Catholic Women's Movement focuses on climate and Synod but not on Christ
Catholic Women's Movement focuses on "climate justice"
Chairwoman Ritter-Grepl opened Kfbö summer study conference at Seggau Castle on the theme "Together. Justice. Shaping" - Distributing gainful employment and care work more fairly - Women's Movement in the Synodal Process strives for more gender justice in the Church.
Living more sustainably than usual is not easy and is associated with conflicts of interest and distribution struggles, the chairperson is aware. Nevertheless, it is obvious that a change of course is needed on an individual as well as on a socio-political level. The kfbö has already had to deal with the problematic consequences of global warming through its annual "Family Fast Day" campaign, and this year's record-breaking summer of heat is bringing the issue threateningly close to all Europeans. Ritter-Grepl announced that Austria's largest women's organisation wants to position itself more strongly in the area of environmental policy in the future - "even if there are definitely different interests within the kfb".
Synod to initiate reforms
According to Ritter-Grepl, another focal topic of the summer study conference, dedicated to the various facets of justice, was the worldwide synodal process, which will also take up the topic of women and the church with the assemblies in the Vatican in autumn 2023 and 2024. The initial reluctance towards this search for a good way for the Church into the future, proclaimed by the Pope, had diminished within the Catholic Women's Movement and she herself also had confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit for a new form of synodality that takes the many voices within the Church seriously.
The Instrumentum Laboris preparing the Synod has increased the motivation to get involved, Ritter-Grepl said, adding that existing problems are not swept under the carpet, but rather the Vatican asks in a new and credible way how they can be solved. "This is something new," acknowledged the kfbö chairwoman. The broad participation of lay people - including many women - with voting rights, which has been unusual up to now in Synods of Bishops, also gives hope that "things that were not to be expected before" will be put on track at the meetings. Credible reforms in the sense of more gender justice and the elimination of discrimination would also counteract the current withdrawal of many young women from the Church, Ritter-Grepl is confident.
The kfbö plans to "accompany" the synodal meetings with prayers by sending postcards to the synod office, just as it sent letters to its members at the start of the reform process asking what Pope Francis would like to change in the Church.
Zadic put an "exclamation mark"
According to Ritter-Grepl, a recurring theme for the women's movement is also language that does the best possible justice to the "reality of different genders". In an interview with Kathpress, the kfbö chairwoman called the text of the law published by Justice Minister Alma Zadic with exclusively female inflections "an exclamation mark" and an impetus for discussion that the long customary way of "including" women with purely masculine forms is outdated. Language has to reflect reality - including the fact that many people today do not feel unambiguously male or female, said Ritter-Grepl, leading to "aggressive debates" and a discussion process in which the best solutions have not yet been found.
The summer kfbö study conference ends on Saturday with a brunch. Participants include Austria's first Old Catholic bishop, Maria Kubin, Simone Curau-Aepli, president of the Swiss Catholic Women's Federation, and Styrian regional councillor Juliane Bogner-Strauß. Bishop Wilhelm Krautwaschl of Graz delivered a greeting via video.
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