Newcastle researchers say Catholic women's voices fall on deaf ears

University of Newcastle researchers Dr Kathleen McPhillips and Dr Tracy McEwan undertook a world-first comprehensive international study of 17,000 Catholic women across 104 countries.

Overwhelmingly, women felt they should be fully included at all levels of church leadership, including ordination to priesthood and the ability to give homily during Mass.

This week, the Vatican released a document indicating it would continue to oppose the idea of ordaining Catholic women as deacons.

Dr McEwan said the document had left women feeling "shattered" and could result in many leaving the church for good.

"This has really dashed a lot of women's hopes," she said.

"There has been a really good response from women, and there's a sense that we have the empirical evidence to make some of these claims that we haven't been able to make before.

"Prior to the survey it was really, really difficult, because you couldn't say with any kind of accuracy that most women support this, but now we have this empirical evidence.

"We have firm data to say this is what women want."

The idea of ordaining Catholic women as deacons has been one of the most debated topics during the ongoing synod on synodality, a global consultation process on the future of the Catholic Church.

The International Survey of Catholic Women showed 84 per cent of women supported reform, one in three said that without it there was no place for them in the Catholic Church.

Dr McEwan said the synodal process built up a lot of hope and that many filled out the survey to have their voices heard.

"If those voices aren't being heard as credible, then the injustice continues," she said.

"We now know from the survey results that a clear majority of women, in every region of the world, are supportive of this but they're not being heard.

"I think that's really damaging."

In their responses to the survey, women spoke about their faith, identity, views on abuse, reproductive rights and equality.

In March last year, Dr McEwan presented 20 key findings and 14 recommendations for Church reform at the Vatican on International Women's Day.

Dr McPhillips said Catholic women were "sick of being ignored", they're frustrated and they want to participate.

"Some women feel called, like they have a vocation to the priesthood and they feel thwarted that the church says no," she said.

"There is a great deal of frustration and also sadness that the church just cannot see the value of women in this way."

Dr McPhillips said Catholic women overwhelmingly do voluntary work within the church.

"Less than one per cent of church members are clerics, and yet they have 91 per cent of the power," she said.

"I think the response of Catholic women's groups to the document, Instrumentum laboris, has been very powerful.

"Women are really angry and they're upset. This is why social research is so important, you can't ignore 17,000 women across 104 countries speaking about what they want."

The Newcastle academics are planning to undertake further research.