According to their markers, women’s participation in the Church still lacking, Bishop’s conference told.
By Anthony Barich
Women’s participation in the Church is at the same level it was in 2000, it was revealed at a conference hosted by the Australian bishops’ Council for Australian Catholic Women in Canberra last week.
In April 1999 the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference received the Report on the Participation of Women in the Catholic Church in Australia entitled, Woman and Man; One in Christ Jesus, following the project’s launch in 1996.
Cardinal Francis Carroll, then ACBC president, said at the time that the report revealed “hurts and frustrations experienced by many women in the Church even as it recorded the happy fulfilment of others”.
The Australian Bishops had previously expressed their sorrow and regret for hurts experienced by women due to “injustices or the denial of full acceptance and recognition in the life of the Church”, and Cardinal Carroll prayed for healing of reconciliation.
In the Australian bishops’ 2000 Social Justice Statement they agreed to 90 decisions on a national level and 31 proposals for action in dioceses, and the August 27-28 conference last week assessed their effectiveness of application.
Almost every Australian diocese was represented, including WA’s Council for Australian Catholic women representative Kerry Macfarlane and Suma Kaare, social justice coordinator of the Edmund Rice Centre in Fremantle.
Kimberly Davis, director of the bishops’ Office for the Participation of Women, told The Record that it would “seem a bit crazy” to ignore more than 50 per cent of the population” in decision-making of dioceses and parishes.
“In the spirit of the 2000 Social Justice Statement, it’s important to recognise that in some instances women’s participation is at the same level it was at 10 years ago when the research was first conducted,” said Ms Davis, a former primary school teacher and mother of one.
“That then begs the question of perhaps we need to revisit the Social Justice Statement to promote women’s participation, so that women, men, Religious and clergy are contributing equally to the Church,” she said, to ensure the “most flourishing Church” possible.
“Often dioceses are a reflection of what’s happening in parishes. We need to model that collaboration and the situation of ensuring everyone’s voice is heard in the dialogue of making decisions for the future.
“As laypeople, if we say that baptism is at the heart of our ministry then everyone has role to play in the life and mission of the Church,” she said.