Talk and Dither: Words v Action - 31 December 2019

Figure in stonework of Abbey Church of Sainte Foy, Conques, France. The Abbey Church was a popular stop for pilgrims traveling the Way of St. James to Santiago de Compostela. Today, the figure crafted by the stonemasons who had a sense of humour, seems to me like a picture of Catholic feminist women surviving through the centuries. ‘Nevertheless, she persisted.’

2020 opens with a news story reporting that Pope Francis sees the ‘masculine monochrome of leadership … in the Catholic Church as a defect, an imbalance that harms the church itself and its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the world.’ 1 In November, he said that more must be done to include women in the Church. 2 In April he wrote that because we are a living Church, we must ‘acknowledge a fair share of male authoritarianism, domination, various forms of enslavement, abuse and sexist violence’ against women. 3

In 2007, Benedict XVI acknowledged that ‘inadequate consideration for the condition of women … create[s] instability in the fabric of society.’ 4 He observed ‘the exploitation of women who are treated as objects, and …the many ways that a lack of respect is shown for their dignity’. 5 He spoke of ‘the mindset persisting in some cultures, where women are still firmly subordinated to the arbitrary decisions of men, with grave consequences for their personal dignity and for the exercise of their fundamental freedoms.’ 6 And he pointed out, rightly, that there can be no illusion of a secure peace until these forms of discrimination are overcome, since they injure the personal dignity impressed by the Creator upon every human being.’7

On behalf of the Church, John Paul II publicly apologised for injustices it committed against women throughout history, for its violation of women's rights and for its historical denigration of women. 8

John Paul I reminded us that ‘God is our father, and even more he is our Mother.’ 9

Paul VI observed that through laws and evolution of customs, the world was rightly recognising women’s equality and co-responsibility with men in the running of the family. He saw as a good thing in the sphere of politics that women in many countries were gaining a position in public life equal to that of men.10

John XXIII pointed to the advancement of women as one of the most important ‘signs of the times’. Women, he said, are ‘gaining an increasing awareness of their natural dignity. Far from being content with a purely passive role or allowing themselves to be regarded as a kind of instrument, they are demanding both in domestic and in public life the rights and duties which belong to them as human persons.’ He even went on to say that ‘human beings have also the right to choose for themselves the kind of life which appeals to them: whether it is to found a family—in the founding of which both the man and the woman enjoy equal rights and duties—or to embrace the priesthood [emphasis mine] or the religious life.’11

So as the page on the calendar turns to the start of the third decade in the third millennium of Christianity, where are things at for the modern woman in the Catholic Church? Francis says that our claims to seek more equality in the Church are legitimate. For the last 15 years, I have been part of a movement that includes many intelligent, spiritually gifted, leading Catholic women who are making those legitimate claims. What’s happening in terms of action inside the Church? 12

A survey of the last 60 years of Catholic Church history shows us a few sentences here and there, sometimes even paragraphs written by elite Church men about women. The men come across (to me) as old grandpas who have inklings of wisdom but who can’t seem to connect thought to action. In my imagination, I see a strange sort of back patting by elite church men for making what they think are great strides in progressing women’s presence in the Church. From time to time, words of contrition are offered acknowledging that ‘they’ have not treated women well. When I was young in the movement that is making legitimate claims for women, all these words seemed like nourishment. Now I am getting old and grey. Fifteen years later, it is hard not to be cynical and now, I see these men as timid in relationship to women.

As a lawyer and business woman, I know that credible strategies and measurable benchmarks for progress are critical when one is seriously about achieving any kind of change — including institutional change. Where are these in our Church? I don’t see any when it comes to progress for women.

It is said that ‘actions speak louder than words.’ I reflect on the wisdom attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, ‘Preach the gospel at all times. When necessary, use words.’ When words are spoken and but no concrete action is taken —when there are words but no game plan and no institutional metric set to measure success — from a thinking person’s point of view, it is hard to see an organisation or its leadership as credible. Words spoken without work for inclusion is benevolent sexism — for short, it’s sexism.

Pope Francis, we are bright, creative and gifted women. We know our Church history, theology, Tradition and canon law. We know that Jesus’s mother Mary is the men’s club model for priesthood. She is a woman. Earlier this year, you stressed that any change in the area of women's ministries must be grounded in divine revelation and dogma.13 On this front, we’ve got your back. We have the bases covered. We are happy to help in the work of unfolding the map and progressing work for change with divine revelation and dogma in mind. We will help you rid the Church of the masculine monochrome of leadership that is a defect and an imbalance. This must be done because, as you say so well, it is harming the church itself and its mission of proclaiming the Gospel to the world.

Ordaining women as priests will be a good place to start. We know that our claims are legitimate. We demand — yes, demand — the rights and duties which belong to us as human persons baptised in Catholic community. Changing Church law so that women can officially be lectors and ministers of the Eucharist, changing the rules so that female altar servers are included not by virtue of a benevolent priest’s or bishop’s discretion but instead officially included would be an easy thing to do. Including women as heads of Vatican Congregations and at all tables where decisions are made is a must. And providing voting rights for women at Synods would be a step in the right direction. Our legitimate claim rises from divine justice and not male benevolence. When the Berlin Wall fell, it fell quickly… not immediately but because people who knew human dignity worked for that change. Pope Francis, in our Church it is a door that needs to be opened a door and not a wall to tear down. Turn the door knob. There is no time to waste.

Therese Koturbash, BA, LLB, GDCL
Communications Team, Women’s Ordination Worldwide

1. Cindy Wooden, Vatican magazine looks at women in the church in the age of Pope Francis, America, December 30, 2019

2. Carol Glatz, Pope Francis: More must be done to include women in church bodies, Crux, November 19, 2019

3. Chico Harlan, Pope Francis says Catholic Church should support women’s rights, Washington Post, April 2, 2019

4. Pope Benedict XVI, Message for the Celebration of the World Day of Peace, 1 January 2007

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. Ibid.

8. Pope John Paul II, Letter to Women, May 29, 1995

9. Pope John Paul I, Angelus, September 10, 1978

10. Pope Paul VI, Marialis Cultus, February 2, 1974

11. Pope John XXIII, Pacem In Terris, Encyclical on Establishing Universal Peace in Truth, Justice, Charity and Liberty, April 11, 1963

12. Pope Francis, Christ is Alive, Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Christus Vivit, To Young People and to the Entire People of God, March 25, 2009

13. Christopher Lamb, Is the Catholic Church Changing on Women’s Ordination, The Tablet, May 11, 2019