Vatican Cool to American Bishops’ Letter on Women

Question: How long does it take Roman Catholic bishops to write a letter?

Answer: About a decade, if the subject is the role of American women in their church.

A delegation of American bishops headed home Thursday under Vatican injunction to take another shot at a controversial document that condemns sexism and calls for full participation by women in all aspects of church life, short of the priesthood.

The would-be pastoral letter, which has been in the making for nine years, was panned by Vatican officials and prelates from other countries at an unusual two-day meeting in Rome.

Traditionalists spearheaded by presiding Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the keeper of Vatican orthodoxy, and reinforced by attending cardinals and bishops from around the world objected to both the content of the document and the impact it might have among Catholics outside the United States.

One insider described the Vatican reaction as “a disconnect” and spoke of official concern that the American document might go beyond papal teaching.

“I think perhaps many of the members thought that it would be better to walk cautiously and go slowly rather than shoot all the big guns at once,” was the judicious conclusion of Cincinnati Archbishop Daniel E. Pilarczyk, who headed the six-priest American delegation.

Vatican Secretary of State Angelo Sodano, a cardinal-designate, cautioned the Americans at the outset to respect the church’s universal doctrine “without betraying anything of the integrity and originality of the Christian message.”

Behind the diplomatic language, observers said, was the reality that a Vatican-led assault chafed at virtually every aspect of the document, which discusses issues from abortion to the priesthood, urges non-sexist language in the liturgy and calls for an end to church practices that have historically “depersonalized and depreciated women.”

Acknowledging that the document had drawn “considerable criticism,” Pilarczyk said the American methodology troubled some of the participating prelates. Beginning in 1982, about 75,000 American women offered their views to the drafting committee, which included five laywomen consultants.

There was concern, Pilarczyk said, that the American bishops’ approach suggested that “church teaching is up for grabs in response to whomever shouts the loudest.” Any such concern is unjustified, he said.

The current version, entitled, “One in Christ Jesus: A Pastoral Response for the Concerns of Women for Church and Society,” hews closer to the Vatican orthodoxy than the original draft.

While explaining and supporting the church’s historical ban on women priests, it nevertheless calls for their ordination as deacons, and it asks official support for their participation at religious services as lectors and acolytes.

Vatican officials made plain they did not welcome one national church taking a position on issues that central authority had not sufficiently discussed. The Americans drew arched eyebrows with suggestions that the Vatican might speed up consideration of ordaining women as deacons, one step below the priesthood.

Pilarczyk said attending bishops told the Americans that “it’s not going to help if you bishops from America clamor” for a quick conclusion of the Vatican’s study on the diaconate.

In the aftermath, the American bishops will try a third draft and consider Vatican suggestions to downgrade the document from a pastoral letter, a high-level but non-binding guideline meant for teaching, to a less authoritative working paper.

Asked whether downgrading the document might signal to American Catholic women that their church is not prepared to confront their concerns seriously, Pilarczyk replied, “I think that danger is a very real one.”

Two American women helping to draft the document, Dr. Susan Muto, a professor at Duquesne University, and Sister Mariella Frye of the U.S. Bishops’ Conference, attended the sessions as observers at the request of the American bishops.

Muto, for one, left undismayed.

“Speaking as a woman, I believe the eventual product may be less important than the process. It has already energized and empowered American Catholic women to take a leading role in their dioceses,” she said.

NEXT STEP

U.S. bishops attempting to author a pastoral letter on women’s issues will try a third draft after their latest attempt met with Vatican disapproval. The bishops might downgrade the document from a pastoral letter, a high-level guideline for teaching, to a less authoritative working paper. This move would comply with a Vatican suggestion, but it could be construed as an insult to American Catholic women. U.S. bishops will review the final draft later this year.