Women’s Ordination Advocates Welcome Pope Francis’ Creation of the Ministry of Catechist

For Immediate Release

11 May, 2021 

The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) sincerely welcomes Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, Antiquum Ministerium, instituting the Ministry of Catechist for all laypeople. This formalization both affirms the authentic vocational calls many women experience, and the unique ways women enrich the church. 

“The institutional church’s expanding vision of the ways women contribute to the life of the church is long overdue. Women are the heartbeat of the church, and glacially, the Vatican is beginning to open its eyes to the possibility that women might be equal collaborators in faith,” said Kate McElwee, Executive Director of WOC. 

While we celebrate the formalization of this ministry and a diminishing of the separation between the hierarchy and the laity, we know that this opening does not remedy the vast inequalities women face within the Catholic church. The continued exclusion of women from ordained ministries not only contributes to sacramental scarcity and clericalism, but it reinforces cultural and social discrimination.  

Pope Francis writes: “…The Spirit is calling men and women to set out and encounter all those who are waiting to discover the beauty, goodness, and truth of the Christian faith.” (5) 

We urge Pope Francis to listen to the women and non-binary people who experience that same Spirit calling them to serve as deacons and priests, and an equal place at the church’s governing tables. 

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Contact: Kate McElwee, Executive Director, kmcelwee@womensordination.org

Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) is the oldest and largest organization working to ordain women as deacons, priests, and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church. A feminist voice for women in the Roman Catholic Church, WOC is a grassroots-driven movement that promotes activism, dialogue, and prayerful witness to call for women’s full equality in the Church.