Barbara Bolgiano, Newman Association representative to the National Board of Catholic Women, reports on the conference Women at the Periphery Taking Centre Stage, held at Ushaw College, Durham.
In a desire to improve the lives of marginalised women, sixty women and seven men spent a weekend at Ushaw College, Durham to walk together on a synodal path. Organised by the National Board of Catholic Women (NBCW), the conference Women at the Periphery Taking Centre Stage, November 25th–27th, was a response to the statement by the Synod of Bishops of the fundamental importance that the voice of the poor and excluded find a place.
Women leaders working with those on the margins were joined with Sr Marie Kolbe Zamora from the Vatican's General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops, with Professors of Theology and Religion, Anna Rowland and Karen Kilby from Durham University, and Abbot Hugh Allan represented the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales.
The conference coincided with the UN Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women, and sixteen days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence, and conferees were appropriately bedecked with orange poppies. Abbot Hugh used the metaphor of the impact of an earthquake, when he spoke of the need to find safe spaces. "Our safe space is Jesus Christ", he reminded, suggesting that the grace needed for healing and transformation could only be found in the love of the Christ, when we can safely find that in each other.
The Synod process
Turning to synodality on the Saturday afternoon, Prof. Anna Rowlands explained that many are encountering new people and ideas in the Synod process; in the first phase, listening and discernment were needed. There is a call now for the Church to draw closer to the ordinary lives of women, a call for the Church to be a powerful ally of women. Sr Marie Kolbe, a Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity, acknowledged the reality of change. "It is a painful time while we re-focus", she acknowledged, given the long-term focus on the Institution ever since the early Church Councils; change requires a review of Canon law, and a consensus among the Church hierarchy. While all movements in the direction of women's call for equality may seem like appeasement, change is rapidly happening in the Vatican with the further appointment of women.
Julian Paparella, currently working with Sr Marie Kolbe as the voice of youth, and of the married, impressed on the conference, which included ten students from Durham University, that women have a key role to play towards achieving a more synodal church. He suggested following the synodal model of Jesus's journeying side-by-side on the Road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13–35): go out to meet them, begin by asking them questions, engage them in conversation, be prepared to walk in another direction, and enter into their ordinary lives.
Prof. Karen Kilby's leadership on the final morning teased out a sensus fidei, with mutual desires expressed for returning to the basics of a pilgrim Church, of people of God living out Gospel values, using kind communication, unconditional love, building a new community through the sharing of gifts, of wisdom and of compassion.