Press Releases

For Immediate Release: July 13, 2022 The Women’s Ordination Conference welcomes Pope Francis’ July 13, 2022 appointment of three women, Sr. Raffaella Petrini, F.S.E., Sr. Yvonne Reungoat, F.M.A., and Dr. Maria Lia Zervino, to the Dicastery for Bishops as an important step in removing all barriers to women’s full participation in the life of the…
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Media Advisory: June 1, 2022 Members of the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) will gather outside Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on Pentecost Sunday, June 5th 2022, at 2 pm, calling the church to “journey together” with women who long to be embraced as equals in Christ. The witness is in response to the Pope Francis’…
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March 22, 2022 The Women’s Ordination Conference applauds Pope Francis’ reorganization of the Vatican’s governing departments in his updated Apostolic Constitution, Praedicate Evangelium (“Preach the Gospel”). Most significantly, the constitution expands leadership roles once reserved for cardinals or bishops to laypeople, including women. WOC supports this renewed emphasis on “canonical mission,” or baptism, as the…
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Media Advisory: Contact: Kate McElwee, kmcelwee@womensordination.org Anne Tropeano, known as Father Anne, will be ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood in Albuquerque, NM on Saturday, October 16, 2021 at 2 p.m. at the Cathedral of St. John, defying the Vatican and breaking canon law, which automatically excommunicates women who attempt ordination.  Anne Tropeano holds a…
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For Immediate Release: September 12, 2021 As Pope Francis arrives in Slovakia, we urge him to publicly recognize woman priest Ludmila Javorová, who 51 years ago was clandestinely ordained a priest by a Roman Catholic bishop as part of the underground church in Czechoslovakia during the country’s authoritarian Communist rule.  Entrusted by her bishop, Javorová courageously…
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJuly 22, 2021Washington, D.C.: As the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, on July 22, supporters of women’s ordination created displays of red eggs to decorate cathedrals and Church buildings around the country, using a symbol associated with Mary Magdalene that signifies that nothing will…
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For immediate release: U. S. bishops are “overidentified” with one political party, captive to the culture wars, say lay-led Catholic groups at news conferenceOn the eve of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Spring Assembly, the leaders of four grassroots Roman Catholic organizations called on Catholic bishops to stop acting like culture warriors and political…
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Media Alert Seven lay-led Catholic renewal groups, opposed to the weaponization of Holy Communion by a faction of the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops, will host a video conference for the media on Tuesday June 15 at 11 a. m. EDT, in advance of the USCCB’s upcoming meeting virutally, June 16-18. The conference, hosted…
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For Immediate Release: June 1, 2021 Pope Francis’ June 1 changes to the Code of Canon Law (Book VI) on offenses and punishments fail to correct the mischaracterization of the “grave crime” of women following their authentic vocations to ordained ministry. While not new, the revised canon 1379 is a painful reminder of the Vatican’s…
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May 25, 2021 For Immediate Release: Escuchando a las mujeres, a project of the Women’s Ordination Conference, works to amplify and empower the voices of Latinx Catholics and mujerista theologians to advocate for greater equality and justice in the church and world. With strong roots in Latin America, and many partners in Colombia, we issue…
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