Pre-Conference Event: Witness Wagon Tour - Prophetic Witness in Action

Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW)
Second International Conference
Breaking Silence, Breaking Bread: Christ Calls Women to Lead
Ottawa, Canada
July 22 - 24, 2005

PRE-CONFERENCE EVENT

Witness Wagon Tour - Prophetic Witness in Action

In prophetic witness for women world-wide who hear a call to ordination in their Catholic faith tradition, women and men from around the globe will visit religious centers and memorial sites that honor women as prophetic leaders

More than a tour, the Witness Wagon will celebrate the Call of Women to Priestly Ministry as we proclaim the new 'good news' across the Northeast of the U.S., from the American national capital to the Canadian national capital. Along the way we will meet with WOC regional groups to share ideas. On this historic tour - the first of its kind ever offered - we will visit sites relating to the history of women's rights - especially as these God-given rights relate to women's religious hopes and spiritual ideals in the development of America and its culture.

  1. Thursday - Friday, July 14-15. Join us for the Two-Day Pre-Tour in DC-area, including witnessing before the U.S. bishops.
  2. Saturday July 16 - Friday July 22, 2005 - Full-length tour
  3. Tuesday July 19 - Friday July 22, 2005 - Short tour
  4. After the WOW2005 conference, the Tour returns July 24 and 25

The Full-length Tour begins in Washington, DC, then on to Baltimore and historic Maryland, the birthplace of Catholic America. The WOW/USA caravan crosses Amish country toPhiladelphia - the birthplace of religious liberty in a Quaker setting. In New York City, see where the social justice movement began, including the Dorothy Day and Mother Seton houses . . . and meet the press.

The full length tour then joins the Short Tour as it starts in Boston, the home of witch trials and women mystics, Mary Daly and the Harvard University chapel. At Seneca Falls, NY, stand where the Women's Rights Movement in America began and participate as guests of honor in an anniversary day festival! In Rochester, NY - greeting by the Spiritus Christi faith community, see the original home of Susan B. Anthony AND meet foremothers of the Women's Ordination movement (WOC) in America. In Canada's capital, Ottawa, WOW greeters will meet us at the shrine to Canada's "Famous Five" women's suffrage activists.

POST-CONFERENCE LEADERSHIP COURSE
Women in Action: Re-Visioning Church Leadership
Monday, July 25, 2005

Women put words into action!

WOW participants are invited to a training session on becoming effective leaders in their spiritual communities. This hands-on course will include topics such as discerning one's call to leadership, re-imagining women's leadership, and understanding empowerment as a service to the community. This training will be geared towards a wide audience - activists, parish ministers, and ordained women will all learn practical skills while sharing their experiences as leaders. Participants will have an opportunity to discuss, in small groups, issues such as: starting a house church, leadership for ordained women, and choosing women leaders. The United States-based Women's Ordination Conference is organizing this training as part of their year-long 30th Anniversary Celebration.

POST-CONFERENCE BUS TOURS

There will be a two-hour tour of Ottawa, costing between $7.50 and $15.00 CAD or between $6.00 and $12.00 USD, depending on how many sign up. An eight-hour trip to Montreal and back is proposed for Monday, July 25 should there be sufficient interest. Cost will be approximately $35.00 CAD or $28.00 USD, not including lunch.