A Note on the Success of Our Rome Efforts

Posted on October 17, 2024 by Susan K. Roll

Susan wrote the post (below)  on October 15, in response to a friend who remarked that she must be “very disappointed” in the results of her and Rosemary Ganley’s presence and activity in Rome, along with many other international Catholics. Susan’s reflection on her 2024 Synod experience in Rome seems a beautiful epilogue to her earlier posts.

Well no, I wouldn’t have said it was disappointing.  It would only disappoint if we were expecting a sudden 180-degree conversion experience on the part of gentlemen who believe themselves divinely entitled to spiritual control of others, particularly of women.  The statistics show otherwise:  as Massimo Faggioli wrote in his recent article in Commonweal, the Church is losing entire generations of Catholic women “in many countries.”
 
The spirit and the vision of full baptismal equality is very much alive in those reformers present in Rome, and in those who were cheering them on from their home countries.  The hierarchy’s maneuvers (such as the fictitious Study Group Five) and the silly statements about ordination as a “niche” issue (as one respondent to John Wijngaards’ recent post put it, “over 50% of the church is women, but far less than 1% are priests, so who’s the niche?”) look increasingly desperate.
 
What we did see were some kindred spirits in higher places than we might have expected.  We also saw courage and determination among our own on-the-street reformers.  Those who crossed the boundary into Vatican territory on Friday the 4th were simply admonished, while this past Sunday, as a result of a high-profile banner action in St. Peter’s Square itself at the 12 noon Angelus, the police picked out just two or three of those involved to detain and fingerprint.
 
They may seem like small actions, and we may not live to see the long-term results.  But as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said,
 
“the moral arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice.”