WOW at the Amazon Synod to demand that women are finally recognized as equal church leaders
/Date & time: Tuesday, October 22nd at 15.00
Location: Prayer vigil @ Piazza Adriana (corner via Triboniano) followed by procession to St Peter’s
A group of international delegates from the Women’s Ordination Worldwide campaign group (WOW) are gathered in Rome to remind the hierarchy that women are already serving in priestly roles and to demand that they too are recognized as equal leaders of the Church.
Whilst the all-male voting delegates behind the Synod Gate discuss the priest shortage in the Amazon region, we will process to the closed gate to remind them that women are already leading sacramental ministry across Amazonia and around the world. Their vocations are recognized by the communities they serve. Why does the institutional church continue to discredit their ministry? As momentum to ordain married men increases, WOW cautions against adding yet more men to an already imbalanced church without addressing the injustice of excluding women.
WOW is encouraged by the new Pact of the Catacombs, signed by 40 Bishops from the Synod on October 20, demanding that the church: ‘Recognize the services and real diakonia of a great number of women who today direct communities’ and for ‘an adequate ministry of women leaders of the community’. Without women, the Catholic Church would not exist in the Amazon and it is a matter of justice that they too are finally empowered as equals rather than being supplanted by local men whilst women continue to do the work of serving the communities.
WOW calls on Pope Francis to publicly acknowledge that a majority of attendees of the Synod support women deacons and witness their ministries daily in the Amazon region. We are calling on the church to open their eyes to the reality that women live both priestly and diaconal vocations already. WOW asks that the Synod take a first step towards equality and justice by restoring women deacons in the same rite as men. The church and the environment are in crisis. It is time to stop quibbling over technicalities and man-made medieval rules when women and sacraments are at stake.
We are joining the call for ecological justice which cannot be separated from the call for spiritual and sacramental equality. Our message to the Synod is:
"Empowered women will save the Earth, Empowered women will save the Church"
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Press contacts:
Pat Brown: +44 7950048628; pat@patbrown-at.co.uk
Kate McElwee: +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org
Miriam Duignan: +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com
Therese Koturbash: +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com
