[Catholic Caucus] Women Deacons, ‘Sexuality’ and More: Here’s How the Synod Final Document Changed From the Draft

National Catholic Register ^ | October 28, 2024 | Jonathan Liedl

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[Catholic Caucus] Women Deacons, ‘Sexuality’ and More: Here’s How the Synod Final Document Changed From the Draft

Amendments, or other avenues for affecting what was included in the text, still made significant difference in the 2024 text on a number of topics, including sexuality and the selection of bishops.

When the final document of the Synod on Synodality’s was confirmed on Oct. 26, it emphasized that the possibility of women deacons remains unsettled.

“The question of women’s access to diaconal ministry remains open,” reads the document, which was expressly approved by Pope Francis after each of its 155 paragraphs were affirmed by 355 voting members. “This discernment needs to continue.”

But that language wasn’t included in the initial draft that members of the monthlong assembly were presented with earlier in the week. 

In fact, according to a copy of the draft obtained by the Register, there was no mention of the possibility of women deacons at all.

The language’s last-minute insertion may be an indication of why the paragraph in question received significant push-back from synod delegates in the final vote, with a full 27% (97 out of 355) voting against it. The number of “no” votes wasn’t enough to reach the one-thirds threshold required to strike the paragraph from the final document, but it came far closer than any other paragraph.

The change is just one indication of how the draft, which was first received by synod members on Oct. 21, was altered in several small, but sometimes significant ways.

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In another addition, the final document takes the draft’s general language about people who felt excluded or judged during the synodal process and explicitly adds “because of their marital situation, identity, or sexuality.”

Jesuit Father James Martin, who promotes an understanding of LGBTQ inclusion that some believe undermines the Church’s teaching on sexuality, has already celebrated this addition, writing that the inclusion of the term “identity” was “a pleasant surprise.” 

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Gerrymandering Ping

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James Martin, S.J. Barf Alert

James Martin was personally invited by Pope Francis to his rigged Sin-Nod.

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Thanks ebb tide