NCR: Synod defends women’s leadership in Catholic Church, criticizes ‘machismo’

In a frank assessment of the complex role of women in the Catholic Church and its leadership, a Vatican study group called for broader access to positions of authority for Catholic women worldwide and for the church to confront what it described as persistent patterns of clericalism and “machismo.”

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In a statement reacting to the report, the Women’s Ordination Conference, a nonprofit advocacy group working to ordain women, said “women’s access to Holy Orders is a natural response to their equal dignity and to the open invitation of the Holy Spirit to fully live out their vocations.”

“The hierarchy must take some of the courage it recognizes in the women it lifts up as examples in this report and boldly chart a single path where all people, regardless of gender, can discern and live out all of the vocations the church offers,” it said.