WASHINGTON – The Women’s Ordination Conference expressed its disappointment Monday with Pope Francis for keeping the door closed to women’s ordination into the priesthood. The WOC “is deeply discouraged to learn of Pope Francis’ remarks regarding women’s ordination,” Executive Director Erin Saiz Hanna said in a communique. “We cannot limit the role of women in…
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(CNN) – Perhaps it’s fitting that the pope’s first news conference was held onboard an airplane. Since Monday morning his comments have soared around the globe at high speed. His remarks on homosexuality filled many Catholics with hope, especially those longing for the church to accept gays and lesbians more openly. But they also discouraged others,…
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Pope Francis has issued unusually candid remarks about LGBT people, saying they should not be marginalized in society, but maintaining that homosexual acts are a sin under Catholic teaching. While on a flight back from Brazil, the pope responded to a reporter’s question about a supposed "gay lobby" at the Vatican. Pope Francis: "Everyone writes about the…
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Dan Rodricks 6:56 p.m. EDT, July 31, 2013 I actually thought the cool new pope would have something cool and new to say about one of the things that make it hard to be a Roman Catholic: the church’s refusal to allow women to serve as priests. Pope Francis has all the makings of a revolutionary. In…
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USA Today: Six months ago Pope Francis was a relatively unknown Catholic archbishop who rode the bus to work, cooked his own meals and often spent his days off visiting the slums of Buenos Aires. Today people hang on his every word. That’s in part because of his role as leader of more than a…
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For Immediate Release: July 29, 2013 Contact: Erin Saiz Hanna + 001 202.675.1006 (USA) Statement from Executive Director, Erin Saiz Hanna Washington, DC – "The Women’s Ordination Conference is deeply discouraged to learn of Pope Francis’ remarks regarding women’s ordination. In an interview given to reporters on July 28 en route to Rome from Rio de Janeiro, Pope Francis…
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Reform-minded Austrian cleric Helmut Schüller, rejected from speaking at several Catholic institutions, to speak at Lutheran church WASHINGTON – Austrian reformer-priest Fr. Helmut Schüller is continuing his speaking tour of the United States in D.C. Monday night. This will follow speaking engagements in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, which have been marked with controversy.…
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Contact: Erin Saiz Hanna, ehanna@womensordination.org 202.675.1006 Sr. Christine Schenk, chris@futurechurch.org 216.513.3647 Fr. Helmut Schüller, 917.743.4953 (US) "Banned in Boston" Austrian priest Helmut Schüller begins first U.S. tour, calling for institutional change and inclusive priesthood Fr. Helmut Schüller will begin his first U.S. speaking tour, The Catholic Tipping Point: Conversations, in New York, Tuesday, July 16. Covering fifteen cities coast to coast, the…
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For Immediate Release Contact: Erin Saiz Hanna, 202.675.1006 Sr. Christine Schenk, 216.513.3647 Reformist Austrian priest to tour U.S. this summer, calling for institutional change and inclusive priesthood Fr. Helmut Schüller, founder of the Austrian Priests’ Initiative-a movement organized to address the global crisis of priest shortages-will begin his first national speaking tour in New York, this…
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Pope Francis Supports Nun Crackdown, Quashing Hope for a Kinder, Gentler Pope This week the Vatican confirmed that Pope Francis supports an ongoing crackdown on the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), a group that represents about 80 percent of nuns in the United States. A year ago, under the leadership of Pope Benedict, the Congregation for…
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