In today's General Congregation, participants began reflecting on how each baptised person can proclaim the Gospel. For some, it is not a question “of rights and desires, but of the well-being of the Church.” Two digital missionaries are among the Synod participants. Others are not satisfied by “the Mass schedule online”, they want to be “engaged in dialogue”.

Vatican City (AsiaNews) – The status of women in the Church is one of the hottest issues among those following the works of the Synod, much more than the issue of ministries, but it is one that is crucial for the reflection on the missionary identity of the Church.

The issue was at the centre of this morning's work. The session was public, like all those that start the reflection on one of the parts of the Instrumentum Laboris, in this case that of the mission, the second of the key words entrusted by Pope Francis to the assembly.

The shared responsibility of all the baptised to the Church’s mission is one of the topics discussed at the 35 round tables of the small circles. Point B 2.3 asks: “How can we develop discernment practices and decision-making processes in an authentically synodal manner, that respects the protagonism of the Spirit?

This “is not a question of promotion and recognition in the worldly sense, of rights and desires, but of the well-being of the Church. In fidelity to the origin, who is Jesus, his style,” said Italian Benedictine nun Mother Ignazia Angelini in the introductory spiritual address dedicated to this topic.

In her spiritual meditation, she looked at the way we relate to women, as well as at a page of the Acts of the Apostles that was surprising to some.

The experience of the first missionary journey led to “bitter disagreements [. . .] between Paul and Barnabas, though they were close friends”. This led them to take different paths. “We must imagine [this as] a process of struggling to understand,” Mother Angelini explained.

Paul, who wanted to go into the heart of Asia, found himself instead called to Europe. When he landed in Philippi, in today's Greek region of Macedonia, his mission began by meeting “the unusual koinonia of women praying, under the open sky.”

“Thus began the course of the Gospel in Europe. In Philippi, mission emerged from a well-defined territory, and found new spaces. New languages inaugurated by women, whom Paul does not disdain, whom he rather gathered as a kairos: he preached to them, entered into dialogue. Lydia, humble worshipper of God and a seller of purple cloth, would become the first believer in the land of Europe.”

“In each case, an ‘outgoing’ synodal Church, in the beginning as today, immediately encounters the presence of women, various and diverse women, not to be homologated [. . .] This is the evidence of the Word. The element inscribed in generative roots, as a constitutive trait of evangelical newness, disregarded for centuries.”

Sister Gloria Liliana Franco Echeverri, from Colombia, head of the Conference of Men and Women Religious of Latin America (CLAR),[*] spoke to Synod participants about this freshness, which was eventually disregarded.

She cited the real-life stories of women who regularly visit the poor but are excluded by their parish priest from the extraordinary ministry of the Eucharist or the canonical title denied to a woman theologian by a pontifical university even though her academic achievements are higher than male candidates.

In Sister Franco Echeverri’s view, "The journey of women in the Church has been full of scars, of situations that have involved pain and redemption, an Easter plot, in which what was evident and definitive was the love of God; a love that remains beyond the efforts of some to make invisible the presence and contribution of women in the construction of the Church.”

"The Church has a woman's face: assemblies, parish groups, liturgical celebrations, apostolic ministries of communities, the quality of reflection and the warmth of the Church's dedication are often and above all woven into women's wombs. You can account for it in all contexts."

Thus, the Church should recognise herself, not only as a mother and teacher, but also as a “sister and disciple" since “all of us, women and men, are called to be a womb, a home, a caress, an embrace. A feminine Church that has the strength of fruitfulness, which is given to her by the breath of the Spirit.”

The new frontiers of the web are another indispensable face of the Church's mission today.  Two "digital missionaries" present at the Synod represent a journey that began online two years ago.

In the first phase (2021), over a period of two and a half months, 250 missionaries in 115 countries speaking seven languages listened to more than 150,000 people answering a questionnaire, 30 per cent of whom were non-believers and far from the Church.

Later, 15 digital missionaries were invited to the various continental assemblies to share their discernment, starting from the experience of their mission.

Two of them, José Manuel De Urquidi Gonzalez, a layman from Mexico, and Sister Xiskya Lucia Valladares Paguaga from Nicaragua, today spoke about their experience to Pope Francis, the bishops, and members of the Synod around the world.

They explained that digital technology is not just a tool, but is something that creates a "place" where people spend a significant part of their lives:

“Many there need hope, they need to heal their wounds, they need a hand, they need God. For many, it is not enough to tell them the Mass schedule or invite them to visit the cathedral if we have not first engaged in dialogue with them, getting closer in order to listen to them.

“Sometimes they feel confused or ashamed, and they need a ‘travel companion’ to assist them. To be that companion, we need to step outside of ourselves, our ways of thinking, to meet them, listen to them, and accompany them.”

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[*] Confederación Latinoamericana de Religiosos.

• vatican
• synod
• women
• mission
• digital technology
• general congregation