By Andrea Johnson

Part 1: WOC’s Beginnings, Antecedents and Sister Organizations

The women’s ordination movement began in earnest in the USA in 1975. But it was not without its antecedents. It drew inspiration from an organization already active in both the US and the UK called St. Joan’s Alliance. Founded in 1911, St. Joan’s Alliance worked for women’s suffrage as well as women’s ordination., seeing the two as deeply connected. More immediately, however, the Roman Catholic women’s ordination question in our country was catalyzed by the decisions of other Christian communions to ordain women in the 1950,s ’60’s, and ‘70’s: the United Church of Christ, the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches, and, having the most direct impact, the Episcopal Church USA. In 1974, eleven Episcopal women were ordained priests “irregularly.” Almost immediately, armed with the Second Vatican Council document Gaudium et Spes, American Catholic proponents of women’s ordination, both women and men, many of them scripture scholars like the late Carroll Stuehmueller, convened a meeting, a Women’s Ordination Conference in Detroit, Michigan. This was under the auspices of Priests For Equality, an organization founded by William Callahan, SJ. PFE’s charter called for the ordination of women, and the first Women’s Ordination Conference in Detroit ratified that call in 1975.

In the following year, the organization known as Women’s Ordination Conference was established as a separate entity whose mission was specifically to advance the cause of ordaining women to the Roman Catholic priesthood. Within three years, WOC had grown to a membership exceeding three thousand, most of whom attended a second conference, held in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1978. It is important to note that in 1981, not long after the time of WOC’s founding, CNWE, Canadian Network For Women’s Equallity, was born as well. By 1985, there was also Maria von Magdala in Germany, founded by Ida Raming, Iris Mueller and Gertrud Heinzelmann, two Germans and one Swiss, all theologians; and by the early 1990’s, there were similar organizations in Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand.

Over the years, within WOC, specialized sub-groups formed to pursue particular agendas within the larger mission. One such group, RAPPORT, a covenanted community of women seeking Roman Catholic ordination as soon as possible, took on the task of direct dialogue with sympathetic bishops. This group began its work in 1986 in response to the pulling back from women’s ordination by another group of WOC women, Women-Church, founded in 1983.

Part 2: Development of the Mission, Key Turning Points

I’d like to turn now to what I deem major turning points in the development of the women’s ordination agenda, a variety of events and influences which called forth a deepening and broadening of the mission as it was originally understood. In 1975, the understanding of the importance of getting women ordained was essentially a political understanding. This was the era of the Equal Rights Amendment. The Vatican Council II document, Gaudium et Spes, called for “reading the signs of the times.” Pope John XXIII’s 1963 encyclical, Pacem in Terris, had pointed out that women were now ever more conscious of their dignity and worth. To seek the ordination of women in 1975 was to seek an acknowledgment of women’s full valuation – of their equality in the Church.

By 1978, only three years later, much had already changed. The organization had grown by leaps and bounds. Some 3,000 persons participated in the second Women’s Ordination Conference in Baltimore. The program was headlined, “It’s time to lay to rest the heresy that women cannot image Jesus in the priesthood.” This was, of course, a response to Pope Paul VI’s 1977 encyclical, Inter Insignores: A Declaration Against the Ordination of Women, which stated that women could not image Jesus, and therefore, could not be priests. At this point, the proponents of women’s ordination were not simply saying that ordination was necessary for women’s equality; outraged by what they saw as a new and specious argument, based on a faulty Christology, they responded in force with a burst of new scholarship, critiquing the hastily conceived “new theology” of the encyclical. This second conference in Baltimore was already stating the need for a renewed priestly ministry. It challenged the fundamentalism of the clericalist system.

In the years between 1983-1992, the newly organized movement known as Women-Church explored the larger question of women’s religious empowerment in a series of conferences. This was also a period of great richness in the field of feminist theology and scripture scholarship. Many women were attending seminary programs with the expectation on their part that the reasonable conclusions drawn by the scholars would result in a change of policy by the institution. Other women, particularly those doing the writing, were much more skeptical. Their analysis of the nature of the problem was that no reasonable argument would move the entrenched institution. Women-Church, a movement calling for women to create their own communities of worship and spirituality, was born in 1983, and lived in tension within the women’s ordination movement for about 12 years before it became clear that the two agendas were not compatible.

In 1995, Women’s Ordination Conference sponsored a 20 th anniversary gathering. It was in November of 1995, at this conference, that the movement’s split became painfully obvious. Keynoter Elisabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza and theologian, Mary Hunt, made it clear that they believed that ordination into the Roman Catholic system would result in nothing but subordination within a patriarchal system. They encouraged conference participants to engage in various feminist ministries instead, apart from the official priesthood. The aftermath of this conference proved to be a significant turning point for the US movement. Schuessler-Fiorenza’s challenge to us to see the complexity of the forces which oppressed us (she called them the kyriarchy/ a combination of race, class and gender distinctions), caused us to realize that we needed to widen the circle, to have lots more input from many other communities and sources of wisdom to achieve a better understanding of what we meant by a renewed priestly ministry. Those determined to continue the struggle for women’s ordination turned their attention to rebuilding their constituency, and even to bringing their agenda to new constituencies. In the process of reaching out, listening to new people’s ideas and forming alliances with other groups, our vision became more universal, more oriented toward an inclusive ministry.

In 1996, WOC established a new group within the organization called the Young Feminist Network. It was an effort to listen to what young women wanted from the church; WOC did not require that YFN members be avid proponents of women’s ordination, but simply young women seeking a fullness of spiritual life. With very little money, and largely through the tireless efforts of then WOC staffer, Kerry Danner-McDonald, the YFN grew, sponsoring retreats and leadership conferences for young women. Many YFN women became enthusiastic supporters of the WOC agenda. Today, several of WOC’s recent or current board members were or still are members of the YFN; furthermore, WOC’s office staff has been led now by young women for the past several years.

Another important result of the determination to grow the movement following the 1995 conference was the effort to meet with leaders of other women’s ordination groups from around the world at the first European Women’s Synod in 1996. WOC’s goal was to form an international coalition of like-minded groups to bring greater pressure to bear world-wide for women’s full inclusion in the church’s ministry. Seventy-five women attended an organizing meeting in Gmunden, Austria. Representatives from six countries drew up an initial mission statement and charter – and Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) was born. Within 6 months, eleven countries were involved; within a year, fifteen countries; and by two years, 21 countries on all five inhabited continents (and New Zealand)! The age of e-mail had arrived, so much activism was possible with few resources, and in swift time! WOW’s first international conference in Dublin, Ireland, in July of 2001, with 300 participants representing 21 countries, demonstrated handily that Catholic women around the globe were on the same page. They wanted women ordained; they wanted a renewed church and priesthood, and they wanted to work in partnership with men. Joan Chittister, the keynoter, noted that there were only about 30 men present, and charged the conference participants to come to the next conference with at least one man each. She made it clear that a renewed church with a renewed ministry was the business of both women and men.

At the same time, two other things were happening. In Rochester, New York, Corpus Christi (now SpiritusChristi) Church, an exemplary parish of the diocese, had been expelled for allowing a woman wearing a “stolette” and to stand at the altar during liturgy. In the year 2000, Spiritus Christi was in a discernment process about ordaining Mary Ramerman to the priesthood; they called a conference, inviting reform-minded Catholics from around the world to discern with them. In 2001, they ordained Mary Ramerman priest, to minister alongside Jim Callan, the priest in charge (Jesus Christ is proclaimed as the pastor of Spiritus Christi in the weekly bulletin!). Here was an exemplary parish’s statement of faith in an inclusive priesthood! The other happening was the illict ordinations of seven women as priests on the Danube River in June of 2002. This, and the subsequent ordinations of several women bishops was made possible by the willingness of a significant group of European male bishops in good standing who decided to cross the line on this issue. One of the male bishops commented to one of the women bishops ordained that her consecration as a bishop was not for her, but for the church-that the church might be reformed and renewed. What has become known as the Contra Legem movement was born, and has since flourished, especially on the shores of North America. The most exciting part is that the partnership between women and men for a renewed priestly ministry is evident in the mentoring of Roman Catholic Womenpriest candidates by CORPUS and other male Roman Catholic priests. In just 31 years, we’ve come a very long way.

Part 3: Key People

In the telling of this story, it is important to pause and to remember and name persons and groups who have been key to the survival and the success of the movement for women’s ordination over these many years. There are literally hundreds I could name. This movement is living proof that it takes a village! But I will name a few whose vision, tenacity and courage have inspired and empowered us all: Dolly Pomerleau, Bill Callahan, Ruth Fitzpatrick and Maureen Fiedler-present at the creation, fearless and powerful spokespersons against the injustice of the ban on women’s ordination. Marjorie Tuite, OP, brilliant analyst and truth-telling empowerer; Joan Sobala, SSJ and Marsie Silvestro, Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz and Rosalie Muschall Reinhardt-faithful women, keeping the lamp burning in dark times; Theresa Kane, RSM, Betty Carroll, RSM, and Mary Luke Tobin, SL, gentle yet courageous women who spoke truth to power; Donna Quinn, gentle model of open, inclusive and joyful ministry with a wonderful gift of humor; Bishops Frank Murphy and Ray Lucker, members of the hierarchy who accepted marginalization by their peers to keep the dialogue going on women’s ordination; Rosemary Radford Ruether and Elisabeth Schuessler-Fiorenza, Diann Neu and Miriam Therese Winter, great feminist theologians and liturgists, sifting out the true and the beautiful to empower women; Kerry Danner-McDonald, visionary creator of the Young Feminist Network, bringer of the women’s ordination and women’s empowerment agenda to the young; Ida Raming, a member of WOC for 25 years, Iris Mueller, Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, Gisela Forster and Patricia Fresen, now bishops and animators of Roman Catholic Womenpriests. These are but a few among many who have given so unstintingly of their time, their expertise, their treasure-of the very essence of themselves-to keep us moving forward toward our goal.

Part 4: Our Alliances Have Educated Us For This Moment

Lastly, I would like to speak a bit about the question of how I believe the women’s ordination movement arrived at the conclusion that getting women ordained is not just about justice for women, that it is really a question of justice for all people in the church. It is important to note that, from the beginning, WOC was never alone on its quest. Priests For Equality, and later, Catholics Speak Out, were always there. The male and female theologians from the time of the 1975 Detroit conference were always there. A few friendly bishops were also there, doing their best to open and maintain the dialogue. In my view, however, what was key to moving the question of an inclusive priesthood forward, a priesthood modeling the partnership of women and men in ministry, was our movement’s participation in the coalition known as Catholic Organizations For Renewal. There, we learned of other organizations such as CORPUS, Federation of Christian Ministries, Celibacy Is the Issue, FutureChurch and others who were grappling with these questions of justice: justice for married priests and their families (and I want to state loudly and unequivocably that we owe a great debt of gratitude to the women of CORPUS!); justice for unserved and underserved Catholics; justice for those who wished to prepare for ministry, but were excluded from Catholic institutions. We shared our concerns, and yes, our fears. We did not always agree. But we learned one another’s stories, and often, we made common cause, particularly in the late 1990’s, when Vatican retrenchment on all of our issues became so painfully obvious. We saw that, standing alone, our hope was dim; standing together, there was a lot we could do. Here are a few of the miracles we’ve witnessed as a result of our cooperation:

• FCM’s Global Ministries University (which now prepares women and men for a variety of ministries in Catholic and ecumenical settings)
• FCM’s accreditation program for women and men in ministry (affording them an organizational backing which makes licensing for ministerial services by states possible as well as national and international networking opportunities)
• CORPUS’ mentoring program for RCWP priesthood candidates (affording the candidates quality preparation for preaching and sacramental ministry). This program was begun through the cooperation of WOC and CORPUS, largely through the efforts of Evelyn Hunt and Bill Manseau to connect women entering the preparation program for ordination, even before the name or the organization known as Roman Catholic Womenpriests even existed.
• Major participation by Spiritus Christi priests and now RCWP priests in national CTA conference liturgies (modeling for large audiences a new and inclusive way of doing liturgy).
• Last on this short list, but certainly not least, is the existence of the National Catholic Ministries Alliance, our sponsoring organization today. This wonderfully effective alliance came about at the facilitation of Joy Barnes, former Director of Women’s Ordination Conference, who spoke at a national CORPUS conference in Washington, DC in 2004, and then suggested that Evelyn Hunt, then WOC Board President, should attend the Federation of Christian Ministries Assembly in Cleveland that summer. That meeting between Evelyn Hunt and Bill Manseau was the beginning of the collaboration of WOC and CORPUS, and resulted in the subsequent forming of the NCMA which also included FCM. It was some months later that the newly formed RCWP asked to join the alliance.

There are many more examples of this marvelous growth in vision, but I will stop here. You get the idea. By coming to grips with our fears and our differences, we have come to see the larger picture. We have come to see that the ministry must mirror the People of God. It must be inclusive in order to be authentic.

Anthony and I have attempted this morning to set the stage. For the rest of our time together, we will be hearing from people who have been called, and who are ministering now, in an inclusive way. We will talk about where we go from here. I want to thank the National Catholic Ministries Alliance for inviting me to be here today, and I look forward to being enriched by the rest of the day’s program.

Andrea Johnson currently serves as a national WOC adviser, and she spent four years as WOC’s executive director.