'Equality is a right, not a favour' — Mary McAleese urges Church to reform 'oppressive' laws

Former President of Ireland Mary McAleese said Pope Francis’s initiation of a synodal journey was prompted by the rapidly escalating disillusionment of the faithful for many reasons, among them the persistence of stark internal inequality and lack of respect for the human rights of individual members within the Church.

The former President of Ireland, Dr Mary McAleese, has said the laws that regulate life inside the Catholic Church do not bear scrutiny, are often oppressive, and are not consonant with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Speaking on Friday at an alternative synod in Rome, she said it was remarkable that “not once since the Universal Declaration was published in 1948 has the Church asked itself how it should implement the Declaration or the Convention in the internal laws applicable to church members”.

Mrs McAleese said that the time has come for the Church to recognise that there is a widespread desire for a Church which is “a discipleship of equals”.

The alternative synod has been organised by a group of international women, and is running in parallel with the official Synod on Synodality convened by Pope Francis.

“We are here to encourage the Synod to capture the zeitgeist and re-orient the Church towards its Christian mission of a discipleship of equals which may yet write a history that ends in love,” Mrs McAleese said.

“We believe that the Catholic Church is languishing in a deepening credibility crisis, long in the making, precisely because it has failed to reform an internal structure of governance, teachings and laws in which inequality is embedded and the human rights of members are routinely restricted, especially the fundamental freedoms of expression, opinion, conscience and opinion, and freedom to change religion.” 

For many members of the 45 pro-reform Catholic organisations across the globe represented at the alternative synod, female ordination is top of the agenda.

Mrs McAleese said Pope Francis’s initiation of a synodal journey was prompted by the rapidly escalating disillusionment of the faithful for many reasons, among them the persistence of stark internal inequality and lack of respect for the human rights of individual members within the Church.

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“It is a measure of the impact of the views expressed throughout the world on the subject of the exclusion of women and laity from decision-making and governance, that the Pope felt compelled to permit a token number of women and lay synod members for the first time and give them voting rights.

“The simple truth is that, given the resounding consensus from the global synodal process, for equality for women in the Church, had the Synod of Bishops opened with no concession to that voice, it might just as well have closed up shop on day one.

“The mild concession granted, ironically, merely highlights the extent of imbalance, exclusion and clerical elitism at the core of Church governance. It also highlights the resistance to equality in all its fullness. Equality is a right, not a favour.” 

The Second Vatican Council (1962-65) seemed to mark a change from the old regime, but Mrs McAleese said that it never became the powerful inspiration it could have been in terms of developing a charter of the internal rights of church members, and a discipleship of equals.

“Instead, the post-conciliar Church became bogged down for 20 years in drafting a new Code of Canon Law during which time, in fairness, the drafters attempted, but failed, to deliver a charter of rights of the faithful, thwarted by the intervention of Pope John Paul II.” 

The deliberations of the Synod on Synodality continue until 29 October.