This decision clearly demonstrates the Pope's vision of how consultation (decision-making) and actual decision-making should interact.

The process has emphasised unity and harmony, though the Pope accepts that some topics saw considerable dissent. The document challenges dissenters to respect the decision made; in this instance, appealing to a higher authority is not an option.

Controversial Paragraph 60

The paragraph on women drew the highest number of dissenting votes. Here is the text, translated from English:

"60. Through baptism, women and men share equal dignity as members of God's people.

However, women continue to face obstacles in fully recognising their charisms, calling, and role in all aspects of Church life, hindering the Church's shared mission. Scripture highlights the significant role of many women in salvation history.

It was to a woman, Mary Magdalene, that the Resurrection was first announced. On Pentecost, Mary, the Mother of God, was present with many other women who had followed the Lord.

It is essential that the biblical passages telling these stories receive adequate representation in the liturgical lectionaries. Major moments in Church history affirm the vital contributions of women inspired by the Holy Spirit.

Women form the majority of churchgoers and are often the first to bear witness to faith within families. They are active in small Christian communities and parishes, lead schools, hospitals, and shelters, and initiate efforts for reconciliation and social justice.

Women contribute to theological research and hold leadership roles in church institutions, diocesan offices, and even the Roman Curia. Some hold positions of authority and lead their communities.

This assembly calls for the full implementation of every opportunity already available to women under Canon Law, especially in areas where these roles have not yet been fully realised.

No reason or barrier should prevent women from taking on leadership roles within the Church: What comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped.

Furthermore, the question of women's access to the diaconate remains open, and this discernment must continue.

The assembly also urges greater care with language and imagery in homilies, teachings, catechesis, and official Church documents, along with more space for the contributions of female saints, theologians, and mystics."

Observations

The introduction almost feels like an apology, acknowledging that in some parts of the Church, women's contributions are hindered rather than encouraged or appreciated.

The text reiterates familiar points: women possess equal dignity, Scripture honours prominent women, and Mary Magdalene is noted before even the Mother of Jesus. Mary Magdalene is honoured as the "apostle to the apostles"—in a sense, the first "bishop," given that bishops are successors to the apostles.

However, the final document does not fully embrace this concept.

The document also highlights that women have historically held important roles in the Church, with many holding significant leadership positions, particularly in religious orders.

Women are often the primary witnesses to the Gospel within families.

Canon Law already envisions numerous responsibilities for women, which should be fully embraced: "No reason or barrier should prevent women from taking on leadership roles within the Church: What comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped."

The document also states, "The question of women's access to the diaconate remains open."

Cardinal Víctor Miguel Fernández, head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, informed the female Synod delegates that the time for this had not yet arrived.

Why did so many oppose such a well-crafted but unsurprising text?

Likely, the 97 no-votes out of 356 eligible voters reflect various perspectives.

Some oppose any change in the Church's stance on women; presumably, these individuals also voted against involving women in priestly formation, which 40 delegates rejected.

Others felt the text did not go far enough and hoped for a stronger endorsement of women's access to the diaconate.

Women and Ordination

At a demonstration outside the Synod, some women expressed their call not for the diaconate but for ordination to the priesthood.

To them, the idea of women serving as deacons indefinitely, while the door to priesthood remains "never ever" open, is unacceptable.

This "never ever" mirrors the resistance Peter displayed when he initially refused to eat unclean food.

The Holy Spirit needed only three dreams in Joppa and an apostolic council for Peter to change his mind.

Pope Pius IX's "never ever" from the 1864 Syllabus of Errors endured for nearly 100 years before the Council's decree on religious freedom. It is reasonable to wonder how long Pope John Paul II's "never ever" from 1984 will last.

Theologically astute women, within and outside the Synod, argue that priests represent not only the Risen Christ—who transcended gender in the Resurrection—but also the Church, often described as feminine or Marian.

Shouldn't men be able to represent the Church and women represent the Risen Christ?

Indeed, don't all baptised individuals, both ordained and lay, "represent" both the Church and the Risen Christ through their ecclesial and sacramental actions?

The Synod has listened and emphasised that the Spirit cannot be restrained—even on the question of women.

It seems to have accelerated the countdown towards ordination.

• Paul Zulehner is professor emeritus of Pastoral Theology at the University of Vienna.

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 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 exclusion of women from synodal debate is a papal decision, reaffirming their exclusion from "holy orders," meaning the clergy. It's well known that the Pope does not wish to "clericalise" women.

Instead, he prefers to rely on the common priesthood of the faithful, which allows the laity, both men and women, to participate in the church's mission by virtue of their baptism.

Yet, why didn't he balance these two humiliating decisions with positive steps for women?

It leaves the impression that women matter little in the Pope's mind and, likely, in the minds of the entire Roman Magisterium, which remains entangled in the controversies surrounding the Fiducia Supplicans declaration on homosexuality.

Faced with opposing pressures, Pope Francis seems content to steer cautiously—one stroke to the left, another to the right, and the Church drifts on.

But behind these subtle strategies lies half of humanity. How are they regarded?

Difficult integration into the church

The second surprise is why it's so challenging to advance the integration of women into the church. It's unsurprising that a "worldly" institution resists change; gender corporatism and privilege preservation are powerful forces.

"The Church of Christ is not the world; it should embody fraternity and sisterhood."

But the Church of Christ is not the world; it should embody fraternity and sisterhood.

Jesus never relegated women to subservience and invisibility. He wanted them to be as free as men.

In his Church, "an expert in humanity," we should hear the cry: "Beloved sisters, the doors of the Church are wide open to you. Let's build the Kingdom together!"

Clergy's fear

Yet, this is not the case. For over a millennium, women have frightened the clergy, who keep them at a distance and demonize them, as they are seen as a threat to their vow of chastity.

Additionally, the all-male clergy has fostered an exaggerated masculinity of God—a flawed but deeply rooted concept that makes it hard to see a woman as representing Christ.

Over time, gender roles have solidified, with men on one side and women on the other.

To justify this, Rome has emphasised the concept of "difference," which assigns women the "vocation" of being wives and mothers, further excluding them from holy orders.

This establishes an ontological inequality that is utterly foreign to the spirit of Jesus.

Clearly, the church adheres more to worldly corporatism than to gospel teachings. By deeming women as "lesser" than men, is the church making Catholic women the last colony of the Western world?

Faced with this risk, isn't it surprising that the Magisterium isn't rushing to end this apartheid?

In God's eyes

The third surprise concerns us, the women: Why do we tolerate this situation? Do we have so little self-esteem and so little regard for ourselves? Do we hold no value in God's eyes?

In a land of human rights, in an institution that should be a model of emancipation, are we willing to be eternally relegated to the sidelines?

As 16th-century French political theorist Étienne La Boétie reminds us, are we complicit in voluntary servitude?

Let's not believe that by bowing down, we gain humility, as some chaplains still whisper to nuns: "Through your submission, you silently share in the sufferings of the Lord Jesus."

No, this false humility is nothing but laziness, fear disguised as virtue. Ignoring the talents given by the Creator is like the attitude of the unfaithful steward, whom the master rebuked for not investing his gifts.

"Our talents are the Creator's gifts, not our own... Self-esteem is, first and foremost, an appreciation for God's creative act."

Our talents are the Creator's gifts, not our own.

By devaluing ourselves, the steward also showed disrespect for his master: "I knew you were a harsh master." Is this how we speak of God? Self-esteem is, first and foremost, an appreciation for God's creative act.

"I am wonderfully made," says the psalmist. How could we not do everything to honoUr that?

Dignity of women

Yes, the Church's paternalistic stance toward women may seem gentle and, to some, even comforting.

Finally, stepping away from conflict, hoping to resolve tensions by accepting a secondary role… But this does nothing for self-esteem.

Sure, the dignity of women is affirmed—but only in Heaven.

Sure, compliments abound—sometimes excessively—but they lack practical implications. Sure, responsibilities are offered—but as far from the heart of pastoral ministry as possible. Are we gullible enough to fall for this?

So, what do we want? The quiet charm of patriarchal conservatism or the freedom of the Gospel? If we want our Church to be faithful to Jesus' message, then the cause of women is an urgent issue for every Catholic.

• First published in La Croix International
• Anne Soupa (pictured) is a French theologian, writer, and co-founder of the Comite de la jupe. After Cardinal Barbarin's resignation in 2020, she submitted her candidacy for the office of Archbishop of Lyon.

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

Theologian and spiritual director Annemarie Paulin-Campbell said Pope Francis has been a superb leader in many respects.

"However," she said, "when it comes to the issue of women's ordination, he seems to have already made a decision and does not seem open to discerning this issue."

There have been two Vatican commissions on women's ordination to the diaconate—in 2016 and 2020—but their reports have not been made public.

"Where is the transparency in this?" Ms. Paulin-Campbell asked. "It is difficult to feel that these have not simply been a patronizing attempt to pacify women."

She described "a deep sense of disillusionment that the church, on the one hand, is saying we need to be a synodal listening church, and has yet again, it seems, on the other hand, taken the diaconate for women off the table."

This "severely undermines the whole idea of listening and journeying together," Ms. Paulin-Campbell said.

High hopes for the Synod

There had been high hopes that the Synod on Synodality would address this issue concretely.

It was on the agenda for the first sitting in October 2023, but the discussion has been removed from the agenda for the second sitting of the synod, taking place this month.

Ms. Paulin-Campbell said that Pope Francis' remarks in an interview in May with U.S. media - reaffirming that women will never be ordained deacons - has "broken the last thread of hope many women were holding onto, and some have decided to leave now."

Biddy-Rose Tiernan, S.N.D.deN. (pictured), one of South Africa's best-known and loved religious women, said that she keeps asking why there seems to be such a deep-seated fear among the ordained men leading the Roman Catholic Church.

"Is it power? Is it insecurity? So many women are well-educated in theological, scriptural and historical matters."

"Jesus was revolutionary in his inclusion of all as disciples and friends," Sister Tiernan said. "I keep looking for reasons why there is this reluctance or fear and refusal because when I understand the reason behind any decision, I am better able to accept it."

"It would be interesting to hear what's behind Pope Francis' turnaround regarding [the discussion of the] diaconate for women," said Cathy Murugan, H.F. "I'm disappointed in Francis because I believed the synod was about discussing previously ‘unmentionable issues.'"

She said that she does not believe that God's call is "selective and prejudicial." Sister Murugan said that by excluding women from "responding fully to God's call…the church is doing violence to women."

Nontando Hadebe, a member of the Circle of Concerned African Women Theologians and Catholic Women Speak/Preach, said that women's equality is central to both continental and national priorities: "Africa leads the world with the highest number of female parliamentarians.

In Rwanda, for example, 60 percent are women." She said that "the church [in Africa] stands alone and disconnected."

"But there is also another facet to this," Ms. Hadebe said, referring to "the lack of a grassroots, visible, active movement among Catholic women in Africa for women's diaconate."

Many women in Africa are "disconnected and isolated from their global sisters within and outside the church advocating for women's rights."

African Catholic women found some consolation in comments made by Archbishop Buti Tlhagale, the archbishop of Johannesburg, South Africa, who warned bishops of southern Africa of a "deep down" anger among some women because "we have excluded them from ordination."

Prejudice against women

During a sermon at a plenary session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference in August, Archbishop Tlhagale told the bishops that, despite the continuing overall support for the church among women, "priests and bishops don't necessarily have a good reputation [with them]."

Archbishop Tlhagale said that prejudice against women is a sin that should be included among others "when you are going to confess."

He pointed out that the church readily accepts women into its congregations, and they are "in fact, the majority in any community…. Yet, somehow, there is an inbuilt prejudice against women among the Catholic clergy, and I don't think we're going to do much about it now." Read more

• Russell Pollitt, S.J., is America Magazine's Johannesburg correspondent.

Additionally, a rector at another Catholic university called on him to reconsider the Church's prohibition on ordaining women as priests.

The visit underscored the Church's deep challenges in one of Europe's most secular societies.

The pope's day started with a formal meeting with Belgium's King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, followed by a conversation with Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.

De Croo did not shy away from addressing the Catholic Church's handling of clerical abuse.

He highlighted Belgium's troubled history, particularly the case of former Bishop Roger Vangheluwe who admitted to abusing minors, including two of his nephews.

"We cannot ignore the painful wounds that exist in the Catholic community and in civil society" De Croo told the pope. "Numerous cases of sexual abuse and forced adoptions have undermined trust."

He acknowledged Pope Francis's efforts but emphasised that the Church's path to justice remains a long one.

"Victims must be heard and injustices must be recognised" he added. De Croo then insisted that the Church must fully confront its past to move forward.

Abuse being addressed firmly

Pope Francis responded by reaffirming the Church's commitment to addressing clerical sexual abuse.

The pontiff called the abuse "a scourge that the Church is addressing firmly and decisively by listening to and accompanying those who have been wounded, and by implementing a prevention programme throughout the world".

Catholic University distances itself from the Pope's comments on women

Francis then got into trouble "on home soil" at a Catholic university over his remarks about women.

"What characterises women, that which is truly feminine, is not stipulated by consensus or ideologies" he said, adding that dignity is "ensured not by laws written on paper, but by an original law written on our hearts" said Francis at Belgium's UCLouvain University.

"A woman … is a daughter, a sister, a mother, just as a man is a son, a brother, a father" the pope said, emphasising that the Church is not structured like a civil corporation.

Shortly after Francis' comments and in an unusual move, Professors and students at the Catholic university sharply criticised the Pope's remarks.

In a strongly worded statement of disapproval, the University described Francis' views as "deterministic and reductive".

The university said the pope's language did not align with its views on gender equality.

"UCLouvain expresses its incomprehension and disapproval of the position expressed by Pope Francis regarding the role of women in the Church and in society" the university said.

"UCLouvain can only express its disagreement with this deterministic and reductive position."

The university's response marked a rare public rebuke of the pope by a Catholic institution.

Women priests

The incident follows Belgian officials also urging the Church to address and reconsider its ban on ordaining women as priests.

The Louvain university's rector, Luc Sels, urged the pope to restore the Church's moral authority and reconsider its ban on women priests.

"Would the Church not be a warmer community if there was a prominent place for women, including in the priesthood?" Sels asked.

The pope did not respond directly and has not advanced the issue.

Francis defends comments on women

On the pope's return flight from Brussels to Rome on Sunday afternoon, Katholisch.de reports Pope Francis defended his remarks at the Catholic University of Louvain about the fundamental differences between men and women in the Church.

Francis said it was inhumane to "masculinise" women.

"The Church is feminine; she is the bride of Christ. Therefore, the feminine in the Church is more important than the masculine" the pope said.

"Anyone who does not understand this is not thinking hard enough and does not want to hear these words.

"The woman is equal to the man and, in the life of the Church, the woman is more important because the Church is feminine.

"The feminine mysticism is more important than the ministry of men."

He added that these views are not outdated, noting that exaggerated feminism is as ineffective as masculinism.

Climate Change

The 87-year-old pope visited UCLouvain as part of the university's 600th anniversary celebrations. Although his speech primarily addressed climate change, he also responded to a letter from students and professors asking about the Church's position on women.

Sources

Crux Now

Crux Now

Reuters

Katholisch.de (report translated by AI.)

CathNews New Zealand

The image made me sad, because it seemed to reflect what is going on in the Catholic Church and in other American Christian churches.

Many people are no longer coming to church or identifying as Christian, especially young people, and more especially women, who have long been the backbone of the church.

Politics, anticlericalism

In the 19th century in Europe, the Catholic Church lost men because of the church's opposition to liberal reforms: free press, free speech, freedom of religion, labor unions and democracy.

The Church's involvement in politics fed the flames of anticlericalism and drove men out of the Church.

Anyone familiar with this history should not be surprised that both the Catholic Church and evangelical Christian churches are losing members because of their Churches' political stances.

Sadly, I predicted this at the end of the 20th century in an article that appeared in the Jesuit magazine America in June of 1997, "2001 and Beyond: Preparing the Church for the Next Millennium."

Women are angry at the Church's opposition to abortion, in vitro fertilisation and birth control.

For decades, Catholic and evangelical leaders have made abortion the issue that trumped all others, which meant allying with Republicans, who otherwise voted against programs that would help women raise their children.

Women are also angry at not being treated as equals, not only in their being excluded from ministry, but in frequent encounters with male ministers who reeked of a patriarchal culture.

Women have advanced in education, politics, business and professions but are still treated as second-class citizens in the Church.

Add to this the sexual abuse of children and women by Catholic priests and evangelical ministers, and you have a perfect storm that pushed women to abandon their churches.

This is a disaster for the Churches because women have always done the heavy lifting in passing on the faith to the next generation as mothers and religious educators.

If women in the Catholic Church become anticlerical, don't expect their sons to become priests.

Fewer priests and religious

But for Catholics, the crisis is not only about women; it is also about the declining numbers of priests and religious.

In 1965, there were almost 60,000 priests and 178,740 religious sisters in the United States. In 2023 there were 34,092 priests and 35,680 sisters. Even many of these are elderly.

All over the country, seminaries and religious houses are closing or are half empty.

For priesthood, celibacy is obviously the problem. Protestant churches have comparatively little problem finding clergy. If you screen out women, gays and married people, you severely deplete the pool of candidates.

Maybe this is the only way to end clericalism in the Catholic Church: by eliminating the clergy. Maybe God knows what she is doing.

For a while, conservatives blamed the decline of Christianity on liberal reforms in the mainline Protestant churches. But the recent decline of the Southern Baptists has put this theory in the trash bin.

Nor did the conservative era in the Catholic Church under Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI stanch the bleeding:

Those trained and ordained in seminaries filled with conservative faculties promoted under John Paul and Benedict show retention rates no better than those produced by earlier, more progressive faculties.

And little wonder. The conservative bishops appointed by these popes suppressed any creative thinking not in line with orthodoxy as they interpreted it.

Though they kept some of the external reforms of the Second Vatican Council, such as the vernacular liturgy, they extinguished the spirit of collegiality and free discussion released by the council.

Reviving the spirit

Pope Francis is trying to revive that spirit by allowing free discussion in the church and by encouraging synodality, reopening a window that was created by Pope John XXIII but closed by John Paul II.

I fear that, despite Francis' efforts, it may be too late. The damage has been done.

Francis has warned bishops and priests away from clericalism and invited them to synodality, but there is great resistance.

It will take decades to recruit new bishops who will appoint new seminary faculty who will educate a new generation of priests. Remember, John Paul and Benedict had almost 30 years to reform the reform. Francis has only had 11.

Hope

There is always hope.

In last Friday's reading from Ezekiel, the Israelite priest and prophet of the biblical book bearing his name, walked through a field filled with dry bones. He is told to prophesy, "Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord!"

The Lord God then says to these bones: "See! I will bring spirit into you, that you may come to life.

"I will put sinews upon you, make flesh grow over you, cover you with skin, and put spirit in you so that you may come to life and know that I am the Lord."

The Lord GOD continues: "From the four winds come, O spirit, and breathe into these slain that they may come to life." Ezekiel reports that "the spirit came into them; they came alive and stood upright, a vast army."

This prophecy was given to Israel because the whole house of Israel had been saying, "Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost, and we are cut off."

With a compassionate and loving God, hope is never dead. He breathed the Spirit into the church's dry bones at Vatican II.

He will do so again.

• First published by RNS
• The Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS.

At Duke University, I majored in religious studies and then served as pastoral assistant and director of religious education in a small church in upstate New York.
Then, in the summer of 1967, I went to Tucson to study creative movement expression education at the Tucson Creative Dance Center.

Now, where would I go to church? There was time and opportunity to explore.

Exploring the options

I visited the Methodists, the Presbyterians and the Lutherans, but no particular place beckoned.

I had already ruled out the Catholic church — but then the maintenance man at the dance center convinced me to give it a try.

"Go to a 6 a.m. Mass. You'll still have time to go somewhere else after that."

I snuck into a back pew at 5:45 and knelt down, unprepared for what was to follow.

The priest appeared, looking like he had just rolled out of bed, kissed the altar, mumbled, "The Lord be with you," and then snorted and wiped his nose across the sleeve of his alb!

What immediately went through my mind was, "These people are not here for this man, They must be here for ... God!"

Laugh if you will, but I knew at that moment I would become a Catholic. What about my call to ordination? No worries. It was 1968. Vatican II. Change was in the air. All I had to do was be patient. Ordination of women was just around the corner.

Waiting

A few years later, I was a full-fledged Catholic.

I worked at a parish school for more than 15 years, first as a teacher and then as a liturgist.

When it came time for a change, I took a year off to write and live under private religious vows, supplementing my savings with part time jobs.

Over the years, I earned a master's in pastoral ministry from the University of San Francisco, along with certificates in spiritual direction and therapeutic harp work.

I then went to work for 15 years as a certified music practitioner, playing my harp at the bedside of patients at a hospice inpatient unit.

It was a "holy ground" experience. The unit felt like a church, and the patients like beloved parishioners.

Becoming a chaplain

The hospice was looking to increase its number of chaplains, so I enrolled in the ordination programme at the New Seminary for Interfaith Studies, a two-year, low residency programme in New York City.

There were three women in the accelerated programme — all three of us Catholic! All denied ordination by our own church, nevertheless grateful for this path to ordination as interfaith ministers.

After retirement from hospice, and until COVID-19 shut everything down, I volunteered weekly as a chaplain and bedside harpist at a Tucson hospital.

Now I write for the Keeping the Faith section of the Sunday edition of the Arizona Daily Star, drawing on the many years of work for the Catholic church and the broader Christian community.

I have no complaints. But I will forever ask, "Why?"

Why couldn't I be ordained by my own church for service in hospice, hospital, a retreat center, the military, a women's prison, a battered women's shelter, a parish church? Read more

• Carolyn Ancell is a writer and musician in Tucson, Arizona. She has authored 18 books and numerous articles on liturgy and the liturgical arts and is a retired "chaplain with a harp."

Released on 27 February, the first national Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA) report also notes some say their employers could do more to uphold all their employees' dignity.

The WGEA investigated about 5,000 companies, each employing more than 100 people, to determine the gender pay gap data.

Catholic workplaces consistently reported a lower gender pay gap than the 19 percent national median gender pay gap.

The WGEA defined the gender pay gap as the overall difference between women's and men's average weekly full-time equivalent earnings in an organisation.

Catholic employers

Among those the WGEA investigated were the Australian Catholic University (ACU), Caritas Australia and the Archdiocese of Sydney.

The ACU reported a median pay gap of 14.5 per cent, Caritas 13.1 per cent and the Archdiocese chancery 12.2 per cent.

Many Catholic schools, clubs, health and welfare agencies showed smaller or negligible gaps.

In an employer statement Caritas, with a workforce comprising almost 70 per cent of women in the reporting period, said factors like parental leave options contribute to its pay gap.

"While reducing the gender pay gap can be complex, it is a critical objective for Caritas Australia" a spokesperson for the Catholic charity says.

"We wholeheartedly commit to further foster an inclusive workplace where everyone has equal opportunity to thrive."

ACU recently appointed its first Pro Vice-Chancellor (Indigenous) Kelly Humphrey.

A spokesperson says ACU's action plan to remove barriers to equity and diversity was recently awarded the Athena Swan Bronze Award. It is a national accreditation for gender equality in education.

"Analysis of salaries on a level-by-level basis shows pay is close to parity for women and men at most levels for academic and professional staff" the ACU spokesperson says.

"However, for some senior staff positions which are contract-based, a higher gender pay gap is evident."

The Archdiocese of Sydney' says it has worked hard in recent years to improve the representation of women at senior levels.

This effort has seen the first female member being included in the Archdiocese's curia - the governance body which assists the Archbishop.

It has also improved parental leave access, workplace flexibility and other entitlements for all employees, a spokesperson for the Archdiocese says.

"There has been a conscious shift towards improving our support and recognition of women, which is necessary."

The spokesperson says while there is still work to do, the archbishop is paying close interest.

He is particularly interested in finding out what is being done and what is still to be done to improve the lives of women and family lives of all who work at the archdiocese.

Abut half the employees in senior leadership roles at the chancery are women.

One says that while her situation in Australia is different from that of many women in other countries, she has always felt respected and heard, given opportunities and had her contribution valued at the chancery.

"Working for the equality of women aligns with Catholic social teaching in which the dignity of every person is upheld" she says.

Source

• Catholic Weekly

"Today we still have a lot to do to promote women. There are still many areas where women continue to be discriminated against," said Gabriella Gambino, a professor of bioethics and undersecretary of the Vatican Department for Laity, Family and Life.

Gambino appeared at a press event on Wednesday (Feb. 28) in Rome to promote "Women in the Church: Builders of Humanity," a conference scheduled for March 7 and 8 at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.

The conference will focus on the lives and legacies of 10 female saints, who despite the challenges of their times and cultures left a meaningful mark in the church.

Among better-known canonized women such as Mother Teresa and Elizabeth Ann Seton, the conference is examining the life of Sister Josephine Bakhita, the first Black woman to be made a saint, who championed victims of human trafficking.

The conference is meant "to put the lives of these women within the context of the concrete lives of men and women of our time," Gambino explained.

The conference is a collaboration by several Catholic institutions and universities along with foreign embassies to the Holy See, which are represented today by a record number of women ambassadors.

The 20 or so ambassadors are connected through an informal WhatsApp group created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gambino holds to a different kind of feminism from the one many other women and even other academics espouse.

The mother of five believes that womanhood and motherhood are intrinsically tied and that men must be seen as needing support along with women. "In the church, this is called co-responsibility," she said.

Starting with Pope John Paul II and increasingly under Pope Francis, women have been acquiring more relevance in the church and currently hold many important Vatican offices.

Last October, at a summit of bishops and lay people at the Vatican to discuss the most pressing topics facing the church, the question of female roles was front and centre.

While some Catholic women propose that women be allowed to become priests or at least the lesser ordained order of deacon, others seek alternative ways to promote women in the church.

"It's about living out the baptismal vocation to the fullest," Gambino said, which entails "adopting within the church a new paradigm that is capable of understanding the female condition and can lead to the creation of roles for women in the church, especially at the local level, where they are often neglected."

"The issue is how to get men interested in addressing the question of female leadership," said Cristina Reyes, academic vice rector of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, across the Tiber River from the Vatican. "That seems like a real challenge to me," she said.

Changing the church culture toward women, the leaders of the conference seemed to recognize, was a slow process.

Of the academic institutions participating in the conference, including the Catholic University of Avila, the Pontifical Urbanian University, the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum and Pontifical Theological Faculty Teresianum, all within a few miles of St Peter's Basilica, few have women deans. But Lorella Congiunti, who teaches at the Pontifical Urbanian University, said a growing number of female professors and students are already changing the face of Catholic education.

"Governing or being a rector is not the most important thing," Congiunti said.

"What matters is working alongside the students. It's a fundamental relationship that is built into universities."

Congiunti said that just standing behind a desk and teaching the numerous students and priests, often from African countries, who come to learn at her university can have a lasting impact on how they will perceive women in the future.

"One time, a priest from Asia told me, ‘You are the first woman I see speaking about philosophy.' He probably came from a context where women don't study," said Congiunti. "This is very important."

• Claire Giangravé - Vatican Correspondent RNS. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

But hidden in the synod participants' 40-page synthesis are some surprising gems that could lead to significant reform in the church.

The hidden gems

The first is a new stress on lay involvement.

Compared with other Christian churches, the Catholic Church is very hierarchical. This synod, especially the conversations at roundtables, was structured so that lay voices, including women and young people, were heard and respected.

"Synod path called by the Holy Father is to involve all the baptized," the report notes. "We ardently desire this to happen and want to commit ourselves to making it possible."

Secondly, the synod promotes "Conversation in the Spirit."

The term refers to a practice that "enables authentic listening in order to discern what the Spirit is saying to the Churches," the report explains.

It adds that "‘conversation' expresses more than mere dialogue: it interweaves thought and feeling, creating a shared vital space."

Third, the report acknowledges disagreements and uncertainties.

In the past, the hierarchy tended to cover them up, presenting a united front to the faithful and the world.

But on its first page the synod's report acknowledges "The multiplicity of interventions and the plurality of positions voiced in the Assembly,".

It admits "that it is not easy to listen to different ideas, without immediately giving in to the temptation to counter the views expressed."

In each following chapter, any disagreements and uncertainties are listed under "matters for consideration" that "require deepening our understanding pastorally, theologically, and canonically."

The report also acknowledges its divides.

"The Church too is affected by polarisation and distrust in vital matters such as liturgical life and moral, social and theological reflection," it reads.

"We need to recognise the causes of each through dialogue and undertake courageous processes of revitalising communion and processes of reconciliation to overcome them."

Fourth, the report addresses the concerns of women.

"Women cry out for justice in societies still marked by sexual violence, economic inequality and the tendency to treat them as objects," it says.

"Women are scarred by trafficking, forced migration and war. Pastoral accompaniment and vigorous advocacy for women should go hand in hand."

The church must "avoid repeating the mistake of talking about women as an issue or a problem.

Instead, we desire to promote a Church in which men and women dialogue together, in order to understand more deeply the horizon of God's project, that sees them together as protagonists, without subordination, exclusion and competition."

The synod concluded that in the church "It is urgent to ensure that women can participate in decision-making processes and assume roles of responsibility in pastoral care and ministry."

Fifth, it did not forget the poor, "who do not have the things they need to lead a dignified life."

Instead it insists on their dignity, cautioning the church to avoid "viewing those living in poverty in terms of ‘them' and ‘us,' as ‘objects' of the Church's charity.

Putting those who experience poverty at the center and learning from them is something the Church must do more and more."

Sixth, it charges the church with combating racism and xenophobia, saying it must take action against "a world where the number of migrants and refugees is increasing while the willingness to welcome them is decreasing and where the foreigner is viewed with increasing suspicion."

In addition, "Systems within the Church that create or maintain racial injustice need to be identified and addressed. Processes for healing and reconciliation should be created, with the help of those harmed, to eradicate the sin of racism."

Seventh, abuse in the church must be dealt with.

It suggests that the church explore the possibility of setting up a juridical body separate from the bishop to handle accusations of clerical abuse, saying, "It is necessary to develop further structures dedicated to the prevention of abuse."

Eighth, the synod participants called for reforming priestly formation.

"Formation should not create an artificial environment separate from the ordinary life of the faithful," the report said.

It called for "a thorough review of formation programmes, with particular attention to how we can foster the contribution of women and families to them."

It recommended joint formation programmes for "the entire People of God (laity, consecrated and ordained ministers)."

It also called on episcopal conferences to "create a culture of lifelong formation and learning."

Ninth, the synod called for a regular review of how bishops, priests and deacons carry out their ministry in their diocese.

This would include "regular review of the bishop's performance, with reference to the style of his authority, the economic administration of the diocese's assets, and the functioning of participatory bodies, and safeguarding against all possible kinds of abuse."

Tenth, the report took on liturgical language.

It says the texts used in Catholic rites should be "more accessible to the faithful and more embodied in the diversity of cultures."

It later suggested that liturgy and church documents must be "more attentive to the use of language that takes into equal consideration both men and women, and also includes a range of words, images and narratives that draw more widely on women's experience."

Eleventh, it raised the possibility of offering Communion to non-Catholics, or what it called "Eucharistic hospitality (Communicatio in sacris)."

Saying it was a pastoral issue as much as an ecclesial or theological one, the report noted that such hospitality was "of particular importance to inter-church couples."

Twelfth, the report took aim at what it means to be a deacon in the church.

As it is, the deaconate is largely seen as a steppingstone to priesthood.

The report questions the emphasis on deacons' liturgical ministry rather than "service to those living in poverty and who are needy in the community.

Therefore, we recommend assessing how the diaconal ministry has been implemented since Vatican II."

Thirteenth, the reform of the Roman Curia must continue.

The synod affirmed Pope Francis' statement in the Apostolic Constitution "Praedicate evangelium," released in March of 2022, that "the Roman Curia does not stand between the Pope and the Bishops, rather it places itself at the service of both in ways that are proper to the nature of each."

The synod called for "a more attentive listening to the voices of local churches" by the Curia, especially during periodic visits of bishops to Rome.

These should be occasions for "open and mutual exchange that fosters communion and a true exercise of collegiality and synodality."

The synod also asked for a careful evaluation of "whether it is opportune to ordain the prelates of the Roman Curia as bishops," implicitly suggesting that laypeople might hold top Vatican positions.

Fourteenth, the report said canon law needs updating.

"A wider revision of the Code of Canon Law," it reads, "is called for at this time" to emphasise the synodality of the church at all levels.

For example, it suggests, pastoral councils should be mandatory in parishes and dioceses. It also held up for imitation a recent plenary council of Australia.

Lastly, the synod wants to promote small Christian communities, "who live the closeness of the day-to-day, around the Word of God and the Eucharist" and by their nature foster a synodal style.

"We are called to enhance their potential," the synod's members said.

You will not find these gems written about in the media, but if we let the media tell us what to see in the synod, we might miss important opportunities for church reform.

• First published in Religion News Service
• Thomas J. Reese, a Jesuit priest, is a Senior Analyst at RNS. Previously he was a columnist at the National Catholic Reporter (2015-17) and an associate editor (1978-85) and editor in chief (1998-2005) at America magazine.

Blair is a barrister and women's rights advocate.

She spoke by video at a parallel Synod event, Spirit Unbounded, an assembly organised by the international reform network

Blair began her speech praising Pope Francis' Synod on Synodality as a step toward Church reform.

"It can only be a good thing that efforts are being made to hear and to listen to the voices of people in the Church, not least the voices of women," said Cherie Blair, speaking of the Synod.

Discussing her personal faith journey, Blair credited her early experiences with the Church, particularly her grandmother Vera and the nuns at Seafield Convent School in Crosby, Liverpool as being "instrumental in her academic success and career in the law".

Church does not do enough for women

However Blair criticised the Church's track record on women's issues as "at best mixed".

She pointed out that while women increasingly have roles in theology, aid agencies and even in some Vatican positions, "there remains a strong sense that the Church does not do enough for women."

She added that the Church's teachings and priorities, particularly on birth control, "do not always serve women well."

No need to fear change

Drawing on working documents from the 2022 synod, Blair said consultations revealed that many women feel their lives are "often not well understood, and their contributions and charisms not always valued.

"The Church needs to change and should not fear change," said Blair.

She said the synod demonstrated what can be accomplished.

"Where there is a will…" she said.

Church reinvigoration

Blair stressed the importance of "listening to women's voices" and understanding the broader social and cultural context in which we all live.

"Women have continually proven that they can shatter glass ceilings and create opportunities where none existed before" and she is urging the Church to harness this energy to "reinvigorate" itself.

Reflecting on the success of the Cherie Blair Foundation, Blair was passionate about the rise of women in entrepreneurship.

The rise of women "is not just a story of empowerment. It is a story of innovation, resilience and the power of diversity. It's a story that's changing the world for the better" she said.

"We need to harness and replicate that story in our quest to reinvigorate the church."

A moral issue

She argued the Church is well-positioned to join the cultural shift toward true equality of opportunity.

Blair labels the cultural shift towards true equality a deeply moral issue.

"If it makes it much more apparent that it is on the side of women and that the dignity of women is of vital importance as a deeply moral issue, then it will have profound consequences for all women, both within and without the Church," she said.

Men too

Blair also urged the Church to be more supportive of parents, criticising its tendency to "idealise motherhood" while neglecting the role of fathers.

She said, "An involved fatherhood means men take their responsibility too for childcare and everything that involves bringing up the next generation."

Blair concluded that a long-overdue debate on birth control and family needs should occur and be transformed into action.

"I hope and pray that together we can finally not only have that debate but also see it transformed into action," she said.

Source

The Vatican has drawn the faithful from across the globe, including bishops and cardinals, for the month-long synod.

The synod, arising from a comprehensive global consultation of Catholics, addresses pressing issues within the Church including women's ordination and the inclusion of LGBTQ individuals.

The working document guiding discussions at the synod, Instrumentum Laboris, acknowledges the appeals for the female diaconate.

This proposal would permit women to oversee Mass but not administer sacraments such as the Mass and Confession.

"When we received the Instrumentum Laboris we were very hopeful," said Kate McElwee, the executive director of Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW).

However, women's ordination advocates worry that limiting the discussion to the diaconate, without any mention of the words "ordination" or "ministry," was a way of "constraining the Holy Spirit."

Despite this concern, McElwee believes the event could be "a synod of surprises."

In the lead-up to the synod, the US Bishops' Conference invited McElwee to speak about female ordination to US delegates.

"Invitations from the institutional church are new to our movement and signal a novelty," McElwee said. She added that the synod "not only looks different, but feels different."

During the vigil titled "Let Her Voice Carry," several women shared their deep emotional struggles within the Church. Patrizia Morgante, a member of the Italian group Donne per la Chiesa ("Women for the Church") questioned how Church limitations affected her and other women.

Morgante highlighted a sense of incomplete acceptance and a perception that being a woman was seen as an obstacle to full participation in the Church's life.

"I still believe in the Church," Morgante said in her testimony. "I hope and dream of [a] Church that is a safe space for women and men to express their full vocation as [witnesses] of Jesus."

Sources

Religion News Service

National Catholic Reporter

CathNews New Zealand

Pope Francis' main purpose in visiting Mongolia was to visit its tiny Catholic community. He completed his trip with a stop to tour and inaugurate the House of Mercy.

The House of Mercy provides health care to the most needy in the Mongolian capital and the homeless, victims of domestic abuse and migrants.

During his visit to the House, Francis blessed the sign of the charitable institution, which was established to assist women and girls in escaping domestic violence.

The House also has temporary lodging for migrants and others in need and a basic medical clinic for the homeless.

In visiting the House, Francis said he wanted to dispel "the myth" that the aim of Catholic institutions was to convert people to the religion "as if caring for others were a way of enticing people to 'join up'."

Inaugurating the church-run facility, Francis stressed that such initiatives aren't aimed at winning converts.

They are simply exercises in Christian charity, he said.

He went on to urge Mongolians rich and poor to volunteer to help their fellow citizens.

"The true progress of a nation is not gauged by economic wealth, much less by investment in the illusory power of armaments, but by its ability to provide for the health, education and integral development of its people," Francis said at the House.

The local church opened the House as an expression of the three-decade-deep roots the Catholic Church put down during its official presence in Mongolia.

However, his visit took on international connotations because of his overtures to neighbouring China about freedom of religion.

At the end of a Mass on Sunday, Francis sent greetings to China. He called its citizens a "noble" people and asked Catholics in China to be "good Christians and good citizens."

Several foreign-staffed Catholic religious orders in Mongolia run shelters, orphanages and nursing homes.

In these, they care for a population of 3.3 million where one in three people lives in poverty.

Source

• Reuters
• AP News

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.

But when 99% of Catholic churches have a male preacher this Sunday in a world where 50% of the Catholic population are women, it's time for our daughters and granddaughters — and sons and grandsons — to see us naming out loud a problem we've endured quietly in our hearts.

What seemed normalised to my devout Catholic Cuban grandmothers, and became uncomfortable for my mother and has become unacceptable for me, is now unbearable for my nieces and many of our daughters.

This will have untold consequences for the future of Catholic ministries.

According to a report by the Pew Research Center, as of 2022, 43% of Hispanic adults identify as Catholic, down from 67% in 2010.

In my work listening to older Hispanic/Latino Catholics in Miami, Los Angeles, New York and elsewhere, I often hear how their children and grandchildren have become disengaged from their families' long-standing, multigenerational Catholic faith.

The loss of family unity feels enormous.

I co-direct Discerning Deacons, a project inviting Catholics to consider women's inclusion in the permanent diaconate — an order that already includes married men ordained to serve in the life of the church.

We launched our effort because young Catholics have only ever lived in a church reckoning with the clergy sex-abuse crisis.

They see other professional fields taking steps to recognize women in visible leadership roles — athletics, government, academics, medicine, business — and wonder why their religious institutions will not.

These challenges have not escaped my own family.

After my niece Carolina was confirmed as a teenager, she begged her parents not to obligate her to keep going to Mass.

My niece found it increasingly painful and unbearable to walk into a church where only men preached.

"I can't find God in church when I'm feeling so angry and rejected," Carolina told her mother.

"They haven't set up a space to welcome me the way I believe God would welcome me."

The family was faced with rethinking Sundays.

Ultimately, they agreed that Carolina would choose a spiritual book that interested her to keep nurturing her soul, which was important to her parents, and on the way to Mass, they would drop her off at Starbucks.

After they picked her up, they would engage in a faith conversation.

Today, Carolina is living out her faith by building a community that is more inclusive and welcoming — much like what Jesus did. Continue reading

• Ellie Hidalgo is a parishioner at Our Lady of Divine Providence Church in Miami, Florida and is co-director of Discerning Deacons, a project that engages Catholics in the active discernment of our Church about women and the diaconate.

Human embodiment matters because we are our bodies rather than being some sort of disembodied minds that happen to be piloting meat suits.

Consequently, feminism focused on effacing the differences between men and women does not serve women's interests.

Harrington writes from experience.

After an extended adolescence exploring and experimenting with sexual liberation and queer theory, she lost her faith in progress and discovered the value of marriage and motherhood.

She explains that she had

"taken for granted the notion that men and women are substantially the same apart from our dangly bits, and ‘progress' meant broadly the same thing for both sexes: the equal right to self-realization, shorn of culturally imposed obligations, expectation, stereotypes or constraints. The experience of being pregnant, and then a new mother, blew this out of the water."

A unisex world of atomised individuals freed from the limitations and obligations of tradition, faith, family, and even embodiment is not good for women.

Harrington traces the sources of this ideology through material and intellectual developments, emphasising the importance of technological change in driving social change.

She begins with the Industrial Revolution, which increased economic asymmetry between the sexes by moving production out of the home.

Consequently, households became consumers of wages earned elsewhere, and labour became defined by wage earning.

This shift away from a home-based economic interdependence provoked an emphasis on companionate marriage and the "cult of domesticity."

This was an attempt to protect women's interests and assert the continued interdependence of the sexes, even as men became the sole breadwinners.

The home was held up as a refuge amidst the competitive instability of the market—a haven in a heartless world.

Given the reproductive asymmetry between men and women, in which the latter bear far more of the risks and burdens, this division between breadwinners and homemakers was defensible as the genuine pro-women view against more liberationist strains of feminism that sought to have women compete with men in an androgynous world of autonomous individualism.

The Pill ended the duel between these two forms of feminism.

Contraception seemed to liberate women from the perceived handicap of their natural fertility.

Control over fertility meant that sex would no longer render women at least potentially dependent upon men for support, and they could pursue education, careers, prestige and sexual pleasure with all the freedom and independence of men in the modern liberal world.

But it was not so simple.

Nature persists, and contraception and abortion did not eliminate all of the sexual asymmetry between men and women.

As Harrington puts it:

"A few short decades of sexuality unmoored from reproduction via technology are no match, it seems, for millennia of evolution."

Sexual liberation has established a ruthless relational and sexual market that creates a lot of losers and inflicts a lot of pain.

Far from establishing solidarity, the sexual marketplace exacerbates the war between the sexes. Instead of encouraging stable interdependence, it pushes men and women to exploit each other in highly sexed ways.

The result is increased alienation, loneliness, and—despite the promises of the sexual revolution—sex that is less frequent and less satisfying.

Harrington concludes that for "men and women alike, then, the sexual revolution has not delivered in practice.

Rather than grant all a marvellous new world of polymorphous sexual freedom," it has delivered "mutually antagonistic caricatures of those features of male and female sexual differences which persist despite our best efforts."

The result is a world of dating apps and camgirls, incels and OnlyFans. And in this world relationships and commitment are declining, and fertility is falling. Continue reading

I have always been a rule follower: I liked wearing uniforms at my all-girls Catholic schools, and I get annoyed when the priest goes off-book saying some of the prayers during Mass.

I even enjoy the Latin Mass, at least during the few times I have attended.

So this realisation, which I had soon after I started working at America, surprised me: The church needs (more) women in the hierarchy of the Vatican and its decision-making processes.

Again, I usually do not call for big changes or support radical ideas.

If the church has worked this way for 2,000 years, I used to think, who are we to change it now?

But then I ended up working in an organisation that is mostly male, and I realised that for the first time, I was a minority. (America Media has more women and lay staff than it did a decade ago. But there are still more men than women.)

Up until a few months ago, every religious space I had ever been in was mostly or all female.

The religious authorities I knew (outside of my parish priest) were all women, and from what I saw, they never felt the need to have their decisions validated by men.

I went to a small all-girls Catholic school from fourth to eighth grade, then I attended a slightly larger all-girls Catholic high school.

My university's student body skewed mostly female (nearly 60 percent), and the Catholic studies program I was in had an even more pronounced majority of women.

Thus, almost every religious conversation I had with leaders or peers or family, was initiated by women who were not afraid to speak their minds on church teaching or anything else.

I never really considered the role of women at the Vatican.

In my mind, the authority that Sister Mary Thomas, or my lay teachers, had behind school gates extended to the wider church. Who would dare to tell Sister Mary Thomas that her opinion is not welcome on church governance?

Now as a woman, I am part of a minority at America, and yet I am working in a religious space that is otherwise familiar to me. I find it strange, though it is probably normal for working women in the rest of the world, to have life experiences that are different than, and perhaps not fully understood by, my male colleagues.

Some examples: I would avoid going to the halal cart outside my apartment alone after about 9 p.m. (the man who works there is a little too friendly with the women in my building).

I would not think to go on a walk when it's dark out, nor would I be comfortable sending a friend home late at night by herself. Some of these could be attributed to my self-ascribed status as "mom friend": the person who acts in a quintessential "mom" way, slightly overprotective and responsible for others.

But the fact is that as a woman, I react to personal safety issues in a different way than men do.

What does this have to do with running the church? Continue reading

While the synodal process already underway has just begun to reveal some of these paths, the dialogues that have taken place identify a series of challenges that the people of God must face if we are to reflect the identity of a church that is rooted in the call of Christ, the apostolic tradition and the Second Vatican Council.

Many of these challenges arise from the reality that a church that is calling all women and men to find a home in the Catholic community contains structures and cultures of exclusion that alienate all too many from the church or make their journey in the Catholic faith tremendously burdensome.

Reforming our own structures of exclusion will require a long pilgrimage of sustained prayer, reflection, dialogue and action—all of which should begin now.

It is important at this stage in the synodal process for the Catholic community in the United States to deepen our dialogue about these structures and cultures of exclusion for two reasons.

The first is to continue to contribute to the universal discernment on these issues, recognising that these same questions have surfaced in many nations of the world.

The second reason is the recognition that since the call to synodality is a call to continuing conversion, reforming our own structures of exclusion will require a long pilgrimage of sustained prayer, reflection, dialogue and action—all of which should begin now.

Such a pilgrimage must be infused with an overpowering dedication to listen attentively to the Holy Spirit in a process of discernment, not political action.

It must reflect the reality that we are part of a universal and hierarchical church that is bound together on a journey of faith and communion.

It must always point to the missionary nature of the church, which looks outward in hope.

Our efforts must find direction and consolation in the Eucharist and the Word of God.

And they must reflect the understanding that in a church that seeks unity, renewal and reform are frequently gradual processes.

"Enlarge the Space of Your Tent," the document issued last year by the Holy See to capture the voices of men and women from around the world who have participated in the synodal process, concluded that "the vision of a church capable of radical inclusion, shared belonging and deep hospitality according to the teachings of Jesus is at the heart of the synodal process."

We must examine the contradictions in a church of inclusion and shared belonging that have been identified by the voices of the people of God in our nation and discern in synodality a pathway for moving beyond them.

We must examine the contradictions in a church of inclusion and shared belonging and discern in synodality a pathway for moving beyond them.

Polarisation Within the Life of the Church

An increasingly strong contradiction to the vision of a church of inclusion and shared belonging lies in the growth of polarisation within the life of the church in the United States and the structures of exclusion that it breeds.

In the words of "Enlarge the Space of Your Tent," "the wounds of the church are intimately connected to those of the world." Our political society has been poisoned by a tribalism that is sapping our energy as a people and endangering our democracy. And that poison has entered destructively into the life of the church.

This polarisation is reflected in the schism so often present between the pro-life communities and justice-and-peace communities in our parishes and dioceses.

It is found in the false divide between "Pope Francis Catholics" and "St John Paul II Catholics."

It is found in the friction between Catholics who emphasise inclusion and others who perceive doctrinal infidelity in that inclusion.

Even the Eucharist has been marred by this ideological polarisation in both the debates about the pre-conciliar liturgy and the conflicts over masking that roiled many parishes during the pandemic of the past several years.

As "Enlarge the Space of Your Tent" observes, we find ourselves "trapped in conflict, such that our horizons shrink and we lose our sense of the whole, and fracture into sub-identities. It is an experience of Babel, not Pentecost."

Our political society has been poisoned by a tribalism that is endangering our democracy. And that poison has entered destructively into the life of the church.

A culture of synodality is the most promising pathway available today to lead us out of this polarisation in our church.

Such a culture can help to relativise these divisions and ideological prisms by emphasising the call of God to seek first and foremost the pathway that we are being called to in unity and grace.

A synodal culture demands listening, a listening that seeks not to convince but to understand the experiences and values of others that have led them to this moment.

A synodal culture of true encounter demands that we see in our sisters and brothers common pilgrims on the journey of life, not opponents. We must move from Babel to Pentecost.

Bringing the peripheries to the centre

"Closely related to the wound of polarisation," the U.S. report on the synod concludes, "is the wound of marginalisation.

Not only do those who experience this wound suffer, but their marginalisation has become a source of scandal for others."

The continuing sin of racism in our society and our church has created prisons of exclusion that have endured for generations, especially among our African American and Native American communities.

Synod participants have testified eloquently to the sustained ways in which patterns of racism are embedded in ecclesial practices and culture.

These same patterns infect the treatment of many ethnic and cultural communities within the life of the church, leaving them stranded on the periphery of ecclesial life at critical moments. Piercingly, the church at times marginalises victims of clergy sexual abuse in a series of destructive and enduring ways.

The poorest among us, the homeless, the undocumented, the incarcerated and refugees often are not invited with the same energy and effectiveness as others into the fullness of church life and leadership. And the voice of the church is at times muted in advocating for their rights.

Faced with such patterns of exclusion in our church and our world, we must take to heart the message of Pope Benedict speaking to the people of Latin America on the wounds that marginalisation inflicts: "the church must relive and become what Jesus was; the Good Samaritan who came from afar, entered into human history, lifted us up and sought to heal us."

Pope Benedict XVI: "The church must relive and become what Jesus was; the Good Samaritan who came from afar, entered into human history, lifted us up and sought to heal us."

One avenue for lifting us up and healing the patterns and structures of marginalization in our church and our world is to systematically bring the peripheries into the centre of life in the church.

This means attending to the marginalisation of African Americans and Native Americans, victims of clergy sexual abuse, the undocumented and the poor, the homeless and the imprisoned, not as a secondary element of mission in every church community, but as a primary goal.

Bringing the peripheries to the centre means constantly endeavouring to support the disempowered as protagonists in the life of the church.

It means giving a privileged place in the priorities and budgets and energies of every ecclesial community to those who are most victimised and ignored.

It means advocating forcefully against racism and economic exploitation. In short, it means creating genuine solidarity within our ecclesial communities and our world, as St John Paul repeatedly urged us.

Women in the Life of the Church

The synodal dialogues in every region of our world have given sustained attention to the structures and cultures that exclude or diminish women within the life of the church.

Participants have powerfully pointed out that women represent both the majority of the church and an even larger majority of those who contribute their time and talents to the advancement of the church's mission.

The report of the Holy Land on its synodal dialogues captured this reality: "In a church where almost all decision-makers are men, there are few spaces where women can make their voices heard. Yet they are the backbone of church communities."

The synodal dialogues have reflected widespread support for changing these patterns of exclusion in the global church, as well as for altering structures, laws and customs that effectively limit the presence of the rich diversity of women's gifts in the life of the Catholic community.

There are calls for eliminating rules and arbitrary actions that preclude women from many roles of ministry, administration and pastoral leadership, as well as for admitting women to the permanent diaconate and ordaining women to the priesthood.

One productive pathway for the church's response to these fruits of the synodal dialogues would be to adopt the stance that we should admit, invite and actively engage women in every element of the life of the church that is not doctrinally precluded. Continue reading