Is conversation changing?

Mar 27, 2024

By Astrid Lobo Gajiwala
Last year, as part of a grassroots consultation for the Synod on Synodality. I was invited to an international conference organised by Dharmaram Vidya Kshetram (Pontifical Athenaeum) Bengaluru, and asked to speak on: “What can I do to make the Indian Church more Synodal?”

My spontaneous response was one word: “Nothing!” because the structures of the Church do not permit synodality. We have a hierarchy in place, which is purportedly divinely instituted, making all decisionmaking and leadership in the Church the preserve of the clergy. Canon law ensures that this inequality is maintained.

The non-ordained can only function within parameters defined by the ordained, making it impossible to journey together as “coresponsible collaborators” as there can be no co-responsibility without equality.

Even in the 21st century, when across the world special efforts are being made to include women at the table that sets the agenda, women are still excluded from key decisions in the Catholic Church. They may be in parish councils but they have little say in how the parish is run. Sacramental ordination is denied to them because of a humiliating trivialisation of their God-given vocations. Only in exceptional cases are women allowed to preach.

In pastoral work women continue to encounter resistance, and whatever authority they have is derived from the “permission” of the parish priest or bishop. They suffer abuse by men in the Church and are denied justice and even compassion. Nuns particularly, complain that they are made the butt of sexist jokes and are often treated as cheap labour.

And yet, women are the foundation of parish life. They make the coffee, they bring life to parish celebrations and they are at the forefront of every parish activity; they sing, they pray, they teach, they fill the pews; they rally in a crisis, reach out to the poor and the hurting, and are the backbone of the Small Christian Communities (SCCs).

These stories were multiplied in the Synod on Synodality held in the Vatican last year. Participants heard of “women regularly holding Liturgies of the Word because priests cannot make it to each mountain town parish, women breaking open the Word in small groups because they speak the local language, women leading end of life and funeral services in places of war and famine, women feeding and clothing migrants and refugees, women ministering in jails and prisons, women maintaining parish life, women walking with one another, women again and again living in service of God’s people.”

Many women, however, are tired of fighting, of talking and talking, year after year, decade after decade, without any sustainable steps being taken. In India, many committed Christians are walking out of church structures (but not the Church) because their voice, their experience, and their expertise are simply not part of the discourse in the Catholic Church. As Nontando Hadebe, a well-known theologian says, quoting women from South Africa, “There needs to be action and change, we can’t keep having the same conversation.”

So, what can women do?
The United Nations theme for this year’s International Women’s Day presents us with a vision: “Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated.” All we need to do is substitute the word “world” with “Church”. At Pentecost, Peter quotes the prophet Joel: Your sons and daughters will see visions and dream dreams, and “I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below…” (Acts 2:17-19). It is for us to be these signs on the earth below, of a gender equal, inclusive world and Church.

Every time you observe that women aren’t present – in programmes, on stage, in decision- making bodies, in publications – ask: “Why not?”

One of these good works in recent times has been the Synod on Synodality declared by Pope Francis in October 2021. Over the past three years the faithful were encouraged to journey together, to meet at diocesan, national and continental levels, to give voice to their experiences and concerns, to listen to each other and to discern together what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us as a faith community.

In Mumbai the archdiocesan Synod was held in June 2022. Pope Francis was particularly keen that the voices from the grassroots, especially the voices of the marginalised – people who have been alienated by the Church, or people who have been ignored by the Church – would be heard and recorded. The deliberations of all these synods served as a starting point for the Synod of Bishops held in Rome from October 4-29, 2023.

A burning topic that came up in most of the country reports and even grabbed centrestage at the October Synod was the “women’s issue”.

Pope Francis’ answer was to invite women to the synod – a first in the “his-story” of the Catholic Church. Since the Second Vatican Council in the 1960s, synod events were exclusively attended by bishops and a few priests who acted as secretaries and writers. At the family synod in 2015, new ground was broken when a religious brother, an elected representative, was given voting rights. However, three religious women who were also present were not given the same right. It had nothing to do with ordination because religious brothers are not clerics. It was a blatant act of gender discrimination.

By contrast, in the October 2023 synod on synodality, 54 of the 364 participants were women. Practically speaking, this means that there was at least one woman at every small group table. Not only were women present, but they also participated in all the discussions and were allowed to vote. Discussions at the synod assembly took place around circular tables with no “head”, and no distinction between man or woman, cleric or non-ordained. This was in contrast to the traditional auditorium setting where participants are in an audience.

During the synod itself, Sr Maria de los Dolores Valencia Gomez, a sister of St Joseph of Lyon, and Momoko Nishimura, a consecrated woman from Japan, member of the Servants of the Gospel of God’s Mercy (SEMD), led the assembly as two of Pope Francis’ 10 president-delegates. This required them to sit next to Pope Francis in the presidential round table to facilitate the whole day’s work, along with the Synod General Secretary, Cardinal Mario Grech, and Synod Relator General, Cardinal Jean- Claude Hollerich.

Sr Maria described the experience of sitting with the Pope as a “gift and a grace” and a symbol of placing all of us at the same level. Significantly, the Mexican sister’s presiding role (the first woman in this role) came as the synod assembly began its work on the topic of “co-responsibility in mission,” which includes a focus on the role of women in the Church.

Momoko had her epiphany of equality. When she was introduced to Pope Francis, she was carrying an Argentinian “bombilla” cup made of metal and wood, used for brewing a caffeine-rich infused drink called “yerba mate.” When the Pope saw the traditional Argentinian drink, his eyes lit up and Momoko spontaneously offered him a sip, which he gamely took. It was an unplanned sign of the equality that pervaded the synod.

Pope Francis has already walked his talk. Thanks to him, the proportion of women in the Roman Curia has risen from 19.3 per cent to 26.1 per cent over the past ten years. This means that more than one in four employees at the Holy See is now a woman. At the executive level he has broken the stained-glass ceiling by appointing five women as undersecretaries and one as secretary of a dicastery. Secretaries and undersecretaries are the second and third levels of management respectively and are part of the management team.

At the synod the delegates felt heard. As one said, “we women, especially the Sisters, we ask very concrete questions like what will this mean for our ministries? What does this say about the mission of the Church? This is our lives we’re talking about.”

While all of this is good news, we still have a long way to go. As one voting woman delegate said, “I think we will make changes. (But) it is hard. There are many men who are older and can get stuck in only seeing things one way, but I think we have to [make changes]. When you hear the stories from around the world and all the ways we, as a Church, depend on women — we have to recognise that.”

The “success” of the synod ultimately will depend on how much of what comes out of the synod will be implemented. Canon law must be amended now that pastors have the smell of their sheep. Structures will need to change. Attitudes will need to change. Those used to wielding unquestioned authority will have to constantly remind themselves to be open, to listen and to be humble and accept that the Spirit blows where She wills, and that maybe, like the disciples who disbelieved Mary Magdalene, they have got it very wrong (Mark16:9-11). --Matters India