MEDIA ADVISORY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 9, 2008
MEDIA CONTACT: Erin Saiz Hanna, Washington, DC office: +1 (202) 675-1006, Rome cell October 14-20: +39-348-4705361, ehanna@womensordination.org
Women’s Ordination Conference calls for full and equal participation of women in the Catholic church during Synod of Bishops
WASHINGTON, DC – On Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 11:00 o’clock at the offices of Adista, via Acciaili 7, 00186 Roma, the Women’s Ordination Conference will join Catholic activists from around the world to call for the full and equal participation of women in the Roman Catholic Church, including ordination as deacons, priests and bishops. The press conference will take place on the feast of St. Teresa of Avila, one of only three female Doctors of the Church, and will launch a weeklong of events hosted by WOC and women’s ordination advocates, including a demonstration at Saint Peter’s Square immediately following the press conference. These events will occur as 240 delegates continue the Synod of Bishops in Rome.
“By including women as priests, the church would not only model Jesus’ radical example of equality as recorded in the Bible, it would have a powerful and positive impact on solving the complex problems we face today,” stated Aisha Taylor, executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference. “In a world divided by poverty, stunned by economic crisis, and continually reeling from sexism, racism, homophobia, and many forms of oppression, it is long overdue for the Vatican to use all of its resources to work toward a solution.”
“While I agree with synod delegates who have stated the importance of combining spirituality with critical scholarship when studying the Scriptures, it is paramount that church leaders preserve the historical-critical method of study. Following the highest standards of contemporary scholarship has enabled theologians the world over to discern women’s rightful place in the church – as equal partners in ministry. In this day and age of the Roman Catholic Church, that means women should be ordained as deacons, priests and bishops,” Taylor stated.
There is no good reason to exclude women from ordination and every reason to include them. The Pontifical Biblical Commission found in 1976 that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit the ordination of women. The Bible describes how women were prominent leaders in Jesus’ ministry and early Christianity. In all four gospels, Mary Magdalene was the primary witness to the central event of Christianity—Christ’s resurrection. The Scriptures also mention eight women who led small house churches, including Phoebe, Priscilla, and Prisca.
"It is our hope that the synod delegates heed the call of Catholic theologians and Scripture itself, which proclaims women are equally created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27), and that there is no distinction between men and women through Jesus (Gal 3:28)," Taylor concluded.
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Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference is the oldest and largest national organization in the world that works to ordain women as priests, deacons and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Catholic church. WOC represents the 63-70 percent of US Catholics, and many Catholics around the world, that support women’s ordination. WOC also promotes new perspectives on ordination that call for more accountability and less separation between the clergy and laity. For more information, visit www.womensordination.org
