Women in the Church: Spare Me This Platitudinous Waffle

The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith is going to produce a document on the role of women in the Church, which we are told is a new initiative to respond to longstanding demands by women to have a greater say in the Church’s life. I suppose we’re meant to take this as compensation for the fact that, in violation of all we were told about the synodal process, the Instrumentum Laboris for this year’s synod excludes discussion of ordaining women to the diaconate.

The Synthesis Report of the 2023 Synod implied that there would be some discussion of women deacons in the 2024 gathering. Acknowledging that “different positions have been expressed regarding women’s access to the diaconal ministry,” it proposed that:

Theological and pastoral research on the access of women to the diaconate should be continued, benefiting from consideration of the results of the commissions specially established by the Holy Father, and from the theological, historical and exegetical research already undertaken. If possible, the results of this research should be presented to the next Session of the Assembly [italics added].

There have already been two commissions on women deacons, and neither of their reports have been made public. According to the 2024 Instrumentum Laboris:

While some local Churches call for women to be admitted to the diaconal ministry, others reiterate their opposition. On this issue, which will not be the subject of the work of the Second Session [italics added], it is good that theological reflection should continue, on an appropriate timescale and in the appropriate ways.

And so, the process goes on—delays, deferrals, further reflections, unpublished reports—while the platitudinous waffle about women’s charisms and gifts drones on year after year.

It is hardly surprising that there is no universal consensus on the question of women deacons, but that cannot be the prerequisite for every doctrinal development and change in the Church. The African Church is sometimes cited as a source of resistance and possible alienation if women were ordained, but what is true of the hierarchy is not always true of the people. Some African bishops are mired in patriarchal cultures and values, but others have been vocal in their support for African women’s struggles against patriarchy. My work with African women theologians has led me to believe that the Church in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa offers many more opportunities for women’s leadership and participation than its western counterparts. The Orthodox Church has just ordained the first woman to the diaconate in modern times. She is a Zimbabwean woman called Angelic Molen, and the ordination took place in Harare with the approval and support of the Alexandrian Synod and other church leaders (known as patriarchs in the Orthodox Church). This calls into question attempts to justify resistance to female ordination by referring to the African Church.

In 2022, the international network Catholic Women Speak commissioned a survey into attitudes of women in the worldwide Church for submission to the Synod. The survey, which was led by Tracy McEwan and Kathleen McPhillips of the University of Newcastle in Australia, was distributed in eight languages and attracted more than 17,000 responses from 104 countries. While it cannot claim to be representative of all Catholic women, it provides a significant insight into Catholic women’s faith, their hopes and fears, joys and struggles, in many different cultural contexts. Responses to some issues reflected cultural differences, but the vast majority of respondents overall saw a need for change in the Church. As more and more women become educated and assertive with regard to our rights, responsibilities and opportunities in secular institutions and cultures, it becomes less and less tolerable for the Catholic hierarchy to infantilize us with patronising platitudes and romantic stereotypes. If we would not tolerate this kind of attitude in our homes and places of work, why should we tolerate it in the Church where we are supposed to experience our greatest dignity as co-equals and disciples made in the image of God?

Some years ago, I was shocked when an older woman told me that she despaired of change, and by despairing she was able to continue to practice her faith. I am beginning to understand what she meant. I cannot walk away from the Catholic faith with all that it means in the Church’s sacraments and liturgies, in the works of genius it has inspired in music, art and architecture, in the intellectual integrity of its best theological traditions, in its ministry to the poorest of the poor throughout history. But I no longer have the slightest interest in the chunterings of a celibate male hierarchy when it comes to women. In the nearly 40 years since I was received into the Church, I have seen little if any substantial change in the role of women or in clerical attitudes towards us. I am no longer interested in the Vatican and its Synods, commissions and reports. Maybe that is a kind of despair, but it allows me to keep my sanity as well as my faith.

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Tina Beattie is a Professor Emerita of Catholic Studies at the University of Roehampton, London.

Comments

[Joe O’Leary]

I despair too, and expect NOTHING from Vatican officials producing their pensums on topics about which they know NOTHING and on which they have been unable to DIALOGUE, DISCUSS, or CONSULT. A clerical all-male cocoon is the WORST milieu in which to talk about women.

[Marge]

I have despaired since ~1973 when a widespread questionnaire concerning women’s concerns was done. The church is slow to change but really…50 years of dissembling? I’m still here but my grandchildren aren’t nor will they be until the church allows ministry by women and gives lgbtq persons the respect they should have as the created of God. The church’s right wing, contaminated by the culture of today, approaches the antisemitism of the past, and individualism over charity and recognition of the humanity of all. Perhaps more drastic changes should be pressed, allowing those with schismatic views to leave the church to allow Christ’s church to become that which it initially was meant to be, a fraternally cohesive group acting for the good of all, utilizing all in the task of salvation of all. That means all men and women regardless of their marital status.

[Richard Putz]

We know of women deacons and presbyters in the first century. The rise of patriarchy and imperialism, coupled with a desire for empire-building, gave birth to celibacy on a broad scale in the Western Rite. When a ship is over 2000 years old and addition after addition has been added, it is difficult to turn around—not impossible.

[Charlotte Horn]

Why do Catholic women wait to see what the Vatican decides and allows? Don't wait any longer! Women ARE church and should start celebrating the sacraments themselves. You can only take back the power to define the role of women through empowerment. Despair only exists where you have previously allowed yourself to be dependent on a male hierarchy when it comes to your own role.

[Carol]

Tina, I am 66 and I don't despair anymore. I left over the Church over 10 years ago. Nothing has changed since I was young. I can no longer support the discrimination against women, misogyny, lack of accountability and the dysfunctional clerical culture. The article is spot on. Francis is doing nothing but kicking the can down the road. He has changed the tune, but not the song. It is truly sad because I am convinced he knows the changes that need to be made.

One day, Christ will ask all the clergy, "why didn't you use the gifts I gave you?"

[Elizabeth Ahern]

The Church has to change- that is going back to the way it was in the beginning. Jesus came for all people. He.didn't judge or discriminate. He came for sinners. We are all sinners. Jesus told us to Love as he loves us. We are to love everyone. Man made rules have alienated and hurt a lot of people. Not very Christ like treatment! The "Church" doesn't want women to have a voice that mean anything. Women will do as good a job as any man in the Church . We have different qualities and gifts to bring to the alter and to offer to the Lord, our creator and Savior