DAKATEO and ESCT held a joint Symposium on “Gender and Ecclesiology: An Intercultural Dialogue” at Tagaytay, Philippines, from July 14–17, 2016. The conference was organized with the participation of other INSeCT-Asia members (ACTA – Australian Catholic Theological Association, EWA – Ecclesia of Women in Asia, ITA – Indian Theological Association, and IWTF – Indian Women Theologians Forum), of St. Vincent School of Theology, Manila, and of ESWTR. Eight sessions treated eight topics, each one of them introduced from a European and an Asian perspective, followed by a generous amount of discussion and exchange. The topics and speakers were: “Women at the Grassroots’ Level of Church Leadership (e.g. BECs, social/political movements, etc.)” by Virginia Saldanha (IWTF, India) and Sr. Gemma Simmonds CJ (ET, Great Britain); “Female Deacons, Women Clergy Ordination” by Kochurani Abraham (ITA, India) and Angela Berlis (ESWTR, Switzerland); “Women from Spiritual Counselors to Confessors?” by Sr. Chris Burke (ACTA, Australia) and Sr. Rebeka Anic HSF (ESWTR, Croatia), “Women Religious as Vanguard of Women Participation” by Sr. Shalini Mulackal, pbvm (ITA, India) and Sr. Teresa Forcades OSB (ESWTR, Spain), “Women Leadership in the Bible” by Sr. Margaret Beirne (ACBA, Australia) and Rita Perintfalvi (ESWTR Hungary/Austria), “A Church beyond Clericalism” by Ramon Echica (DaKaTeo, Philippines) and Eamon Conway (ET, INSeCT Ireland), “A Gender Perspective on Catholic Sexual Ethics: Who Defines the roles and issues?” by Sharon Bong (EWA, Malaysia), Martin M. Lintner OSM (ESCT, INSeCT, Italy/Austria) and Gunter Prüller Jagenteufel (ESCT, Austria), “Women in a New Ecclesiology of the Laity” by Agnes Brazal (DaKaTeo/EWA, Philippines) and Serena Noceti (ESCT, Italy). To help contextualize the topics, the Conference began with testimonies from female victims of sexual abuse in their families. The conference was an intellectually and culturally enriching experience.
