We love lists -- and we love celebrating the milestones of our small and mighty organization. It can be easy to lose sight of what it means to maintain and grow a global campaign for women's equality in the Catholic Church, but because of your unwavering support, we have so much to be proud of on this journey.
And while it may be long, we are more determined and hopeful than ever that our work will bear delicious, radical, and liberating fruits. Please join us on a
WOC down memory lane as we reflect on our persistence on the path for justice in the past decade.
1. First, is it any surprise? "Ordain a Lady" was the ear-worm of the decade! Sorry, not sorry, for bringing this classic back. With more than 230K views, this tune is still getting the attention it deserves.
2. "Knock, knock! Who's there? More than half the Church" was the chant of the decade, calling global attention to the Vatican's decision-making bodies that marginalize women and deny them voting rights.
3. Gender, Gospel and Global Justice - WOW 2015 brought close to 500 advocates, theologians, and activists to Philadelphia from 18 countries and continues to inspire connections, liturgies, and conversations. We were honored to grant the Theresa Kane Award for Courage to four recipients with Sr. Theresa in attendance, and welcome Sr. Teresa Forcades to the U.S. for a keynote address. After WOW 2015, women priests put their bodies on the line in Washington, D.C., drawing Pope Francis' eyes to their signs.
4. The one-of-a-kind Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship launched in 2016, and has since awarded $15,000 to women and non-binary persons to support their academic and ministerial paths toward priesthood.
5. On the Feast of St. Thérèse of Lisieux a purple banner reading "Ordain Women" was dropped off the Castel Sant'Angelo bridge, honoring all women called to priesthood, including St. Thérèse.
6. After several years of collaborating with Saint Joan's International Alliance at the Commission on the Status of Women meetings at the United Nations in New York, we received notice that our application for consultative status as an NGO was approved! WOC will host two parallel events this March to continue our calls for women's rights and rites.
7. During the Jubilee Year of Mercy, we hosted our own Jubilee for Women Priests in Rome, with a dialogue with priests, theologians, and advocates at the International House for Women in Rome. We received our first permit to hold a demonstration, and worked through Italian bureaucracy to have 100 posters of women priests hung around the Vatican.
8. The Nun Justice Movement mobilized Catholics to stand up for the sisters of LCWR, with demonstrations in dozens of cities across the U.S. WOC delivered the Nun Justice petition with more than 65,000 signatures to the bishops during their 2012 meeting, and we kept the pressure on until the investigation by the Vatican was over. We continue to stand in solidarity with the sisters -- the heart of the Church -- and welcomed Benedictine sisters Joan Chittister and Teresa Forcades in dialogue at "Radicals and the Rule" in 2019.
9. In 2018 we hired a dedicated Latinx Outreach Coordinator, Lilian Medina Romero, to expand our Spanish resources and work as a community organizer through our project, Eschuchando a las Mujeres.
10. Not black or white smoke, but pink smoke rose over the Vatican just ahead of Pope Francis' election, bringing international media attention to the movement for women's equality and calling out exclusionary decision-making processes that silence women.
... I could keep going and going! If you remember any of these highlights or helped make them happen: Thank you! I encourage you to make your own list and celebrate the work you have done for women's equality in the Catholic Church.
And while you have my email open, please take this moment to renew your commitment to women's ordination and equality with a gift of $20.20 or more today. Your gift ensures we can continue to be vibrant, vocal, and visible as we "WOC" toward equality.
Thank you for a decade of courageous and creative change-making.
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