WOMEN IN CHURCH

Bishop Mark to hold synod session at Siena based on Vatican report titled ‘Women’s Participation in the Life and Leadership of the Church’

Bishop Mark O’Connell will hold an invite-only synod session at Siena University on Sept. 19 looking at the roles of women in the Church. The session will use as its guide “The Final Report of Synod Study Group 5 on ;Women’s Participation in the Life and Leadership of the Church’” which the Vatican released this past March. (OSV News photo) (Courtesy photo of Bob Roller)

Bishop Mark O’Connell has always been concerned about the role of women in our Church and if they feel valued.

As auxiliary bishop in the Archdiocese of Boston, he started his podcast “Listening to Catholic Women” (youtube.com/

@listeningtocatholicwomen) in 2025 in which he interviews Catholic women about their faith. He commented in his first interview that “this is an exercise in synodality. That’s the word Pope Francis gave to us about teaching us to listen to each other, and Pope Leo has continued that legacy, and doing my best to be synodal, and I’ve chosen to listen to Catholic women.”

Now as Bishop of the Diocese of Albany, Bishop Mark is putting together those two themes during an invite-only synod session titled, “Women’s Participation in the Life and Leadership of the Church” that will be held on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., in the Maloney Great Room in the Sarazen Student Union at Siena University. The session will use as its guide “The Final Report of Synod Study Group 5 on Women’s Participation in the Life and Leadership of the Church,” which the Vatican released on women in the Church this past March and whose title is the same as the diocesan event. The report came from one of the 10 study groups commissioned by Pope Francis at the conclusion of the Synod on Synodality, which he initiated in 2021.

“Every bishop is told to do synod sessions so this is the one that I choose,” Bishop Mark told The Evangelist. “Women in Church is extremely important to me. I have my podcast ‘Listening to Catholic Women’ and I am intrigued myself about the hope in this document. … I am not pushing any particular conclusion or agenda, but I am a big proponent about learning and talking.”

The day will be similar to the synod sessions that the Vatican had when it held its Synod on Synodality in October 2023 and October 2024. The diocesan session — which will be recorded — will have two panel discussions and consist of three panelists each. Each panelist will talk for 10 minutes and after that time the attendees — who will number about 75 and were randomly selected and represent a wide variety of ministries and roles from across the Diocese — will discuss what they heard in tables of 6-to-8 people. A designated person at each table will facilitate the conversation while another person will be designated to take notes. Each table will offer a brief summary to the panelists, who will then have the opportunity to respond.

The first panel discussion will go over women’s roles in the Church and the panelists will be Sister Joan Mary Hartigan, CSJ, who recently served as the Province Director for the Albany Province of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, and who will offer a summary of the Study Group 5 Report; Dr. Joy Galar­neau, program director for the Dominican Retreat and Conference Center, and who will address “Women Deacons: The Current State of the Question;” and Catie Levine, the Coordinator of Faith Formation & Youth Ministry for Our Lady of Victory in Troy, who will address “Signs of Hope from Study Group 5 Final Report”

The second panel discussion will talk about the lived experiences of women in the Church — and especially women who exercise leadership — and the panelists will be Sister Betsy Van Deusen, CSJ, CEO of Catholic Charities, Elizabeth Simcoe, Parish Life Director of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Albany, and Kristen Curran, the Director of Government Relations for the New York State Catholic Conference.

Bishop Mark added that he is inviting vicariates in the Diocese to see if there is interest in using the recorded footage of the speakers in their area to nurture a continued discussion.