The First Woman Appointed Undersecretary Of The Catholic Church Discusses The Importance of Change

Forbes

Nathalie Becquart is the first woman to have a vote in the Catholic Synod of Bishops in February of 2021. She is the first to hold the position of Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops. In 2019, Becquart and four other women were the first to be appointed as consultants to the secretariat of the Synod of Bishops in the Catholic Church.   Nathalie graduated from HEC Paris in 1992 with a major in entrepreneurship. She worked in youth ministry early in her career. In 2008 the Conference of Bishops of France appointed her deputy director of student pastoral care, and in 2012 director of the national service for the evangelization of young people and for vocations.  Nathalie Becquart speaks with Diane Brady for 'Forbes Talks' about changes in her career and education, and her latest position, Undersecretary.

Transcript

00:00 Hello, everybody. I'm Diane Brady. It's my pleasure to be here with Sister Nathalie

00:07 Bécart, who is the first female undersecretary in the Vatican's Synod of Bishops. Sister

00:14 Nathalie, good to see you.

00:17 Thank you. Good evening. It's a pleasure to be with you.

00:21 So let me ask, first of all, you are based in France. And one of the things that fascinated

00:26 me when you were appointed in 2021, a lot was made of the fact that you would be also

00:32 the first woman to have a vote in the Synod. Is that to you the real power of the role

00:39 that you currently have?

00:42 I would say it has been very symbolic, you know, to be because it's this position that

00:49 before it was always a bishop and the position gives you to be a member of the Synod of Bishops

00:56 and to have a vote. But in our process for the Synod, the vote occurs at the end of the

01:04 process when we have reached a consensus. So the most important is not so much the vote

01:11 at the end, but the fact that you can be involved from the beginning and at all stages of the

01:18 process. And what is very interesting now that when I was appointed, in a way, it has

01:24 opened the door and I was the first one with this right of vote. But at the end for the

01:32 Synod Assembly we had in October, there were also many other women for the first time who

01:38 were full members of the Synod. So I was not alone. And I was with 54 women who also voted

01:47 like me and also other laypeople, men who were there.

01:53 Can I ask, I know that you have been spent, you've traveled around the world talking to

01:57 a lot of Catholics, you know, laypeople as well as, of course, you know, nuns, bishops,

02:04 etc. in the Catholic Church. What have you gleaned from this journey in terms of the

02:09 messages that you're hearing from people with regard to their relationship with the Church,

02:16 the Vatican, etc.?

02:19 Well, you know, it's the first time in the Church history that a Synod is convoked, it's

02:26 convoked by a Pope, for the whole Church, so for all the baptized and even all people

02:32 of goodwill who would like to contribute to the Catholic Church. And it has been very

02:39 moving to see so many people in all continents who have said with this Synod that has opened

02:47 a process of listening and consulting all the baptized. So many people have said, you

02:53 know, it's the first time the Church is asking my voice. And for many people, it was really

03:00 the first time they could really speak up and give what they feel or express. And doing

03:08 that, they realize that the Church is not only the Pope and the bishops or the priests,

03:14 no, they realize that they have also an important role to play. And we are called to be Church

03:22 all together as baptized, as people of God, everybody has a role. So this Synod is really

03:29 a process to become more and more a listening Church and an inclusive Church, a welcoming

03:35 Church. Doing that, the fact that people felt and many expressed that for the first time

03:43 they felt very much listened to, it reinforced in a way the sense of belonging. And they

03:51 realized that, yes, they have to be protagonists.

03:55 You know, it's a 2,000 year old institution, of course. And I recall Vatican II in the

04:02 1960s was a very transformative moment for the Roman Catholic Church. Some people have

04:09 talked about the need for a Vatican III. It does feel like we're at an interesting pivot

04:14 point right now. Do you agree? And can you sort of tell us more about how you think the

04:20 culture of the Church is changing?

04:25 It's interesting that you speak about the Second Vatican Council that is ready to be

04:30 a part of the Church and give us a kind of roadmap. And you know, what we are doing now

04:39 is really implementing the fruits of the Second Vatican Council. And the Synod of Bishops,

04:47 where I am working now, has been instituted at the end of the Second Vatican Council by

04:54 Pope Paul VI as a way to continue the experience of the Council and the spirit and to have

05:02 a consultative body of bishops for the Pope. And what we are doing now is ready to continue

05:11 the reception of the Second Vatican Council and its implementation. I'd like very much

05:17 to quote a theologian from Australia. His name is Orman Rush, and he says, "Synodality

05:25 is the Second Vatican Council in a nutshell." And this synod is about synodality to become

05:32 more and more a synodal church. That's meant to be the church with the vision of Vatican

05:39 II that highlighted that first of all we are the church as people of God, churning

05:47 among all the people on the earth. What we have in common as Baptized is more important

05:55 than all our differences. And we can say that the Second Vatican Council in a way has put

06:01 the first focus on our common vocation as baptized before all differences and vocations.

06:10 And so, of course, there is a hierarchical dimension in the church. But it's first of

06:17 all, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. First of all, we are a community. But what

06:23 is interesting, you know, nowadays we are almost a little bit more than 60 years after

06:29 the Second Vatican Council. And we haven't finished really to put into practice the beautiful

06:36 document of the council. Because during, for many historical reasons, during 1,500 years

06:46 before we had a way to look at the church more as an institution, like a pyramid, in

06:54 a very juridical way, and looking at the church as, you know, a kind of perfect society with

07:01 the Pope at the top, and the bishops and the priests and the lay people, just as passive

07:07 receivers of the teaching. And now it's about a new way to be church.

07:14 Sister Nathalie, I'm curious about your own journey. My mother always told me that the

07:20 nuns were the feminists and the entrepreneurs of the Catholic Church. So I'm curious how

07:26 you found your calling.

07:30 Interesting what you share, because, you know, before entering religious life, I studied

07:37 in a business school in HEC in France, and I did a specialization and master in entrepreneurship.

07:43 After my studies, I went to Lebanon to give one year as a volunteer. And that's in during

07:53 this year in Lebanon that I began to discern a call for religious life, as I was also working

08:01 and meeting nuns and religious in Lebanon. And I discovered, I began to, because my big

08:12 question, like many young people was, you know, what is the meaning of life? What is

08:17 it? And I discovered it's really to give back what you receive and what you have received

08:24 is not for you, it is to serve. And through an experience of prayer, I began to think

08:31 of religious life as a possible life and a way to follow Christ and to serve the other.

08:39 So I went back to France after this year as volunteer. I worked during two years in a

08:47 marketing communication agency, and I continued to discern my call. And I met the Xavier Sister,

08:55 so the community where I am now. And I discovered, yes, that could be a place for me. So I entered

09:05 this community that is French religious order with the spirituality of Ignatius of Loyola.

09:14 So we are close to the Jesuits. And then through my journey with the Xavier Sister, I have

09:20 been mainly involved and doing ministry with young people in youth ministry in different

09:28 ways, with students in universities, with young people from poor urban areas, with different

09:36 things. And then I was called to work at the Bishops Conference of France as director of

09:44 the National Office for Youth and for Vocation, where I was the first woman appointed as director

09:51 of this office before it has always been a priest. And serving at the Bishops Conference

09:57 during 10 years, I have been involved in the preparation of the Synod on Young People that

10:05 was convoked by Pope Francis in 2018. That's how I began to be involved in the Synod of

10:14 Bishops. I participated to the Synod as a consultant, as an observer, we can say. And

10:21 following that, I had finished my term at the Bishops Conference. I asked to have a

10:26 kind of sabbatical time. I went to the United States to deepen my theological studies. So

10:36 I did a specialization in Boston College in ecclesiology with a research on synodality.

10:42 And what is interesting is I have discerned through all my journey that really the way

10:52 to be church today is to be a synodal church. And that's a path for me to serve the church,

10:59 to serve the others. And I discovered a kind of inner call to serve and promote synodality.

11:06 So I did this research and I did this discernment with my general superior. And just after that,

11:13 I received a call by Pope Francis to become first consultant for the Synod of Bishops.

11:19 It's a little bit like being an expert at the service of the Synod of Bishops, but it's

11:24 not a full-time position. And then Pope Francis appointed me as undersecretary at the Vatican,

11:34 since he's general secretary for the Synod in February 2021. I never imagined that. My

11:41 community is not in Rome, so I never imagined I will work at the Vatican. But you can see

11:47 it's a kind of journey, step by step. I have been asked to come here and I try to do my

11:54 best.

11:55 Well, it's fascinating. Before I move on, I want to point out to people who don't know

12:02 HEC, it was the Hautes Etudes Commerciales. So I believe it's like the Harvard Business

12:09 School, basically, of France. How did that experience and the experience you had in the

12:19 marketing sector, how did that impact your vocation or your approach to your role?

12:27 Well, I'm very grateful to have studied in HEC and to have learned also project management,

12:42 entrepreneurship, communication, because all these skills also helped me in the work I

12:49 have done in the church, especially with the young people and also now, because when I

12:56 was, I mentioned at the Bishops' Conference, I was the director of a team of 20 people.

13:03 I had to lead the big project like organizing World Youth Day for the French delegation.

13:10 So it was, for instance, in Madrid, 45,000 young people from France, so a big project

13:18 like a national pilgrimage for students. So having both an experience in management, entrepreneurship,

13:30 communication and also my studies in theology, because I first studied theology in Paris

13:38 and then I did this specialization in Boston College in the US, and also all my spiritual

13:45 formation because I have been trained also as a spiritual director, leading also spiritual

13:53 process. So, you know, it's a combination, but it's true that what I have received and

14:02 experience during my studies and then also those job experience has really helped me.

14:11 And what I try to do and to continue, you know, is it's also the charism of my religious

14:19 order is really to build links, to make links between people who are in the church, people

14:26 who are far from the church, between different fields. And I think as a church, we have a

14:32 lot to learn from the business world, the corporate world or also the media, the NGO.

14:43 And we have also to give and it's a reciprocal, mutual learning. So each time I am asked to

14:53 have that kind of dialogue, I do it because I really think and I continue to learn from

14:59 others. And also, you know, very humbly as church, we can share our experience and inspire

15:06 others.

15:07 Yeah. Let me ask you a question about just the perch that you occupied being the first

15:14 women in this role. What what has been the reaction of your colleagues, especially, you

15:21 know, those who are priests, etc.? Has it been a challenge to get them used to the idea

15:27 of a woman being in a role that was formerly occupied by a priest or a bishop in some cases?

15:33 Well, I would say it depends. Well, I have received rather warm welcome, but it's true

15:40 that, you know, in every kind of organization, when you have something new, when you have

15:45 change, it's not so easy. So it's and it's also not only to be the first woman here,

15:56 but most of the women in leadership at the Vatican, for instance, they are Italian. Many

16:02 of them have been working during many years at the Rome in the Roman period, the Vatican.

16:08 So I am a woman, but I'm also coming from a background. So it's, you know, learning

16:15 to work together with different culture, different styles. So it's a journey. But as you mentioned,

16:27 you know, the Vatican is a very old institution and that has been shaped also in a very hierarchical

16:35 way. So now to become more synodal with this style, it's really a path of transformation.

16:45 So it's not easy. Some are very and I was it was interesting because when I was appointed,

16:50 you know, I received so many messages from so many people all around the world and from

16:56 the church and not only also many messages from priests, cardinals, bishops who told

17:03 me how they were happy to see a woman there. So there are many who are really willing that

17:10 the church is doing that and calling more and more women in leadership. But it's true

17:18 that also for some others, it's something new. And unless they experience being together,

17:27 sometimes it can be difficult. But what was very interesting in our assembly in October,

17:34 so during one month at the Vatican with Pope Francis and all the delegates from all over

17:40 the world, so 75% of bishops, you know, for some it was rather new to be there in a synod

17:48 with laypeople, with women. But at the end, they could really see how fruitful it was

17:56 and how the fact that, you know, we have different kind of lenses and experiences. It's a richness.

18:07 And a new moment for the church.

18:10 Yes. And you are always better, as I said, when you have others who can look at things

18:19 and situations and topics you have to discern with other kind of lenses. But it's a learning

18:26 by doing. That's what I would like to say. And it's about opening spaces and experiences

18:33 that will help this transformation.

18:36 Well, I'm glad to see you on the front line, Sister Natalie, and I really appreciate you

18:42 taking the time to speak with us. And I look forward to continuing the conversation. Thank

18:46 you so much for joining us.

18:50 Thank you so much.

18:50 [END]

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