New Vatican synod document mentions women's ordination, LGBTQ relationships, Now is the Time for Pope Francis to Drop Excommunication Against Women Priests

 https://www.ncronline.org/vatican/vatican-news/new-vatican-synod-document-mentions-womens-ordination-lgbtq-relationships

My Response:

It is good news that this newly released Vatican document for the next phase of Pope Francis' ongoing consultation process for the world's Catholics reckons with a number of topics once considered taboo in the Catholic Church, including women's ordination, LGBTQ relationships, children of priests, sexism and clergy sexual abuse. 

"What the Frascati document offers is a hermeneutic tool for a new container, one that allows us to create that bigger-tent church more capable of holding together diversity and disagreement in a generative tension."

So where to go from here to created a bigger tent?

Pope Francis could take a step toward a ealing process of centuries old sexism in the Church by dropping all ecclesiastical penalties - including excommunication- against women priests to create a big tent that includes everyone including women called to Holy Orders.

For twenty years, women priests have been serving inclusive Catholic communities in sacramental ministries and working with ecumenical and interfaith partners to create a more just Church that welcomes all especially the marginalized who no longer feel welcome on the Catholic family. 

I believe that all things are possible with God. 

Bridget Mary

Sexism, women's ordination

"The report dedicates significant attention to the role of women in church life, noting that it was a concern mentioned by every continent that submitted synod reports.

"Women remain the majority of those who attend liturgy and participate in activities, men a minority; yet most decision-making and governance roles are held by men," it states. "It is clear that the Church must find ways to attract men to a more active membership in the Church and to enable women to participate more fully at all levels of Church life." 

The document goes on to quote New Zealand's episcopal conference report, which states that the "lack of equality for women within the Church is seen as a stumbling block for the Church in the modern world."

The text also quotes from a report by the two umbrella groups who represent the members of the world's Catholic religious orders, who said that "sexism in decision-making and Church language is prevalent in the Church."

"As a result, women are excluded from meaningful roles in the life of the Church, discriminated against by not receiving a fair wage for their ministries and services," they said. "Women religious are often regarded as cheap labor."

Among areas for consideration, the document includes the question of the role of women in the church's governance structures, the possibility of women preaching, the female diaconate and women's ordination to the priesthood. 

On the question of ordination, the text states: "Much greater diversity of opinion was expressed on the subject of priestly ordination for women, which some reports call for, while others consider a closed issue."

The issue of the female diaconate is one that has loomed large ever since Francis launched a commission in 2016 to study the historical questions surrounding women deacons, which the pope said did not reach a consensus on the early status of deacons. Francis then formed a second commission, which is ongoing, following the 2019 Synod of Bishops from the nine-nation Amazon region, where the topic had been a dominant theme. 

The inclusion of the topic in the working document for the continental phase of the synod process indicates that the question is likely to once again be considered during the Rome gatherings in 2023 and 2024. 

When asked about the question of women deacons during the press conference, both Grech and Rowlands told journalists that the issue was included in the document because it was mentioned by a vast number of reports submitted from around the world. 

"It is there simply as a matter of fact," said Rowlands, adding that "it would have been dishonest had we not put that into the report."

What is this something new, this big-tent church? Inspired by “Evangelii Gaudium,” paragraphs 30-33 of the continental document note the two spiritual temptations facing a diverse church: on the one hand, to become trapped in conflict and polarization; on the other, to ignore the tensions that diversity brings, pretending they do not exist in a kind of fragmented coexistence. No one can read the reports and not find the people lamenting both of these in our church: Both polarization and fragmentation in the church today show that the containers we have are inadequate. What the Frascati document offers is a hermeneutic tool for a new container, one that allows us to create that bigger-tent church more capable of holding together diversity and disagreement in a generative tension.