Author: Kate McElwee

This Sunday marks the feast day of St. Therese of Lisieux, patron saint of women’s ordination. Members and supporters of the Women’s Ordination Conference, the “Little Flowers of the Grassroots,” will honor Therese through prophetic actions around the world. Join us in celebrating St. Therese and all women called to priestly ordination. Here are some…
Read more

The following are excerpts from an interview between WOC executive director, Kate McElwee (KM) and Cindi “Sam” Bowns (SB) first published in the Spring 2017 issue of New Women, New Church. Sam has discerned a vocation to the diaconate and advocates for the restoration of ordained women deacons in the Roman Catholic Church. A PDF version…
Read more

As Pope Francis begins his trip to Colombia (6-11 September 2017), we share this 2013 article from our journal, New Women, New Church, by Colombian woman priest Olga Lucia Álvarez Benjumea, ARCWP. I’ve been discovering that ever since I was a very young girl, without much awareness back then, that the Divine has always guided me with kindness and…
Read more

For the fourth time, the women of Voices of Faith gathered at the Vatican on International Women’s Day (March 8) for a storytelling and conversation series highlighting women’s resilience and courage. This year’s theme focused on peace-building and women’s unique role as first responders and negotiators in crisis, conflict regions and communities in need. Expectations for this year’s conversation…
Read more

Thanks to Bridget Power for this special guest post on her short documentary film, Agayutem Yui (People of God), exploring the leadership and spirituality of lay, Yup’ik, Catholic women.  __________________________________________________________________________________ I made Agayutem Yui (People of God) in an attempt to explore how lay, Yup’ik, Catholic women like Susan Murphy, Yuagiisaq Lena Long, and Masmaruss’ak Lilly Afcan…
Read more

Spanish theologian, Emma Martínez Ocaña was welcomed by the Rome-based, Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation working group on the “Collaboration of Women and Men in Ministry,” last week. Well-known amongst Spanish-speaking religious communities, Ocaña’s work is poetic and deceptively simple, engaging deep spiritual questions of gender, Jesus, and the cosmos. Ocaña crafted a dreamscape…
Read more

The award-winning documentary, Radical Grace, made its Italian debut at the 19th annual Religion Today Film Festival last Thursday evening in Trento. As the foremost international film festival dedicated to showcasing religion and culture, Religion Today brought together 53 films from 26 countries, selected from more than 270 applications during its two-week run. At the heart…
Read more

At la Casa Internazionale delle Donne in Rome, Benedictine sister, Teresa Forcades spoke with Italian feminist theologian Marinella Perroni about a new interview-book, Siamo Tutti Diversi! Per una teologia queer (We are all different! For a queer theology), featuring Forcades.  For those keeping close notes, these two powerhouses are a convergence of WOC’s recent programming: Teresa Forcades,…
Read more

In its 19th year, the Religion Today Film Festival is set to launch in Trento from 7-17 October under the title, “We all loved each other so much. Religions and gender issues.” According to the festival website, the title is an homage to Ettore Scola, and “explores the portrayal of women and the female condition…
Read more

This is a report from Pastor Nancy Corran from the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community (MMACC) on the recent, “Church for Our Daughters” launch at the U.S. bishops’ meeting June 14th, in Huntington Beach. Nancy and several members of the community drove from San Diego to join the action… and then intrepidly took matters into…
Read more