The nuns support the bishop who asked for women's right to vote during the synods

In a recent interview, Archbishop Eric de Moulins-Beaufort, president of the French Bishops' Conference (CEF), emerged as a blatant advocate for women's rights, claiming to be "stunned" by the fact that women religious have no right to vote synods.

Sister Mina Kwon, a nun who attended the 2018 Synod of Bishops on Youth - during which unordained male religious were allowed to vote but religious women did not - said she agreed with Beaufort and praised her "Courage" in speaking about women's issues in the Catholic Church.

Speaking with Noosphère, the magazine of the French Association of Friends of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Beaufort said he supported the empowerment of lay people in general, saying “The voice of all baptized laity, from the moment they try to embrace Christianity, he should be able to count as much as that of the clergy. "

On women, he insisted that "nothing prevents them from performing many more important functions in the functioning of the institution", and said he believed that the restoration of the female diaconate could lead to a "more decentralized and more fraternal" Church.

"The challenge for the reform of the Church is that we live synodality at all levels and must be rooted in fraternity," he added, adding that "our governing bodies should always be shaped by a concrete fraternity in which there are men and women, priests and lay people ".

"As long as there is no progress in fraternity, I fear that tackling the issue of ordained ministries will make the structure more cumbersome and prevent progress," he added, adding that one day he can imagine a situation in which the Holy See is "led by the Pope surrounded by a college of cardinals in which there will be women ".

However, "if we have not previously addressed the way in which men and women should work together in the structures of the Church established in fraternity, it will be useless", he added, adding that for the Church to be truly "synodal", the voice of women "should to be heard above all more, since apostolic succession is reserved for men ".

Beaufort said he was stunned that women had been invited to participate in the recent Synods of Bishops, but he was not given the right to vote.

“To say that only the bishops' vote would seem logical. But from the moment when non-ordained priests and religious brothers are allowed to vote, I don't understand why religious women are not allowed to vote, "he added, adding:" It leaves me completely flabbergasted. "

Although voting rights in a synod are generally granted only to ordained clergy, during the October 2018 Synod of Bishops on youth, the USG voted two lay brothers as representatives: Brother Robert Schieler, superior general of the De brothers. La Salle and brother Ernesto Sánchez Barba, superior general of the Marist Brothers. Despite the synodal rules that require the ordination of USG representatives, the two men were allowed to vote in the synod.

Beaufort's interview was filmed on May 18 but was made public only a few days ago.

Speaking, Kwon, director of the counseling center at the College of Medicine of the Catholic University of DAEGU, supported Beaufort's remarks, stating that she was convinced "that the Lord wants a change in the Church."

Participant in the 2018 Synod of Bishops on young people, Kwon said that already on that occasion he saw a process of "walking together" with men and women, young and old, ordained clergy and lay people, and that from this experience he became convinced that "the synodal journey is the hope of conversion and reform" in the Church.

"Women in the future Church should get a vote in the Synod of Bishops," she said, insisting that it is not just a question of women, but of "equality and inclusion" based on the teachings of Jesus.

"Historically and spiritually, the first community of Jesus included men and women and treated everyone equally," he said.

He underlined a meeting between the members of the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), an umbrella group for religious, and the Union of Superiors General (USG), an umbrella group for religious men, during the Synod of 2018.

At this meeting - which Kwon stated was an example of collaboration between men and women - he said that all parties involved agreed that "the voice of women should be heard more, and also the question of the presence of the nuns in the Synod should be raised. What a hopeful collaboration! "

Citing San Oscar Romero, he stressed that he does not want to be "anti-nobody, against anyone", but rather "to be the builder of a great affirmation: the affirmation of God, who loves us and who wants to save us."

Kwon praised Beaufort and other figures such as Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Monaco, who openly expressed the inclusion of women in the Church, stating that he recognizes "their courage" for "resolutely" addressing women's issues.

Speaking of his local context in South Korea, Kwon said that sisters must take more initiatives and, often, audacity in seeking renewal is suffocated by "old habits and rigid hierarchy" in the Church in Korea.

"Clericalism or obsolete traditions often lead to the absence of religious in leadership or decision-making," he said, recalling Korean martyrs as examples of how the first Christians in the country "took the risk of a new adventure to reform attitudes and mentality against a rigid hierarchy of society status “.

"Unfortunately, their descendants rebuilt the other type of hierarchy after a long period of persecution," he said, noting that "still not all women work religiously under equal conditions."

"We religious need more initiatives to improve the issue of women and children in the Church," said Kwon, insisting that "all things are invited to the process of evolution. Nobody is exempt from the obligation to grow by maturity, and even the Catholic Church is no exception to this rule ".

This maturity, he said, “is an intrinsic requirement of the Church. We must all ask ourselves: what are the places where women religious can flourish inside the church? And what would Jesus do in our modern time?