WOC responds to final Pan-Amazonian synod document
| For Immediate Release 26 October 2019 The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) welcomes Pope Francis’ announcement that the study commission on women deacons will be convoked again in response to the discussion about women deacons at the Pan-Amazonian synod. “We were listening,” the Pope said. We hope further deep listening to the valid vocations of women continues at the highest levels of the Church so that members of the hierarchy might finally understand the demands of the Gospel: Jesus entrusted “ministeriality” to women, as the final document notes, and we must do the same today, ordaining women to the diaconate and priesthood. WOC continues to challenge the prolonged “study of women,” particularly in light of the scarcity of sacraments in the Amazon and many regions around the world, and the repeated calls for ordained ministries for women at the synod gathering. As Cardinal Michael Czerny said at the Vatican press briefing about the final document, “We cannot keep repeating old responses to urgent problems and expect to get better results.” The lack of women’s official and equal recognition in the Church is an urgent problem that receives recycled responses with insufficient results. The ordination of older married men is not a solution, but a measure that further marginalizes the vocations and gifts of women. Among the incremental steps for women outlined in the synod document, one recommendation included was that a woman could be entrusted by her bishop to perform ecclesial functions. If women can be entrusted with ecclesial functions — as they should be — it is absurd to suggest that they cannot be entrusted with ordained ministry. In the spirit of conversion called for in the synod document, we urge the hierarchy to be unafraid of pursuing a new path that empowers women as equals. Women are the vanguard of the Church, finding a way in seemingly impossible situations. Women are the vanguard of the environmental movement, who recognize that when the environment suffers, it is women and children — especially those who are poor — who suffer most. Now is the time for the Church to not just recognize women’s leadership, but transform its institutions to honor their leadership sacramentally. The crises in our world and our Church deserve nothing less. Contact: Kate McElwee, Executive Director kmcelwee@womensordination.org |
| Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) is the oldest and largest organization working to ordain women as deacons, priests, and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church. A feminist voice for women in the Roman Catholic Church, WOC is a grassroots-driven movement that promotes activism, dialogue, and prayerful witness to call for women’s full equality in the Church. |