08/12/2025
Would you believe it?
VATICAN REPORT REJECTING WOMEN DEACONS IS OFFENSIVE AND DEMORALISING, says Canberra reform group
Monday 8 December 2025
A Vatican commission’s rejection of moves to enable female deacons in the Catholic Church has drawn deep disquiet and criticism from a leading Australian church reform group, Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn.
The chair of CCCG, Terry Fewtrell, said a synthesis of the final report of Rome’s Study Group on Female Deaconate released last week was disappointing and confusing, particularly its reasons for continuing the ban on women deacons.
The study group is one of 10 such groups commissioned by the late Pope Francis in the context of the Synod on Synodality.
“Based on the synthesis, the report represents an offensive and demoralising rejection of the Catholic Church’s glaring need for the role and authority of women to be recognised and supported. The study group’s report makes it ever clearer that male clerical dominance is central to the decline in the authority and relevance of the church,” Mr Fewtrell said.
“Arguments in the report are presented in archaic language that smacks of sophistry, intended to confuse and sow doubt. Indeed, it borders on being seen as nonsense. An example is the report’s depiction that appointing women deacons would be ‘a rupture of the nuptial meaning of salvation’.
“It is critical that the thinking behind the report’s arguments be explained and de-coded. As the report stands it is capable of being interpreted in a way that suggests a perverted and wholly unacceptable approach, seemingly differentiating on the basis of gender, in relation to the teaching on salvation. This is offensive, objectionable and should be dismissed as early as possible.”
Mr Fewtrell said it was imperative that the Pope, or a senior church spokesperson, address these matters promptly and decisively.
“Overall, the language and approach of the report suggests that defenders of the status quo are at ‘a last gasp’ stage and desperate to defend the indefensible.”
“We commend Pope Leo XIV for ordering the early release of the report synthesis, but there is now an urgent need to explain and repudiate the spurious line of argument that seemingly forms the basis of the study group report. Such a response is essential in a synodal church.
“Further delays in resolving this matter are unacceptable – there have been too many already. A report of this nature is just further insult and demeaning of women, whose baptismal rights are identical with those of men among the People of God. It is unworthy of the spirit of the Synod that commissioned it, through the hand of Pope Francis,” Mr Fewtrell said.
MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Metherell 0417603697
Concerned Catholics Canberra Goulburn is a group of Catholics in the Canberra-Goulburn Archdiocese concerned about governance, cultural and structural issues arising from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. It seeks an effective voice for lay people in the administration and direction of the Church.
