Category: Women’s Ordination

Doors are cracking open. Forbidden topics (Women’s ordination!) are open for discussion. As the just newly released Vatican document says in so many words: ”Spaces in our tents are enlarging!” I am going to resist the temptation to say an exasperated ”finally!” and jump to celebration instead. It’s early days, of course. Nothing “magisterial” has…
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Kate McElwee strikes exactly the right note in her letter to WOC members on Thursday: “We have reached a touchstone moment on the synodal path, and thanks to your efforts, women’s ordination is still a major part of the conversation,” except I would emphasize “thanks to your efforts.” So many people who support women’s ordination showed…
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In the Roman Catholic Church, feminist theologian and scholar, Rosemary Radford Ruether, was a prophetic pillar. She shares the same status as the early church Fathers—Origen, John Chrysostom, Gregory of Nazianzus, John Cassian, and St. Augustine; Women Doctors of the Church—St. Hildegard von Bingen, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Ávila, and St. Thérèse de Lisieux; and well-known…
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The theme of solidarity runs throughout Roy Bourgeois’ new autobiographical book Male Supremacy in the Catholic Church – An Insider’s View. The short memoir is about “confronting ignorance—my own, that of my country, and that of my church.”For many NWNC readers, Bourgeois’ story is familiar. A longtime friend of WOC, many will have read an…
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(Editor’s note: Casey Murano, our guest blogger, is a caretaker at Bethlehem Farm in West Virginia, and an artist. She writes, “At its essence, I approach art-making as a practice of transformation. My process draws on the wisdom of contemplative traditions and themes of pilgrimage–broadly, a journey through a landscape of some kind that prompts…
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“Feminism is a movement to end sexism, sexist exploitation, and oppression,” was written by bell hooks in her book called Feminism is For Everybody. She elaborates on the question regarding the definition of feminism. “What is feminism?” has been a question that many have answered, yet many answer from their own perspective. Feminism takes into…
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What a pleasure it is to be at this Table, WOC’s online community. Last week on this blog, Jane Malhotra shared about her experience during a September pilgrimage to Our Lady of Guadalupe with Discerning Deacons. This week, I’ll share some of my experience of the same pilgrimage, and next week the two of us…
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It is around this time every year that this question comes, usually from a female or queer student. Some days it is easier to answer that question than others, but the day this question comes is my favorite day. It means that I get to lay the groundwork to tell my students about all of…
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What a joy to spend the first week of September in beautiful, vibrant, complicated, art-infused Mexico City as part of a pilgrimage with the two-years-young organization Discerning Deacons, to celebrate the Feast of Deacon St. Phoebe at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. There were 60 of us from North and South America, primarily…
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Maybe you’ve seen this already, but read it again: There was a desire for stronger leadership, discernment, and decision-making roles for women – both lay and religious – in their parishes and communities: “people mentioned a variety of ways in which women could exercise leadership, including preaching and ordination as deacon or priest. Ordination for…
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