The Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry is setting up a group to advise on supporting women.

The initiative came out of research, being released today, reviewing the implementation of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference’s social justice statement, Woman and Man: The Bishops Respond.

Released in 2000, the social justice statement advanced women’s inclusion, leadership and gifts in the Church. The bishops’ statement was issued in response to a 1999 research report, Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus.

In 2022, the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia issued a decree calling for the Church to
“implement more fully” the undertakings made in the social justice statement.

The evaluation, by the National Centre for Pastoral Research, highlights women’s increased education and professional roles, the impact of women-led initiatives, improved collaboration and new approaches to inclusion and contemporary challenges.

It also identifies enduring barriers such as restructuring, lost institutional memory, limited funding and networks, poor sharing of experience, clericalism, stereotypes and gendered expectations.

Commission chair Archbishop Christopher Prowse said the report was a timely reminder for the Church in Australia.

“As we become a more synodal Church, this research shows our gains and the work still ahead,” Archbishop Prowse said.

“The commission will establish a group to advise on supporting women and guiding future initiatives.”

Archbishop Prowse also highlighted bishop-delegate for women Bishop Michael Morrissey’s 2026 Pastoral Letter on International Women’s Day and Pope Leo XIV’s recent words to women at the Vatican:

“The presence of women is a wealth that must be recognised and valued more and more. In addition to a particular sensitivity towards people and relationships, they also bring all the human, professional and intellectual talents proper to female experience and thought. Their competence, capacity for discernment, creativity and concreteness increase the life of the institutions and contribute to acquiring a broader view of the reality and problems encountered.” (Pope Leo XVI to the Association of Women in the Vatican, 5 October 2026)

The evaluation report is available from here.

(Image: Clara Geoghegan, Dr Trudy Dantis, Bishop Michael Morrissey and Archbishop Christopher Prowse launch the Woman and Man research report. Image credit: Paul Osborne/Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.)