A yearslong process to reform the Catholic Church closes Saturday with recommendations which can be expected to fall far in need of hopes that ladies could be given more equity but that reflect the pope’s goals for a church that at the very least listens more to its flock.
The Vatican’s top doctrinal officer, Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernandez, told the extraordinary assembly of bishops and laypeople this week that Pope Francis said the moment for allowing ordination of ladies as deacons within the church “just isn’t ripe.”
The multi-year synod process had sparked great hopes for change, especially for girls, who’ve long complained that they’re treated as second-class residents within the church. Women are barred from the priesthood and the best ministerial positions within the Catholic Church, yet do the lion’s share of the work running Catholic hospitals and schools and passing the religion onto future generations.
Speaking to the synod on Thursday, Fernandez explained that a special working group would proceed beyond the closing of the meeting, but that its focus could be on discussing the role of ladies within the church — not within the diaconate. He added that while working with women in previous pastoral roles, “most didn’t ask for or want the diaconate, which could be cumbersome for his or her lay work.”
He didn’t respond on to a request to define what would determine “ripeness” for a greater role for girls.
The end result is shaping as much as be a disappointment for Catholics who’ve been campaigning for recognition that ladies share a spiritual calling that is not any different than a person’s. They also noted that despite the inclusion of ladies within the synodal process, the working group that’s guiding discussions on women’s role is being run by the Roman curia, operating outside the synod.
“I feel it is extremely clear that ordained men get to choose when the time is correct, they usually get to choose what baptismal equality amounts to. It may be very frustrating, but they laid all of it out,’’ said Kate McElwee, the manager director of the Women’s Ordination Conference.
The first phase of the synod process ended last yr by concluding it was “urgent” to ensure fuller participation by women in church governance positions, and calling for theological and pastoral research to proceed about allowing women to be deacons.
Deacons perform most of the same functions as priests, resembling presiding over baptisms, weddings and funerals, but they can not rejoice Mass.
If before the synod the thought of allowing women to be deacons was a fringe proposal pushed by Western progressives, the thought gained attention in the course of the debate. It became something of a litmus test of how far the church was going to go, or not, to deal with demands of ladies for greater equality and representation in the best ranks of the church.
Francis, though, had other ideas, insisting that ordaining women would just “clericalize” them and that there have been loads of other ways to empower women within the church, even leading Catholic communities, without resorting to ordination.
Advocates say allowing women to be deacons would help offset the shortage of Catholic priests and address longstanding complaints about their second-class status.
Opponents say ordaining women to the deaconate would signal the beginning of a slippery slope toward ordaining women to the priesthood. The Catholic Church reserves the priesthood for men.
Francis has repeatedly reaffirmed the all-male priesthood and has sharply criticized “obtuse” agitators pressing for a female diaconate.
