Catholic women frustrated over being disenfranchised by the church despite promises of greater recognition have gone on strike, withholding numerous services and ministries to their Catholic parishes, schools and universities.
The Catholic Women Strike is planned to go through Easter, April 20. It calls on women to rescind time, labour and finances from the church for 40 days, to highlight the significance of their contributions.
The strike is organised by the Women’s Ordination Conference, a 50-year-old group based in Rome that advocates for women to be made priests, bishops and deacons
It also included a day of action on March 9, where women were invited to protest and advocate for greater inclusion and influence in the church.
“We’re calling the women of the Catholic Church to join together in striking from sexism by withholding labor, time and financial resources from the church during Lent,” said Kate McElwee, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference.
The conference prepared a toolkit to answer questions about how to participate in the strike, suggesting that women refrain from attending Mass, send letters to their local priest or bishop highlighting the need for recognition of women’s roles or withhold donations and work.
According to church data, women perform the vast majority of the work in churches and dioceses and make up 80% of lay ecclesial ministers.
The recently ended Synod on Synodality, a three-year-long global consultation of Catholic faithful called by Pope Francis in 2021, raised hopes that the church might open the door for women to be ordained as deacons, who may perform some of the church’s seven sacraments and preach at Mass.
Women’s roles in the church was among the top concerns of Catholics in the consultation that went on in parishes and dioceses, with most saying they’d like to see women have a greater say in decisions.
But before the synod’s final meeting in Rome, where women were given a vote in the proceedings alongside bishops and other clergy, the pope put the brakes on the push for women deacons, saying the question “was not yet mature.” He instead created a study group to further discern the church’s options.
“Following the Synod on Synodality and the lack of concrete actions for women and women’s greater participation in the life of the church, there was a lot of disappointment, anger and heartbreak,” said McElwee.
McElwee said that it’s hard to gather data on how many women are taking part in the strike but said she was hearing from women working in embassies, universities, schools and dioceses, from the United States to Poland and Italy.
Many women who volunteer in their parishes are also taking part in the initiative.
(Agencies; Picture Courtesy: AP)
