The Synod was told to ‘listen to the voice of a woman’

“Listen to the voices of women around the world.”

A newly released report from the Catholic Women’s Council makes that message clear.

A delegation of the Council (CWC) presented a report to Sister Natalie Becard in Rome last week. She is Undersecretary of the General Secretariat of the Conference of Bishops.

CWC is an umbrella group for over 60 organizations worldwide. All organizations contributed to his 18-page report. This report is based on interviews with Catholic women from five continents.

“Despite the differences in culture and life of the women interviewed, the word frustration keeps coming up,” says Carmen Chaumet, CWC group member in France.

“Women are frustrated by the abuse of power, clergy, discrimination, sexism and fear they feel in church circles,” the report said.

women are assistants

The report first examines the issues raised on each continent.

“Women are treated as assistants and form groups away from the church to provide a space for sharing and prayer,” it quotes.

The sexual abuse crisis in the church is another concern raised by the report.

The other is a “purely male Catholic network” that “censors” reports and documents on “women’s abuse, exploitation and status issues in the church.”

The report also reflects that the sacraments, including the Eucharist and its language, “deny, eliminate, or symbolically diminish the trope of the female face of God.”

The CWC report puts forward a number of recommendations for bishops to consider. These include the following actions:

Allow women to participate fully in church life

“Building communities that are inclusive, participatory and welcoming to all at the Eucharist celebration”

Open all ordained ministries to women.

very frank words

This document is intended for bishops.

“We wanted to be part of the ongoing conference process,” says Chaumet. She conducted a “listening session” in France in helping prepare her report.

A delegation of the Catholic Women’s Council came to Rome on Tuesday to present a report to Sister Natalie Becard, Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops.

“We exchanged very frank words, but Natalie Becard was completely attentive,” says Chaumet.

The last Pope Francis received the first draft of Continental Union for the “Synod on the Synod”. The draft text includes syntheses from national espicopal conferences around the world.

Chaumet says that the summaries of several episcopal conferences raise similar issues as the CWC document.

“Nevertheless, the women we interviewed didn’t fall behind, so there are stronger words in our document,” she says.

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