FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 14, 2008
CONTACTS: Aisha Taylor, 703 352-1006, woc@womensordination.org
Women's Ordination Conference Gives the Gift of Women
In honor of Pope Benedict's visit to the USA and 81st birthday
WASHINGTON, DC - April 14 - Today, the Women's Ordination Conference, in conjunction with twelve similar events around the country, marks Pope Benedict’s visit to the USA and 81st birthday with a Mass presided by Catholic women, including two recently excommunicated ordained women. This Mass, as part of their “Giving the Gift of Women” campaign, is preceded by a press conference at the National Press Club where Catholics will call for Pope Benedict XVI to open the doors to the ordination of women as priests, deacons and bishops.
“The failure to ordain women is a blatant manifestation of sexism in the church that has wider repercussions in the world,” said Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference. “In the three years of his papacy, Pope Benedict XVI has made a few encouraging statements about women, but he has done nothing that suggests willingness to open the discussion on women’s ordination. That’s why for his 81st birthday, we are offering the pope a present: the gift of women, their leadership, talents, experiences, and unique perspectives.”
EVENTS
Press Conference, 10:00 AM, National Press Club, Zenger Room, 529 14th St. NW Launch of mobile billboard that will follow pope’s engagements in DC through April 16
Mass presided by Catholic women, 6:15 PM, Foundry United Methodist Church, 1500 16th St. NW
In 1976, the Pontifical Biblical Commission determined that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit women’s ordination. An overwhelming majority of US Catholics support ordaining women, 63 percent for women priests, and 81 percent for women deacons. There are 16 national organizations from 11 different countries that advocate women’s ordination.
On March 12, Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath received a 5-page declaration of excommunication from Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis. The two women were ordained as priests in November 2007. They are the first ordained women to be excommunicated since 2002, when the seven women ordained on the Danube River were excommunicated by then-Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI. Currently, over 50 women have been ordained in the US, and over 70 worldwide.
“In the face of one closed door after another, Catholic women have been innovative, courageous and faithful to the church. They continue to make a way where there is none, and our Mass demonstrates how Catholic women answer God’s call and minister to the needs of their communities. We urge Pope Benedict to open the doors to women’s ordination and to women’s full inclusion in the Catholic church,” Taylor concluded.
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Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference is the oldest and largest national organization that works to ordain women as priests, deacons and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Catholic church. For more information, visit www.womensordination.org.
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