One of the three is Dr Rocio Figueroa Alvear, a Peruvian theologian, who is currently a lecturer in Systematic Theology at Good Shepherd College in Auckland, New Zealand.

The women were speaking at Overcoming Silence - Women's Voices in the Abuse Crisis, a Voices of Faith event in Rome.

Figueroa, Barbara Dorris (USA) and Doris Wagner (Germany) shared personal accounts of abuse they suffered and of the resistance they faced when trying to report what happened to them in their efforts to seek justice.

The women said the February summit in the Vatican would be ineffective unless "victim-centred listening" was at the heart of the bishops' discussions.

All 10 members of the Union of International Superiors General leadership - representing 500,000 women religious worldwide - will be attending the summit.

Survivors will not be at the meeting but will be part of the preparatory work, and be present at a penitential liturgy.

Building on the analysis and experiences of the experts who participated in the event, Voices of Faith has called for urgent action on the following points:

1. A complete list of participants and their credentials, and the agenda of the meeting to be made public at least six weeks prior to its beginning
2. All proceedings and voting on any documents during the meeting to be made public in order to facilitate transparency
3. Diverse voices of women survivors and advocates should be invited to participate and be heard at this meeting. Therefore a dedicated time allocation should be given for women's voices, such as those who spoke in Rome on 27th November.

Source

• voicesoffaith.org
• voicesoffaith.org
• cruxnow.com
• angelusnews.com
• Image: screenshot youtube.com

International Women's Day this year was the day before yesterday - 8 March.

The initiative began four years ago "to enhance the dignity, participation and leadership of women and girls through persistent and good storytelling."

At this year's event women from all over the world focused on peacemaking through the theme: "Stirring the waters: Making the impossible possible."

One participant is Dr Scilla Elworthy. She is the founder of the Oxford Research Group and co- founder of Peace Direct, UK.

She said women's leadership is urgently needed "... because humanity is facing major crises that are unprecedented."

She said these crises are man-made "... like global warming, over population, the rich-poor gap and massive migration and we need to up our consciousness…".

Elworthy went on to note for the past 5,000 years "we have been missing the feminine; we haven't had true equality in feminine leadership and boy do we need it now."

The recently elected Jesuit superior general, Arturo Sosa, also attended the event.

Saying gender parity was an "essential point in humanity", he also noted studies on poverty always show it hits women and children more than the rest of the population.

"So it seems to me that if we really want to try to reconcile humanity with justice, the first thing is to have special care for women," he said.

Source

• Vatican Radio
• America
• ANSAen Vatican
• Image: Crux

An event called Voices of Faith, held to mark International Women's Day last week, was put together as an opportunity for women to share their stories of faith.

The event was live-streamed around the world from the Vatican's Casina Pio IV.

Topics discussed included: the need for the Church to practice what it preaches about full equality between men and women, to include women in every level of decision-making, and to use inclusive language in its worship.

The women expressed a desire for a fundamental rethink regarding how Church prelates and documents describe them, saying they are often pigeonholed as reflecting only the sensitive or tender half of humanity.

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