Women Seek New Role Within Church

Sydney Morning Herald

Saturday January 13, 1996

By PETER FRAY Religious Affairs Writer

For decades they were known as "Father's Helpers" - an army of undemanding volunteer women who oiled the wheels of parish life, making sandwiches, arranging flowers and caring for the sick and elderly.

Now, more than 80 years after it was founded, the Catholic Women's League, formerly called the Legion of Catholic Women, or the Florin Legion (after the pre-decimal cost of membership), seeks an image change.

Considered a bit dowdy and out-of-touch by some Catholic women, and faced with declining membership, the league is pressing for greater say in Church life and policy, and possibly a new name.

"We think there's a lot of need for the women's voice," said Mrs Joan Carolan, the president of the league in the Archdiocese of Sydney. "That's the biggest need ... not making sandwiches.

"I try very hard to tell the women to say 'no' (to sandwich-making). We really feel our biggest role is to have a voice in community and Church affairs."

Early next month, the role will go global as more than 700 women from 43 countries attend the World Union of Catholic Women's Organisations Assembly in Canberra.

Hosted and organised by the league, the event is held every four years and will discuss a range of issues, including literacy, euthanasia, health and welfare and human rights.

While the league may have a national membership of only 15,000, the organisations attending the Canberra gathering represent an estimated 30 million Catholic women. Within the Church, the conference's most contentious topics will concern the role of women.

Although Pope John Paul II has declared the issue of female ordination to the priesthood closed, a Canadian resolution calls on the conference to support "ongoing dialogue" about "the access of women to ordained ministries".

The Dutch delegation will urge authorities to study the suitability of having greater lay involvement in Church decision-making bodies, thus increasing the role of women.

Mrs Carolan and the co-convener of the Canberra conference, Mrs Pat Morrisey, argue that the first local step along that path would be the establishment of a women's committee within the the Australian Church.

"We are already being consulted at a community level, such as parliamentary committees, but we would like our voices to be heard more within the Church," Mrs Carolan said.

It was not always so. Cardinal Gilroy, Sydney's postwar Archbishop, encouraged all Catholic women to join the then Legion. Under his patronage, membership climbed in Sydney from 7,400 to 11,000 from 1945 to 1946. In NSW, it is now about 3,000.

The league's current leadership is pragmatic enough to realise that women today have greater options and demands than their counterparts in the 1940s and 1950s. But they still hope to attract more young women. "We need young women's opinions," said Mrs Morrisey.