Women’s Participation in the Catholic Church

 






 “She hears a voice assuring her; woman, you are set free from your impurities.” (Lk 13:12)

The Church is known as a big family, which gathers all her children, both men and women. In this short reflection, I will focus on women’s participation in the Catholic Church.

Looking back at the sacred Scriptures (Old and New Testaments), we see effectively that women have been present and active in the history of salvation. Women have also played an important role in Church History. On this, we can see how some popes appreciated women’s zeal for spreading the Good News. The topic on women in the Church seems to be large; it’s even difficult to exhaust its significance.

Being involved in the Church's activity is a call for all the faithful, including women, in order to keep the Church alive. My question is to know how they are involved in the Church’s activity. The field is vast. Some of the women are catechists, lectors, chorists, etc. Saint John Paul II, in his exhortation to priests in 1995, underlined the importance of women in the life of the priest. This shows that women are really active in the life of the Church. Through their motherly nature, the Church becomes tender. On this, the Church does not cease to exhort them to be more active, while recognizing their irreplaceable contribution. This attitude helps the Church to be more fruitful in her mission.

In the Church, giving women high positions has been a thorny question. During his papacy, John Paul II was emphasizing the importance of women in promoting the vocation of the priesthood. He once said, “How many of us also owe to our mothers our very vocation to the priesthood. Experience shows that very often it is the mother who for years nurtures in her own heart a desire for a priestly vocation for her son, and obtains it by praying with persevering trust and deep humility.” With Saint John Paul II, we realize that women are not only participating in the life of the Church but also in the life of the priests who serve the Church. 

While Pope Benedict XVI was reluctant to give high responsibility to women, Pope Francis has been putting women in high positions as an invitation to be more active. For example, in 2019 and 2021, Vatican News reported two information about two sisters who were appointed by Pope Francis to some posts in the Vatican. The first was sister Alessandra who was assigned to be ad interim secretary of the Dicastery for promoting integral human development and Delegate to the Vatican Covid-19 commission. After her, it was sister Raffaella who was appointed to be secretary general of the Vatican State. The list isn’t exhaustive.

Now, the question that comes to my mind is, “Are all women taking care of the faith of their children?” A child or youth can’t wake up and decide right away to become a priest, this step requires preparation and a process of growing in faith. Then, in helping their kids to become mature in faith, women give a big contribution to the Church. The women are the first Religion teachers. It will be fallacious for women to pretend engaging their energies in the life of the Church if their children don’t know rudimentary things about the Catholic faith, such as prayers or how to do the sign of the cross. Besides, there is another way for women to support the Church’s mission; it is to consecrate their whole lives to God by spreading the Good News throughout the world.

To embrace consecrated life for women is a sign that faith is well lived within families. Today, many sisters are doing their mission around the world and trying to inculcate what they have received from their parents. They are spreading the gospel through different sectors of the apostolate. In doing so, they express their faith through their lives, words, and deeds. As James says that faith without works is dead. What would the Church be without all the women who wholeheartedly give themselves to announce Christ in their families, and in the Church spread throughout the world? I remember that it was my mother who taught me for the first time how to pray “Our Father” and the prayer before going to sleep.

After pointing out some elements that show how women participate in the life of the Church and how they help her to be more fruitful, I would like to mention that their service in the Church should not replace their responsibilities as mothers in their families. Some women who attend many devotions have a tendency to spend the whole day at the parish without worrying about their children or husbands. There should be complementary between the service of the Church and that of the family. I admire all the women who know how to balance the two. I pray that the Church continues to recognize the role of women in our mother Church. I also pray that we be able to understand that we are all equal before God.

All of us, including women, are called to put together our different charisms in building up our Church. It is a joy that women, who had been put aside for many years in the life of the Church, are emerging, helping the Church to be more fruitful in her mission. May the Virgin Mary, the most blessed among women, intercedes for us and for all women.

 

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