#GODSAYSNOW MOVEMENT

The goal of the #GodSaysNow movement is to hold the Church accountable to its synodal values and Catholic intellectual tradition by calling for the inclusion of priesthood in the upcoming study on the role of women in the Church.

WHAT INTEGRITY LOOKS LIKE 

THE UPCOMING STUDY ON THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE CHURCH

Pope Francis launched a worldwide listening process called the Synod on Synodality in October 2021. Call for women in governance, preaching and ordination for women came from around the world. Pope Francis recently created ten working groups to study the significant  issues that emerged from the consultation of God's people in the first part of the synod. Working Group 5 will study "the role of women in the Church" and make recommendations to Pope Francis in June 2025. However, priesthood has been intentionally excluded from their work. The #GodSaysNow movement calls the Church to include priesthood in the study as a matter of integrity in the synod process and its values as proclaimed by Pope Francis. 

ACKNOWLEDGING THE REALITY THAT THE ISSUE IS OPEN FOR DISCERNMENT 
Pope Francis speaks of dealing with reality. The reality is that when it comes to the topic of the ordination of women as priests, it is open for discernment. This is evidenced by the divergence exists at every level of the Church.  

• Calls for the ordination of women as priests came from around the world through the synod, though not universal (Paragraph #64 in Enlarge the Space of Your Tent)
  
  
• The majority of Catholics in many countries believe support ordaining women as priests.
  
  
• This vast hidden support includes vowed religious, deacons, priests and even bishops and cardinals who do not feel free to share openly about their support. 
  
  
• The bishops are not in communion on this doctrine currently (and they have not been for decades), which means the teaching cannot be definitively held (see #26 Lumen Gentium). 

The only way to deal with this growing divergence at every level of the Church is to study the issue. If some communities are calling for women to be priests, and others consider it a closed issue, then what is the invitation from God? The only way to find out is to enter into free and rigorous investigation of the question. The most obvious way to do this is to include priesthood in the study on the role of women that is already scheduled to take place as part of the Synod. 

INTEGRITY IN CATHOLIC INTELLECTUAL TRADITION & SYNODAL VALUES  IS NEEDED
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Catholic intellectual tradition: For 2000 years, the Church has resolved questions of divergence by entering into free, honest, and rigorous intellectual inquiry. We see this as early as the Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15) when the early followers of Jesus had to discern whether to have Gentiles become circumcised in the tradition of Judaism. This intellectual tradition has blossomed through the ages, from the early Church fathers to the university; with giants like Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, and John Paul II. The relationship between faith and reason is bedrock to the Catholic faith. If we are to continue to honor this long-standing tradition, the Church must acknowledge the divergence that exists on the ordination of women as priests and include it the upcoming study on women. Pope Francis himself has acknowledged that the ordination of women as priests can be "a subject of study" in his response to the dubia submitted by a handful of bishops. 

Integrity in Synodal values: The Synod on Synodality is predicated on values like prayerful listening; the humility to be taught by the Holy Spirit; the freedom to encounter reality in the other; the freedom to allow God to move the way God desires; the priority of engaging with the voices on the margins and bringing them to the center. Thus far, the Church has not fully embraced these values when it comes to the topic of women: priesthood was captured in Enlarge the Space of Your Tent, but has been removed from all documents since, most notably Synod preparatory documents Instrumentum Laboris I and II, which are used to prepare delegates for participation in the October assemblies. By cutting priesthood out of the discernment on women, the Church is trying to pre-determine the answer before the process has taken place. The only way to have integrity with these values and the process is to include priesthood in the upcoming study on the role of women in the Church. The Church must be free to discover the invitation from God.  

THE TIME IS RIGHT NOW
The time is right now. If this opportunity for engagement with the topic of priesthood for women is missed, it will be generations before true it is possible again. ​ ​

GOD.SAYS.NOW.

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The ordination of women as priests is essential to the wellbeing of the Catholic Church. God incarnates through our faith symbols to touch us, heal us, guide us. By restricting the priest symbol to the male form alone, the Church prevents God's people from experiencing the full range of sacramental encounter that God is offering us. This constrained encounter produces a misunderstanding of who God is, what God desires, and how God is calling humans into relationship with God and one another. ​To put it simply, a lopsided priest symbol facilitates lopsided encounter with the living God. Lopsided encounter produces a lopsided world that will always define women as a second order of creation. Women must fully participate in the symbolic life of the Church if we are to better collaborate with God to bring about God's desires for salvation in THIS life.   
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