Press Releases

May 11th, 2021

Women’s Ordination Advocates Welcome Pope Francis’ Creation of the Ministry of Catechist

For Immediate Release 11 May, 2021  The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) sincerely welcomes Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, Antiquum Ministerium, instituting the Ministry of Catechist for all laypeople. This formalization both affirms the authentic vocational calls many women experience, and the unique ways women enrich the church.  “The institutional church’s expanding vision of the ways women…
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February 8th, 2021

WOC Responds to Appointment of Sr. Nathalie Becquart as Undersecretary of the Synod of Bishops

For Immediate Release: 8 February 2021 The Women’s Ordination Conference congratulates Sr. Nathalie Becquart on her Feb. 6 appointment as one of two new undersecretaries of the Synod of Bishops. She is the first woman to be appointed to this office, and she joins a small but slowly growing number of women undersecretaries in the…
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January 11th, 2021

WOC Responds to Canon Law Development Permitting All Laity in Roles of Acolyte and Lector

For Immediate Release: 11 January, 2021  The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) welcomes Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, “Spiritus Domini,” that expands Canon Law 230, regarding the ministries of lector and acolyte, to include all laypeople. This shift brings the institutional Church in better alignment with pastoral realities around the world, and eliminates the ability of an…
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January 8th, 2021

Catholic Reform Organizations Condemn Insurrectionist Violence at U.S. Capitol

January 8, 2021 We, the undersigned members of Catholic Organizations for Renewal (COR), are outraged by and unequivocally condemn the violent storming of the United States Capitol that we witnessed on January 6, 2021. At the same time, as faithful Catholics, we lament the U.S. Catholic community’s complicity and participation in fostering an environment that…
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November 24th, 2020

The real “clericalism and disrespect” is in Pope Francis’ understanding of women

For Immediate Release: 24 November 2020 In a soon-to-be released book,  Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future, Pope Francis criticizes those who believe women must be priests to be leaders in the Catholic Church, claiming it is “clericalist and disrespectful.” The Women’s Ordination Conference rejects this mischaracterization of the global movement working…
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October 12th, 2020

Fratelli Tutti, but no St. Clare

***Texto en español al final*** Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, is a profound manifesto, calling for kindness, detachment from market capitalism and solidarity in action as we reckon and recover from a global pandemic. However, the controversial title, which is a quote from St. Francis of Assisi, (All Brothers, but also in modern Italian, All Siblings) and…
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September 23rd, 2020

U.S. Catholic Reform Organizations Stand in Solidarity with Fr. Tony Flannery

September 23, 2020 As Catholics working together for a renewed Church, we stand proudly in solidarity with Irish Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery in the face of continued threats and bullying from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) over his support for women’s ordination and the full dignity of LGBT+ persons. The Inquisition-era…
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September 17th, 2020

Women’s Ordination Worldwide Stands in Solidarity with Tony Flannery

For Immediate Release: September 17, 2020 Fr. Tony Flannery is long-time friend and ally of Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) and today we stand in solidarity with him as he resists the Vatican’s attempts to punish him for his advocacy for women’s equality and ordination in the Catholic Church.     In drawing attention to the tragic…
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August 18th, 2020

Catholic Women’s Groups Issue Letter to Voters for Justice; Call for a New Era of Equality

August 18, 2020 Fifteen leading organizations headed by “progressive feminist Catholics” have issued an Open Letter to Catholic Voters and All Voters for Justice, calling on voters to “stem the tide of injustice and usher in a new era of equality.” They say the letter responds to “[t]he need for action beyond words” given current…
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July 22nd, 2020

“Signs of the Times” appear calling for women’s ordination on feast of St. Mary Magdalene

Washington, D.C.: As the Roman Catholic Church celebrates the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, a special “resurrection garden” of signs calling for women’s ordination and gender equality appeared on the grounds of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the  U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops. Similar “gardens”…
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