Staying the Distance by Patricia Gemmell
With the Vatican’s recent pronouncement that there can be no female diaconate because women’s bodies cannot image Christ, how are women to stay in a Church that so fiercely demeans them? Synodality is not so much about doing as it is a way of being. It starts with humility and patience and the inner silence of deep listening. Surely, we are all capable of this? Synodality is a new word for holiness. There is no excuse for us to run away or hide from it. Pope Francis and now Pope Leo call us to a deeper way of holiness, reclaimed from the practices of the early church. It is alien to our contemporary culture which prizes speed and efficiency and thrives on an unending diet of noise and distraction. More disturbingly, it is also alien to a still prevailing church culture of patriarchal and hierarchical clericalism.
Patricia Gemmell
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Both these cultures are a threat to synodality. However, for someone like me who feels called to help reform the church from within, it is the prevailing church culture which is the far more pressing challenge. In the words of Pope Francis in another context, we all need to change and “set out on the long path of renewal.” But how does one stay the course on this long path of renewal, particularly if you are, like me, a woman who feels hurt and betrayed by the way the Vatican has handled the question of the female diaconate. (The story of that secretive and frankly duplicitous process can be found on the website of the Wijngaards Institute at: https://www.wijngaardsinstitute.com/petrocchi_commission_women_deacons/ where we see synodality itself betrayed and women once more regarded as inferior.)
In the wake of the Vatican announcement on 4 December, I decided to revisit Gerald Arbuckle’s Abuse and Cover-Up: Refounding the Catholic Church in Trauma, published in 2019. In the early days of the Plenary Council Sr Clare Condon had recommended it as a way of understanding how fiercely cultures resist change. It is one of those books where every sentence feels like gold. For Arbuckle, reform is too slight a word for what is needed. The church needs to refound by returning to the founding experience of the church by Christ. This is a transformative faith journey, without quick fixes. The alternative is paralysis or a retreat into fundamentalism. Arbuckle has a very clear idea of where the church should be going and the structural reforms and attitudinal changes needed in the process. His final chapter provides a blueprint for refounding that is a rousing manifesto of what the Church could be at its best. If only our leaders could be so inspired!
But what I need is sustenance and Arbuckle does not disappoint. I find what I am looking for in his description of the qualities to be found in a refounding person. Number one: faith-stubbornness. Oh, what a gift that word is! I must surely have it or I would have walked long ago. This is what I must cherish and nurture above all. In that one word, faith-stubbornness, is perhaps all the nourishment I need to steel my resolve to keep labouring in the vineyard. But Arbuckle gives me much more that I can work with, to deepen that faith-stubbornness and strengthen its resilience. In short, these are the qualities of refounding persons:
Faith-stubbornness, humility, pastorally-grounded holiness
Conformity with the mystery of Christ’s love: his life, death and resurrection…the authentic refounding person is called to suffer, often intensely in union with Christ
A contemplative spirit in action
Prophetic boldness
Innovation, creative imagination
A sense of humour
The gift of lamentation
Discernment
Inner fire
If these are the characteristics of refounding persons, then I find myself at home here. But if the Catholic Church is home to me, it is nevertheless a home I’m ashamed of, and where I don’t want to invite others in. The buildings are collapsing, are in need of serious renovation, and it is not a safe place for women. But this is where the Spirit calls me to labour, with synodality the vision to guide me. The refounding that synodality offers is the real hope of the Church. If only more people could become convinced of that, particularly our priests and bishops!
In the meantime, I will be exercising faith-stubbornness.
Patricia Gemmell is a wife, mother and grandmother, and semi-retired teacher of French, Latin and Italian. She also has a Master’s degree in Theology. She belongs to the Grail, an international movement and community of women, and recently served 8 years on their National Leadership Team. An active member of her parish community in Sydney for nearly 40 years, she is currently the co-ordinator of their Laudato Si’ Action Platform group. Caring deeply about church reform she has been fully engaged in both the Australian Plenary Council and the Synod on Synodality and is also one of the working team responsible for Australian Women Preach, a weekly podcast of a woman preaching on the Sunday gospel. In January 2025, Patricia, along with Michael Gill, graced CLC with a webinar on the Australian experience of synodality.