Walk with Women Oct. 6
[Editors’ note: Learn more about Walk with Women actions in various cities around the globe, and learn how to plan your own, here.]
Activism sometimes precludes writing, and it just snuck up this week. So instead of a blog post, I’ll share with you what we sent to the members of SEPA WOC in the hopes that it’s a model for you to organize a simple witness in your own community. I append the careful WOC guide to doing it, but our notice can easily be plagiarized – most of it is, actually – and easily modified to describe an action in your hometown. We also sent to local leaders of other church reform organizations and the Roman Catholic WomenPriests communities.
On October 6th, the Women’s Ordination Conference is organizing a “Walk with Women,” a procession through Rome to the synod hall to encourage the church to walk alongside women as equals throughout the synod and beyond. And there are solidarity walks being planned all over the globe, including here in Philadelphia. These walks will represent the worldwide, grassroots movement advocating for women’s equality and ordination justice in the Catholic church. Join SEPA WOC on Oct 6 at 11:30 am opposite the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul as we raise our voices in a global chorus for justice! #OrdainWomen
Here in the Philadelphia area, we feel especially committed to this witness because one of our members and local Roman Catholic WomanPriest Kathy Schuck will be walking in Rome. We have worked so long and hard to have people of all genders to be recognized as fully equal in the church that we must witness as the Synod gathers people from around the world to influence the future of our faith.
Please join us and ask your members to do so also. We will be holding signs and banners, praying, and singing as people go into the 12:05 mass at the Cathedral. We will be in Sister Cities Park across 18th Street, just off the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
We invite you to print and bring your own sign as well as holding our banners. This is one the WOC office suggests. We encourage you to print these signs and carry them with you on your walk.
Here’s more information from WOC in case you need convincing:
Who
Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) is the oldest and largest organization working to ordain women as priests, deacons, 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.
What
Join the Women’s Ordination Conference on October 6, 2023 for our “Walk with Women.” From Rome to your hometown, we represent a global, grassroots movement advocating for women’s equality.
Together with our global sisters, advocates for women’s ordination plan to process through Rome to the synod hall to encourage the church to walk alongside women as equals throughout the synod and beyond. We invite you to join your footsteps and your voices at a Walk with Women in your community.
At the Mass at the opening of the Synod in 2021, Pope Francis said: “The Holy Spirit always surprises us, to suggest fresh paths and new ways of thinking.” Let’s make our Walk with Women a “fresh path” to full equality for all genders in the church.
Why
Bearing witness creates space for individuals and communities to call attention to injustice. To bear witness is to reclaim our church. It is a public outcry, a form of resistance, embodied prayer, and a way to connect with others while affirming our belief in the full equality of all genders in the Roman Catholic Church.
This is a link to the full organizing packet from WOC in case you want to do something in your own community. Make this as important an event in the US as it will be worldwide.
Finally, if you’re not up to all this, you can pray with us all on the day:
