May 8, 2006

 May is Ordination Month!  

With this email, we are launching our Ordination Month Email Campaign to raise awareness about events outside male ordinations, to share knowledge about women’s ordination, and to keep the issue of women’s leadership fresh in our minds. We are uniting efforts to bring our church back to the discipleship of equals Jesus modeled for us! Please let us know what you think about our new effort!

Each email features:

1.      Actions you can take

2.      Events for Ordination Month

3.      Reasons to ordain women into a renewed priesthood

4.      Facts about women’s ordination

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Actions you can take:

 1. Write a letter to your bishop about your call to priesthood or your support for women’s ordination!

Share your story with the church and the world! The U.S. Bishops need to know that there is not a lack of vocations! They need to know the stories of women called to priesthood in their dioceses and archdioceses, facts about women’s ordination, and the reasons to ordain women.

Write a letter, card, postcard, email, etc. to tell the bishop in your diocese:

  • About your experience going through seminary and not being ordained or another story about your call to ordination and a renewing priesthood,
  • About a woman you know called to ordination, or
  • The reasons why you support women’s full equality and a discipleship of equals

The resources provided below may help you in drafting your message. Please write to your bishop and let him know your story! Please also send us a copy of your letter/ email/ card/postcard, etc., and send it to Nidza Vazquez at nvazquez@womensordination.org or WOC, P.O. Box 2693, Fairfax, VA 22031 or fax it to (703) 352-5181.

To find the contact information of your bishop, you can search the following link by diocese, by state, or by name in alphabetical order:

http://www.usccb.org/bishops.shtml

 

2. Write a letter of support to Father Cachia!

In our last action alert (April 24th), we shared the story of Father Cachia’s excommunication for supporting women’s ordination publicly. We gave you Mark King’s email to contact him. If you would like to contact Fr. Cachia directly, his personal email is: fathercachia@bellnet.ca

For more information about Fr. Cachia, visit: http://www.womensordination.org/pages/action_pages/actionApr06.htm#FrCachia

 

3. Attend an Ordination Month event!

Event information and details below…

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Events for Ordination Month!

The following WOC local groups have organized witness events to bring attention to women’s ordination and challenge our church to create a renewing priesthood during the male seminarians’ ordinations in May.

Cleveland Women’s Ordination Conference (CWOC) will hold the 25 th annual “Ordination Day Prayer Vigil” from 9:15 to 10 a.m. Saturday, May 13 th outside St. John Cathedral, Superior Avenue and East Ninth Street in Cleveland, Ohio.

Despite the various crises within our Church today, they will, as they have for a quarter century, continue to rejoice with the young men – this year there are six – who at that same time and place will be ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood. And they will continue to express sorrow at the continuing exclusion of women from that priesthood!

“We believe the Church, in fidelity to its Gospel mission, must become equally open to the full participation of women, as well as of men, in its ministries and decisions. YOU ARE WELCOME TO JOIN IN THIS VITAL EXPRESSION OF OUR SHARED FAITH! PLEASE DO!” – CWOC

Information: Maureen Brett (216-382-1594) * Kay Eaton (440-885-4020)

Southeastern Pennsylvania Women's Ordination Conference (SEPA WOC) will host an event outside the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul on Ordination Day, May 20th.

Inside the Cathedral, the Cardinal will be ordaining the dwindling number of men, and outside, women’s ordination activists will celebrate priestly women, protest the exclusion of women, and present candidates for ordination. For more information, visit: http://www.womensordination.org/calendar.html

If your local group is organizing an action on or around Ordination Day, please let us know! Contact Nidza Vazquez at nvazquez@womensordination.org.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reasons to ordain women

Here are the first three of WOC’s Top Ten Reasons to Ordain Women:

10.) A priest’s job is to serve the people of God—it’s not about gender, marital status or sexual orientation.

  9.) Vatican II calls for all discrimination to be eliminated. “Every type of discrimination…based on sex…is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent” —Vatican II, Gaudium et Spes, #29.

  8.) The Risen Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene— called the “Apostle to the Apostles.”

See upcoming action alerts for the next few, or read the entire “Top Ten” right now! Visit: http://www.womensordination.org/pages/art_pages/art_TopTen

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Facts on Women’s Ordination

1. 64% of U. S. Catholics support women’s ordination and 69% support married priests. The Associated Press-Ipsos Poll, April 2005

2. Only 29% of U. S. Catholics say a male, celibate clergy is “very important”. Gallup Organization survey, September 2005

See the next action alert for more facts, or read more now! Visit: http://www.womensordination.org/pages/art_Fact

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“It’s right to ask if it’s not possible to offer more space, more positions of responsibility to women.”

~ Pope Benedict XVI, March 2, 2006

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------** This ACTION ALERT email is from the Women's Ordination Conference. Send comments, e-mail address changes, or information for future ACTION ALERTS to Nidza Vazquez, at nvazquez@womensordination.org ***

*** Founded in 1975, Women's Ordination Conference (WOC) is the world’s oldest and largest national organization working solely for women to be ordained as deacons, priests and bishops into a continually renewing Catholic Church. For more information about WOC and how to become a WOC member, visit http://www.womensordination.org ***

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© Women's Ordination Conference, 2007