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World News

Catholic women plan strike over 'sexism' of ordination

by Anna Rees

Catholic women are urging one another to withhold their labour from the church, after the Vatican makes no further moves towards reforming ordination.

At present, women are not officially permitted to be deacons or priests in the Catholic church – although many insist that they have performed these functions for years in an unofficial capacity.

In 2016 and 2020, the Pope commissioned research into whether women have historically served as deacons. The findings were not published.

The Catholic church has been engaged in a synod on synodality for the last three years – in which parishes and dioceses were encouraged to have conversations over the church’s “vision of missionary communion”. In 2024, the Pope said an"open" question remained over whether women would ever be permitted to deaconhood. 

This month, the Catholic Women Strike campaign is calling on women who serve in official and unofficial roles, in the church and home, to withhold their service throughout Lent 2025 (5th March to 20th April) in protest.

A campaign group describes women as the "lifeblood" of the church 

The official campaign page states: “We are calling on the women of the church to join us in striking from sexism by withholding time, labour, and financial resources from the church during Lent 2025.

“Women lead and coordinate the vast majority of parish ministries around the world, and serve as deacons and priests in everything but name in places where priests are scarce. Without our presence, vital work would be left undone, and pews would be empty.”

They say that they are not “waiting for a papal ‘yes’”, but are proving instead that “women are the lifeblood of the church”.

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