AUSTRALIA’S historic Plenary Council assemby was left in disarray on Day 3 after a vote to elevate the role of women in the Church failed to pass.
The program for the 277 assembly members meeting at St Mary’s Cathedral College in Sydney was dramatically put on hold after a final vote by bishops rejected motions aimed at ensuring women play a greater role in the Church, and included support for admission of women to become Church deacons, if the Pope agreed.
Dozens of members, mainly women, walked from the assembly floor in protest, some of them crying.
“We were really disturbed,” congregational leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, Sr Patty Fawkner, said.
“We stood silently on the sidelines of the assembly.
“One of the fruits of the Spirit is peace, and there was definitely no peace in that room.”
One assembly observer, theologian, Professor Gerard Kelly said “a crisis is a fork in the road. What these motions basically say is the Church has nothing to say about the role of women, which is devastating”
“It basically obliterated all that was there on paper,” Prof Kelly said.
One of the rejected motions mentioned “ensuring that women are appropriately represented in decision-making structures of Church governance at the parish, diocese or eparchy, and national level, and in Church agencies” and “ensuring, through formal policies and intentional practice, that the experiences and perspectives of women are heard, considered and valued”,
Prof Kelly said: “What is quite clear is that there has been a real sense of anger, disappointment, frustration – a sense that the Church is not listening to the people who are talking to it.”
“There’s a sense this is going to force people to walk away again.”
Plenary Council vice-president Bishop Shane Mackinlay addressed the assembly proposing that members spend additional time discerning what reservations and concerns are being expressed in the voting process.
An official media release from plenary organisers said “the assembly is undertaking this reflection before deciding how to proceed”.
During the scheduled lunch break bishops and members of a steering committee held a closed-door meeting aimed at salvaging the assembly agenda.
The assembly reconvened for an afternoon session and at least half of the Plenary Council’s 277 members supported a move to reconsider new motions that addressed Church roles for women.
Bishop Mackinlay said this had clearly been an emotional time for many members, but that what had ensued was a sign of the “journeying together” the Council has promoted.
“We were able to hear from members – women firstly, but also from men – about how we can better respond to and recognise the gifts that women offer in service of the Gospel,” he said.
A four-person writing group was hastily set up to receive recommendations from members to redraft revised motions. The new motions are expected to be considered on Friday.
Member Virginia Bourke, a lawyer and chair of Mercy Health and St John Ambulance Victoria, described the motions on women’s roles as “a key moment for the Church”.
“The fact that it’s bubbled up today in the way that it has, for how discomforting that has been and for the challenge that it’s been, I think it is a positive aspect,” she said.
“I think what today has shown me is that the Plenary Council, the mode that we took – the synodal journey that we are on – has brought the real issue to the surface in a way that allows us to properly wrestle with it and properly address it.
“The next two days will be real test of how we can respond appropriately.”
Townsville bishop, Tim Harris, who supports a greater Church role for women, said he hopes the plenary assembly process can now resume quickly.
“I felt terribly for the women who felt ostracised, and some men, by the way,” Bishop Harris said.
“We’ve got to somehow have our conversations. We’ve got to share our differences. We’ve got to appreciate each other’s views – but what’s our base, what’s our foundation? It’s Christ.
“We keep our eyes on Christ and we will move forward together.
“We will not agree on every matter but we’ve got to find a way together in faith or with a solid foundation.”
The Council will resume work on other sections of its agenda today (Thursday).
Follow the plenary at: https://plenarycouncil.catholic.org.au/
