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.
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:
- What we believe in
- Arguments for and against ordination of women
- What we do
- How you can join us
- What action you can take
- Where can you read about or study the subject further
- Take part in our discussion forum
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 Womens 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. The next will be in 2010 in California (venue to be confirmed). A member of CWO has been the co-ordinator for WOW since 2006.
Please note that a new WOW website is under construction - we will publish the address here when their new website launches. We are also maintaining our old site here which has a section with WOW related articles in.
There is also an archive of WOW material on the Housetop site here www.womenpriests.org/wow/
