Women and Gender in Contemporary European Catholic Discourse: Voices of Faith

Abstract

Catholic women’s movements, networks and initiatives have a long history of advocating for an equal role in the Church—especially in the North American world. In recent years, their presence and visibility has been increasing in Europe too, also in relation to a series of initiatives and events, such as the Mary 2.0 campaign in Germany, which led to the launch of the Catholic Women’s Council (CWC) in 2019. This article focuses on the emerging discourse on women and gender promoted by the developing network of initiatives related to the role of women in the Catholic Church in different European countries. After reconstructing the map and history of this network, the contribution explores its emerging discourse, drawing on a triangulation of data: key-witnesses’ interviews; the magazine Voices; social network pages and profiles.

Navigating the Catholic Church in Belgium: Catholic women on female authority, reforms, and sexual difference

“…Lay women's involvement in the Church often takes place in what might be considered gender stereotypical domains, such as (pastoral) care services and education. In addition, there are many more women than men living in religious congregations (Bisschoppen van België, 2019, 2020. The numerical preponderance of women in the Belgian Catholic Church fits the premise that women are more religious than men and are also more involved in religious traditions (Trzebiatowska and Bruce, 2012).…”

“…2 An example of this silence can also be found in the Catholic Women’s Council (CWC). The CWC was launched in Stuttgart (Germany) in 2019 and rapidly became an international network bringing together several initiatives, groups, and events from all over the world, all aimed at promoting women’s rights and equality within the Catholic Church (Giorgi and Palmisano, 2020). However, it appears that there is no link to be found to the Belgian context.…”

“…Rather, this article aims to foreground Catholic women’s self-positionings within the Belgian Catholic Church by exploring the narratives of Church-active Catholic women. As Giorgi and Palmisano (2020) posit, ‘[. .…”

Mujeres, igualdad y educación

“…Mujer y hombre son igualmente humanos, radicalmente iguales (Savage, 2020); los textos nos llevan de una manera natural más allá del esfuerzo filosófico y teológico de Deborah Savage para rescatar a la mujer. La narrativa nos obliga a una mirada educativa de las mujeres en los Evangelios, en tiempos de Jesús y en la comunidades nacientes (Giorgi & Palmisano, 2020). Una mirada que nos permite abordar la cuestión de la igualdad de géneros en cualquier situación educativa, en la línea que propone Karin Flensner (2020), como algo que brota en la fuente de los principios cristianos, al igual que en el Tibet actual brota en los principio budistas (Padma'tsho & Jacoby, 2020).…”

“…En otros relatos se muestra a mujeres como testigos del encuentro con Jesús después de su muerte, un testimonio que es recibido por el grupo de Jesús y corroborado por los varones de la comunidad para hacerlo llegar más allá de sus fronteras. En continuidad los relatos muestran el papel fundamental de las mujeres en las comunidades nacientes (Giorgi & Palmisano, 2020). En el testimonio recibido y en la acción compartida se muestran los cimientos de una sociedad que se construye en igualdad.…”