


ORDINATION welcome Our site is dedicated to the campaign for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church. Many are curious about the subject and we offer a site rich in interesting material...
Welcome to Catholic Women's Ordination CWO began in March 1993 as a national (UK) group of women and men who care deeply about the Roman Catholic Church. We want to be a part of building a church community that truly lives the justice demanded by Jesus; a justice which demands that women be equal with men. Women equal with men means not only that women have the opportunity to fulfil their own vocation, but also that the Church community benefits from their experience and their strengths in the ministerial priesthood. We are a forum to examine, challenge and develop the current understanding of priesthood. We aim to achieve the ordination of women to a renewed priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church.
News... CWO has joined with other groups calling for reform in the RC Church to form Catholic Voices for Reform. We are holding a press conference: 10.30am - 12.30 pm - 7 September St Andrew's Church, Short Street, Waterloo. Document from the Vatican on clerical sexual abuse and the ordination of women... The inclusion of these two items in the same document has produced a huge response. CWO members have been interviewed by press, radio and TV. Despite Vatican protests that they are not relating these two "serious crimes against the faith", most people simply won't accept that. How can it be a serious crime against the faith to follow one's calling? What does it say to our sisters who are ministers in other Christian denominations? We have had many enquiries and supportive messages since this pronouncement and we welcome more, please contact us at: info@catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk Join us for this vigil... Wednesday, 15 September (Our Lady of Sorrows), the eve of the Pope's visit, we will have a vigil on the Piazza outside Westminster Cathedral 5.30 - 7.00 pm. Please join us if you can. CWO Annual Gathering Saturday, 2 October 2010... Click here for event PDF

Details of pope's Visit to UK... click here

CWO Mission Statement

We envision CWO as a movement campaigning within the Church for inclusivity and the radical transformation of kyriarchal* structures. We call for women's perspectives to enrich the Church's thinking and for women's gifts to enrich its ministry.

*kyriarchal is a word used by Elizabeth Schussler Fiorenza, the American scripture scholar to express the interlocking of multiple oppressions from a hierarchical system (e.g. - racism, sexism, classism, etc.)

We believe:-

that all creation is sacred and all women and men are imbued with the spirit of God.
in the call to Christian maturity
in the power of change and transformation
in a just, inclusive, loving Church where the equality of all is respected
in leadership emerging from within the community
in the call to ordination of both women and men

We commit to:-

educating others and ourselves towards a new understanding of what it is to be Church through a feminist theological perspective.
supporting and enabling each other on the journey towards an inclusive church
affirming one another in each one's vocation
exposing patriarchal interpretations of scripture and patriarchal structures

By:-

dialogue with our bishops and priests
personal study
group study
seeking financial assistance and encouraging prayerful giving for study and courses
networking with relevant groups and organisations
information gathering and sharing
hearing people's stories and empowering them
developing creative liturgies and space for creative expression
developing support strategies for example spiritual direction/companionship, telephone trees, E-mail, website
buying in administrative support to free members for other tasks
encouraging small groups to engage in money raising schemes to fund activities

We commit to:-

raising awareness through campaigning, publicity and our visibility
not being solely reactive but also being as proactive as we can
employing imaginative and creative processes of campaigning, publicising and being visible
persevering in order to develop strategies
targeting the "No discussion" policy by the Vatican

By:-

writing letters to the media in reaction but also to inform
using CWO Christmas cards, sending them in particular to Bishops, Catholic MP's, Priests, Nuns and other prominent Catholics
using "Funny Money" (cards containing statements that we will withhold money until oppressive structures change) in collections and other appropriate places
producing pamphlets, leaflets, stickers and newsletters to distribute as widely as possible
speaking to other groups about CWO and its vision for example youth groups, women's groups, study groups
entering into dialogue with Bishops locally and nationally
taking part in vigils
contributing to campaigns and awareness raising on Vocation Sunday

We commit to:-

the use of inclusive language in prayer, the mass and other liturgies
prayer as an integral part of CWO
developing and sharing different forms of liturgy

By:-

asking contemplative and active orders to pray for us
engaging in public prayer, public witness and public vigil
having shared times and shared forms of prayer
developing and collecting original liturgies to share
removing all sexist and other oppressive language from the liturgy
challenging others use of sexist hierarchical and other language

Catholic Women's Ordination prayer

Moved by a compulsion of the Holy Spirit
we cannot remain ignorant
of this injustice in our midst.
We long for all humanity
to be acknowledged as equal,
particularly among your community of the church,
so we pray grieving for the lost gifts
of so many women.
We ask you, God of all peoples,
to bring insight and humility
to all those in positions of dominance,
and an understanding that
the ascended Lord called us all to act
doing Christ's work here and now.
We ask this of you,
God our Creator
Jesus our Redeemer
Spirit our Sustainer

Lisieux Trust

CWO is a campaigning group which has a sister charity called the Lisieux Trust for Women's Ministry (Registered Charity No 1070747)

The charity was founded on the 28th April 1998 for the promotion of the Christian religion and particularly but not exclusively the ministry of women in the Catholic Church. It was set up by some members of Catholic Women's Ordination, to help in the educational process and provide grants for the preparation of conferences etc. To this effect three parts of funding have been established:

A general fund to cover small bursaries for day or short courses.
A dedicated fund to help those who write on liturgy to cover expenses for those disseminating their work.
For CWO members who pay by Direct Debit and who claim tax rebate on their subscriptions.

The trustees have endeavoured to hold an event on 1 October each year since the founding of the Trust to mark the feast day of St Thérèse of Lisieux, the patron saint of womens ordination. Speakers have included Edwina Gately, activist, speaker and writer and Tina Beattie, Professor of Theology at the University of Roehampton.

Prayer of thanks for Thérèse of Lisieux

God, you gave us our sister Thérèse, whose life, too short for us, was long enough to prove that no life, however brief, is without meaning.

Thérèse showed us a path to sanctity yet untrodden - her Little Way of life as a signpost to its fullness and completion. Through her we learned that in every moment of our lives the glory of the infinite is offered and may be grasped.

Grant us the simplicity of heart and let each of our moments dedicated to your service unite us with you. May our efforts be blessed by Thérèse who taught us how.

Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW!)

WOW is an international group of which CWO is a member. Groups from all over the world are involved in conference planning, letter writing campaigns and public action.

The first WOW conference was held in Dublin in 2001 and the second in Ottowa in 2005. You can find a diary of the WOW 2005 conference here (on our old website). You can visit WOW here.

There is also an archive of WOW material on the Housetop site here www.womenpriests.org/wow/