Women’s Ordination and Synodality: Calls for Greater Involvement in Decision-Making and Leadership Roles in the Church

The Synod on Synodality, a global synodal process, recently concluded its continental stage, with reports indicating that the controversial issue of women’s ordination played a significant role. North American delegates called for examination of women’s involvement in Church life, including decision-making roles, leadership, and ordination, and delegates from other continents echoed this call for continued discernment about women assuming greater decision-making roles, with some recommending new or reformed ministerial structures, including women’s ordination to the diaconate and the priesthood. However, some uphold Church teaching, which states that women cannot be ordained as priests and that any change in this would require changing the Church’s constitution. The Church’s rejection of female deacons has also not been clearly articulated, but some believe that the deaconesses who existed in the early Church were fundamentally different from sacramental male deacons. The continental documents compiled delegates’ discussions on ways women are excluded from ministries and governance structures, along with possible solutions. While not naming specific roles for women, delegates from all continents called for more structures to encourage and enhance women’s participation, especially in decision-making and Church platforms. The Synod on Synodality process is not the first time in recent years that the issue of women’s ordination has surfaced in the synodal context. The belief that a continued effort is again underway at the level of the Synod of Bishops to reframe Church teaching regarding women’s ordination was heightened last October when the Synod on Synodality secretariat released its working document for the continental stage.