VATICAN CITY (RNS) — What many will take away about the Synod on Synodality, the monthlong summit on the future of the church, is that the 450 Catholic clergy and lay faithful called to the meeting skirted the key agenda items of women’s ordination, marriage for priests and acceptance of LGBTQ Catholics.On Saturday, after the synod released a tepid summary of its work, the Women’s Ordination Conference pronounced itself “dismayed” by the failure of the synod to allow women to become priests. “A ‘listening church’ that fails to be transformed by the fundamental exclusion of women and LGBTQ+ people fails to model the Gospel itself,” a statement read.
The term LGBTQ did not make it into the final document at all, earning the “disappointment” of New Ways Ministries, a network of gay Catholics and their allies, in their statement on Sunday (Oct. 29), though it noted that the group drew encouragement from some of Pope Francis’ words of support.
But for the synod’s organizers, the event was never about providing definitive answers on these topics, but about promoting dialogue and overcoming division. “Many ask for results. But synodality is a listening exercise: prolonged, respectful and humble,” said Cardinal Mario Grech, secretary general of the synod, on Saturda …
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