Bishops reflect on 25 years of implementing Woman and Man
The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has released an evaluation of its 2000 social justice statement, *Woman and Man: The Bishops Respond*. The National Centre for Pastoral Research found progress in women’s education, leadership, collaboration and inclusion, while identifying continuing barriers including clericalism, limited resources and gendered expectations. The bishops’ Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry will establish an advisory group to support women and guide future initiatives. The evaluation responds to a 2022 Plenary Council decree calling for fuller implementation of the statement’s commitments.
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The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has released a review of progress since its 2000 statement on women’s participation in the Church. The review records gains while identifying continuing barriers, and the bishops’ commission plans to establish an advisory group to support women and guide future initiatives.
The National Centre for Pastoral Research evaluated implementation of Woman and Man: The Bishops Respond, a social justice statement issued in 2000. The statement responded to a 1999 research report, Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus, and called for women’s inclusion, leadership and gifts to be advanced in the Church.
In 2022, the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia issued a decree calling for the Church to “implement more fully” the commitments made in the statement.
The evaluation highlights women’s increased education and professional roles, the effects of women-led initiatives, improved collaboration, and newer approaches to inclusion and contemporary challenges.
It also identifies persistent obstacles, including restructuring, loss of institutional memory, limited funding and networks, inadequate sharing of experience, clericalism, stereotypes and gendered expectations.
Archbishop Christopher Prowse, chair of the Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry, said the review showed both progress and work still to be done as the Church becomes more synodal. He said the commission would establish a group to advise on supporting women and shaping future initiatives.
Prowse also pointed to Bishop Michael Morrissey’s 2026 pastoral letter for International Women’s Day and to Pope Leo XIV’s remarks recognising women’s contributions to Church institutions, including their professional and intellectual abilities, discernment and creativity.
Catholic teaching on women’s dignity, participation, and leadership in the Church
Catholic teaching holds that women and men have equal human and baptismal dignity and share in the Church’s mission. Women’s participation is not merely supportive: their gifts belong in the Church’s worship, evangelization, pastoral work, discernment, and leadership. At the same time, the Church distinguishes leadership and responsibility from ordained ministry: women may serve in many positions of authority, while Catholic teaching reserves priestly ordination to men. The question of women’s access to diaconal ministry is identified in the 2024 Synod’s final document as still requiring discernment.
The starting point is the equal dignity of women and men. Both are persons made in the image of the Creator, and the Synod’s final document describes them as equal members of the People of God by virtue of Baptism. Equality here is not a claim that every person has identical gifts or performs the same functions. It means that sex does not make a woman less worthy, less Christian, or less entitled to contribute to the Church’s common life.
The Church therefore rejects discrimination and abuse against women. John Paul II called for women’s dignity to be restored through respect for their human rights and the practical application of Church teaching; Benedict XVI likewise said the Church has a duty to contribute to women’s recognition and liberation. The Synod’s acknowledgement that women still face obstacles to fuller recognition of their gifts and place in Church life is significant: it treats their under-recognition not as a harmless custom, but as a loss for the Church’s shared mission.
Jesus’ treatment of women is a central example in this teaching. Benedict XVI points to the Gospel accounts of Christ’s encounters with women, his acceptance of their discipleship and service, and his esteem for them. The New Testament also records women accompanying Jesus, witnessing to his death and Resurrection, and taking part in the early Christian communities. Mary Magdalene, the Synod notes, was entrusted with the first proclamation of the Resurrection.
Women’s participation is expected across the life and mission of the Church—not only in family or parish service, but also in formation, evangelization, pastoral planning, theological work, and consultation. John Paul II cited the principle that women should participate without discrimination in consultations and in the preparation of decisions. He specifically named diocesan and parish pastoral councils, diocesan synods, and the preparation of pastoral documents and missionary initiatives as areas where women’s participation should be recognized.
That participation is already visible in many forms. The Synod names women’s work in parishes and small Christian communities, schools, hospitals, shelters, reconciliation and social-justice initiatives, theological research, and positions of responsibility in diocesan and Roman Curia institutions. It calls for the fuller use of opportunities already available under canon law, especially where women’s contributions remain underused.
The Church also recognizes that women’s mission extends beyond ecclesial institutions. Benedict XVI describes family, working life, and social life as places where lay Catholics live their vocation and witness to the Gospel. Women’s professional, civic, and family responsibilities can therefore be genuine forms of Christian service, not distractions from the Church’s mission.
Women can hold positions of authority and leadership in the Church. The Synod states plainly that women already lead communities and hold responsible roles, and calls for women to carry out leadership roles where they are qualified and opportunities are available. Leadership is not identical to ordination: the Church’s life includes many forms of responsibility, service, decision-making, and mission that are not priestly ministry.
Catholic teaching, however, distinguishes those roles from priestly ordination. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states that the reservation of priestly ordination to men does not prevent women from having access to the heart of Christian life or from making a uniquely important contribution to the Church. This distinction should not be used to imply that women’s service is secondary, or that leadership must be clerical. Rather, the Church’s stated position is that the ministerial priesthood is a particular sacramental office, while women’s participation and leadership extend across many other forms of ecclesial life.
The diaconate calls for a separate qualification. The Synod’s 2024 final document says that the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry “remains open” and that discernment needs to continue. On the basis of these sources, it would be inaccurate to present that question as settled by the Synod; the document reports an ongoing process of discernment.
“There is no reason or impediment that should prevent women from carrying out leadership roles in the Church: what comes from the Holy Spirit cannot be stopped. Additionally, the question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open. This discernment needs to continue.”
The statement’s context matters: it first affirms women’s equal dignity by Baptism, recognizes their existing contributions, and asks for full implementation of opportunities already provided by canon law. Its encouragement of leadership is therefore not a claim that every Church office is the same or that every question about ministry has been resolved. It is a call to recognize women’s gifts and give them meaningful scope in the Church’s mission.
Church documents sometimes speak of women’s particular gifts or of a “feminine” contribution. Properly understood, this language should not be taken to confine women to a narrow set of tasks or to suggest that all women have the same temperament. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith describes listening, welcoming, humility, faithfulness, and praise as dispositions that belong to the vocation of every baptized Christian, while also saying that women often embody them with particular intensity. The point is to recognize women’s contribution, not to make those Christian virtues unavailable to men.
The Church also points to the varied witness of women through the centuries. John Paul II recalls women who built up Christian communities through teaching, service, family life, holiness, and public witness, including women who exercised significant influence in the Church. Their example shows that participation is not measured solely by holding a formal office: holiness and apostolic work have shaped the Church’s life in many settings.
The practical implication is that parishes and dioceses should recognize women’s competence and charisms, include women in consultation and pastoral planning, and make real use of roles available to them. The Synod also asks for greater attention to women’s contributions in preaching, teaching, catechesis, and official Church documents, including the work of female saints, theologians, and mystics.
In short, Catholic teaching combines equal dignity, active participation, and a real place for women’s leadership with a distinction between leadership and the Church’s ordained priestly ministry. It calls the Church not merely to praise women’s contributions, but to recognize their gifts, hear their voices, and put existing opportunities into practice—while continuing discernment on questions, such as access to the diaconate, that the cited Synod document says remain open.