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By Emma Cieslik This past April, the Pew Research Center shared that 54 percent of U.S. Catholics believe the church should recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples. The data affirmed that 2024 was ripe for LGBTQ+ inclusion in the Catholic Church, but the timing—the report released just one week after the Vatican’s Dignitas Infinita document denouncing gender-affirming…
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Pope Francis twice said “no” to the possibility of ordaining women deacons in an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” that aired on Paramount Plus last night. Some advocates of women’s ordination both to the priesthood and to the diaconate have questioned whether the pope’s “no” on a topic that is still under study has undermined…
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This Religion News Service report features an interview with WOC Executive Director, Kate McElwee: “It’s a very sad day when a powerful man like a pope tells a young girl that they will never be equal in their own church and will never be able to follow their call from God.” Read the full interview…
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For Immediate Release: May 21, 2024 During a wide-ranging CBS television interview with journalist Norah O’Donnell aired on May 20, Pope Francis rejected the possibility of women serving as ordained deacons or as members of the clergy. When asked by O’Donnell if a young Catholic girl ever would ever have the opportunity to be a…
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By Florence Gaillard In October 2023, for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, women were allowed to participate in and vote at the Synod of Bishops, a religious gathering that had previously been reserved only for bishops. The landmark event came amid calls from feminists in many countries for the ordination…
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As supporters of ordination justice stood outside the Cathedral of St. Matthew in Washington, DC and sang, Same Baptism, Same Spirit, Same Calling…we were greeted with overwhelming support from mass-goers and church leaders alike.  One priest in particular said: “You’re very welcome here. We’re on the same page.” Throughout the day we received photos and reports from…
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Gospel Growing Wild: Friday, May 10 @ 5:30 – 7 pmBook talk and wine reception with Lizzie Berne DeGear, PhD. Join WOC for an evening of conversation with feminist Biblical scholar Lizzie Berne DeGear, PhD, who will discuss her inspiring new book Jesus Found in Translation, and the good news growing wild in each of us.…
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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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Join WOC for a listening session during the interim stage of the Synod on Synodality. We will reflect on the synodal process thus far and engage with the “Conversation in the Spirit” model to go even deeper into the discernment needed in this moment. All are welcome. Register below: If you are unable to attend either session,…
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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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