Australia: Council passes motions to affirm women in Church

Australia's Catholic bishops have approved working to elevate the status of women in the Church - including possibly serving as deacons - after a major event faced pandemonium over the issue last week.

The schedule for the Church's Fifth Plenary Council, a powerful policymaking event, was initially suspended after two motions affirming women's role in the Church failed to pass, prompting about 60 participants to stage a silent protest.

Catholic leaders wanted to show that they were not indifferent to the concerns of women, and, after the motions were slightly redrafted, the plenary council voted overwhelmingly that each Catholic diocese in Australia should commit to creating, "new opportunities for women to participate in ministries that engage with the most important aspects of diocesan and parish life".

The participants - including 37 of 43 bishops - agreed that the Church would examine how best to allow women to serve as deacons if such a move is approved by the Vatican. Pope Francis has launched a commission examining whether Catholic women should be able to serve as deacons.

The council also passed a motion committing the Church to ensure that "the experiences and perspectives of women, including women who exercise ministry, are heard, considered and valued at local, diocesan and national levels".

By Friday 8 July, the final day of voting, five redrafted motions supporting equal dignity for women and men in the Church passed a vote by religious, lay men and women, and then a final vote exclusively by bishops. "One message it sends is that the Holy Spirit is at work in the Church," Archbishop Mark Coleridge of Brisbane commented.

The aim of the four-year Plenary Council process has been to answer the question: 'What do you think God is asking of us in Australia?'"

Across the assembly last week other key issues received votes of support: an apology for victims of child abuse; moves to incorporate First Nations peoples into the life of the church; and an awareness of the need for "ecological conversion" a term used in the Laudato Si' encyclical.

When the last Plenary Council was held in 1937, it was exclusively for bishops. There were no lay men or women, or religious. "It's a totally different world, it's another planet almost," Archbishop Coleridge said.

The Fifth Plenary Council of Australia ended on Saturday 9 July with a closing Mass.

Details on the final wording of all plenary motions and voting outcomes can be found on the Motions and Voting page of the Plenary Council website. See: https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/