Your support will
ensure our creative, bold, and prayerful witness for women’s equality will continue
Made a solidarity gift to WOC
A voice for women’s equality in the Roman Catholic Church
The Women’s Ordination Conference is a grassroots-driven movement that uncompromisingly calls for women’s ordination and gender equity in the Roman Catholic church through bold activism; dialogue; and creative, prayerful witness.
Since our founding in 1975, our persistent advocacy for women’s ordination challenges the Catholic church to repent for its sins of sexism and oppression upheld by the all-male priesthood, and embrace the leadership of women and people of marginalized genders in governance and ordained ministry.
Your solidarity
We can’t do this work without your help. Your investment will provide much-needed resources to strengthen the grassroots movement effecting powerful change for women and their communities, and cultivate and support the next generation of feminist faith leaders. Our collective work will ensure that women’s rights do not end at the door of her church, and that a person’s faith is a source not of subjugation, but liberation.
“No single organization witnesses to the urgency and importance of full equality more than the Women’s Ordination Conference.” – Anthony Padovano
Despite growing advances for women in society
the Catholic church remains one of the most patriarchal institutions in the world
The Catholic church prohibits the ordination of women as an attempt to subordinate women and limit their spiritual authority. Based on centuries of misogyny, the Vatican has embedded sexism into its theologies and church laws, deeming even the “attempt” of ordaining a woman as a grave crime, and cause for automatic excommunication.
The impact of the Vatican’s commitment to exclusion and “old boys’ club” practices is devastating, criminal, and a betrayal to the message of Jesus, who included women as partners in ministry.
“Oh, I’d ordain women tomorrow. And it would change everything.”
– Cokie Roberts
This is not merely symbolic work.
With an observer seat at the United Nations, unmatched diplomatic power, and extensive networks of schools and hospitals, the Catholic church’s practice of subordination is reinforced in every corner of the world. At the UN, the Holy See often interferes with negotiations and policies that could provide greater protections to women and girls, particularly their reproductive health and relationships.
Equality for women and girls changes the world.
Imagine if the Catholic Church, with all of its global power, unequivocally proclaimed that women and people of all genders are equal and granted them every opportunity to make decisions about their faith, vocations, and family life…
We believe women’s ordination will transform the lives of countless women, enrich the life of the church, and begin to restore the credibility of the Catholic church as an agent for justice and peace.
We are uniquely qualified to meet these challenges.
With nearly 50 years of prophetic persistence and joyful resistance, we are the leading voice for women’s ordination globally. Our supporters trust our witness because we are uncompromising in our advocacy. We break taboos to challenge church leaders to confront their discrimination and will not be placated by half-measures, “separate but equal” jargon, or oppressive models.
We understand women’s ordination to be at the heart of our collective liberation, and an essential step to inviting the whole church to a renewed understanding of priesthood and of church itself. We do this work out of a sense of love, faith, and hope, and strive to infuse everything we do with that fierce tenderness. And we do it well.
We are a grassroots movement with global impact
We believe that real transformation in the church will come from Catholics organizing in their local communities. We proudly and prayerfully knock on “closed doors” to call for the inclusion of women.
Our demonstrations, skillful media work, and art are part of the lifeblood of our work. Affectionately called the Ministry of Irritation, our most popular campaign works to empower our network of community leaders for “good trouble.”
Our witness is our prayer
From the grassroots to St. Peter’s Basilica, we organize effective, creative, and prayerful witnesses and direct actions to call for full sacramental equality for women. Our members courageously reject the exclusion of women, often risking arrest at the Vatican, to ensure our message is heard.
We carry this work to the UN where we annually challenge the participation and outsized influence of the Holy See (a permanent observer member) in meetings regarding women or women’s rights. Since 2019, WOC is in consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in order to help shape the global policy framework on women’s empowerment and gender equality from a faith-based lens.
We are building a beloved community
Our faith calls us to work for justice and radical inclusion, so that the gifts of all God’s people are celebrated and nourished. We walk with women called to ordained ministry, cultivating an empowered community of support that recognizes their sincerely discerned vocations. Through retreats, scholarships, woman-led prayer groups, and inclusive liturgies, we lift up the voices and ministries of those on the margins of our church and society, as a powerful witness to the Holy Spirit, who knows no closed doors and abides by no man-made rules.
“I am among the millions of people who have been inspired by the Women’s Ordination Conference.”
– Fr. Roy Bourgeois
“You’ve shown generations of women that remaining prophetically Catholic is possible and necessary.”
— Dr. Natalia Imperatori-Lee
WOC is the leading group working to raise the collective voice to call out for equality, justice, and radical inclusion in the church.
Our work is only possible because of the investment of Catholics who believe in women’s equality and our allies around the world.
We need your help to continue this essential ministry.
Your gift will enable us to:
Strengthen our grassroots networks
We train, equip, and connect Catholics who support ordination justice to take action locally and globally. We are ready to grow our team of organizers so that we can welcome even more people to the movement.
Expand our educational resources
Expand our educational resources, digital strategies, and activist materials, especially to meet the needs of our vibrant and growing Young Feminist Network and Latina/e members.
Energize the call for dialogue
Pope Francis calls us to be a more synodal church, one that listens and journeys with all of its members, especially on the margins. We accept that invitation, and will prepare our members to enter into strategic dialogue with church leaders. We believe that hearing the stories of women will change not just hearts and minds, but church practices and laws.
Women’s ordination, now!
Our persistent witness for women is a sign that our advocacy is working. This is a long haul movement, but the cracks on the stained glass ceiling are growing more quickly than ever before. Together we will usher in a new church that celebrates the sacramental equality of women and people of all genders.
Yes! I believe in women’s equality in the Roman Catholic Church.
Explore ways to support WOCWe make the path to equality by walking together
When you support the Women’s Ordination Conference you are part of the visible, dialogical, theological and prophetic movement that is truly transforming the church.
You join a long legacy of women who followed the example and ministry of Jesus, who “Go and Tell” the good news of equality. We walk in the footsteps of feminist, womanist, and mujerista theologians, thought-leaders, and prayerful, playful activists who are dreaming and living a new church into being.
Visible, Dialogical, Theological & Prophetic
WOC offers a variety of options for you to support the organization, whether through online gifts, your employer, planned giving (learn more by watching our webinar), or a donation of stock. Find out which method of giving is best for you. However you choose to give, your gift will light the way, empower our mission and truly transform the church we love—and the world!
WOC is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization (Federal Tax Identification Number: 52-1107945), and your gifts are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
Make a one-time donation
Donate OnlineChecks can also be made out to “WOC” and mailed to:
Women’s Ordination Conference
PO Box 15057 Washington, DC 20003
Join our Legacy Circle
Legacy CircleA planned gift to WOC can allow you to fulfill family financial goals and maximize the impact of your charitable support, sustaining WOC for the future. Learn more about planned giving opportunities that can help you build a lasting legacy with WOC.
Make a stock gift
Contact usGiving stock doesn’t just help WOC, it can also provide you with added benefits: You receive a charitable income tax deduction for the full fair market value of the securities, and at the same time you may avoid capital gains taxes on appreciated stock.
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