News and Media Releases

“To live is to change and to have lived well is to have changed often” – Cardinal Newman

We Are Church International strongly supports the work of the German Synodal Path which follows the principle ‘what affects all should be decided by all’.

The German Synodal Path is built on trust. Laity and clerics are working together in a transparent and accountable way. All important issues are on the table (Power; Priesthood; Sexual Morality; Women). It is not an easy process. It is not a perfect process. But it is far ahead of the monarchical and autocratic model of church leadership that operates behind closed doors while claiming divine male privilege.

With the Synodal Process Pope Francis has pointed the way forward towards an inverted pyramid and decentralisation to re-establish a focus on Christ’s one commandment: ‘To love one another as I have loved you.’

We Are Church International calls for the Global Synod in October 2023 & October 2024 to adopt a highly significant part of the proposals from the German Synodal Path. In particular we call for a balanced representation of lay women & men and clerics to fully participate in the synod. ‘Synodality’ does not mean only bishops make all decisions.

[For more information on the German Synodal Path in English follow this link]

Colm Holmes
Chair, We Are Church International
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M +353 86 606 3636

 From the BBC

There are over a billion Catholics around the world. Women have always played a significant role in the life of the Church - but have been excluded from the Catholic hierarchy.

A number of devotees say they feel called upon to serve God as priests, but the Vatican has never allowed female ordination to priesthood. Now, there's a growing movement to change this.

Over 200 women have chosen to take part in secret ordination services, despite knowing they will be excommunicated from the Church. BBC 100 Women follows two women who have been unofficially ordained in the US and Colombia. Is there a future for women priests? And can this change happen in our lifetime?

More from BBC 100 Women here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...

Produced by: Valeria Perasso and Georgina Pearce
Filmed by: Andrew Blum, Sergio Villa Díaz, Tom Goudsmit, Andrés Giraldo Velásquez and Will Nail
Sound by: Edwin Londoño Serna
Edited by: Álvaro Álvarez and Lucy Hennequin
Executive Producer: Claire Williams.
Commissioning editor: Liz Gibbons
Website: https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bbcworldservice Facebook:
https://facebook.com/bbcworldservice

See BBC article

We Are Church calls for Equal Numbers of Voices for Laity and Clergy at the October 2023 and October 2024 Synod meetings

The Synodal Process called by Pope Francis has already exceeded expectations.

Laity and clergy have been meeting and listening at many levels:

• Parishes
• Dioceses
• National
• Continental

The Continental (DCS) document presents a good summary of the wide range of issues raised around the world and the Continental meetings in February and March 2023 will have balanced teams of laity and clergy representing each country.

The same balance must be maintained as we approach the two upcoming Synod sessions in Rome.  Synodality means sharing decision making and decision taking. Thus, we urge church leaders to ensure that balanced teams of laity and clergy are present at the October 2023 and October 2024 meetings and that lay members have the same deliberative authority as clerical members.  A Church of equals should be represented in the Synod by having representatives according to the plurality exisiting in the Church with respect to many important issues eg. Women; LGBTQ+ people; Laity in decision taking at all levels.

"No one puts new wine into old wineskins: otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins: but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins" (Mark 2:22)

Colm Holmes
Chair, We Are Church International 
E  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
M  +353 86 606 3636 

Von links nach rechts: Helmut Schüller (Pfarrerinitiative),
Erika Smutny (Laudatio statt Rudolf Mayerhofer-Sebera, der an Corona erkrankt ist),
Lena Pampalk-Lorbeer (Tochter von Preisempfänger Josef Pampalk), Ewald Benes (Laieninitiative),
Martha Heizer (Wir-sind-Kirche AT), Preisempfänger Josef Pampalk,
Esperanca und Prof. Eric Morier-Genoud (Mosambik, bzw. Belfast) 

Josef Pampalk  war als Missionar der „Weißen Väter“ in Mosambik Zeuge, wie sich die dortigen Bischöfe der Kolonialmacht Portugal anpassten und welche Folgen das hatte. Ein Konkordat von 1940 zwischen Salazar und dem Vatikan verfügte, dass die Missionen explizit als eine Agentur im Dienste des portugiesischen Imperiums galten und dass die Kolonialregierung die Bischöfe aussuchte und bezahlte, dafür von ihnen eindeutige Unterstützung bei der Aufrechterhaltung des Kolonialismus erwartete. Wer kritisierte oder für die Rechte der Einheimischen eintrat, wurde bestraft oder des Landes verwiesen. Die „Weißen Väter“ entschlossen sich zu einem öffentlichen und gemeinsamen Protest. Daher wurden sie 1971 aus Mosambik ausgewiesen. Die Haltung des Vatikans im Sinne einer Unterstützung des Kolonialismus führte dazu, dass Pampalk und andere „Weiße Väter“ ihr Priesteramt niederlegten.

Als erstes sollte natürlich die Stagnationsbruderschaft im Vatikan, die dafür verantwortlich ist, ihren Fehler bereuen und nach Wiedergutmachung streben. Aber wer sich Unfehlbarkeit anmaßt, tut sich da naturgemäß schwer.

Als einen Schritt zur Wiedergutmachung für das Unbill und Leid, das die Weißen Väter ertragen mussten, erhielt daher stellvertretend Josef Pampalk von den Kath. Reformorganisationen Österreichs die Trompete von Jericho 2022 überreicht

Press Communiqué from the General Secretariat of the Synod

This morning, at the end of the Sunday Angelus, the Holy Father announced that the upcoming 16th Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will be held in two moments, that is, in two sessions, spaced one year apart: the first from October 4 to 29, 2023, the second in October 2024. Pope Francis referred to the Apostolic Constitution Episcopalis Communio, which contemplates this possibility (cf. Article 3).

This decision stems from the desire that the theme of a Synodal Church, because of its breadth and importance, might be the subject of prolonged discernment not only by the members of the Synodal Assembly, but by the whole Church.

Moreover, this choice is in continuity with the ongoing synodal journey, to which the Pope himself referred this morning. The Synod is not an event but a process in which the whole People of God is called to walk together toward what the Holy Spirit helps it to discern as being the Lord's will for his Church.

Therefore, the Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops will also take on a processual dimension, configuring itself as "a journey within the journey" to foster more mature reflection for the greater good of the Church.

From the very beginning, the General Secretariat of the Synod has chosen the path of listening and discernment, even in the planning and implementation phase of the synodal process. In the coming weeks, we will continue our discernment to better define the celebration of the two sessions of (and the time in-between) the XVI Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops. We will communicate about this in due time.

This listening process began in 2021 by the local Churches, that is, by the People of God gathered around their Pastors; it has challenged the Bishops' Conferences and Synods of the Eastern Catholic Churches. As many as 112 out of 114 Episcopal Conferences all the Eastern Catholic Churches carried out a discernment regarding what emerged in the particular Churches. Now, it continues with a Continental Stage that will culminate with the celebration of Continental Synodal Assemblies, between January and March 2023. These Continental Synodal Assemblies will be convened to reread the journey made and to continue the listening and discernment, having as their point of departure the Document for the Continental Stage, and proceeding in accord with the socio-cultural specificities of their respective regions. Their aim will be to carry out one more step in this spiritual journey.

Vatican City, 16 October 2022