Press Releases

Media Alert Seven lay-led Catholic renewal groups, opposed to the weaponization of Holy Communion by a faction of the United States Conference for Catholic Bishops, will host a video conference for the media on Tuesday June 15 at 11 a. m. EDT, in advance of the USCCB’s upcoming meeting virutally, June 16-18. The conference, hosted…
Read more

For Immediate Release: June 1, 2021 Pope Francis’ June 1 changes to the Code of Canon Law (Book VI) on offenses and punishments fail to correct the mischaracterization of the “grave crime” of women following their authentic vocations to ordained ministry. While not new, the revised canon 1379 is a painful reminder of the Vatican’s…
Read more

May 25, 2021 For Immediate Release: Escuchando a las mujeres, a project of the Women’s Ordination Conference, works to amplify and empower the voices of Latinx Catholics and mujerista theologians to advocate for greater equality and justice in the church and world. With strong roots in Latin America, and many partners in Colombia, we issue…
Read more

For Immediate Release 11 May, 2021  The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) sincerely welcomes Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, Antiquum Ministerium, instituting the Ministry of Catechist for all laypeople. This formalization both affirms the authentic vocational calls many women experience, and the unique ways women enrich the church.  “The institutional church’s expanding vision of the ways women…
Read more

For Immediate Release: 8 February 2021 The Women’s Ordination Conference congratulates Sr. Nathalie Becquart on her Feb. 6 appointment as one of two new undersecretaries of the Synod of Bishops. She is the first woman to be appointed to this office, and she joins a small but slowly growing number of women undersecretaries in the…
Read more

For Immediate Release: 11 January, 2021  The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) welcomes Pope Francis’ Apostolic Letter, “Spiritus Domini,” that expands Canon Law 230, regarding the ministries of lector and acolyte, to include all laypeople. This shift brings the institutional Church in better alignment with pastoral realities around the world, and eliminates the ability of an…
Read more

January 8, 2021 We, the undersigned members of Catholic Organizations for Renewal (COR), are outraged by and unequivocally condemn the violent storming of the United States Capitol that we witnessed on January 6, 2021. At the same time, as faithful Catholics, we lament the U.S. Catholic community’s complicity and participation in fostering an environment that…
Read more

For Immediate Release: 24 November 2020 In a soon-to-be released book,  Let Us Dream: The Path to a Better Future, Pope Francis criticizes those who believe women must be priests to be leaders in the Catholic Church, claiming it is “clericalist and disrespectful.” The Women’s Ordination Conference rejects this mischaracterization of the global movement working…
Read more

***Texto en español al final*** Pope Francis’ encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, is a profound manifesto, calling for kindness, detachment from market capitalism and solidarity in action as we reckon and recover from a global pandemic. However, the controversial title, which is a quote from St. Francis of Assisi, (All Brothers, but also in modern Italian, All Siblings) and…
Read more

September 23, 2020 As Catholics working together for a renewed Church, we stand proudly in solidarity with Irish Redemptorist Fr. Tony Flannery in the face of continued threats and bullying from the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) over his support for women’s ordination and the full dignity of LGBT+ persons. The Inquisition-era…
Read more