WOC Executive Director Kate McElwee interviewed on BBC Newshour

“You know, I was pretty surprised, it’s not every day that you see the headline ‘Doctrinal Development in the Catholic Church,” particularly around women. And as you said, I think this shift brings the institutional Church in better alignment with pastoral realities around the world. And I think importantly, also, it eliminates the ability of an individual bishop to apply misogynistic theology to bar women and girls from these roles, such as altar server or acolyte.”

“Do you have a sense of how widespread the practice has been so far?”

“You know, it’s hard to say. In my context, I was actually not allowed to be an altar server growing up, but today I am a lector in my parish here in Rome. So, it’s hard to say. I don’t think it’s a radical shift, because for many of us, this is a widely accepted practice, but the fact that the Church is adjusting itself and taking doctrinal steps to be more inclusive is radical. So I think it’ll be interesting to see where this in put in place and if there is any resistance from bishops around the world.”

You can listen to the full interview (starting around the 15:00 minute mark of the broadcast) with the BBC here. You can also read WOC’s full statement on the Vatican’s announcement here.