WAYS to help shape the future direction of the Catholic Church will be discussed by dioceses across the island of Ireland today.
Representatives of 26 Catholic dioceses will gather in Athlone to discuss feedback from their parishes about the church, which will be compiled and sent to the Vatican.
Members of the clergy, religious congregations and representatives from Catholic groups and lay ecclesial associations are among those who will take part in the National Pre-Synodal Assembly.
It is part of the global synodal process launched by Pope Francis last year, in what is regarded as one of his most ambitious projects.
Among issues expected to be discussed by the 160-strong national assembly today in preparation for a synod in Rome next year is the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.
The inclusion of LGBT+ people in the Catholic Church and reform of church structures as well as allowing priests to marry are also set to considered.
It will be Irish Catholics’ contribution to the Universal Synod process, which under Pope Francis will end next year when he offers his view on the findings gathered worldwide.
Nuala O'Loan, former Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and member of the Synodal steering committee, said "it's profoundly important that people don't think there will be instant change overnight".
"But it's equally profoundly important that we go away from the synodal process without some real understanding that things are growing, changing, enabling greater faith, enabling greater inclusion," she told RTÉ.
She also said feedback on the role of women in the church was "very interesting" and it reflected how society has evolved.
"It is possible that the church may get to a form of female ordination. I do not know; I think that is a matter of discernment," she said.
"But I do think that it's profoundly important that the exercise of ministry, can be done in many ways and that as a church if we were to disconnect ordination from decision-making, then we could give women a much greater role in decision making in the church and that might be an initial step that we could take without the difficulty that that the ordination of women might cause in some circles."
