FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 23, 2007

CONTACT: Nidza Vázquez: 703 352-1006 nvazquez@womensordination.org

Five Roman Catholic Women to be Ordained in Toronto

Washington, D.C . — On Sunday, May 27, 2007, one Canadian and two American women will be ordained as priests, and one American woman and two Canadians (a man and a woman) will be ordained as deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. The ordinations will take place in Toronto, Ontario, at the West Hill United Church beginning at 3:00PM. A pass is required for admission, and there will be a press conference after the ceremony. The Women's Ordination Conference (WOC) supports these ordinations wholeheartedly as one of the ways women are renewing the church.

“We support the women and men who are answering God’s call to make a difference in the Catholic Church and society,” stated Aisha Taylor, WOC’s Executive Director. “As we have seen with the women ordained in recent years, Catholics are accepting them as priests and vibrant communities are being formed. Catholic women are ministering to the needs that were not being met, and together, these groups are working to improve their communities and bring about social justice. This is changing the Church in profound ways.”

The group called the Roman Catholic Womenpriests will organize four other ordination ceremonies this summer, which include the following dates and locations: July 22 in Santa Barbara, Calif., July 28 in Portland, Ore., August 12 in Minneapolis, Minn., and one in the northeast. Patricia Fresen, a Roman Catholic Woman Bishop and theologian from South Africa who currently lives in Germany, will preside at all of the ordinations.

For thirty-two years, WOC has advocated women's ordination in the Catholic Church, with the mission of renewing the church by fully including women and creating more just structures.

“The Vatican’s ban on ordaining women is not consistent with Jesus’ ministry and it is a form of sexism,” Taylor said. “It also contradicts its own research; in 1976, the Pontifical Biblical Commission determined that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit women’s ordination. We also know of over 400 women who feel called by God to ordination. There is every reason to ordain women and no sound reason not to,” continued Taylor.

“Once women are fully integrated into all aspects of the church, including the ordained ministries, the entire church will be able to fully reflect the glory and gifts of all God's people. Today, we celebrate and support the brave people who are taking action now to make this a reality. They are breaking the male-only boundaries within the Roman Catholic hierarchy in order to transform it,” Taylor concluded.

###

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 renewing priestly ministry in the Catholic Church. For more information about the upcoming ordinations and the history behind them, visit WOC’s website at www.womensordination.org.