By Elise Ann Allen

ROME (Crux) — Participants in the ongoing Synod of Bishops on Synodality have said that while questions surrounding the role of women in the Church are important, they can be distracting from other key issues on the agenda.

Speaking during an Oct. 7 press briefing, Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Bombay, a member of the pope’s Council of Cardinals advisory body, said the issue of women “is important” and has been a consistent discussion topic.

However, he said that he was recently speaking to a fraternal delegate to the synod, who asked whether the role of women, including their potential access to the diaconate, was really Catholicism’s “biggest problem.”

“I said no, we realize the importance, and we’re moving. We can’t, with the flip of a switch, change everything, but we’re moving forward,” Cardinal Gracias said, saying the women’s diaconate has not been taken away but rather given to a study group so as to be taken up again at a different time.

Currently, 368 bishops, clergy, religious, and laypeople from around the world are gathered in Rome for the Oct. 2-27 closing session of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality, a multi-year process of consultation aimed at making the Church a more collaborative and welcoming place for its members.

So far, the role of women in the Church, specifically the call for them to occupy more meaningful positions of leadership and authority, has been a primary talking point throughout the three-year consultation, with hot-button issues such as the women’s diaconate and women’s priestly ordination being among the most contested.

Ahead of this year’s synod gathering, Pope Francis established 10 study groups tasked with evaluating various issues that emerged during last year’s Rome-based discussion, including one group dealing with ministries, including the possibility of the women’s diaconate, that is led by the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF).

On the first day of the synod, the study groups gave a presentation to the general assembly on their work so far, with Cardinal Victor Manuel Fernández, prefect of the DDF, taking the women’s diaconate off the table, saying that “there is still no room for a positive decision by the Magisterium regarding the access of women to the diaconate.”

With the question of women’s ordination removed from this year’s synod discussion, participants were asked Monday, Oct 7, what other possibilities they saw for women assuming leadership and governance roles that did not involve Holy Orders.

Sister Mary Teresa Barron, president of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), a global leadership body of women religious, told journalists that “there are many good practices from all around the world” who are already in leadership roles.

To this end, she noted that one of her small group members this week was a woman who served as chancellor for her local diocese.

“We’re actually quite ignorant of what’s possible at the moment. There’s a list of the possibilities that exist, and we should share that good practice and learn from each other,” she said.

Sister Mary noted that it is easier for women in some cultures to assume leadership roles, such as a diocesan chancellor, than in other cultures.

“I do think within this synod, though, that there is a call to explore more possibilities, what are the other options that are available, even if, for the moment, we might not be looking at ordained ministry,” Sister Mary said.

She noted that discussion on the issue is often pigeonholed into “Can women or can they not be ordained?” but voiced her belief that the question must be approached in terms of, “Is the spirit calling women?”

“Some women do sense a call to the priesthood or the diaconate,” Sister Mary said, voicing her belief that discussion must focus on “the spirit calling to ministry today and in terms of the needs of mission today, are those calls there, and can we continue the discussion?”

Sheila Leocádia Pires, communications officer for the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference and secretary of the synod’s information commission, said she also believes the discussion should be broader, generally focusing on lay people and not just women.

“If you look at our discussions today, it has to do with relations, how we look at the different charisms, for example, how do we use our charisms not for my own personal gain, for the unity of the Church,” she said.

What participants are looking into, Pires said, are “the different gifts that laypeople have, not necessarily just women, but laypeople.”

“There’s a lot more to be addressed instead of just looking at the diaconate of women or the ordination of women,” she said. “All of that is being discussed under the title of the laity. What sort of ministries can the Church offer to the laity?”

Likewise, Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius, Lithuania, and president of the Council of European Episcopal Conferences (CCEE), warned that “there’s a danger of focusing on one section or a lot of topics.”

“The role of women is important, and we have to be careful that it doesn’t shut out a lot of other important topics and charisms and ministries,” he said, noting that at one point in the synod’s official working document, a section dedicated to women ends saying, “basically this all applies to laymen as well.”

There have been comments within the synod assembly on the role of lay people generally, including laymen, as well as how the work of lay people generally in families and whatever jobs they hold “must be correctly valued.”

“One or another part of the discourse should not skew that vocational call,” Archbishop Grušas said.

On the issue of the women’s diaconate, Cardinal Gracias noted that two previous commissions established to study the issue, the first of which was formed in response to a request from the UISG in 2016, “weren’t able to arrive at a very clear conclusion.”

He added that the issue has been “taken off, and now it’s part of a study group studying theological questions, so it will not be discussed in the synod.”

Cardinal Gracias also noted that during the last three meetings of the Council of Cardinals, there has been a session “devoted entirely to the role of women in the Church,” evaluating the issue from a theological, pastoral, and canonical perspective.

“So, it’s a matter of great importance, of great concern,” he said, “and the Holy Father has personally taken an interest.”