Should Women Leave the Catholic Church? by Isabelle de Gaulmyn, La Croiz, My response: Join Women Priests Bringing Change on the Margins in Inclusive Sacramental Ministry
On May 30th, the feast day of St. Joan of Arc, I too say: " I am not afraid. I was born to do this."
Close to 300 Catholic Women are serving God's people as deacons, priests and bishops in the international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement. We are not leaving the Church. We are committed to leading the Church into a renewed, inclusive priestly ministry rooted in our baptism equality in Christ in vibrants communities and ecumenical ministries all over the world.
Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP,
(Women's Ordination Conference)
Should women leave the Catholic Church?
Pope Francis closed the door on the ordination of female deacons, even though the issue has been debated in the Catholic Church for over half a century. But does that mean women should leave the Catholic Church?
May 30th, 2024 at 09:57 am (Europe\Rome). Updated May 30th, 2024 at 10:45 am (Europe\Rome)
Isabelle de Gaulmyn (Photo by BRUNO LEVY)
A reader on the La Croix website raised the question, clearly angry after Pope Francis' decision to definitively renounce the ordination of women as deacons. Leave? Really? One can understand a feeling of being misunderstood, even exasperation. It’s a rather messy decision, especially since the same pope had appointed two consecutive commissions to study the possibility of female deacons. As a pope who tirelessly invited us to adopt a synodal attitude, that is, one of consultation, Pope Francis showed a completely top-down approach in this matter.
This decision, which could also be seen as a counter-move following controversies over the text allowing blessings for homosexual couples in a relationship (Fiducia supplicans), is surprising. Yet, there’s always a kind of naivety on the “progressive” side, believing that the pope will necessarily move “with the times” and reform to keep up with societal changes. This is a misunderstanding, since the Church is not a political entity where change occurs through institutional means.
Historically, major shifts rarely come from the top. Although St. John XXIII convened Vatican II, the council articulated and documented a series of theological, sociological, and liturgical advancements that had been developing for about fifty years.
If the Catholic Church changes, it will happen primarily through its margins. It was at the margins where Saint Vincent de Paul renewed the Catholic approach to the poor. In the 19th century, religious congregations ensured a presence in hospitals along the periphery. Workers and employers had experimented with the “Social Doctrine of the Church” before Pope Leo XIII. Women have not been left out: in the 19th century, which French bishop could claim to have had as much influence as the young Bernadette of Lourdes, a woman, and a shepherdess?
Two bishops speak with a group advocating for womens' ordination near St. Peter's Basilica during the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Young People (Photo by Junno Arocho Esteves)
Pope Francis himself, a disciple of Michel de Certeau, has always defended this vision of a religion where boundaries set the tone. One must stand at the periphery of the church, with those farthest away, and learn to dialogue with them. “This passion for others… it's a vulnerability that strips away our certainties and introduces into our necessary strengths the weakness of belief,” Michel de Certeau wrote.
Therefore, women do not need to leave the Church, since, by definition, they are on the margins and, thus, at the center. Being in the periphery is the best place. However, should they remain silent? No, but they should push for change from the margins in at least two directions. First, the word of God – to comment on it because, in the 21st century, silencing women is unacceptable, and a feminine perspective on the Word opens many new avenues. We need to multiply places, occasions, and prayers in this regard.
Another challenge for them is to dismantle the power system because there lies the crux of resistance to the ordination of women. As long as there is confusion between the sacrament (the priesthood) and hierarchical authority (the leader), the masculinity of the order will not be questioned. When we manage to untangle priests from this perilous interpretation, which can almost be considered a form of slavery, and to de-clericalize the church, then the question of lay women and men and the diaconate for all will be posed differently.
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