Vatican releases summaries of auditors' addresses at Synod, Catholic Culture (October 20, 2015)

Vatican releases summaries of auditors' addresses at Synod

Auditors at the Synod of Bishops have spoken on topics ranging from the role of women to medical ethics and the persecution of Christians.

The auditors—whose talks were delivered on October 15 and 16, and made public on October 20—included:

Agnes Offiong Erogunaye, a Nigerian woman who spoke on how many African women care for their households by themselves.
Sister Maureen Kelleher, an American religious who asked Church leaders “to recognize how many women who feel called to be in service of the Kingdom of God but cannot find a place in our Church.
Lucetta Scaraffia, an Italian history professor, who said: “Women are great experts in the family: leaving abstract theories behind, we can turn in particular to women to understand what must be done.”
Father Garas Bouls Garas Bishay, an Egyptian pastor, who spoke about the many difficulties that arise from mixed marriages between Christians and Muslims.
Maria Harries, an Australian who spoke about the matrilineal system in aboriginal societies and the devastation caused by sexual abuse.
Brenda Kim Nayoug, who said that social and economic pressures in South Korea have led many people to forego marriage and child-bearing.
Edgar Humberto Tejada Zeballos, a Peruvian pediatrician, who said that too many couples “believe that having a child is a right, without considering that children are a gift from God,” and resort to immoral practices such as surrogacy and in vitro fertilization.
The Marqus-Odeesho couple, Iraqi Christians from the Nineveh region, and related their experience in being forced to leave their homes, and all their belongings and memories, to escape the Islamic State offensive.