AP: Pope creates lay ministry to boost supply of faith teachers

Pope Francis has formally created a new lay ministry to encourage greater participation of secular women and men in the teaching of the Catholic faith, especially in places where priests are in short supply. WOC’s statement on the change was quoted in this AP article by Nicole Winfield. Read the full article here.

The Women’s Ordination Conference, which advocates for women priests, welcomed the new law as a long overdue affirmation of the “authentic vocational calls many women experience and the unique ways women enrich the church.”

While repeating its call for the inclusion of women in ordained ministries of deacon and priest, it said the new law was evidence that “glacially, the Vatican is beginning to open its eyes to the possibility that women might be equal collaborators in faith.”