In the News

Pope Francis amended the law to formalise what is common practice in many parts of the world: that women can read the Gospel and serve on the altar as eucharistic ministers. The UK and Ireland representative of Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW), Miriam Duignan, said even a small step in the right direction is a welcome…
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Pope Francis, in another step towards greater equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church, on Monday changed its law to formally codify their roles as altar servers, distributors of communion and readers at liturgies. The pope’s decree formalised practices already common in many countries. But the change in the Code of Canon Law means…
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Pope Francis has changed the laws of the Roman Catholic church to formally allow women to give readings from the Bible during Mass, act as altar servers and distribute communion, but they remain barred from becoming deacons or priests. In many countries, Catholic women were already carrying out those duties, which are officially reserved for…
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Pope Francis has changed Catholic church law to officially allow lay women to perform tasks during mass, but stressed the move was not a precursor to them becoming priests. The law makes explicit that lay women can be altar servers and readers during liturgies. Although this has been common practice for years in many developing…
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Read the full article by Mara Jurado in Novena News, which heavily quotes this November 24 press release by the Women’s Ordination Conference, by clicking here. Catholic women have clapped back at Pope Francis after the pontiff called their struggle for ordination “clericalist” and “disrespectful”…. The Pope’s comments linking the women’s ordination movement with clericalism…
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This week, the Supreme Court of the United States heard oral arguments in the case of Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. Lawyers for the City of Philadelphia argued for the City’s right to stop referring foster children to Catholic Social Services’ placement agency when it was made known that the latter refused to certify same-sex…
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The Women’s Ordination Conference was a signatory on a recently published Windy City Times letter to the editor by Women-Church Convergence, a coalition of Catholic-rooted organizations. The letter stated the coalition’s opposition to the Supreme Court nomination of Amy Coney Barrett on the grounds of the Catholic feminist identities and beliefs of the signing-on organizations.…
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Hear WOC executive director, Kate McElwee, on the Tablet’s podcast to discuss their editorial encouraging dialogue on women’s ordination, and “Fratelli Tutti.”

Read the full article by Joanna Moorhead, featuring an interview with Executive Director Kate McElwee, in the Tablet here. The year is 2025, or perhaps it’s 2030. Francis is gone; we have a new pope and, like all leaders, he must decide on the priorities that will dominate his time in office. Across hundreds of…
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Last week marked the 100th anniversary of the day that women’s right to vote was enshrined in the Constitution of the United States. The passage of the 19th amendment was the result of more than 80 years of women agitating, picketing and lobbying; some endured jail time and force-feedings when they went on strike to protest their…
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