Create opportunities to educate people for change
SEVEN STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE WOMEN’S ORDINATION, no 4
OK, we want to see women function in the Catholic Church as deacons, priests and bishops. Rightly so! But we should realise that, in order to achieve that goal, we need to change mental perceptions. Our greatest obstacle is the mixture of misconceptions and misunderstandings that underpin the conviction that those ministries have been entrusted only to men. The problem lies in the brain, in wrong ideas. It can only be remedied by a process of re-education. And in this process men too should be involved, as much as women have to be — both as teachers and learners.
Note: The diagram that follows is taken from the presentation I gave at the WOW Conference in 2001.
It is said that “Male bishops and priests don’t want women because they enjoy the power the male-only ministry gives them. They will hang on to their patriarchal power at all costs.” But I am hopeful that, in the majority of cases, this isn’t the root cause of their refusal to accept women’s ordination. There are undoubtedly a few isolated cases of hardened ‘patriarchists’ but from my long experience of teaching young men studying for the priesthood and giving renewal courses to priests who are already in the ministry I know that they are sincere. They are not generally anti-women. They want to be faithful to what they believe is church doctrine and to their ministry. This was also confirmed by my getting to know hundreds of priests intimately as Vicar General of the Mill Hill Missionaries.
What many of them need is solid, updated information. This applies also to many lay leaders, such as pastoral assistants in parishes and teachers in schools. Where they are misinformed, we have to help them change their minds. It requires a re-education programme. Elements of this could be the following:
1. We should involve the general public in an informed discussion through the modern media.
We live in a media age and people pick up ‘the truth’ from the media. Our best tool these days is Facebook. We can reach many persons by regularly posting informative ‘news’ items on our Facebook Groups and to our own Facebook friends. These items can be links to articles available on the internet, interviews, documentaries, you name it.
2. We should organise group sessions for face-to-face discussions in well planned topics relating to women’s ordination.
In parishes, for instance, we could – in normal circumstances – arrange for a number of group sessions to discuss various aspects of women’ equality in the Church. A convenient booklet could be a tool for this. Members could be asked to acquire a copy of the booklet, and read particular sections for discussion in a specific session. If I may be so free to make this suggestion, my latest publication (see details at the bottom of the page) could serve such a purpose. It is relatively cheap, short, easy to read and covers all aspects of the question.
Alternatively, in changed conditions such as our present lockdowns, the same could be achieved by regular zoom meetings online.
3. We need to keep discussion alive among opinion leaders in the Church.
In all this we should not forget a crucial target group. In the Catholic Church the main opinion leaders are: bishops, priests, theologians, editors, authors, lecturers and teachers. All these groups belong to organisations and have regular meetings. Many of these opinion leaders are sympathetic to the cause of women priests, but they may need to be prodded to put the issue on their ‘consultation agendas’.
There is no reason why specific sessions of pastoral councils in dioceses and parishes could not be devoted to the topic of women’s participation in the pastoral ministry. The same applies even more to prayer groups in parishes, bible groups, advent or lent groups, and other women’s or men’s associations.
4. Our strategy should be to be creative and try to be positive & hopeful.
At all times we should think: by what means can we get the right persons to receive correct, updated information on what Christ really wants for women?
We should also be up-beat in our re-education programme. Struggling against patriarchal structures often seems like fighting for a lost cause. Despondency may soon set in. Support is essential, both through proper information and by mutual solidarity. The Church has faced this kind of crisis before, and reforms have happened. We can move forward with the firm conviction that what we are working and praying for, will one day become a reality.
John Wijngaards
SEVEN STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE WOMEN’S ORDINATION
- Recognise that the SOURCE for women’s openness to ordination lies not in emancipation but in baptism.
- Understand Rome’s arguments for its ban on women priests and know how to refute them.
- Be familiar with the theological reasons for ordaining women.
- Create opportunities to educate people for change.
- Make women visible in church.
- Support integrity in the Church and voices of protest.
- Jesus Christs wants also women in the priesthood, not just men. Proclaim it!