Mini-Feminist World Synod. Synodalists want to experiment on the souls of the Faithful

Tatjana Disteli: Experimental spaces are needed in the Church

At an international event in Germany, equal rights in the Catholic world church were discussed. Tatjana Disteli, General Secretary of the Aargau Regional Church, and Renata Asal-Steger from the RKZ were also present. "The church should have a broad umbrella," says Tatjana Disteli. Decentralised solutions are indispensable, she adds.

Speakers from all over the world were invited to the conference "God's Strong Daughters". Renata Asal-Steger from the RKZ and Tatjana Disteli, General Secretary of the Landeskirche Aargau, were also present as speakers.

In addition to the two speakers, other participants from Switzerland had travelled to Leipzig to exchange ideas with other women and men and to deepen international networking - especially in view of the synodal process of the universal Church, which begins in Rome in October.

The World Synod will be a political event, said Johanna Rahner, professor of theology and moderator of the closing panel at the event "God's Strong Daughters". She added that attention must be paid to this. "We have to be prepared," she said. She added that it is all the more important that those women who will be in Rome network well.

Strength and courage

Tatjana Disteli sat on the closing podium together with women from the USA, Kenya, Germany and Nigeria. In a short statement on what she took away from the conference, Tatjana Disteli spoke about how the two days in Leipzig had given her "new strength and courage". "I learned that many among us suffer from biography related to discrimination."

Sister Katharina Ganz from Germany realised through the event that many issues are very similar in the respective countries: structural discrimination, spiritual or sexual abuse, for example. "This has to do with the system of the Catholic Church." The Synod in Rome must succeed in dealing with these systemic and structural phenomena. She said she was experiencing members of her own community even questioning church membership.

Julia McStravog was also on the panel at the closing round of the two-day event. She works for the US bishops and prepared the synod. She is now taking the experiences of the conference back to the USA - and into her further work.

"Women have never had political power and have not been able to voice their concerns," said Sister Caroline Mbonu from Nigeria. It takes a certain basic power for women to make their voices heard. That is why certain women's issues are even less present there. Networking is all the more important.

Finding answers

Sister Mary Nzilani Wambua from Kenya wants to strengthen women in her environment in the future. "We can feel what women feel and pass it on. Then answers to the challenges of the Church could also be found, she said.

Excerpt from the flyer of the conference "God's strong daughters".

Sister Katharina Ganz pleaded for decentralised solutions. Tatjana Disteli also wishes that the synodal process of the universal Church would continue to promote "experimental spaces". "There must be new spaces and forms. The Church should have a wide roof," says Tatjana Disteli. The "absolutely most important thing" is that people do not deny each other their faith. In this way, some are allowed to stand still and others to take two steps forward.

She fears that many people will leave the Church if "nothing serious" happens after the Synod. Those who leave will not come back. Despite the difficulties in the church, Tatjana Disteli is sure: "It is definitely worth moving on."

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