Members of the Women's Ordination Conference, a progressive Catholic group, stage a 'singing' protest during the opening of a global meeting of bishops at the Vatican, on Wednesday, Oct. 3, 2018. (Photo: ASSOCIATED PRESS)
An array of Roman Catholic women are questioning whether Vatican rules barring women from voting at an important global meeting are fundamentally discriminatory ― arguing that the right to vote has already been granted to lay Catholic men.
Liberal and conservative Catholic women are calling on the church to allow female religious superiors ― nuns who lead women’s religious orders ― to vote alongside male religious superiors at the Synod of Bishops, an annual Vatican assembly that advises the pope. The final document produced by the month-long meeting, which began on Oct. 3, has the potential to become official church teaching if approved by the pope.
The debate over whether women can vote at the Synod of Bishops has become a flashpoint for those seeking proof the centuries-old, male-dominated Catholic church is finally willing to listen to women’s voices.
More than 5,000 people have signed an online petition calling for female religious superiors to be allowed to vote at the synod. The day the synod opened, 20 men and women gathered to protest at the Vatican, according to the National Catholic Reporter. The protestors read out the names of Catholic cardinals and chanted, “Knock, knock. Who’s there? More than half the church!”
Although progressive Catholic organizations organized the petition and rally, the issue also seems to resonate among mainstream Catholic groups.
Benedictine nuns from Switzerland, holding signs with the words #VotesForCatholicWomen, posted a photo showing their support for women’s voting rights on social media.
Sister Sally Hodgdon, a superior general from the U.S., predicted women eventually will win the right to vote, according to The Associated Press.
“I am a superior general. I am a sister. And so in theory, logically, you would think I would have the right to vote,” Hodgdon told reporters.
“I believe that in future synods — I will not say the very next synod — but in future synods we will probably see a change as to who votes,” she said.
The Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group that represents most American nuns, declined to comment on its position on the issue.
Journalists and activists have repeatedly asked bishops at the synod to explain why women can’t vote, the AP reports. The bishops typically respond by citing Vatican rules.
The synod is attended by about 300 bishops elected to represent their colleagues around the world, according to Religion News Service. Special delegates appointed by the pope also attend.
The theme for this year’s meeting is how the church can minister to its young people. Surveys conducted in preparation for the meeting indicate that many young people want women to have greater, more visible roles in the church.
Centuries-old Catholic doctrine maintains that because Jesus’ apostles were male, only men can be ordained as priests ― which means that, by extension, only men can become bishops.
However, ordination is not required for men who want to join a religious order. Technically, these un-ordained religious brothers are considered lay members of the church ― having a status equal to Catholic sisters who join religious orders, and equal to ordinary Catholic men and women in the pews.
This distinction became a point of contention in 2015, when an international group of male religious superiors elected a religious brother to be one of their 10 representatives to the bishops’ synod. This brother was allowed to vote on synod resolutions, even though he was not ordained.
That incident raised questions about whether female religious superiors would also be given the opportunity to vote in the synod, since it appeared that being ordained was no longer a prerequisite for voting.
This year, two male religious superiors who are not ordained are voting participants of the synod, the AP reports.
Lay Catholic women and religious sisters have attended synods as auditors and speakers ― but they can’t vote on synod resolutions. A global group representing female religious superiors was not invited to send voting delegates this year.
Members of a women's group sing in protest at the Synod Hall before the opening of the Synod of Bishops on 'Young People' on October 3, 2018 in Vatican City, Vatican. (Photo: Franco Origlia via Getty Images)
But some experts say Catholic canon law doesn’t technically bar these women leaders from voting on synod resolutions.
“The only theological or canonical difference between a religious brother and a religious sister is gender,” the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, a Catholic columnist and former editor-in-chief of the Catholic magazine America, wrote in an article. “Excluding women is, therefore, indefensible.”
Katie Prejean McGrady, a Catholic speaker and writer, was one of the American delegates who gave bishops insights about young Catholics ahead of the synod. She told America that she hopes to see women voters included at the meeting soon.
“I keep reminding myself: The Church is a slow-moving ship. Things don’t happen overnight or with the snap of a finger, and I can’t get mad every single time I disagree with some procedure or process,” McGrady said. “So rather than be incredibly frustrated by the lack of women voters in this Synod, I’m going to remain hopeful that we’ll have women voting in the next one.”
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St. Catherine of Siena
The second-youngest of 25 children, Catherine of Siena is one of only two patron saints of Italy. Catherine believed herself to be spiritually wed to Jesus and committed herself to a monastic life as a teenager. She was a peacemaker during the 1368 revolution in Siena and convinced Pope Gregory XI to return the papacy to Rome during a tumultuous time for the Catholic Church. One story from her life tells of Jesus appearing to her with a heart in his hands and saying, “Dearest daughter, as I took your heart away from you the other day, now, you see, I am giving you mine, so that you can go on living with it for ever.” She was canonized in 1461.
Joan of Arc
Joan of Arc grew up a peasant in medieval France and reportedly started hearing the voices of saints from a young age. At the age of 18, Joan believed that God had chosen her to lead France to victory in its ongoing war with England. The precocious Joan convinced crowned prince Charles of Valois to allow her to lead a the country’s army to Orléans, where it defeated the English and their French allies, the Burgundians. She was subsequently captured by Anglo-Burgundian forces, tried for heresy and burned at the stake in 1431. She was just 19 years old when she died. The Catholic Church canonized her in 1920.
Hildegard von Bingen
Hildegard von Bingen was a Benedictine abbess who lived between 1098 and 1179. Hildegard became a nun as a teenager, though she had received divine visions since early childhood. It wasn’t until her 40s that Hildegard began writing a record of these visions, which came to be known as Scivias (Know the Ways). She went on to write other texts documenting her philosophy and also composed short works on medicine, natural history, music and more. Bishops, popes, and kings consulted her at a time when few women engaged in the political domain. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012.
St. Teresa of Avila
Teresa of Avila was born in Spain during the 16th century to a well-to-do family. Teresa was fascinated by stories of the Christian saints and martyrs from a young age and explored these interests through mystical games she played with her brother, Roderigo. Her early efforts to join a convent were interrupted by the disapproval of her father, as well as several bouts of malaria. She turned instead to quiet prayer and contemplation and attained what she described in her autobiography as the "prayer of union," in which she felt her soul absorbed into God’s power. She went on to join a convent and was said to have at one point restored her young nephew to health after he was crushed by a fallen wall. The episode was presented at the process for Teresa's canonization, which took place in 1662.
St. Catherine of Genoa
Born in 1447, Catherine of Genoa is perhaps best known for her visions of and treatise on purgatory. She conceptualized purgatory as an interior, rather than exterior, fire which individuals experience within themselves. “The soul presents itself to God still bound to the desires and suffering that derive from sin and this makes it impossible for it to enjoy the beatific vision of God,” Catherine wrote in her book of revelations. She developed a deep relationship with God which Pope Benedict XVI described as a “unitive life.” Catherine also dedicated her life to caring for the sick, which she did at the Pammatone Hospital until her death in 1510. She was canonized in 1737.
St. Clare of Assisi
Clare of Assisi shunned a life of luxury in her wealthy Italian family to devote herself to the burgeoning order of Francis of Assisi. When her parents promised her hand in marriage to a wealthy man in 1211, Clare fled for the Porziuncola Chapel and was taken in by Francis. She took vows dedicating her life to God, and Francis placed Clare provisionally with the Benedictine nuns of San Paolo. Her family, furious at Clare’s secret flight, went there to try to drag her home by force, but Clare was resolute. Clare’s piety was so profound that her sister, mother and several other female relatives eventually came to live with her and be her disciples in her convent outside Assisi. The group came to be known as the “Poor Clares” and walked barefoot, slept on the ground, abstained from meat, and spoke only when necessary. Clare died in 1253 and was canonized two years later by Pope Alexander IV.
Thérèse of Lisieux
Born in France in 1873, Thérèse of Lisieux experienced a mystical union with Christ while undergoing study for her First Communion in 1884. She entered the Carmel of Lisieux, a Carmelite hermitage, in 1888 and made a profession of religious devotion in 1890. She became ill and died at the young age of 24, but her writings and revelations formed the basis for widespread veneration after her death. Affectionately called The Little Flower, Thérèse believed that children have an aptitude for spiritual experience, which adults should model. "What matters in life," she wrote, "is not great deeds, but great love." She was canonized by Pope Pius XI in 1925.
Julian of Norwich
Little is known about Julian of Norwich, an English mystic who lived from 1342 until roughly 1430. Information about her comes primarily from her Revelations of Divine Love in Sixteen Showings, the book in which Julian recorded her divine visions. In 1373, she became ill and nearly died within a matter of days. A priest came to her bedside and show her an image of Christ, after which Julian recovered and received the 16 revelations that she recorded in her book. God later revealed to her the meaning of these visions, which she recorded as: “‘Would you learn to see clearly your Lord’s meaning in this thing? Learn it well: Love was his meaning. Who showed it to you? Love.... Why did he show it to you? For Love’.... Thus I was taught that Love was our Lord’s meaning.” She chose to live a contemplative and reclusive life until her death.
St. Bridget of Sweden
Unlike many of her counterparts, Bridget of Sweden did not devote herself fully to a religious life until her 40s when her husband died in 1344. Reportedly distraught after his death, Bridget spent long hours in prayer beside her husband’s grave at the abbey of Alvastra. There she believed God spoke to her, telling her to “be my bride and my canal.” He gave her the task of founding new religious order, and she went on to start the Brigittines, or the Order of St. Saviour. Both men and women joined the community, with separate cloisters. They lived in poor convents and were instructed to give all surplus income to the poor. In 1350, Bridget braved the plague, which was ravaging Europe, to pilgrimage to Rome in order to obtain authorization for her new order from the pope. It would be 20 years before she received this authorization, but Bridget quickly became known throughout Europe for her piety. She was canonized in 1391, less than 20 years after her death.
St. Beatrice of Silva
Born in 1424, Beatrice of Silva abandoned a court life with Princess Isabel of Portugal to enter a Cistercian convent in Toledo. She lived at the convent until 1484, when she believed God summoned her to found a religious order. She started the Congregation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, where she lived and served as superior until her death circa 1492. Shortly before Beatrice’s death, Pope Innocent VIII approved a the convent’s adoption of the Cistercian rule, which consisted of three guidelines: be silent and submissive to God’s direction; strive for a life of obscurity and piety; and love everyone with a holy love. Beatrice reportedly received a vision of the Virgin Mary dressed in a white habit with a white scapular and blue mantle, which formed the basis of the dress for her order. Pope Paul VI canonized St. Beatrice in 1976.
St. Angela of Foligno
Angela of Foligno was a Franciscan mystic who was born into a prestigious family and married at the age of 20. A series of events, which included a violent earthquake in 1279 and an ongoing war against Perugia lead her to call upon St Francis, who appeared to her in a vision and instructed her to go to confession. Three years later, her mother, husband and all of her children died in the span of a few months. Angela then sold her possessions and in 1291 enrolled in the Third Order of St Francis. At 43, Angela had a vision of God’s love while she was making a pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Francis of Assisi. She dictated her experiences in The Book of the Experience of the Truly Faithful. Pope Francis canonized Angela of Foligno in 2013.
Mechthild of Magdeburg
Like Hadewijch, Mechthild of Magdeburg was part of the Beguine community. The German mystic decided at age 22 to devote her life to God and authored a text entitled The Flowing Light of the Godhead. She entered the convent of Helfta in 1270 and used poetry to express her divine revelations. On the first page of The Flowing Light, Mechthild wrote: “I have been put on my guard about this book, and certain people have warned me that, unless I have it buried, it will be burnt. Yet, I in my weakness have written it, because I dared not hide the gift that is in it.”
Hadewijch
Hadewijch was a Flemish mystic who was part of the Beguine movement, a network of ascetic and philanthropic communities of women that arose primarily in the Netherlands in the 13th century. Little is known about her life outside of her writings, which include a collection of letters on the spiritual life of the Beguines, as well as a book of visions. According to Dr. Elizabeth Alvilda Petroff, a comparative literature professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Hadewijch “believed that the soul, created by God in his own image, longs to be one with divine love again, ‘to become God with God.’”
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