Author: Kate McElwee

AP: Vatican commission again votes against ordaining women as deacons

ROME (AP) — A second Vatican study commission has determined that women should not be ordained as deacons, dealing another setback to Catholic women who hope one day to be able to preside at weddings, baptisms and funerals. The Vatican on Thursday took the unusual step of publishing a synthesis of the commission’s findings, including the members’…
Read more

New York Times: After Years of Debate, Vatican Says No to Women Deacons, at Least for Now

For nearly a decade, two successive commissions of church experts studiously examined if women could serve as deacons, an ordained ministry in the Roman Catholic Church. Their grinding deliberations, which began under Pope Francis, raised hopes that women might be allowed, after being excluded from leadership roles for nearly two millenniums, to join Catholicism’s all-male…
Read more

WOC responds to Vatican’s latest “no” on women deacons

For Immediate Release: 4 December 2025 Today, the Vatican released a long-awaited report from the latest commission studying the possibility of women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. The commission, meeting in secrecy since its establishment under Pope Francis, voted 7–1 against restoring women to the diaconate, urging that this position be “strongly maintained,” even…
Read more

AP: As US debates gender roles, some women in male-led faiths dig in on social and political issues

The U.S. feminist movement’s perpetual quest for gender equality has suffered notable setbacks during President Donald Trump’s second term — including the dismantling of various nondiscrimination programs and the ouster of several high-ranking women in the military. …. The largest U.S. organization working to open the priesthood to women is the Women’s Ordination Conference, which…
Read more

RNS: Pope Leo XIV will soon have to address the call for women deacons

A report of a study group on women deacons is expected as soon as June, putting the spotlight on the issue of women’s roles in the church once more. Read the full article, quoting Kate McElwee, WOC’s executive director here.

Ahead of the Conclave: Pink Smoke Rises Over the Vatican

For Immediate Release: 7 May 2025 As a group of 133 ordained men gather behind closed doors to make a consequential decision about the future of the Catholic church, advocates for women’s ordination released pink smoke over the Vatican to call for women’s full equality in the Catholic church.  Echoing the iconic white and black…
Read more

Following the death of Pope Francis, WOC in the news (April 21-23, 2025)

Adista: Women’s Ordination Conference: Francesco, grande presenza pastorale ma porte chiuse al ministero ordinato per le donne America Media: How Pope Francis Changed the Place of Women in the Church Associated Press (AP): Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff who ministered with a charming, humble style, dies at 88 Associated Press (AP): Global tributes pour…
Read more

Women’s Ordination Conference statement on the passing of Pope Francis

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2025 The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) joins Catholics around the world in mourning the death of Pope Francis on April 21, 2025, as reported by the Vatican early this morning. We extend our heartfelt condolences and hold in prayer the global church during this time of grief and transition. His…
Read more

WOC’s 50th Anniversary – How will you get involved?

We are the generation, the community, and the leaders who get to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Women’s Ordination Conference. That’s right, it is time! How will you get involved? The Women’s Ordination ConferenceMay 22-24, 2026Marygrove ConservancyDetroit, Michigan Together we will embark on a pilgrimage to Detroit, Michigan to honor the feminist thought-leadership of our 1975…
Read more

Il Sole 24 Ore: Sciopero globale delle donne cattoliche perché il loro lavoro diventi visibile

Cosa farebbe la Chiesa cattolica senza le donne? Cosa accadrebbe se le donne dicessero no al loro lavoro “invisibile” nelle parrocchie e in tutti i contesti legati alla Chiesa? Mentre Papa Francesco inaugura la convalescenza nel suo appartamento a Santa Marta, le donne cattoliche fanno seguito alla sua parola – «Per stare vicino a Dio,…
Read more