What is WOC’s strategy?
The Women’s Ordination Conference is committed to a visible, theological, dialogical, and prophetic approach to holistic grassroots change in the Catholic church.
Theological
We leverage the good theology that is on our side. Decades of research and theological scholarship illuminate the weak attempts of the Vatican to deny God calls women to serve as priests.
Through workshops, conferences, publications, and accessible conversations we ensure the so-called question of women’s ordination is alive for every generation.
We invite theologians to advance this work through intersectional lenses and bring emerging voices to the conversation to widen understanding of the true impact of women’s ordination.
Dialogical
We believe advocacy begins with dialogue. While many church leaders claim the question is closed, we create opportunities for encounter, listening, and conversion between advocates for women’s ordination and church decision-makers. We speak with courage and parrhesia (boldness) so that the voices of ordination justice advocates may carry from the grassroots, to the halls of their parish and the halls of the Vatican.
This involves strategy and understanding “local ecology,” but as active members of the Catholic church, we believe we have a responsibility to speak out against injustice, name the pastoral needs of the people of God, and share the ways that God is working in and through women and non-binary people today.
Visible
For many years and in many situations, dialogue was not (and is still not) an option. The institutional church has done everything in its power to discredit, silence, and discourage the women’s ordination movement.
WOC members sought ever-creative ways to make our witness seen, heard, and respected. This brought forth the “Ministry of Irritation”— a faith-filled practice of disrupting the status quo to leverage our power—particularly through the media and signaling to the wider church that there are brave people who care about this issue and refuse to be silenced. Our steady visibility is a sign of hope—and perseverance that inspires not just support, but institutional changes.
Prophetic
For more than 50 years, WOC has been a home for many women and nonbinary people who are called to ordained ministry. We walk with them in their vocations through hosting inclusive liturgies, publishing their stories of call and discernment, offering an annual scholarship to women and nonbinary people discerning ordination, and celebrating their ordinations through independent and ecumenical movements. WOC believes that the stories of women and those marginalized by gender who discern a call to the diaconate or priesthood are an incredible gift to the movement and the church— one that defies any attempt by the hierarchy to say otherwise.
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