, if I could discern a call to the diaconate, I would love to do that.'"

After forming Discerning Deacons, which has taught hundreds of women how to lead conversations on the female diaconate in their parishes and on college campuses, Hidalgo said its organisers were convinced that "a growing number of young women are quite discouraged by the limits they see in the Church."

As bishops convened in pre-meetings for the synod, the question of female participation came up again and again.

European Catholics reported "a tension" between a changing society and the Church "practicing a second-class status of women."

In Oceania, "the role and place of women in the Church was a uniform concern," and Latin American and Caribbean bishops asked that attendees of the upcoming summit at the Vatican address the question of "the opening of some ministries to women," according to reports from the bishops' meetings.

The Maronite Church, a Middle Eastern rite in communion with Rome, held its own Synod on Women in 2022, after its bishops suggested that the Church "should begin to reflect seriously on the re-establishment of the diaconate for women," which an earlier pope had allowed the Maronites in 1746.

But in March 2024, Francis put on the brakes.

Canceling discussion of women in the diaconate at October's second meeting of the synod, Francis instead created a study group to tackle this and other controversial topics, charging them with reporting back in 2025.

The report on the female diaconate would be submitted to the Vatican's Department for the Doctrine of the Faith, a notoriously secretive and historically conservative office.

"The support for women's recognition is getting stronger and stronger.

"I don't know how the leadership inside the Vatican think that they can make it disappear by closing the doors, closing the curtains, and having a secretive study," said Miriam Duignan, executive director of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research and a leader of Women's Ordination Worldwide, an umbrella organisation.

The case for women

Duignan will be among dozens of Catholic women making the case for women deacons on the sidelines of October's synod meeting, in vigils, prayer events and public demonstrations.

"They have opened Pandora's box," she said. "They've encouraged people to speak out, and they're not going to stop speaking out now or ever again."

In his letter to the Romans, in the New Testament, Paul introduces a woman named Phoebe as "deaconess of the Church" and praises her as "a helper of many and of myself as well."

A smattering of women deacons has since been scattered across the history of the Church, especially in the Eastern traditions.

In the 12th century, the Church interrupted the ordination of deacons altogether, and for about 900 years, until the Second Vatican Council, it didn't come up.

But in debates during Vatican II in the 1960s over how to re-energise the Church, the deaconate came to the fore once again.

Eventually the male deaconate was restored, but Pope Paul VI supported further study on the ordination of women. In 1973, he defaulted to commissioning a study that took three years to report that nothing in the Bible barred women from becoming priests.

As the Vatican ordered up further studies in the early 1990s without publishing their findings, the current lines were drawn:

Opponents argued that the biblical and historical female deacons didn't serve the same role as deacons today, or served only females in highly segregated contexts. Advocates claimed that the modern diaconate, mostly seen as a first step toward becoming a priest, is the outlier.

In 1994, now-Saint Pope John Paul II declared, "The Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women," seemingly closing the discussion forever.

Francis has supported John Paul's ruling, shutting down hopes in an interview with CBS News in May for women's ordination of any kind. But he has also kept up the pattern of commissioning studies, with one in 2016 and another in 2020, without revealing their findings.

"I think it's pretty clear that the Vatican is trying to lower expectations of any outcome of this synodal gathering," said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference.

McElwee said that it would constitute a "scandal" if the synod were to fail to recognise the call by thousands of women. She described the October summit as "a tipping point" for many.

Coupled with the decline in the number of priests, a downward trend that started in 2012, the demand for women deacons seems to have gathered an irresistible momentum.

A February study by Pew found that 64 percent of U.S. Catholics support the ordination of women as priests. Another Pew report on Sept. 26 in major Latin American countries found overwhelming support for ordaining women priests, especially among young generations.

"While women may not be in the pews in the same numbers on Sunday, that doesn't mean that they're not watching, organising, praying and working on correcting this injustice," McElwee said.

Some women have lost hope in the synod, and Francis. Citing a misogynistic and suffocating environment, Lucetta Scaraffia quit her job in 2019 as the head of "Women, Church, World," the only Vatican magazine specifically aimed at a female audience.

"We women have never been given anything without fighting for it," said Scaraffia.

"There is this absurd idea that a good pope will come who will give women power. But that has never happened in history or in politics. Women took that power for themselves," she said.

In his Sep. 27 visit to the Louvain Catholic University in Belgium, Francis talked about women in terms of their "fertile" and caregiving nature, the latest example of his frequent tone-deafness on gender.

He recently warned a group of priests that "gossip is for women" and once referred to the women appointed to a prestigious theological commission as "strawberries on the cake."

But Scaraffia said deeper issues of trust in Church leadership have arisen with the rampant abuse of power, including sexual abuse of religious sisters by priests.

In her meetings with nuns, she has heard widespread yet often hidden demands of women religious for greater authority and, in some cases, ordination as an antidote.

Close observers of Francis' leadership note that he has allowed women to head Vatican departments and to become lecturers.

Priests and bishops have become accustomed in this pontificate to brushing shoulders with women in curial offices and seeing them participate more actively at Mass. But more significant reform remains incremental.

The World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations, which represents more than 8 million Catholic women in 50 countries, has shown itself willing to move at the Church's pace, listening to Catholic women from all walks of life.

They tell in the organisation's latest report how women often express feeling invisible and unappreciated for the work they do for the Church.

"The Church cannot go on with only men making all the decisions, when more than half of the Catholic population are women," said Monica Santamarina, president general of WUCWO.

Santamarina said canon law allows women to do many things in the Church. They can sit on pastoral and diocesan councils that advise the parish priest or the bishop.

If women start by occupying those roles and showing other women and men that it's possible, she said, young people will be attracted to the Church as well.

"I think that what is at stake for us women at the synod is not to take a step backwards," she said. "I think we have to become a little more patient, more careful," she added.

Barbara Dowding, vice president at WUCWO, believes the diaconate is possible for women but doubts it will happen in her lifetime.

"For bishops and priests who are living now and go back a long way, the very notion of having a woman ordained to anything is just so hard for them, you know? Because it's been a male-dominated Church in so many ways," she said.

There will be 54 female voting delegates at the October Synod, commonly referred to as Synod mothers, who will engage with prelates and priests in roundtable discussions.

The youngest is Julia Oseka, 23, a Polish student of physics and theology at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia, who said she felt awe at the responsibility of representing the hopes of so many women.

"As I sat on that chair, I felt how many women before me contributed so that we might one day be listened to. I also felt inspired by so many women who are, for me, models of leaders in the Church," she said at a webinar organized by WUCWO on Thursday (Sept. 26).

Oseka said that sitting in and voting at the synod "is a gift" and praised the opportunity "to dialogue on the same level with priests, bishops and lay people."

Whether women watch the synod with disappointment or bated breath, Oseka urged that the event should be interpreted as "a sign not to give up on the task of giving visibility to women in the Church."

• Claire Giangravè is a Rome-based reporter for RNS, covering the Catholic Church and the Vatican.
• First published by RNS

Those engaging with the survey were asked: "Do you believe that synodality as a path of conversion and reform can enhance the mission and participation of all the baptised?"

The users were asked to provide a "Yes" or "No" response.

News reports say during the 24- hour poll, 88 percent of responders said "No" and only 12 percent "Yes". When that count was made, 6,938 people had voted on the X platform and fewer than 800 on Facebook.

It is unclear who participated in the social media poll and precisely what motivated the strongly negative response.

The Vatican Synod office hasn't commented on the potentially embarrassing poll response.

The Synod on Synodality

Synodality is at the heart of the consultation process which Pope Francis launched in 2021 to help establish the Church's future.

It is currently preparing for the Synod on Synodality's final session this October.

The controversial synod involving consultation throughout the world is a legacy-defining event for Pope Francis, many say.

What's the problem?

From the beginning, the Synod on Synodality was a difficult sell for many faithful. CruxNews reports that the concept of "synodality" was abstract and difficult to define.

"Synodality is generally understood to refer to a collaborative and consultative style of management in which all members, clerical and lay, participate in making decisions about the Church's life and mission."

Organisers insist the synod aims to make the Church a more open and welcoming place, driven less by a clerical power-structure and more on collaborative leadership.

Could timing be an issue?

Despite CruxNow reporting that social media online polls generally last for 24 hours, some media are suspicious - one critic says the poll closed ten minutes early.

Whether that's the case is not clear. CruxNow states that results were still coming in seven minutes before the poll closed.

In an ironic public post on X, one Catholic television and streaming site asked "In the name of true Synodality, why delete the tweet?

"This goes against everything Pope Francis has been trying to do on this synodal journey.

"If 7,001 people voted and the result was the other way round, this tweet would not have been deleted. Have some credibility and stand by your convictions - you either want to hear people's opinions or you don't."

Siphoning controversial concerns

The global consultation has stirred controversy. Discussions about married priests, women's ordination and welcoming LGBTQ+ individuals have become conversational flashpoints.

While these topics were included in the official working document for last October's Synod and were said to be "among the most emotional and contested points of discussion", the summary document barely mentions them.

They are almost absent from the working document for this year's synod.

The reason for this is that the Pope has set up working groups in the Roman Curia dedicated to studying these and other topics, CruxNow says.

This will free-up synod participants so they can focus on implementing synodality rather than getting bogged down or sidetracked on single issues.

Source

• CruxNow
• katholisch.de

Instead, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops put its time, effort and money into a national programme called the Eucharistic Revival.

It was not impossible to do both programmes, but as any pastor will tell you, doing two major programmes at once in a parish is very difficult.

It is hard enough to do just one programme while keeping all the other parish activities rolling along.

With a little bit of effort, the two programmes could have complemented each other instead of being in conflict. After all, synodality makes for a better Eucharist, and the Eucharist creates and nourishes synodality.

Both are about communion, participation and mission.

"In its broadest sense," according to the synthesis report from the October 2023 meeting of the synod, "synodality can be understood as Christians walking in communion with Christ toward the Kingdom along with the whole of humanity."

"Its orientation is towards mission," says the report, "and its practice involves gathering in assembly at each level of ecclesial life.

"It involves reciprocal listening, dialogue, community discernment, and creation of consensus as an expression that renders Christ present in the Holy Spirit, each taking decisions in accordance with their responsibilities."

A central part of the parish and diocesan phase of the synodal process is "conversation in the Spirit," in which participants in groups of 10 listen to each other about issues facing the Church.

The process builds communion and encourages participation in the mission of Jesus.

It is easy to see how this process could translate into participation in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Communion that empowers the Christian community to participate in the mission of Jesus of spreading the good news of the Father's love and our responsibility to love all our brothers and sisters.

But the Eucharistic Revival has a completely different focus.

It is more about Benediction, where the consecrated bread is worshipped, than the Eucharist, where the community is fed.

The impetus for the Eucharistic Revival came from the bishops' fear that the faithful no longer believe in the real presence in the Eucharist.

In fact, many Catholics do not even understand what the Church teaches about it.

Pew Research

According to the Pew Research Center, "More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45 percent) do not know that their Church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolise but actually become the body and blood of Christ."

Pew found that Catholics believed that the bread and wine were only symbols of Christ's presence.

"Nearly seven-in-ten Catholics (69 percent) say they personally believe that during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine used in Communion ‘are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,'" according to Pew.

"Just one-third of U.S. Catholics (31 percent) say they believe that ‘during Catholic Mass, the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.'"

Others, including the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, have challenged Pew's research, but Pew's findings caused a panic among the bishops that resulted in them budgeting $28 million for the Eucharistic Revival, although the budget was later reduced to $14 million.

Benediction vs Eucharist

From its inception, the Eucharistic Revival was about the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and the transubstantiation of the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.

The revival included Eucharistic processions and Benediction in parishes and dioceses and culminates with a National Eucharistic Congress in Indianapolis from July 17-21, where thousands from all over the country are expected to attend.

But, I repeat, the revival is more about Benediction than the Eucharist.

Benediction is all about worshipping Jesus.

The Eucharist is about worshipping the Father and transforming the community into the Body of Christ.

Christ is not made present on the altar table so that we can worship him. He is present so that we can eat him and become what we eat.

The revival focuses on individual rather than community.

• It focuses on me and Jesus rather than the communion of Christians.
• It focuses on what happens to bread and wine rather than what happens to the community.
• It focuses on personal experience rather than mission.

Let me make clear. There is nothing wrong with Benediction, but it is not the Eucharist.

Jesus did not institute the Eucharist at the Last Supper so that we could worship him.

His focus was always on the Father, not himself.

If we listen to the Eucharistic prayer as recited by the priest for the community, we give praise and thanks to the Father for all he has done for us, especially for sending Jesus with the good news of the Father's love and compassion for us.

We pray not to Jesus but "through him, with him and in him in the unity of the Holy Spirit" to the Father.

We remember Jesus' life, death and resurrection.

During the Eucharistic prayer we ask for the Spirit to transform us into the body of Christ so that we can continue his mission of bringing justice, peace and love to the world.

Synodality is about communion, participation and mission; so, too, is the Eucharist.

Too bad the Eucharistic Revival is not.

• First published in RNS
• Thomas J. Reese, SJ is an American Catholic Jesuit priest, author, and journalist. He is a senior analyst at Religion News Service

The Vatican-published document - called the Instrumentum Laboris (or Working Instrument) - is based on 108 national summaries of bishops' conferences from around the world presented to the General Secretariat.

It is not a magisterial document or a catechism, but a way to encourage prayer, dialogue, discernment and the "maturing of a consensus", according to an explanatory paper.

The second round of the Synod on Synodality is to focus more on how decision-making processes in the church can be made more transparent at all levels.

The NZCBC also says the General Secretariat considered submissions from the 300 parish priests from around the world who attended a three-day working session in Rome in April, including Whanganui Parish Priest Fr Craig Butler.

The working paper

The working paper consists of five sections - the introduction, a section on "foundations" of the understanding of synodality, and three "perspectives" sections covering relationships, paths and places.

The NZCBC says the assembly will conclude with a final document,

After that, the synodal process will continue as "the entire People of God in each local Church will be called to concretise the call to grow as a synodal missionary people".

Transparency, accountability, synodality

The working paper focuses particularly on the need for transparency and accountability, and also on the role of women in the Church.

"A synodal church needs a culture and practice of transparency and accountability, which are essential to foster the mutual trust necessary to walk together and take co-responsibility for the common mission" the working paper says.

Demands for transparency and accountability are especially high-profile because of the Church's loss of credibility due to sexual abuse and financial scandals.

The paper also emphasises the fundamental need to make synodality visible in the Church through concrete changes.

"Without concrete changes, the vision of a synodal Church will not be credible, and this will alienate those members of the people of God who have drawn strength and hope from the synodal way."

The need to recognise and strengthen the position of women in all areas of Church life has become clear in the course of the synodal process, the paper says.

"The contributions from all over the world called for a broader participation of women in all phases of church decision-making processes as well as better access to positions of responsibility in dioceses and church organisations in accordance with existing regulations."

The Australian Bishops Conference welcomes the Instrumentum Laboris' publication.

President Archbishop Timothy Costelloe says the working document "will help guide the members of the second assembly of the Synod during their meeting in October in Rome.

"The fruits of that meeting and the consensus that emerges will be entrusted to the Holy Father. He will then, after his own prayerful discernment, offer guidance and direction for the universal Church as it enters the implementation phase of the synodal journey."

Source

• NZ Catholic Bishops Conference
• Australian Catholic Bishops Conference
• Katholisch.de

She refers to the pope's interview for a CBS "60 Minutes" show in May.

In it Francis said he was opposed to women deacons if it involves the sacrament of Holy Orders.

The "women deacons" question has been raised repeatedly during the Synod on Synodality process she says. "Francis's speech caused some perplexity, but an interview is not the magisterium of the church."

"We're living through the second stage of a synod on synodality, and I know that it won't resolve all the necessary issues of change in the church.

"But it will open up ways for us to continue the conversation and for all of us."

Conversion needed

Pereira Manso is the vice president of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA).

"We have important changes underway in the Church" she says.

Before many of the specific doctrinal questions can be considered, a "conversion" of the Church's way of being is needed she says.

"This includes the pope, the laity and everyone in between."

The Church in the Amazon

For years, Pereira Manso and other religious sisters have worked in remote parts of the Amazon. There are few priests. Many faithful lack regular access to the sacraments.

While the pope may be hesitant to back the restoration of the female diaconate, much of the work that these sisters already do is that of diaconal ministry.

CEAMA is the first-of-its-kind ecclesial assembly to include women in a leadership position.

This will continue regardless of what is officially decided during the Synod Pereira Manso says.

"I continue to believe in the service that we women offer the Church and the mission of being bridges and not letting prophecy fall.

"This is how we will continue to serve the people of God, who live on the margins, on the peripheries and in the cellars of humanity, in defence of life, the earth and rights."

Pereira Manso was an auditor at the 2019 Amazon synod. We have "reinvented ourselves" as a Church in the Amazon through a range of new proposals she says.

These include an Amazon liturgical rite, expanded ministries, intercultural dialogue and bilingual education.

Women's ministries

Women's ministries were discussed explicitly last year during a CEAMA meeting with the pope.

"He told us that there was no turning back from the changes underway."

He noted work is continuing for the Church to have a fuller discernment on these questions.

As she looks ahead to the next synod on synodality meeting, Pereira Manso has a particular prayer.

She prays for increased openness on the "topics where the Church still lacks consensus and transparency, so that they are in fact the action of the Divine Ruah and not the fear of moving into deeper waters".

Source

• NCR Online

Klara-Antonia Csiszar, Professor of Pastoral Theology at the Catholic Private University of Linz, shared with Catholic media that while there will be no vote on ordaining female deacons, progress towards a more inclusive Church is underway.

Patience, Csiszar noted, is necessary for these changes to unfold.

Csiszar pointed out that the major theological challenge regarding women's ordination revolves around the concept of "representatio Christi" - the representation of Christ in sacramental actions.

Despite unresolved questions, Csiszar believes that separating deacons and deaconesses from the traditional three-tiered (Deacon - Priest - Bishop) ordained ministry could be a viable solution.

Church of the Council

She also suggested that women could already take on leadership roles and decision-making powers, making the Church more synodal. She believes this approach can enhance Church structures and representation.

At the first Synod on Synodality assembly in October 2023, Csiszar witnessed the importance of diverse perspectives and the collaborative spirit, which she believes are crucial for developing improved Church structures.

The second and final part of the 16th General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will convene in Rome in October 2024, concluding the Synod on Synodality that began in 2021.

In March, Pope Francis established ten study groups to explore various reform topics including women's ordination and the possibility of a female diaconate.

Pope Francis instructed the study groups to submit their findings by the end of June 2025.

Csiszar criticised those who accuse the Synodal Process and Pope Francis of having a superficial reform agenda. She reflected on a lecture by council theologian Karl Rahner in 1965, noting that it may take generations to transition "from a Church that had a council to a Church of the council".

Sources

English Katholisch

Vatican News

CathNews New Zealand

The theologians, who met on 4-14 June, were asked to provide an analysis of the reports, which will help synod officials draft the Synod on Synodality's "Instrumentum Laboris 2" — the document that will guide the work of the second session of the synod in October. The analysis from the theologians has not been made public.

The ongoing Synod on Synodality is focused on studying various questions about how the Church should operate. Some of the questions focus on the role of women, inclusion, women deacons, and outreach to those who struggle with same-sex attraction. Parishes held listening sessions this past Lent that were consolidated into the national reports analysed by the theologians.

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