Three Ministries

Ministry of Irritation challenges the Vatican’s policies regarding women by engaging the hierarchy and organizing on a grassroots level to bring public attention to the issue of women’s ordination and the need for structural change in the church.

Ministry of Walking with Women Called supports and provides resources for women discerning if they are called to ordination into a renewing priestly ministry, for women who know they are called and are discerning how to proceed, and for women in an ordination formation process.

Ministry of Prophetic Obedience supports and promotes the ministries of Catholic women who have answered their call to spiritual leadership and that are making a positive difference in the Catholic Church and the world.


As with any healthy movement for social justice, the women’s ordination movement holds many different opinions on the best way to advocate for a renewing priestly ministry. In order to encompass some of this diversity, WOC calls on Three Ministries to meet the needs of our membership through thought, community, and action.

Within the ministries themselves, there are differences of opinion and strategy, and by creating only three, we are not attempting to say there are only three perspectives in the movement. We need a continuum of actions to bring about our vision. We need some women to be public in their witness for women’s ordination to bring public attention on the issue (Ministry of Irritation), we need some women to serve as examples of women in ministry within Roman Catholic structures (Ministry of Walking with Women Called), and we some need women to take the difficult step of contra legem ordination to be examples of women as priests and bishops (Ministry of Prophetic Obedience).

All are essential to the movement and our representation of them must be in balance. Each ministry should have room to speak about their particular concerns and areas of interest, and no one perspective should hold power over the other. As we move forward, we must maintain integrity to our Catholic roots and traditions, yet we must also be open the new directions and expanded horizons to which the Holy Spirit leads us. This is one of the most difficult struggles we as a movement face right now. What are the elements that we hold on to — what is essential to our Catholic identity? Conversely, what prophetic examples and actions is the Holy Spirit leading us to? Right now, we must figure out how to hold these two questions in tension as we work together answer them. And, we must not silence each other when differences arise. We must engage our differences, be honest with each other, and learn from our different perspectives. Once we do this, we will be better equipped to reflect the discipleship of equals and a constantly renewing priestly ministry that Jesus and his disciples modeled for us.