In the News

New York, NY and global locations: Inspired by the global women’s marches one year ago, and aware that the Roman Catholic Church and religious institutions around the world are in dire need of an infusion of feminist energy and truth, The Women Who Stayed, FutureChurch, Women’s Ordination Conference, and Call To Action announce the launch…
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  Read the full article on The Tablet: There are also things happening on the edges in Rome, which suggest that subtle shifts are occurring. Kate McElwee, who has just been appointed executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, is the first holder of her role to be based in Rome.     

Although response from Catholic clergy has been muted in the wake of Springfield, Illinois, Bishop Thomas Paprocki’s June 12 decree that prohibits Catholics in “same-sex ‘marriage’ ” from receiving Communion, lay organizations have been vocal about their disdain for the decree. The decree bars Catholics in same-sex marriages from receiving Communion as well as from receiving “ecclesiastical…
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While many lay organizations are voicing disdain directly to Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Springfield, Illinois, over his recent decree denying church services to Catholics in same-sex marriages, the feminist coalition Women-Church Convergence is reaching out to the people of the diocese. Women-Church Convergence, which “is a coalition of autonomous Catholic-rooted groups working to build just social and ecclesial structures…
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In this episode of the Religious Feminism interview series, Kate McElwee and Erin Saiz Hanna, co-Executive Directors of Women’s Ordination Conference, tell us about feminists’  holy mischief within the Roman Catholic church; that Pope Francis isn’t as progressive as he may seem to outsiders, at least, not with regards to women; and why they love to…
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Read the full article on the Daily Beast  … Kate McElwee, co-executive director of the Women’s Ordination Conference, says that while she supports the idea of married priests, she thinks it takes away from the discussion of women’s roles in the Church. “A married priesthood would be a great step for heterosexual men, and another…
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Read the full report by Sr. Jeannine Gramick on Global Sisters Report It was a remarkable collection of forty individuals, most of whom had labored for decades in church reform under two papacies that looked upon reform as anathema. Many carried bruises and battle scars quietly in their hearts. They met in Chicago last October,…
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Guardian: Pope Francis says women will never be Roman Catholic priests International Business Times: Pope Francis says ban on female priesthood in Roman Catholic church likely to stay forever International Business Times of India: Women can never be Catholic priests, says Pope Francis New York Post: Pope Francis has bad news for aspiring female priests New York Times: Pope…
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It was the unlikeliest of press conferences and a sign of times that are changing with unprecedented momentum even from within one of the world’s oldest religious institutions. On Oct 20, in Arlington Heights, representatives from Catholic priest movements and lay reform organizations based across the world gathered to lay out a series of direct…
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Women in the Catholic church have long been their own advocates, pushing the hierarchy and those within their faith communities to grant them the same ecclesial leadership roles as their male counterparts. The door, however, has remained closed — but the fight has continued. … NCR has reported on women who have faced similar scrutiny…
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