Women’s Ordination Worldwide light up the Vatican: Campaigners shine a light on the Vatican’s exclusion of women ahead of historic meeting

/

For Immediate release: 27 August 2022 

On the eve of Pope Francis’ all-male consistory, Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) shined a bright light on one of the greatest cons-in-history: the exclusion of women from ordained ministry. In a stealth operation on the night of Friday August 26, WOW assembled in the shadow of St. Peter’s to draw attention to those who were not invited to be present.

Following the creation of 20 new cardinals, Pope Francis has called an extraordinary consistory for the world’s cardinals to discuss his new Apostolic Constitution in a closed door session. The reforms significantly expand leadership roles once reserved for cardinals and bishops to laypeople, including women, who will ironically be left out of the meeting. Nevertheless, extraordinary women are making themselves present outside those doors.   

On the morning of Monday, August 29, WOW will welcome the male cardinals with some delicate reminders that the world is watching and will see that an all-male consistory is a shameful display of discrimination. 

The following quotes are from members of the WOW delegation in Rome: 

“The ever-moving Holy Spirit is calling us to be a more just, inclusive, and transparent church. The church cannot fly with one wing, cannot “journey together” behind closed doors, and cannot model Jesus by excluding women. Jesus counted women as partners in ministry. We ask church leaders to do the same.”  — Kate McElwee, Women’s Ordination Conference (USA) 

“We are lighting the way to a renewed model of priesthood and servant leadership in a church where all are welcome and all are equal. We stand outside with and for all women who have no voice and no vote, yet represent more than half the church.” — Kathleen Gibbons Schuck, Roman Catholic Women Priests (International)

“Women, who constitute more than half the Catholic church and the world’s population, are barred from the sacramental life of and highest leadership roles in the church. We’re here to shed light on this injustice.”  — Rhiannon Parry Thompson and Pat Brown, Catholic Women’s Ordination (UK)   

“The church calls us to pray for more vocations to the priesthood, yet it chooses to ignore the vocations already here. The church wastes the gifts of women, who are called to sacramental ministries and ready to lead.”  — Alicja Baranowska, WOW individual member (Poland)

“The Vatican’s cover-up of the history of women’s founding role and leadership in the early centuries of the church is a con that must be challenged. Expert theologians, including those inside the Vatican, have concluded there is no scriptural justification for the banishing of women;  it is a choice and it can and must be changed.” — Miriam Duignan, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research (International)

###

Media contacts: 

Kate McElwee +1 607-725-1364 or +39 393 692 2100 kmcelwee@womensordination.org 

Miriam Duignan: +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com 

Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW): Founded in 1996, WOW is an international network of groups whose current mission is the inclusion of Roman Catholic women in all ordained ministries. WOW currently includes representatives from Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, India, Ireland, Poland, South Africa, and the United States.


Catholic Campaigners call for solidarity on International Women’s Day  

/

March 8th, 2022 

 Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) is marking International Women’s Day by calling for the all-male leadership of the Catholic Church to show true solidarity with women by recognising them as equals. 

Yesterday Pope Francis appealed for peace in Ukraine and sent two representatives to the border saying: "The presence of the two cardinals is the presence not only of the pope, but of all the Christian people who want to get closer and say: 'War is madness!” We echo the Pope’s call for peace and would love to see women standing alongside those cardinals as spiritual leaders who would then truly represent all Christian people. 

While their presence and solidarity is significant, peace demands justice.  The exclusion of women from priesthood is an injustice that undermines the Church's moral authority in peace-making. So long as the Vatican refuses to embrace women as co-equals in leadership - in the world and at the altar - its diplomatic efforts are compromised. At this time of war and unimaginable loss and pain, we pray for more balance and harmony in the world and this must include the world’s largest organised religion whose capacity to do good continues to be severely compromised. 

#IWD2022 #OrdainWomen  

One vote for women - Women’s Ordination Worldwide responds to the breaking of a barrier

/

Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) celebrates the news that Sister Nathalie Becquart has been appointed as one of two new undersecretaries of the Synod of Bishops. We are hopeful this means she will become the first, but not the last, woman to be able to vote in the Roman Catholic Church.

When Sister Becquart takes her place among hundreds of male Bishops in the next Synod, she will not be voting as someone recognised as their equal who has the authority to influence and change teaching. She will be the sole woman permitted to participate in the decision-making process but those decisions will have been made exclusively by men and her presence among them cannot change this fact.

We lament the fact that Sr Becquart’s new colleague and counterpart in this role will not be her peer. Father San Martin has, by virtue of his gender, been automatically elevated to the status of Bishop – something still unthinkable for a woman in today’s all-male hierarchical church. The first woman to ever be allowed to vote in a Vatican synod will only do so because she has been temporarily appointed to this position of responsibility as undersecretary. Sr Becquart can be removed at any time and, like all women in the Catholic Church, she will be at the mercy of her male supervisors at whose sole discretion she serves.

This small but visible step towards women’s inclusion is a result of decades of pressure being put on the Vatican to stop excluding women from their own church. And whilst we welcome every sign of progress, we refuse to accept as inevitable the slow drip of occasional solitary positions for individual women. Our work will only be done when women everywhere can fulfill their vocation to minister as priests alongside men and can take up roles in every institutional department based on their qualifications and commitment.

WOMEN’S ORDINATION WORLDWIDE MEDIA CONTACTS:

Kate McElwee (USA and Italy): +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org

Miriam Duignan (Ireland and UK): +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com

Therese Koturbash (Canada): +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com

Alicja Baranowska(Belgium & Poland): +32 488 67 60 20  alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW): Founded in 1996, WOW is an international network of groups whose current mission is the inclusion of Roman Catholic women in all ordained ministries. Founded on the principle of equality, WOW opposes all discrimination. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus'. (Galatians 3:28).

Pope Francis Nudges Canon Law in the Right Direction - 11 January 2021

/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) welcomes what we consider to be a small step in the right direction that Pope Francis has taken by changing Canon law to formally permit women’s service as lectors and acolytes. This change means that women will now officially stand shoulder to shoulder with lay men as ministers of communion and lectors at mass and girls can be altar servers. Until now, official installation in these roles has been reserved for men and any instances where women have been lectors and acolytes and girls serving on the altar, they have done so because it was permitted as an exception and always at the sole discretion of the local Bishop or priest.

Therefore, while this may not seem like a change of substance in places where women have, for several decades, been permitted to serve in these roles, in many parishes, this has not been the case and women and girls have remained essentially banned from the altar at the say-so of a misogynist man.

This change opens a door. It means that bishops and pastors around the world can no longer refuse women the right to these ministries on account of Canon Law. Bishops can now be held accountable and not given impunity to discriminate against women even more than the wider Church already does.

Today’s announcement contributes to a slow chipping away at the wall of anti-women exclusion that still lingers and corrupts the official church. Today’s shift signals a growing awareness of what has been the rejection of women’s baptism in Christ. Today women are one step closer to being part of officially mediating the sacred. Slowly but surely, we will keep pushing for full equality and WOW is confident more change must come.

###

Women’s Ordination Worldwide Media Contacts:

Kate McElwee (USA and Italy): +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org

Miriam Duignan (Ireland and UK): +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com

Therese Koturbash (Canada): +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com

Alicja Baranowska(Belgium & Poland): +32 488 67 60 20  alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW): Founded in 1996, WOW is an international network of groups whose current mission is the inclusion of Roman Catholic women in all ordained ministries. Founded on the principle of equality, WOW opposes all discrimination. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus'. (Galatians 3:28)

WOW stands in solidarity with Tony Flannery

/

For Immediate Release: Fr. Tony Flannery is long-time friend and ally of Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) and today we stand in solidarity with him as he resists the Vatican's attempts to punish him for his advocacy for women's equality and ordination in the Catholic Church.    

In drawing attention to the tragic litmus test of obedience(*) from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), Tony Flannery does a great service in shining a light on the misogyny and homophobia that so preoccupies and taints the official Catholic church. His courageous commitment to upholding his conscience is a model of pastoral leadership the institutional Church so desperately needs more of. 

WOW calls on Pope Francis, the CDF and the rest of the male leadership in the Vatican to get a grip and free themselves from the demons of discrimination. In their pursuit of Tony Flannery, a popular and influential priest, they again show their fear of Catholics growing in awareness of the bogus theology that bans women from ordained ministry. We call on clergy everywhere to speak out with conviction for radical equality, the way that Tony Flannery has dared to do.  

* (1. Reservation of the sacred priesthood to men alone; 2. The moral liceity of homosexual practices; 3. The legal recognition of marriage between persons of the same sex; 4. ‘Gender Theory’) 

Press contacts: 

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 

WOW Sounds the Alarm Over New Women Deacon Commission

/

Media Advisory: for immediate release – Thursday, April 9th

 

Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) is sounding the alarm about this newly announced group who will study the question of women deacons yet again. 

The newly formed commission members represent an arch conservative, Vatican-approved line-up of theologians and scholars, some of whom have no obvious expertise and those who have published on the topic have overwhelmingly denied the possibility of women deacons. If one were to put together a commission to derail the discussion on the ordination of women deacons, or worse, this seems to be it. 

WOW is concerned not only by the lack of diversity of thought on the panel, but also the complete lack of representation from the global south or any representative for the Amazonian region, especially given the overwhelming outcry for women’s ordained ministries during the most recent Synod on the Amazon. 

Given how the decks are stacked against any recognition of the 1,000 years of evidence of women deacons, we fear these Curia approved scholars will soon be pronouncing that women should be shielded from "clericalism" and continue to champion yet more platitudes about our “special nature.”

At a time when the Church so urgently needs to reform its leadership structures and welcome women as equal and sacramental partners in ministry and decision making, the last thing we need is another commission.

WOW is calling on all Catholics who benefit and witness the ministerial and sacramental work of women around the world to protest this insulting step back in time. We refuse to support any commission whose mission is simply to arrive at a foregone conclusion, ignoring centuries of history, and the urgent pastoral needs around the world. We urge Pope Francis and these commission members to closely follow the work of the original commission, and listen to the cries of the people: ordain women now! 

 

Press contacts:

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

Le pape François baisse les bras concernant les femmes dans son exhortation apostolique sur l'Amazonie - Le 13 février 2020

/

Le pape François baisse les bras concernant les femmes dans son exhortation apostolique sur l'Amazonie

Communiqué de presse du Women's Ordination Worldwide [WOW]

Le 13 février 2020

wow+logo.jpg

À la lecture du document postsynodal, WOW conclut que c'est au détriment du Christ crucifié représenté sur le visage des femmes que le pape François se propose de continuer à diriger le spectacle mâle catholique romain [Roman Catholic man show]. Renonçant à une occasion importante de faire une avancée pour les femmes, François a choisi de perpétuer le scandaleux club fermé réservé aux hommes lequel, comme il le souligne impudemment dans le document, est soutenu par des femmes ayant un statut de deuxième classe tout en faisant la plupart du travail sans aucune reconnaissance.

Malgré son souci de l'environnement et de la catastrophe climatique mondiale, François ne parvient absolument pas à relier le peu de considération pour l'environnement au peu de considération du féminin dans le monde et en particulier dans notre propre Église. Étonnamment, François défend la prêtrise masculine sur la base intenable de l'image conjugale qui affirme que le prêtre représente l’époux et l'Église l’épouse. Concrètement, cette pratique souligne de façon inimaginable la façon dont les hommes peuvent remplir tous les rôles grâce à une pansexualité fluide de genre accordée aux prêtres masculins. Alors que le prêtre mâle remplace l’époux, il remplace également l’épouse. Dans cette vision tordue, les femmes ne sont que des réceptrices passives à la source et au sommet de notre foi. Les femmes sont absolument inutiles dans le fonctionnement de l'Église, sauf pour faire des enfants et pour soutenir le spectacle mâle catholique romain. Cette vision des choses démontre une croyance aveugle en un concept appelé complémentarité, concept utilisé par le Vatican pour prétendre que les femmes et les hommes ont par nature des rôles différents. Mais, en réalité, cela signifie simplement que les hommes peuvent tout faire et que les femmes ne peuvent faire que ce que les hommes veulent qu’elles fassent et que cela leur sert.

Son rejet des femmes du service ministériel n'est rien de moins qu'une trahison de toute la communauté des croyants et des croyantes qui attend désespérément des prêtres enracinés dans leur culture. Dieu appelle des femmes à la prêtrise et au diaconat. Lorsqu'on examine en connaissance de cause les efforts déployés par le Vatican pour justifier l'exclusion des femmes des ministères ordonnés, il est clair que :

  • il n'y a aucune raison dans les Écritures, dans la théologie ou dans la tradition de l'Église de soutenir une prêtrise exclusivement masculine. C’est ce qui ressort du vaste corpus d'études disponibles sur le site Web universitaire womenpriests.org;

  • pendant des siècles, la hiérarchie a entretenu chez les fidèles, comme si c'était la vérité, un préjugé envers les femmes. Ce préjugé est à la base de la justification officielle du Vatican pour exclure les femmes du sacerdoce et du diaconat. Par son exhortation apostolique postsynodale sur l’Amazonie, le pape François insiste pour la perpétuer.

Pape François, il est grand temps que votre club « pour hommes seulement » reconnaisse que les femmes ne sont pas « autres » mais qu'elles sont pleinement humaines. L'exclusion continue de la femme de la prêtrise est une injustice flagrante qui nuit à l'Église et signale au monde qu'il est acceptable de continuer à traiter les femmes comme des moins que rien. Dans ce scénario, on ne peut guère éprouver de sympathie pour un leadership qui compose maladroitement avec le fait que les bancs d’église se vident et qu'un nombre croissant d'églises catholiques soient désaffectées.

Dans l'état actuel des choses, l'Église demeure une Église d'hommes où les femmes sont autorisées à pratiquer leur culte, à fournir des biens et des services et à être estampillées avec quelque chose de moins que les icônes du Christ. Pourtant nous le sommes pleinement, entièrement, véritablement et complètement.

Contacts pour la presse

Kate McElwee (USA/Italy): +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org

Miriam Duignan (UK/Ireland): +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com

Alicja Baranowska(Belgium & Poland): +32 488 67 60 20 alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

Therese Koturbash (Canada): +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com

Merci à Pauline Jacob pour la traduction.

Fondée en 1996, la Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) est un réseau international de groupes dont la mission actuelle est de s’assurer que les femmes catholiques soient admises dans tous les ministères ordonnés dans l’Église. WOW s’appuie sur le principe évangélique d’égalité et s’oppose donc à toute discrimination. « Il n’y a ni Juif ni Grec, il n’y a ni esclave ni homme libre, il n’y a ni mâle ni femelle, car vous ne faites qu’un dans le Christ Jésus (Ga 3, 28).

womens ordination worldwide logo.png


Querida Amazonía: El Fracaso Del Papa Francisco Hacia Las Mujeres - 13 de febrero de 2020

/

QUERIDA AMAZONÍA: EL FRACASO DEL PAPA FRANCISCO HACIA LAS MUJERES

13 de febrero de 2020

Para publicación inmediata.

womens ordination worldwide logo.png

Contactos de prensa:

·         Kate McElwee (EE.UU./Italia): +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org

·         Miriam Duignan (Reino Unido/Irlanda): +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com

·         Alicja Baranowska(Bélgica y Polonia): +32 488 67 60 20  alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

·         Therese Koturbash (Canadá): +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com 

Gracias a Mónica Trevino Alvarez por la traducción

Al leer el documento post-sinodal Querida Amazonía podemos concluir que el Papa Francisco propone continuar dirigiendo el espectáculo del hombre católico, mientras que en la parte posterior de un Cristo crucificado se siguen encontrando las miradas de las mujeres. Francisco prefirió darle la espalda a la oportunidad de generar avances significativos para las mujeres. En cambio, ha optado por seguir perpetrando al vergonzoso Club de Toby. Como se señala descaradamente en el documento las mujeres, quienes realizan gran parte del trabajo en las parroquias, siguen siendo tratadas como ciudadanas de segunda clase.

A pesar de la preocupación de Francisco por el medio ambiente y la catástrofe medioambiental, no logra conectar la marginalización de éste con la vida de las mujeres dentro y fuera de la Iglesia. Impresionantemente, Francisco recurre al matrimonio de sacerdotes con la Iglesia para afirmar que la ordenación es exclusiva para hombres. En la práctica esta idea afirma que los hombres pueden cumplir todos los roles a través de una pansexualidad y género fluido otorgado a los sacerdotes. El sacerdote sustituye tanto al novio como a la novia. Ante este roto panorama, las mujeres son vistas como receptoras pasivas de fe. Son simplemente innecesarias para el funcionamiento de la iglesia, exceptuando a la maternidad y el apoyo al teatro de los hombres. Esta teoría revela la creencia ciega en la complementariedad, concepto acuñado por el Vaticano para afirmar que mujeres y hombres están destinados a distintos roles. Sin embargo, en realidad significa que ellos pueden hacer todo y que ellas sólo pueden hacer lo que se les manda.

El rechazo al servicio ministerial de las mujeres es una traición a toda la comunidad de fe que espera desesperadamente la ordenación de mujeres y hombres culturalmente competentes. Dios llama a las mujeres al sacerdocio y al diaconado. Al realizar un examen informado de los esfuerzos del Vaticano para justificar la exclusión de las mujeres del ministerio ordenado, queda claro que:

  • no hay ninguna razón en las escrituras, teología y tradición de la Iglesia para afirmar el sacerdocio exclusivo de hombres. Esto se encuentra evidenciado en una inmensa cantidad de estudios disponibles en: womenpriests.org;

  • durante siglos la jerarquía se ha dedicado a alimentar los prejuicios hacia las mujeres. Este prejuicio es la justificación oficial del Vaticano para excluir a las mujeres del sacerdocio y del diaconado. A través de Querida Amazonía Francisco busca reafirmarlo.

Papa Francisco, ya es hora que su Club de Toby reconozca que las mujeres no son “otras”, sino completamente humanas. La constante exclusión de las mujeres en el sacerdocio es una injusticia que perjudica a la Iglesia y le indica al mundo que está bien discriminar a las mujeres.

Tal como están las cosas seguimos teniendo a la Iglesia de un hombre. En donde a las mujeres sólo se les permite adorar, entregar bienes y servir. No olvidemos que nosotras, las mujeres, somos plenamente, completamente y verdaderamente imagen de Cristo.

womens ordination worldwide logo.png

Papież Franciszek zawodzi w odniesieniu do kobiet w swojej apostolskiej adhortacji o Amazonii - 13 lutego 2020 r.

/

Papież Franciszek zawodzi w odniesieniu do kobiet w swojej apostolskiej adhortacji o Amazonii

13 lutego 2020 r.
Do natychmiastowej publikacji:

Kontakty dla prasy:

womens ordination worldwide logo.png

Po przeczytaniu dokumentu postsynodalnego WOW dochodzi do wniosku, że papież Franciszek proponuje kontynuację rzymskokatolickiego męskiego spektaklu na plecach ukrzyżowanego Chrystusa odzwierciedlonego w twarzach kobiet. Odwracając się plecami od znaczącej okazji, aby dokonać przełomu dla kobiet, Franciszek wybrał utrwalenie niechlubnego elitarnego męskiego klubu, który, jak sam bezczelnie wypunktowuje w dokumencie, jest podtrzymywany przez drugorzędny status kobiet – które wykonują większość roboty, która nie jest doceniana.

Pomimo trosk o środowisko i globalną katastrofę klimatyczną Franciszek zupełnie nie łączy marginalizacji środowiska z marginalizacją kobiecości w świecie, a w szczególności jej marginalizacją w naszym własnym Kościele. Zdumiewające jest, że Franciszek podtrzymuje obronę wyłącznie męskiego kapłaństwa w oparciu o niemożliwą do obrony podstawie wyobrażenia relacji oblubieńczej, które stwierdza, że kapłan reprezentuje Oblubieńca, a Kościół Oblubienicę. Przy zastosowaniu ta praktyka dramatycznie podkreśla, w jaki sposób mężczyźni mogą spełniać wszystkie role poprzez płynną płciową panseksualność przyznaną kapłanom płci męskiej. Podczas gdy kapłan reprezentuje pana młodego, reprezentuje także pannę młodą. W tym ułomnym poglądzie kobiety są jedynie biernymi odbiorczyniami w źródle i szczycie naszej wiary. Kobiety są kategorycznie niepotrzebne do funkcjonowania Kościoła z wyjątkiem rodzenia dzieci i wspierania męskiego spektaklu. Ta teoria zdradza ślepą wiarę w koncepcję zwaną komplementarnością używaną przez Watykan do tego, aby twierdzić, że kobiety i mężczyźni są przeznaczeni do innych ról, ale co w rzeczywistości oznacza po prostu, że mężczyźni mogą robić wszystko, a kobiety mogą robić jedynie to, czego chcą od nich mężczyźni i co tym mężczyznom służy.

Jego odrzucenie dla idei kobiet w posługach nie jest niczym innym jak zdradą całej wspólnoty wierzących, która oczekuje w rozpaczliwej potrzebie kompetentnych kulturowo kapłanów. Bóg powołuje kobiety do kapłaństwa i diakonatu. Gdy przeprowadzi się świadomą analizę watykańskich wysiłków, aby uzasadnić wykluczenie kobiet z posługi sakramentalnej, staje się jasne, że:

  • w Piśmie Świętym, teologii czy tradycji nie da się znaleźć uzasadnienia dla wsparcia wyłącznie męskiego kapłaństwa. Zostało to udowodnionie w olbrzymiej ilości badań dostępnych na akademickiej stronie internetowej womenpriests.org;

  • przez wieki hierarchia karmiła wiernych uprzedzeniami wobec kobiet tak, jakby były one prawdą. Te uprzedzenia stanowią podstawą dla watykańskiego uzasadnienia wykluczania kobiet z kapłaństwa i diakonatu. Poprzez swoją postsynodalną adhortację apostolską o regionie Amazonii papież Franciszek nalega na ich podtrzymanie.

Papieżu Franciszku, już najwyższy czas, aby wasz klub chłopców rozpoznał, że kobiety nie są „innym”, ale są w pełni ludźmi. Kontynuowanie wykluczenia kobiet z kapłaństwa jest rażącą niesprawiedliwości, która szkodzi Kościołowi i daje światu sygnał, że jest akceptowalne traktowanie kobiet jako mniej ludzkie. W tym scenariuszu nie może być wielkiej sympatii dla przywództwa, które zmaga się z nieuniknionym pustoszeniem ławek i dekonsekracją coraz większej liczby katolickich świątyń.

W obecnej sytuacji Kościół pozostaje Kościołem mężczyzny, gdzie kobietom pozwala się czcić, dostarczać towary i usługi i nosić piętno czegoś mniejszego niż obrazy Chrystusa, którymi w pełni, całkowicie, prawdziwie i kompletnie jesteśmy.

Kontakty dla prasy:

Women's Ordination Worldwide,założona w roku 1996, jest ekumeniczną siecią, której podstawową misją jest obecnie przyjęcie kobiet rzymskokatolickich do wszystkich święceń. WOW oparta jest na ewangelicznej zasadzie równości i w związku z tym sprzeciwia się jakiejkolwiej dyskryminacji. „ Nie ma już Żyda ani poganina, nie ma już niewolnika ani człowieka wolnego, nie ma już mężczyzny ani kobiety, wszyscy bowiem jesteście kimś jednym w Chrystusie Jezusie.” (Ga 3,28).

womens ordination worldwide logo.png

Pope Francis Drops the Ball for Women in his Apostolic Exhortation on the Amazon -February 13, 2020

/
womens ordination worldwide logo.png

February 13, 2020

For Immediate Release.
Press Contacts:

  • Kate McElwee (USA/Italy): +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org

  • Miriam Duignan (UK/Ireland): +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com

  • Alicja Baranowska(Belgium & Poland): +32 488 67 60 20  alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

  • Therese Koturbash (Canada): +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com


Reading the post-synodal document, WOW concludes that it is on the back of a crucified Christ imaged in the faces of women that Pope Francis proposes to continue running the Roman Catholic man show.  Turning his back on a significant opportunity to make a breakthrough for women, Francis has opted to perpetuate the shameful elitist man club that, as he so brazenly points out in the document, is held up by the second class status of women who do most of the work with none of the recognition.

Despite his concern for the environment and global climate catastrophe, Francis utterly fails to connect the marginalisation of the environment (a 'she') with the marginalisation of the feminine in the world and in particular, the 'she' who is marginalised in our own Church.  Astonishingly, Francis holds up defense of the all-male priesthood on the untenable foundation of spousal imagery that says priest stands in for groom and the Church as bride. In application, this practice dramatically underlines how men can fill all the roles through a gender fluid pansexuality granted for male priests.  While the male priest stands in for groom, he also and stands in for bride. Women in this broken view are but passive recipients in the source and summit of our faith. Women are categorically unnecessary for the function of the Church except for the production of children and to prop up the man show. This theory betrays a blind belief in a concept called complementarity used by the Vatican to claim that women and men are destined for different roles but which in reality just means men can do everything and women can only do what the men want them to and that serves them.

His rejection of women in ministerial service is nothing less than a betrayal of the entire faith community that waits desperately in need of culturally competent priests. God calls women to priesthood and to the diaconate. When an informed examination is made of the Vatican's efforts to justify excluding women from sacred ministry, it is clear that:

  • there is no reason in scripture, theology, or the tradition of the Church to support a male only priesthood. This is evidenced in the huge body of studies available on the academic website womenpriests.org;

  • for century after century, the hierarchy has fed prejudice against women to the faithful as though it were truth. This prejudice underpins the Vatican's official rationale for excluding women from priesthood and the diaconate. Through his Post Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Amazon region Pope Francis insists on perpetuating it. 

Pope Francis, it is long past time for your boys' club to recognise that women are not ‘other’ but are fully human. The continued exclusion of the woman from priesthood is flagrant injustice that harms the Church and signals to the world that it is ok to continue treating women as less than. In this scenario there can be little sympathy for a leadership who fumbles with the inevitable emptying of pews and deconsecration of growing numbers of Catholic churches.

As things stand now, the Church remains a man's Church where women are permitted to worship, to deliver goods and services and to be stamped with something less than the icons of Christ that we fully, wholly, truly and completely are.

###

Press contacts:

  • Kate McElwee (USA/Italy): +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org

  • Miriam Duignan (UK/Ireland): +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com

  • Alicja Baranowska(Belgium & Poland): +32 488 67 60 20  alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

  • Therese Koturbash (Canada): +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com

Founded in 1996, Women's Ordination Worldwide(WOW) is an international network of groups whose current mission is to see Catholic women admitted to all ordained ministries in the Church. WOW is founded on the gospel principle of equality and therefore opposes any discrimination. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no long male and female for you are all one in Christ Jesus (Galatians 3:28).

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination in context of Women’s Ordination Worldwide

womens ordination worldwide logo.png

WOW Statement on Appointment of Dr. Francesca Di Giovanni to Undersecretary for Multi-Lateral Affairs - January 17, 2020

/

January 17, 2020: After twenty-seven years in the Secretariat of State, Pope Francis has promoted the very qualified Dr. Francesca Di Giovanni to the position of undersecretary for multilateral affairs. While Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) welcomes any step toward recognizing women’s equality in the Church, we insist this must only be the beginning of a long overdue corrective toward pulling the Vatican wagon into the 21st century.

The global Church, and particularly the curia, can only benefit from elevating women into positions of leadership, decision-making, and ordained ministry. However, we long for the day when the bar for celebration is raised. WOW suggest the radical idea that qualified persons are empowered in their work and ministries, regardless of gender.

For as long as the Vatican continues to exclude women from decision-making processes and ordained ministry, our Church continues to endorse the second-class status of women wherever they may be.

###

Women’s Ordination Worldwide Media Contacts:

Kate McElwee (USA and Italy): +39 393 692 2100; kmcelwee@womensordination.org

Miriam Duignan (Ireland and UK): +44 7970 926910; miriam.duignan@wijngaardsinstitute.com

Therese Koturbash (Canada): +1 204 648 5720; t.m.koturbash@gmail.com

Alicja Baranowska(Belgium & Poland): +32 488 67 60 20  alicja.baranowska@wp.pl

Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW):  Founded in 1996, WOW is an international network of groups whose current mission is the inclusion of Roman Catholic women in all ordained ministries. Founded on the principle of equality, WOW opposes all discrimination. 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus'. (Galatians 3:28)

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination

WOW RESPONDS ON WOMEN DEACONS DISCUSSED AT VATICAN SYNOD

/

WOMEN'S ORDINATION WORLDWIDE

For Immediate Release

6 October 2015

For Immediate Release

Response On Women Deacons Discussed at Vatican Synod

 Contact :

Miriam Duignan: UK (+44) 7970 926910 m_duignan@hotmail.com

Kate McElwee: Italy (+39) 393-692-2100 kmcelwee@womensordination.org

Erin Saiz Hanna: USA (+1) 401-588-0457 ehanna@womensordination.org

 

Rome, Italy: Recent statements made by Canadian Archbishop Paul-Andre Durocher of Gatineau, Quebec during the Vatican's Synod on the Family suggests an emergence of a discussion about including women in the ordained permanent diaconate. We applaud Archbishop Durocher for raising the suggestion to the exclusively male-voting body, and furthermore, for highlighting the relationship between the "degradation" of women in Church and society and violence against women around the world.

 

We call on our Church leaders to state clearly that "domination" over women is never acceptable, and until women are empowered as equals our Church perpetuates an inequality contrary to the Gospel. We pray that women's voices will not only be heard in forthcoming discussions, but given an equal vote.

 

Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) supports the restoration of the sacramentally ordained diaconate for women in its true form. Including women in the diaconate would not be something new. Instead the Church would be returning to its ancient roots when both women and men were deacons. While the women's diaconate continues in some parts of the Eastern Church even until today, we also now know that in the West, it was suppressed only on account of the prejudice against women.

 

Though restoration of an ordained women's diaconate would not alone be a satisfactory progression to including women in all realms of Church leadership, governance, and sacramental ministry - only ordination to the priesthood and episcopacy could begin to accomplish this - WOW supports restoration of the diaconate. It is long overdue. The so-called changing 'reasons' that have been used to try to justify the exclusion of women from ordained ministry rests quarely on the shoulders of prejudice alone.

 

The hierarchy deprives people of the pastors God calls for them and of the leadership gifts found in women who would serve the Church; upholding this discrimination, as though it were the will of God, is simply indefensible.

 

###

#‎Synod15 #‎ordainwomen

 

_____________________________________________________________ 

WOW's position statement on restoration of the ordained women's diaconate is found here: http://womensordinationworldwide.org/wow-position-statement-on-the-diaconate/

_____________________________________________________________

 Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW): Founded in 1996, WOW is an international network of groups whose current mission is the inclusion of women in all ordained ministries in the Roman Catholic Church. Founded on the principle of equality,WOW opposes all discrimination.'There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is no longer slave or free,there is no longer male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus'. (Galatians 3:28) 

WOW currently includes representatives from Australia, Bangladesh,Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Malta, Poland, andthe United States. 

WOW's 3rd International Conference, 'Gender, Gospel, and Global Justice' was recently held in Philadelphia 18-20 September 2015. For more visit www.womensordinationworldwide.org 

WOW on the web: