The question is resounding more loudly as the summit of bishops and lay Catholics known as the Synod on Synodality, scheduled for October, draws near.

Participants and observers alike recognize that any conversation about reforming church hierarchy or promoting lay involvement, Francis' twin goals for the synod, has to include honest exchanges about the role of women.

"It's not just one issue among others that you can tease out," said Casey Stanton, co-director of Discerning Deacons, a group committed to promoting dialogue about the female diaconate in the Church.

"It's actually kind of at the heart of the synod and we need to take a step forward that is meaningful, and that people can see and feel in their communities."

Stanton believes that opening the door for women to become deacons — allowing them to oversee some aspects of the Mass but not consecrate the Eucharist or perform other duties reserved for priests such as anointing the sick — could send an important signal to Catholics that the Vatican is listening to their concerns.

The upcoming synod already gives a greater role to women, who will be allowed to vote for the first time in any such meeting.

Of the 364 voting participants, mostly bishops, more than 50 will be women.

But women were never the intended focus of the synod, a project Francis hoped would inspire discussion of a "new way of being church," which was interpreted to mean a focus on church power structures and rethinking the privilege enjoyed by clergy.

But by the end of the last phase of the synod, when gatherings of bishops divided by continents examined the topics brought up at the grassroots level, it was clear that the question of women had taken center stage.

The document that emerged from those discussions, with the telling title "Enlarge Your Tent," spoke to the "almost unanimous affirmation" to raise the role of women in the church.

The document described the peripheral role played by women in the church as a growing issue that impacted the function of the clergy and how power is exercised in the historically male-led institution.

While it made no mention of female ordination to the priesthood, it did suggest that the diaconate might answer a need to recognize the ministry already offered by women all over the world.

"It's remarkable the shared cry that came through in ‘Enlarge the Space of Your Tent' around the deep connection between creating a new synodal path in the church and a church that more fully receives the gifts that women bring," Stanton said.

When, in June, the Vatican issued its "instrumentum laboris," or working document that will guide the discussion at the synod, it explicitly asked:

"Most of the Continental Assemblies and the syntheses of several Episcopal Conferences call for the question of women's inclusion in the diaconate to be considered. Is it possible to envisage this, and in what way?"

Attributing the question to the continental assemblies and avoiding the words "ministry" and "ordination" in asking it, said Miriam Duignan, co-director of Women's Ordination Worldwide, constituted a "preemptive strike" against open discussion of priestly ordination.

This avoids a direct challenge to the Vatican, which has shut down the possibility of women's ordination many times.

In 1976, the Pontifical Biblical Commission established that Scripture did not prevent the ordination of women and voted that female priests did not contradict Christ's vision for the church.

But soon after, the Vatican's doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, intervened to state that the church was not authorized to ordain women.

Pope John Paul II had the final word on the issue when he definitively stated that "the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women," in his 1994 apostolic letter "Ordinatio Sacerdotalis" ("Priestly Ordination").

Francis and synod organizers have emphasized that the synod has no intention of opening that door.

"For the Catholic Church at this moment, from an official point of view, it's not an open question," said Nathalie Becquart, undersecretary at the Vatican's synod office, in an interview.

The question of the female diaconate, however, remained open.

Pope Benedict XVI changed canon law in 2009 to clarify the distinction between priests and bishops, who act as representatives of Christ, and deacons, who "serve the People of God in the diaconates of the liturgy, of the Word and of charity."

"Benedict predicted that the call for women priests and ministry was going to get stronger and stronger," Duignan told Religion News Service on Tuesday (July 25) in a phone interview.

The demand for women deacons was an underlying topic during Francis' previous synods on young people, the family and the Amazonian region. Francis created a commission to study the possibility of women deacons in 2016, and when no clear results emerged, he instituted another in April 2020.

According to Duignan, the commissions were "set up to fail," since a decision on the matter required a unanimous vote.

While it's undeniable that women deacons existed in the early and pre-medieval Church, theologians and historians remain divided on whether women were ordained deacons or if they occupied the role in a more informal way.

"There were women deacons in the past. We could do it again," Stanton said. "Let's just settle that."

The division on the question means that Francis will likely have to decide.

"Our prediction is that there is going to be a bit of a stalemate between those bishops who fear a diaconate role for women, and those who say now it's the time, let's give them the diaconate," Duignan said.

Advocates for female deacons hope the pope will finally welcome the demand felt by many Catholic women. "For many young people it has become untenable," Stanton said, "an obstacle to feeling the gospel."

The pope could leave the decision to individual bishops, which would create a patchwork of policies.

Stanton, who has witnessed many experiments for new ministries for women, said that while one bishop may open new opportunities for women, the issue will "wither on the vine" if another bishop doesn't see it as a priority.

In the end, she added, "it's one cleric getting to determine the scope of a woman's vocation and ministries."

Historically, the path to priestly ordination follows the steps of lector, acolyte and deacon. In January 2021, Francis allowed women to become lectors and acolytes; a decision in favor of female deacons could signal a cautious opening for the cause of women priests.

"The glacial pace for change in the modern Catholic Church means we have to accept any steps forward as progress," Duignan said.

The female diaconate would in her opinion offer some recognition for the women who catechize, evangelize and assist faithful all over the world.

"Once they start seeing women at the altar in an official role and seems to be leading the Mass there will be more calls for women priests," she added.

Advocacy groups such as Women's Ordination Worldwide will be in Rome in October to make their demands known through vigils, marches and conferences.

The Synod on Synodality will draw the attention not just of Catholics but women everywhere, putting the question of female leadership in the church and beyond in the spotlight.

"The women are coming," Duignan said. What remains unknown is whether the Vatican is prepared.

• Claire Giangravé is an author at Religion News Service.
• First published by Religion News Service. Republished with permission.

Three of the women are under 30 — deemed good news for the age profile; a further three are between 30 and 39; six are 40-49; four are 50-59; and two are between 60 and 69.

Of the men training for stipendiary ministry, two are in the age bracket 30-39; one 40-49; four 50-59; and two 60-69.

Women also outnumber men among those training for self-supporting ministry, at 16 to 11.

However there is concern about numbers training for licensed lay ministry, said the Principal, the Rev. Professor Jeremy Duff. There were ten women and two men currently in training, with the majority in the higher age brackets. "We need to see how the Spirit is prompting people to engage in lay ministry [generally across the Province]," he suggested. Continue reading

Whether it be physical, sexual, emotional, psychological, or any other form of abuse, it needs to be called out at every level.

It is usually perpetrated by men against women, precisely because they can.

Physical strength, the male combative nature and patriarchal cultures all play a role in this male-dominated scourge, but none of these factors can be used as an excuse.

The most obvious examples of abusive behaviour are usually seen at the individual level - a man berating his wife in the supermarket, a woman being talked over in a group discussion, a male boss speaking to a female employee in a patronizing way.

The curse of structural abuse

But the most insidious form of abuse is structural abuse, where the abusive behaviour is camouflaged within the rules and guidelines of the institution. It is more subtle than some other types of abuse, but it's just as real.

The Catholic Church's exclusion of women from ordained ministry is a form of structural abuse.

The same elements that characterize individual abusive behaviour are present in the way the hierarchy relate to women - patronizing language, efforts to disempower, silencing of voices, refusal to engage.

Currently in Australia we are engaged in a Plenary Council process. Well over 200,000 participants contributed to the preliminary stage when submissions were called for.

The 300-page summary of those submissions clearly shows a strong call for greater and more meaningful participation of women in the Church, including ordained ministry.

And yet the Australian bishops refused to allow any reference to women's issues to see the light of day in the final agenda.

They silenced women's voices, because they could. They spoke over the top of them, because they could. They disempowered them, because they could. They refused to engage with them, because they could.

Pope Francis and his blind spot

Even Pope Francis, despite his warm and pastoral nature, clearly struggles in trying to understand and relate to women, particularly with regard to his language. His "strawberry on the cake" comments are embarrassing.

When Donald and Melania Trump visited him at the Vatican in 2017, after speaking to President Trump, Francis then turned and spoke to Melania, asking her what she cooked for her husband.

It's tempting to say, "But the pope is an elderly man and a product of his culture and era."

I'm tempted to do that myself. I'm one of his greatest fans.

But we can't do that. Any form of abuse, no matter how benign it may appear, contributes to the broader abusive behaviour against women that we see around the world, particularly in religious cultures.

Women reduced to servitude

In his prayer intention for the month of February, Francis invites women "to fight when, in some cases, they are treated unfairly, even within the Church". He then notes that they have been "reduced to servitude - sometimes by men of the Church".

The clear implication is that these women have endured abusive behaviour by members of the clergy in the way they have been treated.

The pope's words, on this particular occasion, are addressed to religious sisters and consecrated women, but they can also be applied in a broader sense.

Many Catholic women feel they have been "treated unfairly" and "reduced to servitude" in the way they have tirelessly worked for the good of the Church but have been excluded from leadership roles and have been reprimanded for even raising the issue.

Pope Francis' exhortation to women who have been treated unfairly to "fight" for justice is admirable. But there is no point fighting if the "men of the Church" who have exploited them won't even listen to them.

Bishops never advocate for women

Why is it that, by and large, bishops have no empathy with Catholic women and their struggle to be recognized in the Church and be treated fairly?

Why do they never advocate on their behalf?

Why don't they say something as simple as, "We understand how you feel?"

It never happens. The bishops' response is always dismissive if there is a response at all.

At least part of the reason for that is the fact that most clergy spend little time conversing with women in any depth. Their world is a very male world.

Their colleagues in ministry are all male, and in many cases, their close friends are also male.

They don't understand the hurt experienced by women who feel betrayed by the hierarchy. They never feel their pain.

Added to that, the clergy have little or no experience of being marginalized. They don't know what it's like to have their voice silenced.

Bishops, in particular, have never felt the distress of being excluded, of being ignored, of being disempowered.

Then there is the broader patriarchal culture that pervades the Church hierarchy. It produces a club mentality among the clergy that is exclusive and elitist.

In the context of structural abuse in the Church, it's a perfect storm.

Is there hope?

Things need to change, but it won't happen unless there's a change in the attitude of the clergy towards women.

The hierarchy, in particular, need to take women more seriously. They need to listen respectfully to their voices and accept them as equals.

But despite everything, I remain optimistic.

Recently the Vatican agreed to add a link from the "Women's Ordination Conference" to their Synod on Synodality website. It was a break-through moment for all concerned.

Let's hope it's a first step on a longer journey.

• John Crothers was ordained presbyter in 1985 for the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney (Australia). Author of The Clergy Club (ATF Press, 2018), he also posts songs on his "John Crothers Singer-Songwriter" YouTube channel, calling for a more inclusive Church.
• First published in La-Croix International. Republished with permission.