Developments in the 1990s

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of WOC, a third national conference was held in Washington, D.C. called “ Gathering ‘95: Discipleship of Equals, Breaking Bread/Doing Justice.” Here, the true nature of renewed priestly ministry was passionately discussed. It was held November 10-12, 1995, and keynote speakers Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and Diana Hayes, as well as 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 movement in the U.S.A. Hayes and Schüssler Fiorenza challenged participants to see the complexity of the forces which oppressed us—calling it the kyriarchy, interlocking systems of domination that include oppression based on race, class, gender, and more. This caused WOC members to realize that WOC needed to widen the circle, to have more input from many other communities and sources of wisdom to achieve a better understanding of what was 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, WOC’s vision became more universal, more oriented toward an inclusive ministry.