The Women's Ordination Conference is an organization in the United States that works to ordain women as

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian denominations, such as the Cathol ...

priests A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, ...

, and

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. Founded in 1975, the conference was seeded from an idea the year before, when Mary B. Lynch asked the people on her Christmas list if it was time to publicly ask "Should Catholic women be priests?" 31 women and one man answered yes, and thus a task force was formed and a national meeting was planned. The first gathering was held in

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

on the

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in October and November in the United States, Canada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Germany. It is also observed in the Australian territory ...

weekend of 1975, with nearly 2,000 people in attendance. Ruth Fitzpatrick was hired as the conference's national coordinator in 1977 and served in that role from 1977-78 and then returned to that role for a decade starting in 1985.

History

After its foundation in 1975, WOC became more prominent in 1979 during

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

's first visit to the United States. Three leaders of the group, including Ruth Fitzpatrick, led an all-night candlelight vigil outside the place where the Pope was staying the night before the pope's audience at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

During the pope's talk at the venue, Mercy Sr. Theresa Kane, then the leader of the

Leadership Conference of Women Religious The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) is one of two associations of the leaders of congregations of Catholic Church, Catholic Religious sister (Catholic), women religious in the United States (the other being the Council of Major Su ...

, asked the pope to permit women to serve in all ministries of the Catholic Church. The organization has also hosted several conferences after their inaugural event in 1975 in Detroit, with conferences in 1978 in Baltimore and 1995 in Washington, D.C. It has also hosted conferences in conjunction with Women's Ordination Worldwide in 2001 in Dublin, Ireland, and 2005 in Ottawa, Canada. Those two groups also hosted a conference in September 2015 in Philadelphia, just prior to

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

' first visit to the United States. In October 2018, WOC organized a peaceful protest outside the

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is a department of the Roman Curia in charge of the religious discipline of the Catholic Church. The Dicastery is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of t ...

in Rome to call for "Votes for Catholic Women" during the Fifteenth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops on "Young People, Faith, and Vocational Discernment." The "Votes for Catholic Women" campaign gained both liberal and conservative support in arguing that female religious superiors should be allowed to vote alongside male religious superiors at the Synod. Members of WOC and other Catholic reform groups clashed with Italian police during the protest.

Leadership and views

Kate McElwee is the executive director of the Women's Ordination Conference as of June 2022. WOC leaders frequently cite a conclusion of Catholic theologians from the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

's Pontifical Biblical Commission that found no scriptural basis for the exclusion of women from the Catholic priesthood. The conference has said

could refer to that finding to allow females into the priesthood. WOC draws upon a range of scriptural, historical, theological, and political material to promote women's ordination. These positions include Jesus's inclusion of women as his partners in ministry, evidence for women's leadership in the early church, the theological stance that women are capable of imaging Christ on earth, the church's evolution throughout history, the authenticity of women's vocations, and the sociopolitical outcomes of women's equal leadership.

Canonical status

As with another organization dedicated to the ordination of women in the Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Womenpriests, members of WOC that have attempted female Catholic ordination enter into state of automatic (

latae sententiae (Latin meaning: "of a judgment having been brought") and (Latin meaning: "of a judgment having to be brought") are ways sentences are imposed in the Catholic Church in its canon law. A penalty is a penalty the liability for which is imposed ...

) excommunication.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Women's Ordination ConferenceThe Women's Ordination Conference Records
are held by the Marquette University Special Collections and University Archives
"Guide to the Harriette Lane Baggett Papers"
Collection of Harriette Lane Baggett's papers from her activism in Catholic feminist organizations housed in the University of Dayton's U.S. Catholic Special Collection. Ordination of women and the Catholic Church People excommunicated by the Catholic Church Christian women's organizations Women's conferences Catholic dissident organizations Women's ordination activists

History

Leadership and views

Canonical status

See also

References

External links