FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 31, 2006

CONTACT: Nidza Vazquez, cell: (202) 422-2235, work: 703 352-1006, nvazquez@womensordination.org

Women's Ordination Conference supports ordinations of Roman Catholic women 

Washington, D.C. – Today, eight U.S. women were ordained as priests, and four as deacons, in the Roman Catholic Church in Pittsburgh, Pa. on the Three Rivers: the Allegheny, the Monongahela and the Ohio. Women's Ordination Conference (WOC), supports these ordinations as one of the ways women are renewing the Catholic Church.

“We support our sisters who have taken prophetic steps to obey God’s call to service,” stated Aisha Taylor, WOC’s Executive Director. “This ordination, as the first of its kind in the U.S.A., was a momentous event in the struggle for women's justice and equality in the Catholic Church. We pray that it sparks continued dialogue, growth and change in our Church. At the same time, we affirm the many different ways women are following their call to service and leadership.”

For thirty-one years, WOC has advocated for women's ordination in the Roman Catholic Church, with the mission of creating a renewed priesthood in an inclusive church.

"The full inclusion of women is consistent with the tradition of the early Church and with Jesus’ teachings," Taylor said. “Dr. Dorothy Irvin’s recent archaeological scholarship has confirmed that women were ordained priests, deacons, and bishops in the first few centuries of Christianity. We are simply asking the Vatican to re-instate the tradition of women’s ordination.”

Three Roman Catholic women bishops ordained Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg, Eileen McCaffery DiFranco, Olivia Doko, Dana Reynolds, Joan Clark Houk, Kathleen Strack, Bridget Mary Meehan and Rebecca McGuyver to the priesthood, and Mary Ellen Robertson, Cheryl Bristol, Juanita Cordero and Janice Sevre-Duszynska to the deaconate. During the ceremony, WOC members and supporters w ore purple stoles, the international symbol for women’s ordination.

“Today, we honor and support the courageous women who are breaking the male-only boundaries within the Roman Catholic hierarchy in order to transform it. We call on all Catholics to change the unjust structures of our Church and to live and share our faith in community – what we call a ‘discipleship of equals.’ We pray that the Spirit will guide us in these uncharted waters.” Taylor concluded.

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Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference is the oldest and largest national organization working solely for women to be ordained as deacons, priests and bishops into a renewed priestly ministry in the Catholic Church. For more information, visit WOC’s comprehensive website at www.womensordination.org.