MALAWI: Justice and Peace Urges Women to Play a Role in Addressing Gender Gap in Church Structures
By: Stella Zulu Kaferapanjira
The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace, CCJP), has called for meaningful participation of women in Church and society structures and processes to address gaps that hinder Catholic Women participation.
The Catholic governance and advocacy arm said this through a policy brief entitled “Canonical Perspectives on Women Participation in Catholic Church Structures and the Society.”
This is following the implementation of a gender project which aims at enhancing the understanding of the role of women in the Church by both the clergy and the laity as provided for by Church Law, and at the same time encourage Catholic Women to take up laity decision making positions within and outside the Church.
The project is titled “Meaningful participation and inclusion of Catholic Women in the Church and society processes in Malawi.
According to the brief, “There are many roles in the Church in which women can take part apart, from the contentious participation in priesthood. There are provisions in the Canon law which call for women’s participation. It binds all, regardless of their gender, as far as they are baptised Catholics or those received into it and have sufficient use of reason.”
“The code of Canon law, in Book II, presents the Church as a people of God. The Church is thus not men or women of God but a People of God. This statement however has two underlying principles: that of equality and that of variety. Women are, therefore, called to participate in the Church all the people of God are invited to participate in the affairs of the Church, … each according to his or her own condition and office …,” reads part of the Policy brief citing Canon Law no. 208).
The CCJP, however, notes that women’s participation is impeded by hierarchical structures within the Church and not out of any human arrangement and prejudice. For instance, it is noted that according to the Law, there are some qualities needed for certain positions in the structure of the Church that naturally would hinder women from attaining some positions, such as those that require a person to be in sacred orders, hence hindering participation of women.
In order to support increased and meaningful women participation therefore, CCJP says that the Church should interpret the Canon law and other Church doctrines in a way that should not sound oppressive but rather as directives on how best each Christ’s faithful, especially women can participate in the affairs of the Church, whether in governance or in the mission.
Furthermore, CCJP has noted that the Church should build the capacity of women and acquaint them with the canonical provisions on how far they can participate in the mission of the Church.
The gender project is currently being implemented in three dioceses, namely Mzuzu, Dedza and Mangochi.
