Amazonian feminists want to use Synodality to destroy the priesthood and acquire power for themselves. Battle in Amazonian Church.

The women's group of the Pan-Amazonian Ecclesial Network (REPAM) launched on Thursday (7) a statement in which they express their "perplexity, sadness and indignation" over the lack of female representation of the Church with an Amazonian face in the Amazonian Ecclesial Conference (CEAMA- canonically erected in October 2021 by Pope Francis.   Cardinal Hummes was the President until March last year when he was replaced by Francis devotee,  Cardinal Barreto

Opponents of the Pope "want a static church, a church of doctrine, more than one of pastoral action. They want a church that is different to the one Jesus wants, which is a church of solidarity, a church that really responds to the needs of people, and of nature itself".  

He means of course "a church that is different from the one I want".  Needless to say, he, like so many others in the Club of Francis is a Jesuit.)

With this declaration, the women intend to contribute to the construction of a Church which is increasingly Synodal, participative and with an Amazonian face, starting from its organisational instances.

"As women, we want to build that church we dream of, that church which is a community and communion of equals, pluriforme, diverse and Synodal. A church where there are no hierarchies, gender privileges or ecclesial status, for power and domination; where there are no models of exclusion and indifference," states the statement.

The representatives of the nucleus explain that, considering that CEAMA was created to promote a Church with an Amazonian and Synodal face, the total absence of women in the presidency highlights the lack of appreciation and recognition of women.

(Cathcon:  rather than a Catholic Church with the face of Christ- )

Pronouncement of the Women's Nucleus of CEAMA on the CEAMA election process

We give thanks to the divine Ruah (Hebrew for Spirit) who continues to manifest himself among us, who impels and guides us. Sometimes her voice is as gentle as a breeze, other times it is like a small whirlwind that turns into a strong hurricane; however, we are often not sensitive to the signs of the times that she reveals to us. Three years ago we experienced a time of kairos in the Pan-Amazon, with all the Synodal process and the construction and approval of the final document and the Apostolic Exhortation Querida Amazonia. The result of the whole process was a gift of God to us, the peoples of the Pan-Amazon, because we are peoples and we are ways, we have faces, names, voices that echo and echo strongly, reaffirming the Church we want, a Church with an Amazonian face and an integral ecology that includes an integral conversion to firm the four (4) prophetic dreams of the Querida Amazonia.

The Synodal experience of walking together as people of God has strengthened in us, women and men, the conviction of weaving HOPE, it has firmed in us the active and effective force and the commitment to HOPE for a Church that is all Synodal. The news of CEAMA's new presidency should provoke reactions of gratitude to those who are taking on the leadership service of the organization. However, regardless of the personal value of those who assume it, which we not only do not question but also acknowledge, it nevertheless provokes in us perplexity, sadness and indignation because we see in it an image of the Church which is, in fact, an image of the Church as it is, monopolized, by men, not the Church we dream of and say we are developing together in Synodality.

If CEAMA was created to promote a Church with an Amazonian face: those faces that suffer abandonment, systematic violence, exploitation and discrimination, and aware that in Amazonia 70% of pastoral action is carried out by women, the total absence of women in the CEAMA presidency came as a negative surprise to us and showed a lack of appreciation and effective recognition of BEING WOMEN in the Church. God created man and woman in his image and likeness. Jesus wanted and encouraged relationships of reciprocity and equality in a community of equals. The Spirit who dwells in each of us allows us to participate effectively. By baptismal consecration we are invested with the royal, prophetic and priestly office of Christ, and thus effective members of the People of God.

The choice of the new presidency of CEAMA, is uniform: male, clerical and maintains the logic of power, not of a Synodal ecclesial conference for Amazonia. The exclusion of women in the election of the leadership of CEAMA points to a pre-conciliar ecclesiology and questions us about the real commitment to create something and hopeful from the Querida Amazonia, the Amazon Synod and the ongoing Synodal experience, that is, a ministerial church. Synodality implies new ways of being and doing Church which must manifest themselves both in daily life and in institutions.

When there is only one type of language, one way of feeling and interpreting life (that of men), we are betraying the Triune God who is communion in diversity.  If we want different results, we cannot always do the same thing. A Synodal church does not allow women to remain subordinate. As women, we want to build that church we dream of, that church which is community and communion of equals, pluriform, diverse and Synodal. A church where there are no hierarchies, gender privileges or ecclesial status, for power and domination; where there are no models of exclusion and indifference.

We do not want to be a voice of complaint or division, but a voice that from the just word and fraternal correction, an expression of love, helps to build here and today the Kingdom of God.  In this sense, for a pastoral and ecclesial conversion, we propose the creation of an extended presidency with the participation of women and indigenous peoples and other Amazonian peoples (peasants, urban, traditional communities, river dwellers) in the governing bodies of CEAMA. Therefore, in the pursuit of pastoral conversion we call for: the fulfillment of the deliberations of the Synod for Amazonia in its final document and the pastoral orientations and challenges, results, of the Ecclesial Assembly of Latin America and the Caribbean that are signs of hope and synodality in the evangelizing mission of our Church to humanity.

May our communication be received as an expression of our love for the Church and of our commitment to live in fidelity to Jesus within it.

REPAM Women's Nucleus, 6th April 2022.

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