Future Church Media Release and My Response to their Analysis: "Delay, deception, and obfuscation on women's ordination thwart the promise and potential of synodality"

My Response:

The voice of the Spirit speaks through the entire Church including Roman Catholic Women Priests. We have served the people of God for 22 years in ordained ministries in loving inclusive sacramental communities and ministries around the world. Our voices were not heard at this Synod even though Pope Francis said that all voices must be heard. 

Going forward, our international women priests' movement will joyfully and faithfully continue to lead the Church in a renewed, non-clerical model of ministry in  communities of baptized equals! 

We came to Rome to ordain three deacons and three priests from Spain, France and the United States on October 17, 2024 as a prophetic witness to gender equality in ordained ministries in the Roman Catholic Church. 

We are living the change envisioned by Future Church now.

Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

Media links:

https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2024/10/article-on-tiber-ordinationn.html

Future Church Delay, deception, and obfuscation on women's ordination thwart the promise and potential of synodality.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Russ Petrus, Executive Director russ@futurechurch.org The last several weeks of reporting on the Synod Assembly currently in session in Rome reveals a disturbing trend: that despite the 2023 Synthesis naming the topic of women in the Church as “urgent,” Pope Francis and other members of the Vatican Curia engage in clerical tactics – delay, deception, and obfuscation – rather than adhering to the demands of synodality – transparency, discussion, and discernment – particularly on the issue of women’s ordination. Writing for America Magazine, Colleen Dulle traces the shroud of secrecy that continues to cover Study Group 5, which was established earlier this year – in part – to address the perennial question of ordaining women as deacons. National Catholic Reporter’s Chris White reports that the previously convened study commission on women deacons (2020) will now take up that work. And – while she doesn’t characterize it this way – reporting from Elise Ann Allen for Crux reveals that the Vatican spin machine is already at work trying to convince advocates that calls for women’s ordination are premature or misguided and that ignoring the question of ordination is actually good for Catholic women and the Church. “By all accounts delegates seem eager to have this discussion and faithfully represent the voices of the People of God, who have consistently raised women’s ordination every step of the way,” said Russ Petrus, Executive Director of FutureChurch. “But by taking women’s ordination off the Synodal table and relegating discussion to secretive working groups or commissions and promising more information ‘when the time is right,’ Pope Francis has thwarted the promise and potential of Synodality,” he continued. “We always knew that there would be speedbumps and roadblocks on the path of Synodality. And it is profoundly heartbreaking that women who simply want to serve God’s people continue to be the ones bearing the pain caused by these obstructions.” “Vatican officials keep insisting that they don’t want to ‘clericalize’ women by ordaining them. And that there are other pathways for women to exercise leadership and authority in the Church,” noted Olivia Hastie, Program Associate for FutureChurch. “But what they continue to ignore is that women really experience a call from God to ordained ministry in the Church,” she pressed. “And by ignoring their vocations, the Church is disregarding their lived experience of faith and effectively undermining the work of the Holy Spirit, who is supposed to be the protagonist of the Synod.” Cardinal Victor Fernández, Prefect for the Dicastery of the Doctrine of Faith, which seems to make up most of Study Group 5 and has been charged with exploring non-ordained possibilities for women’s ministry, is set to meet with Synod delegates on Thursday, October 24th. Cardinal Fernández had previously failed to appear at an October 18th gathering with delegates, citing an unspecified scheduling conflict. It is reported that he will share the names of the members of Study Group 5 and its procedures with the delegates at that meeting. It is unclear what else can be accomplished at this meeting at this late stage in the Assembly. Delegates have begun reviewing drafts of the Final Document and are expected to vote on it and present it to Pope Francis on October 26th. Meanwhile Synod officials are already beginning to set low expectations. Cardinal-designate Fr. Timothy Radcliffe, OP, who has accompanied Synod delegates as a retreat leader and preacher, offered a meditation on the process of drafting and discerning the document acknowledging that when it is released some people will be “disappointed by the result of the Synod.” “We don’t yet know what will be in the final document or how the process will continue, but given what we have seen this last month, we know that the work and witness of FutureChurch and our partners in Church reform will remain as important as ever,” said Martha Ligas, Program Associate for FutureChurch. “It will be up to us – all of us – to keep the hope of synodality alive, to reimagine how to be Church,” she added. “We all have a part to play – from those of us who continue to press the Church on the important issues, to the women who take the prophetic step of living into God’s call by seeking ordination, to members of the LGBTQ+ community who continue to advocate for their full dignity, to those who are creating new ways of living Church where they are.” After the release of the Final Document, FutureChurch will plan opportunities for shared reflection and conversation on the outcomes of the Synod and ways to continue forward on the Synodal path. In the meantime, FutureChurch invites everyone to attend its 34th Annual Fall Event – “Courage in the Spirit: Translating Synodal Talk into Action” by Zoom on November 7th and 12th.