In October 2001, WOW participated in the Shadow Synod of the People of God - Voices of Catholic Christians Around The World. Photographs from this event are below. (Click on photos to enlarge.) The People' s Synod assembled in Rome from 4 - 7 October 2001 to offer the concerns and needs of many at the grassroots of the Roman Catholic Church to the Tenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.
From the news:
Women call on Vatican to let them be priests
Source: AP|Published: Sunday October 7, 2001 11:07 AM
VATICAN CITY - About 30 people gathered near the Vatican today to demand the church let women be priests, praying under a banner stretched across a city street that read "Ordain Women".
The peaceful demonstration organised by WOW, or Women's Ordination Worldwide, occurred as about 250 bishops from around the world were meeting inside the Vatican walls for a month-long synod.
"We are not against them, we ask them to renounce the evil of sexism in the Church," said Soline Vatinel, spokeswoman for the pro-ordination group, as the men and women gathered prayed and blessed one another under the banner.
She said the 90m banner, (written in seven languages - Spanish, Polish, Italian, Latin, French, German Polish and English), was hung because the group had not been allowed to address the bishops' meeting or Pope John Paul II directly.
The 81-year-old pontiff has reaffirmed the church's ban on women in the priesthood, saying women should understand it was God's will.
"We would like this banner to encourage the pope, the bishops, and the curia to re-examine their attitude and position on this issue," Janice Sevre-Duszynska, who organised the project, said in a statement.
Sevre-Duszynska was briefly detained by four police detectives at the scene because the group did not have the necessary permit with them. She was released after a colleague arrived with documents saying the banner had received proper clearance.
Women's Ordination Worldwide, an international coalition, is taking part in a "shadow synod" which is going on alongside the official Vatican gathering. The shadow events are being organised by Catholic groups seeking to reform what they say is the oligarchical nature of the bishops' synod.
