For those who remember their Greek mythology,  the Amazons were a tribe of women warriors. The document published from the recent synod of the Amazon not only calls for the consideration of the ordination of older married men, but also pleads for a recognized role for women.

Catholic Herald reports here:

Published by the Vatican June 17, the document also said the church should consider “an official ministry that can be conferred upon women, taking into account the central role they play in the Amazonian church.”

The document, drafted after input from bishops’ conferences and local communities, acknowledged that in the church “the feminine presence in communities isn’t always valued.”

Those responding to a synod questionnaire asked that women’s “gifts and talents” be recognized and that the church “guarantee women leadership as well as increasingly broad and relevant space in the field of formation: theology, catechesis, liturgy and schools of faith and politics,” the 45-page document said.

Catholic women warriors! Amazons from the Amazon for the Amazon!

Not to be confused with the retail giant of course…

An “official ministry that can be conferred upon women”? That would be code for women deacons I suppose.

But what will these Amazons from the Amazon do?

women’s “gifts and talents” be recognized and that the church “guarantee women leadership as well as increasingly broad and relevant space in the field of formation: theology, catechesis, liturgy and schools of faith and politics,”

I know! Let’s do something really radical. Let’s have religious orders of women specially trained and dedicated to leadership, catechesis, liturgy and social involvement. Let’s have them bring their feminine gifts and talents to education, care of the dying, nurture of children in orphanages, pressure for social change, prayer, intuition, discernment, spiritual direction and support for the church and clergy.

Let’s call the leader of the community “Mother” and the women in the community “Sisters”. Let them take special vows of celibacy, poverty and obedience and let them wear a distinctive religious garb called a habit.

Oh.

Whoops. We already have that. They’re called nuns and sisters.

Rather than renew the dying liberal religious orders the progressives have to always move on to some wonderful new idea–always borrowed from the secular culture– which they must impose on the church.

In my experience everything we need and every answer to every problem is already part of our heritage. It is usually a matter of raiding Grandma’s Ecclesiastical attic, finding the treasure from past ages that has been forgotten and stored away, dusting it down and putting it back into service.

The Amazon tribes need the women to be recognized and empowered? Call in the Franciscan and Domincan sisters. Call in the umpteen women’s religious orders dedicated to serving the poor, educating the young, tending the dying and ministering to the widows and orphans.