The Synod of Bishops, with its focus on synodality and collaboration, presents a pivotal opportunity for the Church to listen to the People of God and open the path toward greater inclusion. However, WOW is critical of the Vatican's continued exclusion of women from the priesthood and the diaconate, an injustice that limits the Church’s ability to be a truly synodal and collaborative community. Despite these disappointments, we remain hopeful in the Holy Spirit’s guidance and confident that the body of the Church—represented by the faithful around the world—supports the ordination of women.
WOW’s sponsored gatherings during the Synod provide a unique lens into the growing global movement advocating for the ordination of women and reflect the voices of those who believe the Church can only be whole when it embraces all its members. As feminist theologians, activists, and Catholics deeply committed to justice, we will continue to be an uncompromising voice for the full equality of women and LGBTQ+ people in the life of the Church. We call upon the Vatican to model the Church of equals that Christ envisioned, where all are welcome at the table.
The Holy Spirit is at work in the Church today, moving us towards a more just and inclusive future. We trust that through the collaborative efforts of the faithful, women’s voices and vocations will no longer be ignored but will be embraced as essential to the Church’s mission. The creative witness we bring to Rome is not only a sign of hope, but a prophetic call for the Church to live out the Gospel's message of radical equality and love. We are confident that our work, together with the support of Catholics around the world, will inspire lasting change.
A look back at WOW’s efforts in 2023 and prior:
Press Release 05 October 2023: Women’s Ordination Advocates Prepare for March to the Vatican Asking: Pope Francis, How Long Must Women Wait for Equality?
Press Release 04 October 2023: Campaigners Mark the Start of the Synod with Women Led Liturgy and Demonstration Outside the Vatican
wow synod Events 03 October to 06 October 2023
Events on the Ground in Rome this Week:
As Pope Francis convenes the historic Synod on Synodality this week, Women’s Ordination Worldwide, and global partners, will host several events on the prophetic edges of the Vatican with the simple message for Pope Francis and the synod assembly: walk with women as equals. Details are here:
Tuesday, 3rd October - 4:30 pm GMT +2
Prayer vigil: Let Her Voice Carry
Live-Streamed: https://www.youtube.com/ordainwomen
Location of the vigil not widely publicised due to security concerns. Any media who would like to attend should contact us directly.
We will host a prayer vigil featuring the stories and testimonies of women worldwide praying for the courageous inclusion of women’s voices during the synodal gathering. Following the prayer service, WOW invites attendees and press to a drinks reception. (For details please contact us)
Wednesday, 4th October - 7:30- 8:30 am GMT +2
Widen the space of your tent action and delivery to Synod Office
Lungotevere Castello (Angolo Largo dei Mutilati ed Invalidi di Guerra)
On the opening day of the Synod, advocates for women’s ordination will offer a visual display of the synodal tent in a message that reflects the Synod’s official mission statement to Enlarge the space of your tent (Isaiah 54:2). We will then process to the Synod office and deliver more than 1000 symbolic squares of extra material for the Vatican to enlarge the space of their tent to include the voices of those who support opening all ordained ministries to all genders. Each piece of fabric represents a person from the grassroots calling for a larger, colorful, wide-open tent where all are included.
Friday, 6th October - 3 pm (activists gather at 2:30) GMT+2
Walk with Women: March to the Vatican
Route begins at San Giovanni dei Fiorentini (Via Acciaioli, 2) via Lungotevere Castello and concludes at St. Peter’s Square
At the Opening Mass of the Synod in 2021, Pope Francis said: ‘The Holy Spirit always surprises us, to suggest fresh paths and new ways of thinking.’ Let’s make our Walk with Women a fresh path to full equality in the church.
Global advocates for women’s ordination will process from the site of a relic of the foot of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, and walk peacefully to St. Peter’s Square. Inspired by US suffragist movements, advocates will carry messages such as: Pope Francis, How Long Must Women Wait for Equality? and Resistance to Patriarchy is Obedience to God.
WOW Is On the Ground in Rome: Our first press release: The Men are Talking, the Women are Walking! Advocates for Women’s Ordination Launch Prayerful Demonstrations in Rome and Respond to Dubious Dubia! 03 October 2023
‘As Women’s Ordination Worldwide launches a series of demonstrations to mark the opening of the Synod on Synodality, senior clerics remain fixated on silencing and excluding women. Five cardinals have submitted a new set of five dubia (doubts), to Pope Francis focusing on women’s ordination, as well as the blessing of same-sex unions and the authority of the synod to issue binding teaching… Pope Francis responds and now WOW responds.’
Let Her Voice Carry: Women at the Synod
Please consider making a solidarity gift to strengthen our efforts. Our witness at the upcoming Synod of Bishops in Rome in October 2023 is essential to ensure women’s voices, experiences, stories, and vocations are not erased or silenced in the synodal process. We will work for accountability to the grassroots, and be an uncompromising voice for equitable inclusion of women at every level of our church. Through the link below, various opportunities for giving show how you can help.
WOW at the Synod October 2023:
Women’s Ordination Worldwide will in Rome in October for the Synod of Bishops! Join us!
Our witness is essential to ensure women’s voices, experiences, stories and vocations are not erased or silenced in the synodal process. We continue to work for accountability to the grassroots, and be an uncompromising voice for equitable inclusion of women at every level of our Church.
We see our presence as an extension of the synodal tent where we can model synodal authenticity, amplify the voices most silenced by the institutional church and creatively and boldly ensure that there is no synod about us without us.
On October 3, on the eve of the Vatican’s synod, we will host a prayer vigil featuring the voices of women worldwide.
On October 6, we are organising a Walk With Women. This procession through Rome to the synod will encourage the church to walk alongside women as equals throughout the synodal path. We’ll be offering virtual ways for you to walk within your community.
Women’s Ordination Worldwide celebrates the feast of Mary Magdalene 2023
Hosted by Cape Town Open Table Community
RCWP in South Africa
Press Release: WOW Responds to Vatican Decision to Give a Handful of Women Voting Rights in Synod April 28, 2023
The Vatican has taken a step in the right direction with its decision to grant a small group of non-ordained people, including women, voting rights in the October 2023 Synod General Assembly but WOW urges caution in expecting radical inclusivity anytime soon. More pressure on the Vatican is needed to recognise that it is women who suffer the consequences of institutional sexism and not the priests and Bishops who fear becoming ‘victims’ by virtue of a handful of women sharing in decision making. Read our Press Release here.
Sunday April 30 | Where you are!
Vocations Sunday is coming: get the toolkit!
On Vocations Sunday, April 30, the institutional church prays for an increase in vocations to the priesthood. But there is no shortage of potential priests. Women are ready, willing, and called to ordained ministry.
Inspired by Pink Shoes into the Vatican witnesses in New Zealand, we’ll be walking the walk for equality. We’ll use the symbol of empty shoes to offer a visual representation of vocations unanswered, those who have walked away, and those walk the prophetic edge of the church, longing for full equality for all of its members.
Join us! Download the comprehensive toolkit designed by WOW member group Women’s Ordination Conference. Learn how to take action in your local community, including a liturgy and social media resources.
Be sure to send us photos of your walk!
World Day of Prayer for Women’s Ordination
March 25, 2023
On March 25, 2023, the Feast of the Annunciation
join with WOW as we mark
World Day of Prayer for Women’s Ordination
On March 25, the Feast of the Annunciation, we mark the annual World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination. This year, join us for a 30-minute virtual prayer service with the theme of "Our Lady of the Way": an ancient name for Mary with contemporary resonance as we walk the synodal way towards a renewed Church with renewed priesthood for all genders.
This year’s prayer service is organised by our USA member group Women’s Ordination Conference
Details: Saturday March 25, 2023
4 p.m. CEST Central European Summer Time
11:30 am ET Eastern Time in North and South America
Registration is required Click here to register
Please share this information with your networks! Thank you.
It is always a joy to pray together with you.
Click here to register
-In WOW News - Truth is Stronger than the Stupid Lie: Roman Catholic Priest [and one of WOW’s Founding Mothers] Ida Raming - by Christiane Florin 27 December 2022 - click here
-In Our Blog — Pope Benedict and Women: An Unworthy Legacy by Professor Denise Couture 13 January 2023 — click here
Women’s Ordination Worldwide Responds to Death of Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI - December 31, 2022
Today, Women’s Ordination Worldwide marks the death of Joseph Ratzinger, an academic who understood church history better than most and began his clerical life as a liberal theologian knowing full well that women were equal founding leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. However, as head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office for decades, and later as pope, Benedict XVI caused immense harm through his fixation on the ‘crimes’ of Catholics seeking equality, inclusion and justice…
We pray for the repose of the soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict and for the healing of divisions that his intransigent theology deepened within the church.
Women's Ordination Advocates Detained at Vatican
On August 29, as Pope Francis convened an extraordinary two-day meeting of the world’s cardinals, a delegation of Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) processed towards the Vatican carrying red parasols with messages of inclusion and reform. Making their way toward the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, the women welcomed the prelates with the message: “Remember your sisters who remain outside.” WOW is an international leader in creative, prayerful action bringing visibility to the urgent need for the full equality of women in the Catholic church.
After respectfully greeting several cardinals, the group was detained and later escorted across St. Peter’s Square to the local police station. The parasols, which in part read: “Sexism is a cardinal sin;” “Ordain women;” “Reform means women;” and “It’s reigning men,” were confiscated and the international group of seven women were detained for more than four hours, released “pending investigation.”
Women’s Ordination campaigners light up the Vatican
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.
Zoom Around the World with WOW:
Christian mission from the theological perspective of Asian Women
Liturgy for the Feast St. Hildegard of Bingen
Join us for a special Eucharistic liturgy for the Feast of St. Hildegard of Bingen on September 17, 2022 with Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer from the Hildegard Haus in Fairport Harbor, OH presiding. All are welcome.
Virtual Eucharist for Pentecost - June 4th, 2022
WOW and We Are Church Austria warmly invite you to a Zoom celebration of the Eucharist June 4th at 4pm CET, 10 am ET (USA). Please wear red!
Virtual Eucharist for the Feast of the Annunciation
South African Roman Catholic Women Priests & WOW warmly invite you to a Zoom celebration of the Eucharist for The Feast of the Annunciation, March 27th 2022 @ 4pm South Africa (10 a.m. EDT)
Yes, I support women’s ordination in the Roman Catholic Church!
Joining WOW is one of the best ways to cultivate international solidarity among women’s ordination advocates and support one another in the important work of equality for women.
Happy Anniversary, WOW!
Pentecost: Sophia Spirit Come!
Join WOW for an inclusive Eucharist on Zoom, hosted by member group, WATAC (Women and the Australian Church) on May 16th at 8 p.m. (ACT), Noon (Central European); 6 a.m. (Eastern US)
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.
Pope Francis Nudges Canon Law in the Right Direction
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.
WOW Stands in Solidarity with Tony Flannery
“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. ”
WOW sounds the alarm over newly appointed commission on women deacons
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… Read our statement
Press Release 13 February 2020 —Pope Francis Drops the Ball for Women in his Exhortation on the Amazon
WOW responds to Francis on Querida Amazonia: ‘…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 an opportunity to make a breakthrough for women, he opts to perpetuate the shameful elitist man club that is held up by the second class status of women who do most of the work with none of the recognition….’ Read more here
New Resource - Thomas Aquinas and Women's Ordination: a snapshot look at how Aquinas helped define Vatican impoverished understanding of women — ‘women —misbegotten men'.’
New Feature - Timeline of Work for Catholic Women’s Ordination in Context of Women’s Ordination Worldwide
New Feature — our blog Working for Women’s Equality and Ordination in the Roman Catholic Church
WOW responds to the Amazon Synod conclusion that women’s ministry requires further study
Catholic Women Are Called
We know that Catholic women are called by God and by their communities: called to priesthood, to equality, and to full participation in the life of the Church.
We also know that too often, their call remains untold, dismissed, or rejected by the institutional Church.
That's why Women's Ordination Worldwide and Women's Ordination Conference are launching Catholic Women Called - a new video storytelling series of women called to renewed priesthood. Whether ordained, on the path to ordination, or living with the tension within the institutional Church, women long to share the truth of their vocation with the world.
Longing for the Sun of Justice
Sun of Justice, rise up in our time.
Shine into your people
that the world may hear you.
Be merciful, O God.
Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) celebrates the feast of St. Mary Magdalene (22 July) with the launch of Dr. Annette Esser’s beautiful original painting, "Longing for the Sun of Justice." The painting symbolizes women’s calling to priesthood, not granted by men in the church, but through Christ.
The painting shows two dissimilar hands varied in shape and color, joining together to resemble a chalice, illuminated by a blazoned sun in the place of a host along a horizon. You may also notice a small cross in the middle of the sun. Made whole and Holy by one another, the hands are united in the Sun, in Christ.
WOW reaffirms our call for the institutional Church to rid itself of the sin of sexism and model unconditional equality by opening up all ministries to Catholic women who have the talent and vocation to serve their communities as St. Mary Magdalene did.
On the Feast of the "Apostle to the Apostles," we are reminded that Mary Magdalene followed Jesus' call to go and tell the Good News of the Resurrection, inspiring women for centuries to answer God's call to preach, minister, and live the Gospel message of equality.
Artist: © Annette Esser, Oil and Gold on Canvas, 40x50cm (2017)
To purchase a signed print on canvas in the original size (40 x 50 cm) for 120 Euro, shipping included contact the WOW Leadership Circle.
