By Marie Mulvenna

While scores of women throughout the world might daydream of having a voice at the Vatican on the much debated role of women in society and the church, Atlanta’s Debbie Schellman has just such an opportunity. And for her, it is not a dream.

Debbie is the only American and one of 10 women in the world named by Pope Paul VI to a 26-member commission studying the role of women in society and the church. The recently created commission, a first of its kind, is slated to meet in Rome, November 15 to 18, for an initial session. Additional meetings are planned into 1974. “I don’t expect a heck of a lot out of it this time,” says Debbie, adding “but it is a step in the right direction although I think it’s only a first step.”

The 21-year-old Miss Schellman is reluctant to discuss the popular topic of women in ministry, explaining that she has been specifically requested by the Vatican to refrain from any comment whatsoever on the subject. She frankly views the matter as one “that will inevitably arise – it’s got to; we can’t avoid it,” although she explains that Rome has asked the commission members to “make that a minor consideration” during their deliberations.

Debbie herself has been asked to serve on a sub-commission of the 26-member group studying “woman as a person.” The respective sub-commissions, which will consider such areas as the divorced woman, the married woman etc., will meet separately and then in the larger group to exchange views and findings. Debbie said she anticipates the November session in Rome to be more of a “get-acquainted” type of thing and an establishing of “thought flow” to be followed by more intensive meetings during 1974. The actual agenda material for the November conclave is, to date, rather minimal according to Debbie.

The youthful delegate is quite open about her own feelings, save those on women in ministry, and says she finds “there is obviously something a little bit wrong somewhere” in the modern Church. Debbie refers to the present enthusiasm expressed for other religions, particularly those of the East. “Actually, all the things people seem to seek in these other religions are present in the Catholic Church. We should be attracting people but somehow these things are not being communicated.”

“You find, most of the time anyway, that real Christians and real Catholics are pretty darn quiet about their faith. In some way, the Church needs more publicizing – some way of getting across the real meaning and purposes of the Church. The things that attract so many to the eastern faiths such as rising above self, etc. are really present in our own faith.”

She is rather honest about her own “questioning period” concerning the church, which she says, began in high school and lasted for several years. “I went through a questioning period in my life when I wanted nothing to do with the church.”

She tried to push aside her feelings for fear of hurting her parents, Gen. (Ret.) and Mrs. Robert Schellman, who are extremely active in the church and recently were installed by Cardinal Terence Cooke as Knight and Lady of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher. General Schellman is also a Knight of St. Sylvester and Mrs. Schellman was honored by Pope Paul in 1969 with the “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” award for her service to the church as honorary president of the Military Council of Catholic Women in Europe.

As to her own questioning period, Debbie relates that when she went to college she found she had to make a commitment and decided to do something positive about the things in the Church with which she was disenchanted. “It required an awful lot of thinking and praying,” she says. “Now I’m personally active and would like to get even more involved.”

The papal commission was set up by the pope in April with the formal announcement from the Vatican that the task of the group would be “to study the specific role of woman in society and man-woman relationships on the basis of the essential equality of men and women, but also in the light of the ways in which they differ and complement one another.” The Vatican communiqué also stated that the select group chosen would evaluate the ecclesiastical status of women with a view to “true promotion of women in the various spheres of the church’s life and mission.”

Represented on the study group are 10 women and 15 men from various walks of life, including doctors, theologians, sociologists, priests, laity, Religious etc. Debbie first received news of her appointment from Monsignor deNittis in Washington, DC. The news was later confirmed in writing by commission chairman Archbishop Enrico Bartoletti, who is in charge of the Italian Diocese of Lucca and a member of the standing group of the bishops' synod, the advisory body that channels recommendations from the hierarchy of the world to the pope.

Her initial reaction to the appointment was “complete amazement.” Debbie relates that the appointment first came public during her final exams at Marymount Junior College in Arlington, Va. It wasn’t until after exams and graduation that the full meaning of the post “sunk in.” Debbie says she then realized the “appointment was bigger than I first thought.” She says she now looks on it as not so much as honor but a tremendous responsibility. “The responsibility aspect has tempered my initial excitement.”

Debbie reports she has no idea how she was selected for the commission and didn’t know anything was in the works until she was named publicly. In July, the National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN) fired off a heated charge of “niece-ism” contending Debbie was a niece of Cardinal John Wright, and thus was chosen for the commission on that basis. The charge was retracted, but not until Cardinal Wright, highest-ranking American at the Vatican, had denied any relationship to Miss Schellman.

The commission has been, according to Debbie, labeled as one studying “What Makes Women Happy or Unhappy, Their Aspirations and Frustration.” Debbie comments “I don’t know where that term ever cropped up but it is incorrect.”

She explained that commission members are expected to work with other commissions that have some contact or relationship to their own such as the laity commission, the theological study group considering women within the ministry, etc.

Preparations for the Rome meeting have included lengthy lists of bibliographies sent to Debbie for her study and reference. She admits she has not yet had sufficient time to read many of the suggested selections but she is doing some reading on her own and also some deep theological study. Her reading is fitted in while she is not working as a sales person in a local Atlanta store. Quite a bit of correspondence has been exchanged between the members of the commission, reports Debbie.

At Marymount College, she served as president of the student council and graduated as a fine arts major. She is intensely interested in the field of art therapy. “Art is a marvelous tool for therapy and is often the only way some people can communicate their problems,” she explains. The soft-spoken graduate is one of eight children and has lived in Atlanta for two years following her father’s retirement from the Army. The family has previously lived in numerous foreign countries as well as American locations.

She leaves Atlanta at the end of October to meet in Washington, DC with Miss Margaret Mealey of the lay council, then on to Philadelphia for a meeting with Sister M. Thomas Aquinas who represents the leadership council of women Religious in the U.S. Since the Vatican is “footing the bill” for her Rome trip, Debbie feels financially relieved about her forthcoming plans and reports she is looking forward to it “a great deal.”

As far as input goes, Debbie points to the piles of correspondence from Rome and the letters from other commission appointees, but adds that she has had little input locally.

“I’d really like to hear from more women” she says, “It would help me get a better general idea of what is going on all over.” The most input received to date has come from sisters in the U.S. who have been furnishing her data on their activities. “Not so much points that women wish me to bring up in Rome, but what they are and have been doing in the church.” Debbie relates.

Although not free to make known her feelings on the touchy topic of women in ministry, Debbie does say that she is basically sympathetic to many of the changes advocated by women’s rights groups. She explains quickly however that she is opposed to many of their actions or loud and protesting methods. “I’m all for equal rights though,” she says with a smile.

Perhaps one young Atlantan may be able to say just that in Rome.