Austria: Vienna, a meeting on the increasingly large role of women in the life of the Church
In June 2021, the Austrian bishops met, with women who perform in Maria up to ecclesiastical leadership positions, in June 2021 in Vienna there is a meeting in the spirit of the world walk. In comparison, the women present made suggestions to the representatives of the Austrian Bishops’ Conference (Öbk) on women’s participation at all levels of society and the Church. The meeting was attended by bishops Wilhelm Krautwaschl (Graz-Seckau) and Josef Marketz (Gurk-Klagenfurt), with the abbot of the Cistercian territorial abbey of Wettingen-Multierau, dom Vinzenz Wohlwend. Among the women participated Angelika Ritter-Grepl (president of the Catholic Women’s Movement in Austria), Gabriele Eder-Cakl (head of the pastoral ministry in the diocese of Linz), Petra Gstöttner-Hofer (president of the pastoral commission and platform of women’s commissions in Austria) and Sister Sonja Dolesch (Order of Women of Austria). Among the recommendations made to the bishops is that of continuing, among the synodal instances, the path towards female diakonia and an ever higher involvement of women in the sacramental office. Sr. Dolesch described her experiences with the cooperation of male and female Orders: “The merger of the Higher Conference of Male and Female Orders in Austria is an example of a successful learning process, which has since grown and become a which is obvious in the Joint Conference of the religious order. It has been a long journey that has been worth taking and remains challenging ”. Msgr. Marketz expressed to kathpress the certainty that “it is important that we bishops speak to women and not about them”, expressing the consensus that dialogue should continue and take place regularly, even at the wider level of the Öbk and in the Austrian synodal journey.