According to Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, the General Relator of the Synod, the issue of women's priestly ordination was not included because it was not universally raised.

The Instrumentum laboris published recently reflects this view: "While some local Churches call for women to be admitted to the diaconal ministry, others reiterate their opposition" it says.

As a result, the topic will not be addressed during the Synod, but theological reflection on the matter will continue.

A study group has been established to explore the "necessary participation of women in the life and leadership of the Church". However, details about this group, including its membership, remain unclear.

The Vatican has announced that an official document addressing canon law and theological questions related to women's roles in the Church will be forthcoming. Still, no publication date has been set.

Delays, deferrals and further reflections

However, excluding women's ordination from the Synod's agenda has not silenced the debate.

Advocates like Jutta Mader-Schömer, Chairwoman of the Diaconate of Women Network, insisted "The topic simply cannot be kept under wraps, it must be discussed".

The network has actively contributed to the global Church dialogue. It emphasises that many women already serve in roles akin to deacons and feel called to this ministry.

Reform-oriented theologians, such as English theologian Tina Beattie, have criticised the continued delays and lack of transparency.

"And so, the process goes on - delays, deferrals, further reflections, unpublished reports - while the platitudinous waffle about women's charisms and gifts drones on year after year."

Beattie argues that while consensus on women deacons may be elusive, this should not hinder doctrinal development.

The conversation on women's ordination is not limited to theological circles. German bishops were questioned about the issue during the recent international altar servers' pilgrimage in Rome.

Bishop Michael Gerber called for a thorough theological examination of the arguments for and against women's ordination. However, he acknowledged that it is a highly emotional issue that could risk division within the Church.

Similarly, Bishop Bertram Meier of Augsburg cautioned against expecting immediate changes. He referenced Pope John Paul II's 1994 declaration that the Church is not authorised to ordain women.

Nonetheless, Meier affirmed that Pope Francis remains open to discussions and supports the appointment of more women to leadership roles within the Church.

Sources

Katholisch English

Religion News Service

CathNews New Zealand

Beattie criticised the lack of progress in an article published on Thursday by Sacred Heart University in the US.

Beattie's comments follow the release of a new working paper by the Vatican on the second session of the Synod on Synodality.

The document "Instrumentum laboris" highlighted that the topic of the diaconate for women remains contentious globally. This has led to its exclusion from the Synod's discussions.

Instead, the discussion on women's roles in church leadership will be "continued in an appropriate timeframe and in an appropriate manner".

However Beattie argued that requiring an all-church consensus for doctrinal changes is impractical.

"Some African bishops are entrenched in patriarchal cultures and values, but others have vocally supported the struggle of African women against patriarchy" she explained.

Women leaders in Africa

Beattie offered positive insights into the progress of women in Africa.

"My work with African women theologians has led me to believe that the church in some parts of sub-Saharan Africa offers many more opportunities for women's leadership and participation than their Western counterparts."

Beattie argued that, as women become more educated and assertive about their rights within secular contexts, it becomes increasingly intolerable for the Catholic hierarchy to maintain outdated attitudes towards women.

She expressed dissatisfaction with the Vatican's platitudinous waffle and romantic stereotypes, labelling them patronising and out of touch.

Despite her criticisms, Beattie affirmed her commitment to her Catholic faith. "But I no longer have the slightest interest in the claptrap of a celibate male hierarchy when it comes to women."

She is no longer interested in the Vatican, its synods and papers. "Maybe it's a kind of desperation, but it allows me to keep both my sanity and my faith."

Sources

Katholisch

CathNews New Zealand

In an interview in L'Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Gerhard Müller said the number of women will be rising from two to "five or six", following new nominations by Pope Francis.

The commission, which assists the Holy See and especially the CDF, currently has 30 members, who are appointed for five year terms.

The two current women members are Barbara Hallensleben (professor of Dogmatic Theology and Ecumenism at the Faculty of Theology in Fribourg, Switzerland) from Germany and Sr Sara Butler (professor of Dogmatic Theology at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Chicago).

During the interview, Cardinal Müller stated that the female presence in the Church needed to be recognised within its own specific context, it should not be an imitation of the male model.

He stressed that the Church needs to be like a mother, not an institution, because an institution cannot love, but a mother can.

Cardinal Müller also referred to ongoing strife between the Vatican and the American Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

"We have received many distressed letters from other nuns belonging to the same congregations, who are suffering a great deal because of the direction in which the LCWR is steering their mission," he said.

Earlier this year, Cardinal Müller strongly criticised the theological directions the LCWR favoured, especially the concept of conscious evolution, which he likened to the ancient heresy of Gnosticism.

Meanwhile, writing the Guardian, UK academic Tina Beattie called on Pope Francis to create a space where issues like Church teaching on contraception and abortion can be discussed, if he is serious about wanting a poor church of the poor.

"Pope Francis has a tendency towards romanticism when speaking about motherhood," Dr Beattie wrote.

"This is a dangerous fantasy when it occludes the harsh realities and struggles of women's reproductive lives," she added.

Dr Beattie wanted more focus on the issue of maternal mortality around the world, which she said is often a "direct consequence of poverty".

Yet, it is hardly mentioned in papal encyclicals, she noted.

Dr Beattie said that while a change in the Church's teaching on contraception may be long overdue, "this must not translate into an uncritical endorsement of contraceptive programmes inflicted on the world's poor".

Sources

• Vatican Insider
• Patheos
• The Guardian
• Image: Catholic Herald

The motion approved in a 99-16 vote declared that Dr Mary Lyons had "shown herself to be ethically bankrupt" over the cancelled fellowship offered to Dr Tina Beattie. Nineteen faculty members abstained.

Dr Lyons said she cancelled the two-month fellowship because Dr Beattie publicly dissented from Church teaching by signing a public statement, published in The Times of London, saying that it is "perfectly proper for Catholics, using fully informed consciences, to support the legal extension of civil marriage to same-sex couples".

The arts and science faculty makes up one of the seven colleges at the Catholic university.

Carlton Floyd, an associate professor of English and chair of the faculty's executive committee, said that while the vote was "largely symbolic", "it is hugely important as a symbolic gesture".

"It lets the world know . . . that faculty here do in fact support and believe strongly in academic freedom, believe strongly and support the leadership of its directors . . . and that the reasons and explanations that have come to us [for the cancellation], we consider largely invalid."

Dr Beattie is professor of Catholic studies at the University of Roehampton, London. She is also a director of the London Tablet and a theological adviser to CAFOD, the Catholic aid agency for England and Wales.

On her blog she said: "The cancellation of my visit is not the most important issue in all this. The real issues are academic freedom, the vocation of lay theologians in relation to the official magisterium, and the power of a hostile minority of bloggers (some of whom are ordained deacons and priests) to command the attention and support of the [Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]. The latter is the most sinister development of all, and it is a cause for scandal which brings the church into disrepute. However, it also shows how deep this crisis has become."

Sources:

National Catholic Reporter

The Guardian

Image: The Guardian

This does not make Aquinas a biblical literalist. He argues that the Bible is written in metaphors that render the divine mystery meaningful for finite human minds. We depend on material objects for our knowledge, and therefore we can only speak of God as if God, too, were part of the material world. Biblical language is multilayered, opening itself to mystery the more one allows its meanings to unfold. Aquinas says of scripture that "the manner of its speech transcends every science, because in one and the same sentence, while it describes a fact, it reveals a mystery" (ST I.1.10). Anyone who has ever thrilled to poetry understands this. Profound truths speak to us through ordinary metaphors when we take time to listen and reflect. Indeed, Aquinas insists that we should avoid exalted imagery when we speak about God, in case we are deceived into taking our language too literally. Read more

Sources

• Tina Beattie in The Guardian
• Image: London Lay Dominicans
• See also: Thomas Aquinas, part 2: the mind as soul and Thomas Aquinas, part 1: rediscovering a father of modernity
• Tina Beattie is Professor of Catholic Studies at Roehampton University, London, and a frequent contributor to the Catholic weekly, The Tablet and the online journal, Open Democracy