Catholics worldwide are hungering for the full and equal participation of women at all levels in the church. So this Vocations Sunday, let’s come together and let the truth ring out: Women are ready, prepared, and called to the priesthood. Women do priestly work. And we need women priests. On Vocations Sunday, April 21, 2024,…
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As part of the Women’s Ordination Conference’s status as an NGO in consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), we host parallel events at the UN Commission on the Status of Women each year. This year, we have a pair of events coming up coinciding with the CSW in March: About…
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By Heidi Schlumpf As the delegates to the Synod on Synodality met in Rome for the first day of the month-long summit to determine the future of the Catholic Church, down the street several dozen women held a gathering of their own. Representing four continents and dressed in episcopal purple, the women unfurled a giant…
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Here at the Women’s Ordination Conference, 2023 will be remembered as the year women voted for the first time at the Vatican. The years-long effort for Votes for Catholic Women, spearheaded by WOC and partner reform organizations came to fruition this past October as 54 women voted inside the synod hall for the first (and…
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By Katie Collins Scott On Oct. 3, 2018, as bishops and cardinals entered the Vatican to participate in the Synod of Bishops on young people, a group peacefully protested the fact that no women would be allowed to vote at the international gathering. Standing outside the Palace of the Holy Office, near where the synod members…
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Join WOC on December 21 at 8 pm ET for a contemplative evening of Taize prayer called, “The Sacrament of Darkness.” On the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere, in the heart of Advent waiting and preparation, we will look to the grace that divine darkness offers. Our prayer will also feature preaching from writer…
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By Brian FragaStaff Reporter The 41-page synthesis report for the Synod of Bishops on Synodality disappointed several progressive Catholics and others who advocate for the Catholic Church to rethink its approach to issues such as the clergy sex abuse crisis, LGBTQ ministry, women’s roles in the church and the possibility of ordaining women to the…
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Footnote spoke with WOC executive director, Kate McElwee. She stated that her organization was actively and faithfully engaged, encouraging broad and hopeful participation of women in the process, “despite the Vatican’s minimal credibility to truly listen to women’s voices, vocations and concerns.” Read the full article (in Spanish) here.
BY NICOLE WINFIELD VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis’ big gathering of Catholic bishops and laypeople said Saturday it was “urgent” to guarantee fuller participation of women in church governance positions and called for research on allowing women to be deacons to be released within a year. But the meeting didn’t take decisive action on that issue, and…
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The pontiff carefully examines the badge hanging from a lady’s neck. She managed to find her way to Francis, seated at one of the many round tables set up in the Paul VI Hall at the Vatican. She whispers a word in his ear. Other women, countless, young and old, secular and religious, surround the pope. Two men and…
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