St. Thérèse of Lisieux, our matron saint of women’s ordination, once wrote, “I feel in me the vocation of priest!” As we approached her feast day, we offered a 12-day “Bouquet” of discernment and reflection, based off of her writing during a discernment retreat before she made her profession as a Carmelite nun. View each…
Read more
On Monday, leaders of two Catholic groups dedicated to women’s ordination in the church reminded Catholic cardinals not to ignore their “sisters outside,” as the cardinals met to discuss church reforms. Earlier this year, Pope Francis named two women to a dicastery, or papal committee, that selects new bishops in the church. However, Monday’s closed-door gathering of…
Read more
Vielen gehen die Vorhaben des Papstes aber nicht weit genug. Eine Gruppe von Frauen protestierte am Montag neben der Petersbasilika mit roten Regenschirmen, auf denen sie sich mit Formulierungen wie “Reform bedeutet Frauen” oder “Mehr als die Hälfte der Kirche” für mehr Mitspracherecht der Frauen stark machten. Read the full article (in German) from ZDF…
Read more
VATICAN CITY (RNS) — The seven women stood outside the gates of the Vatican dressed in cardinal red, each carrying a scarlet parasol emblazoned with a phrase of female empowerment. “Ordain Women.” “Reform Means Women.” “It’s Reigning Men.” They were there to greet the 197 cardinals arriving Monday morning (Aug. 29) for a highly anticipated…
Read more
More than a half million U.S. Catholics have participated in synodal listening sessions over the past year as part of Pope Francis’ two-year process of grassroots listening ahead of the 2023 Synod of Bishops in Rome, and responses indicate that many Americans want a more welcoming church that reaches out to the marginalized, especially the LGBTQ community,…
Read more
Administrative tinkering to Vatican bureaucracy is hardly the stuff of stop-the-presses headlines, but Pope Francis’ recent naming of three women to the office that helps select bishops around the world is certainly more substantive than changing the office’s name from “congregation” to “dicastery.”… …A statement from the Women’s Ordination Conference, or WOC, welcomed the pope’s move as…
Read more
Can’t make it to our California celebration of the Danube 7? You’re in luck! WOC and WHIMM (Washington Home Inclusive Monthly Mass) are also hosting a virtual gathering on Sunday, June 26 at 11 a.m. to honor this prophetic movement. The program will feature an international panel of inspiring women priests from Canada, Colombia, South Africa and…
Read more
On June 29th, 2002, on the waters of the Danube, seven courageous women were ordained Roman Catholic priests, sparking a worldwide movement of “walking the walk” of renewed priestly ministry. Since that time, hundreds of women and non-binary people have broken unjust, misogynistic church laws in order to obey their authentic calls to priesthood. In…
Read more
Women in the church often take on the role of shepherds — they are among the people, tending to their needs, in a position that takes courage, kindness, presence, vision, and leadership. Each year on the World Day of Prayer for Vocations, which is also Good Shepherd Sunday, we hear Jesus refer to himself as…
Read more
On the steps of Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago, nearly 50 women’s ordination supporters gathered on Pentecost Sunday to witness for gender justice in the Church and the inclusion of women’s voices throughout the synodal process. The mandate of Pope Francis’ synod is to listen to all voices, especially those most marginalized in the church…
Read more
