Press Releases

Five Catholic reform organizations representing thousands of Catholic women and men sent a letter to Synod officials at the Vatican requesting the integration of women religious as full voting members at future synods. Women’s Ordination Conference, along with Donna per la Chiesa, Voices of Faith, Catholic Women Speak, and FutureChurch responded to an invitation from…
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For Immediate Release26 October 2019 The Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC) welcomes Pope Francis’ announcement that the study commission on women deacons will be convoked again in response to the discussion about women deacons at the Pan-Amazonian synod. “We were listening,” the Pope said.   We hope further deep listening to the valid vocations of women continues…
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***Segue in italiano di seguito*** To the Synodal Fathers, to the experts and to the auditors: As women believers we look with attention and great hope to the Synod for the Pan-Amazonian Region which is gathering in Rome from 6th to 27th October. We recognise the historic and revolutionary significance of this Synod which addresses…
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For immediate release: 25 September 2019 With the release of the list of participants for the Vatican’s upcoming Special Assembly of the Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region (Oct. 6-27), the Women’s Ordination Conference notes with disappointment and bewilderment the continued lack of voting rights for Catholic sisters and nuns at the assembly. Since…
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On the occasion of the upcoming synod on Amazonia, a clear message comes from religious sisters from across the world: Why is there still such resistance to women’s participation when it comes to leadership and decision making in our Church? Why are sisters, who have dedicated their whole lives to prayer and devotion to the…
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By Katie Lacz, Program Associate In the America magazine article “Should Women Preach at Mass? Here’s a Better Question” (Pia de Solenni, Sept. 9), the question referred to in the title comes at the end: “Does being a woman or man affect what I do?” As is true for many deceptively simple questions, the answer…
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MEDIA ADVISORYAugust 21, 2019Marie Collins, the foremost advocate for justice for survivors of clergy sexual abuse and accountability in the Roman Catholic Church, will speak in 6 U.S. cities from September 9-20, 2019, stopping in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, New Orleans, and Los Angeles. Collins, a survivor of clergy abuse as a child in…
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We are pleased to announce today that for the first time the Women’s Ordination Conference has been granted consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).  We spent several years sharing our work and mission with committees of the United Nations as part of their extensive application process, and consider this decision a very significant achievement for WOC. Having…
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On May 10, Pope Francis handed a copy of the report from the study commission on women deacons to the 850 religious of the UISG with the comment: “I cannot make a sacramental decree [on women deacons] without a theological, historical foundation.” The “theological, historical foundation” exists in abundance, thanks to the work of scholars like Dr.…
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May 7, 2019 For Immediate Release WOC’s response to Pope Francis’ remarks on May 7 indicating that the Vatican study commission on the history of women deacons in the Catholic Church has been unable to reach consensus: For centuries, women have served in the tradition of Phoebe (Rm 16:1) and our parishes and communities are…
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