Category: Women’s Ordination

February 12th, 2016

WOC welcomes our newest staff member, Katherine Philipson!

Dear Women’s Ordination Conference Members and Supporters, I’m joyful to start work this week as WOC’s new Office Manager based in Washington D.C. It’s an honor to get to work for a courageous, visionary organization advocating for women’s ordination and for a more feminist, anti-racist, and accountable Catholic Church. I’m originally from Oregon where both…
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December 15th, 2015

Birthing Christ: An Advent Reflection

“Another world is not only possible, she is on her way. On a quiet day, I can hear her breathing.” ― Arundhati Roy As a feminist Catholic and advocate for women’s ordination, I bring Christ to birth in bearing witness to and helping to build the movements that are transforming our Church. I joined the Women’s…
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September 28th, 2015

A week of WOW, in the news

So many of the successes of WOW 2015 are still sinking in for me. With 500 extraordinary people in one space, your conversations, encouragement, and questions are still buzzing in my mind. I have immense gratitude for all of you who supported the conference in your own way, and for the time and talent shared for…
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July 28th, 2015

What Pope Francis Needs to Know? “Ordain Women Now!”

Several Catholic reform groups hosted a gathering at the Chicago Theological Seminary on Saturday for a full day of topics on “What Pope Francis Needs to Know” about women in the Church. Panelists and speakers discussed topics ranging from Catholic church governance to contraception, culminating in a declaration on women. On account of time differences and location, I…
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July 13th, 2015

Background on WOW 2015 speakers (part 1)

As we get closer to the Women’s Ordination Worldwide conference, I’d like to highlight some of our speakers’ work and voices over a series of posts on the WOC blog. The roster of speakers continues to grow with familiar and some less familiar names, all bringing incredible research and unique insight to the Catholic Church and its reform movements.…
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April 17th, 2015

The Power of Broken Hearts: a short reflection on the Limerick Conference

Between Easter and Pentecost, International Church Reformers gathered for four days in Limerick without a strict agenda. The intention was to get to know each other, share ideas about Church reform, and explore ways of supporting each other in our work structurally and at the grassroots. We began our time together answering why we accepted this invitation,…
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March 10th, 2015

Highlights from #EqualinFaith gatherings on International Women’s Day 2015

Over the weekend, in addition to the groundbreaking work that took place at the Vatican, groups of interfaith feminists gathered in solidarity to proclaim: “We are Equal in Faith!” Groups prayed and fasted together, screened the Equal in Faith video, and participated in a social media campaign #EqualinFaith.  Here are some of the highlights: #equalinfaith…
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January 6th, 2015

“Le donne forse possono andare avanti benissimo senza l’ordine sacro; ma…”

I recently came across an article by an Italian theologian, Lilia Sebastiani, “Chiesa, ciò che manca alla parità,” where she describes why ordained ministry is important in the Roman Catholic Church: “Non perché io consideri il ministero ordinato così centrale nella prospettiva redenta,” but because Jesus did not intend to prioritize one community over the…
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September 29th, 2014

Women’s Ordination Worldwide Steering Committee Meeting 2014

Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) held its steering committee meeting this past week just outside of Dublin, hosted by our Irish delegates from We Are Church – Ireland.  The annual meeting brings together leaders in the women’s ordination movement  from Australia to Bangladesh, Poland to Italy, Germany to Canada, representing a spectrum of strategy and practice. …
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June 13th, 2014

Book Review: Incompatible with God’s Design: A History of the Women’s Ordination Movement in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church

Mary Jeremy Daigler. Incompatible with God’s Design: A History of the Women’s Ordination Movement in the U.S. Roman Catholic Church. Lanham, MA: Scarecrow Press, 2012. 199 pp., appen., biblio., index. ISBN 978-0-8108-8479-3. $75.00. There was a time in my life when I devoured every article and book on women’s ordination. I was passionate about every…
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