Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxembourg, a key organiser of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, has called for sincere dialogue on women's roles in the Church.

Hollerich said that as a church "we have to commit to a very sincere dialogue because the situation is not the same in all the continents. In all of western Europe, women are asking to be admitted to ordained ministry".

Pope Francis established ten study groups to explore critical issues from the 2023 synod, including one on women deacons. While the Vatican recently disclosed the members of most groups, those studying women deacons remain unnamed.

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith oversees this group's work. However, no individual members have been identified, raising concerns about the process's transparency.

Transparency frustration

Casey Stanton, co-director of Discerning Deacons, criticised this secrecy, stating it undermines trust in the Church's commitment to synodality.

"The lack of transparency with this particular study group does not inspire trust or confidence in the institutional church's commitment to be synodal.

"Synodality requires us to risk being vulnerable, to engage theologically in light of pastoral realities and to hold difficult questions with openness" she told the National Catholic Reporter.

Frustration over the lack of transparency regarding how the doctrinal office is handling the topic of women deacons isn't new - it dates back over two decades.

In 2002, the International Theological Commission concluded a study of the diaconate that considered the question of women deacons. This was followed by two different commissions Francis established in 2016 and 2020. The work of the two commissions has never been made public.

British theologian Tina Beattie suggested that previous commissions might have found evidence supporting a female diaconate. However, the Vatican's leadership remains unconvinced.

"It's hard not to conclude that both reports included evidence in favour of a female diaconate, but that the magisterium's mind is made up so this is just a window-dressing exercise" she told NCR. "I think it shows arrogance and contempt for those of us who have a genuine interest in these theological issues and debates.

"It's hard not to conclude that these commissions are placebos" Beattie added.

Read More

Crux Now

National Catholic Reporter

CathNews New Zealand

One of them was Sydney's Professor Renée Köhler-Ryan, National Head of the School of Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame Australia.

On her return from Rome—and after some quality time with her husband and five children, from whom she was separated for a month—she told The Catholic Weekly that after the first assembly a broader range of Catholic women's views and priorities were explored, beyond ordination.

"It is an obvious fact that most women in the church have no interest in being priests, and have no interest in being deacons. Statistically," Prof Köhler-Ryan said.

"Many women, when surveyed, think in principle as a matter of feminist justice that option should be available to them.

"But for the most part they themselves are not interested. So, it's at a very abstract level, almost.

"The question is then, ‘What is it that women in the church need? What do they need from the church?'

"That was where my statements to the [synod press conference on 17 October] came out:

‘What women want will be different because every woman is different.'"

Women are often carers and mothers, and that work needs to be respected, Prof Köhler-Ryan added.

It was a positive development that mothers and grandmothers were acknowledged as the ones who pass on faith to their children and grandchildren.

"But how often do we actually hear that from the pulpit or elsewhere?" she asked.

"Catholic employers should really have this on their radar, so that a parent's right to be with their child—to be with them in their formative years—should never be undermined.

"No woman, or man, should be made to feel lesser because they've made the choice to be there with their children."

The alternative is to give into a "very secular agenda" that wants to see roles within the church from a democratic, rather than complementary, perspective—one that insists women cannot be truly "equal in baptism" until they are ordained to the priesthood.

This perspective had knock-on effects throughout the synod, including in the language used in the synod's final synthesis document.

"What I noticed in the synthesis document especially, was that the church was referred to ‘it' as if it's somewhat neutral, rather than she or her; the church is a mother," Prof Köhler-Ryan said.

"When we lose that sense of the motherhood of the church, we lose the sense of the nuptial mystery of the priesthood in relationship to the church as well."

Spending time away from her family was difficult, and Prof Köhler-Ryan said it was "absolutely essential" that she went to Rome with her husband's "absolute support."

Yet the synod's organisation "would lead one to believe there's not an appreciation of what it takes for a layperson with a young family to go away for four weeks," a frustration she shared with other parent-delegates in Rome.

Nevertheless, these lay voters with families brought the presence of the "domestic church" to the consultations, Prof Köhler-Ryan said.

"When a member of a religious congregation walks into the room, you have a sense it's almost like they've brought the whole order into the room, the whole charism," she said.

"It needs to be appreciated that when a lay member who is married with kids walks into a room, they're coming from that ethos of the domestic church. It's always there, in the back of their mind."

Yet she also said that while lay women were in focus, "the male lay voice still needs to be tapped into more."

"We know that lay men are missing to a very great extent from the pews, and we need to figure out what's going on there, and bring that up as a point of conversation more than we do."

With the synod at its halfway point, and the synthesis document available to the church, Prof Köhler-Ryan said there was more discernment and conversation to come—including on the authority of the synod, now non-bishop voting members have been included.

"The rest of the world seems to be looking on, with some exceptions, thinking: ‘This synod needs to make some decisions, needs to make them now, so that the church can be brought up to the 21st century and we can all go back to being outraged about something else.'"

"But what is actually the case is that the synod cannot change church teaching, that's not going to be an automatic outcome of a synod.

"And the synod can't make the Catholic Church cease to be the Catholic Church.

"And the synod cannot change that fundamental relationship between the Bishop of Rome as pope with his bishops, and with the universal church."

• Adam Wesselinoff is Deputy Editor of the Catholic Weekly.
• First published in The Catholic Weekly

Sister Maria de los Dolores Valencia Gomez (pictured) says her inclusion in the role at the Synod on Synodality shows the Church "has… something that places all of us at the same level".

Gomez led the Synod on Synodality assembly Friday morning in her capacity as one of Pope Francis's 10 president-delegates.

Gomez's presiding role came as the synod assembly began working on the topic of "co-responsibility in mission".

That includes a focus on women's role in the Church.

She described the participation of women in the ongoing Synod of Synodality as "setting the stage for future changes."

She adds that being able to sit at the same table as Pope Francis is a sign of things to come in the Church.

"I feel that this is a gradual process," said Gomez, who is from Mexico. "Little by little, we shall see changes."

While the Church cannot ordain women sacramentally, Gomez noted Francis has broken from precedents.

Pope Francis has given women governing roles in the Church, including in the Vatican, she says involving women in the synod is a new practical compromise that bypasses difficulties for the Church.

Besides being the first synod with a female president-delegate, this is the first time women have ever voted in a Synod of Bishops.

The synod on synodality includes 54 women among the synod's 365 delegates.

Speaking of the synod on synodality, Gomez describes it as "a way of life for forever, journeying together with a permanent and ongoing dialogue".

Source

• Catholic News Agency

On Saturday, Francis issued a new constitution for the Vatican's central administration, known as the Curia, stating that any baptised lay Catholics can head Vatican offices.

For centuries, male clerics have headed the departments, usually cardinals or bishops, but that could change from June 5, when the new charter takes effect after more than nine years of work.

The new constitution said the role of lay Catholics in governing positions in the Curia was "essential" because of their familiarity with family life and "social reality".

The 54-page constitution, called Praedicate Evangelium (Preach the Gospel), was released on the ninth anniversary of Francis' installation as pope in 2013. It replaces one issued in 1988 by Pope John Paul II.

The preamble says, "The pope, bishops and other ordained ministers are not the only evangelisers in the Church". It adds that lay men and women "should have roles of government and responsibility".

Another section says, "any member of the faithful can head a dicastery (Curia department)" if the pope decides they are qualified and appoints them.

It makes no distinction between lay men and lay women. However, experts said at least two departments - the department for bishops and the department for clergy - will remain headed by men because only men can be priests in the Catholic Church.

The text says choices will be made based on people's professional competence, spiritual life, pastoral experience, sobriety and love for the poor, a sense of community and "ability to recognise the signs of the times."

Francis has already named several lay people, including women, to Vatican departments.

In 2021, Francis appointed Sister Raffaella Petrini (pictured) as the Secretary General of the Governorate of Vatican City State. It was the first time a woman had been named to the number two position in the world's smallest state.

As part of the reorganisation, the Secretariat of State kept its premier position as administrative, coordinating and diplomatic department, while the centuries-old high status of the doctrinal office was placed below that of the evangelisation department.

The pope will head the evangelisation office himself, highlighting the importance he gives to spreading and reviving the faith.

The new office is responsible for the church's evangelical efforts worldwide, including supporting new churches. It is divided into two sections: one responsible for fundamental questions surrounding evangelisation and the other tasked with overseeing places of "first evangelisation".

Sources

Reuters

National Catholic Reporter

Deutsche Welle

Ulrich works for the Catholic Diocese of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg (LGF) in Switzerland and is a member of the Network of Women in the Church.

She's one of the figures of the women's movement in French-speaking Catholicism who are calling for more decision-making power within the Church.

It all began with a discussion group on the abuse of power in the form of daily sexist attitudes in the LGF diocese.

In the Network of Women in the Church, diocesan employees and volunteers provide each other with support.

"Sometimes, these are not necessarily explicitly sexist attacks by priests. But since most of the people who teach catechism are women, we are the ones who get the brunt of it," says Ulrich.

"We were tired that, no matter what we did, there was always a man above us in the hierarchy to change our decisions," she points out.

Ulrich has been involved in the large Swiss diocese since 2001, first as a volunteer and then as an employee in various positions.

"Our big problem is the lack of complementarity for the priests, who live alone in their rectories," she argues.

She deplores situations where consecrated persons keep to themselves, talk only among themselves and pray only among themselves.

Among the various vectors of her commitment to more women in decision-making positions is the desire for priests to be confronted more with people different from themselves, to help both groups grow.

Until two years ago, Ulrich only gravitated around this discussion group.

But then on June 14, 2019, a massive national strike for women's rights was organized in Switzerland.

This sparked her and others in the Network of Women in the Church to step up their efforts.

Protestants in Geneva organized a strike under the banner "Quelle place pour les femmes dans l'Église?" (What is the place for women in the Church?) and invited Ulrich and her fellow Catholics to join them.

They agreed.

The members of the Network of Women in the Church sat down around a table to think about their demands.

"Without touching on the question of ministry, ordination or even the diaconate, we wanted to have concrete demands that could change things, without coming up against canon law," Ulrich recalls.

The women agreed and asked to have more responsibility and decision-making power within the Church.

They also denounced clericalism, and the lack of diversity so often noted by Ulrich.
"A revolution that's underway"

Two years later, she welcomes the progress made by her diocese and the Swiss Catholic Church.

Bishop Charles Morerod of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg just this last May replaced his episcopal vicars with laypeople. Two women are among the new appointees.

"Doors have been opened at several levels. It's a revolution that is underway," says Ulrich.

"I don't know if it will work, but there is a real desire to change the system," she adds.

A strike for women's rights took place last September in Switzerland.

And a few months later, the Swiss Bishops' Conference discussed the place of women in a working group session called, "On the road to the renewal of the Church in Switzerland".

Thirteen women and 13 bishops from French- and German-speaking Switzerland participated.

The working group continues to meet and is preparing to work with universities.

As for Bishop Morerod, Catherine Ulrich says he is listening.

But she quickly points out that change cannot come only from priests and bishops.

"It is not the bishops who must move, but all of us who must understand that a woman is just as legitimate as a man in these positions of responsibility.

"Our goal is to arrive at a Church that does what it says."

• Youna Rivallain is a journalist for LaCroix she writes about Religion, Tropisme USA, Evangelisation, Pop culture.
• First published by La Croix International.

"We are talking about the survival of the Church," Moorhead said.

Whether women have a future in the Church is no longer a women's issue but an issue for everyone, Moorhead told the 200 women of faith at the webinar.

The question for the Church, however, is - 'does the Church have a future without women?', she said.

"Of course it doesn't," Moorhead stressed. The church has no future without women.

She noted the implications of younger Catholic women falling from the Church - a Church that needs members to survive.

Another participant, Zuzanna Flisowska-Caridi of Voices of Faith, recounted her "quite extraordinary," experience of the German Church's synodal path of reform.

The process has brought together lay people, religious and bishops to discuss four major topics, she explained.

These topics cover: the way power is exercised in the Church; sexual morality; the priesthood; and the role of women in ministries and offices in the Church.

The question that needs asking now is how the German Church's experience of the synodal path can be used by the global Church. The "big question is how we organise power in our Church."

It is "a question that the Church is really afraid of, but it is a question we cannot avoid any longer," she said.

The first women's synod will be held in the UK in September, she noted. It will work internationally with women's groups for change.

Another participant, Kate McElwee, told the webinar the institutional Church's "commitment to oppression is extremely devastating."

She noted Pope Francis' call to the faithful asks us to encounter people in a genuine way. To deeply understand and transform our relationships in the world, we have to meet and talk with people, he stresses.

"So, I ask the same of him.

"Meet these women and young people and listen to their voices and honour their vocations, so that we can transform these structures that harm our entire human family," McElwee said.

Moorhead mourned the Church's total failure "to seem relevant to the generation of my daughters." She is concerned for her grandchildren who are unlikely to have the same connection with Catholicism as she or her daughters had.

"I think the Church could be far more effective in the world and could really fulfill its social justice mission and live the Gospel if it recruited women in a full way," McElwee said.

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: National Catholic Reporter