Evaluating the implementation of 'Woman and Man: The Bishops Respond' (Social Justice Sunday Statement 2000)

The Bishops Commission for Evangelisation, Laity and Ministry (BCELM) commissioned the NCPR to undertake an evaluation in response to the commitment made by the Fifth Plenary Council of Australia to implement “more fully the undertakings made by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference in their Social Justice Statement, Woman and Man: The Bishops Respond (2000), in response to the research report, Woman and Man: One in Christ Jesus (1999)”, (Decree 4, Witnessing to the Equal Dignity of Women and Men).

The Project

The evaluation sought to support the planning and implementation of initiatives to increase the participation of all the baptised in the Church, with a particular focus on women. It gathered information about several aspects of the implementation process, together with ideas for future action.

The evaluation was conducted in two stages and employed a mixed-methods research approach.

Stage 1 surveyed all national bodies responsible for implementing the compulsory actions (called Decisions) in the Social Justice Sunday Statement 2000 (SJSS2000).

Stage 2 invited all Australian dioceses and eparchies, along with selected Ministerial Public Juridic Persons (MPJPs) and Religious Congregations, to respond to a survey about the implementation of the optional actions (called Proposals). The survey was followed by interviews with 24 key personnel at national and local levels.

The study aimed to build a broad understanding of how SJSS2000 was implemented. Specifically, it sought to:

Discover how the practical actions outlined in SJSS2000 were implemented.
Identify objective and measurable evidence to inform a clearer understanding of the current status of women’s participation in the Church.
Gain a greater understanding of the challenges faced by dioceses in implementing the proposals.
Uncover best practices for implementation.
Share insights to inform pastoral care and policy.

A Research Reference Group guided the project, and ethics approval for each stage was provided by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Christian Research Association.

Reports

The Executive Summary for the evaluation can be viewed here: SJSS2000 Evaluation – Executive Summary

The Final Report for the evaluation can be viewed here: SJSS2000 Evaluation – Final Report

Report Details: Trudy Dantis, Stephen Reid, Katherine Jelavic and Carole Gan, Evaluating the implementation of ‘Woman and Man: The Bishops Respond’ (Social Justice Sunday Statement 2000), (Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, October 2026).

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