Women's Ordination

 

Greetings! The feast of St. Mary Magdalene, Apostle to the Apostles, is quickly approaching, and our members across the country are planning events to celebrate the woman called by Jesus to proclaim the Resurrection and the people of all genders whom God calls to ordained ministry today.  Vigils are planned in the following cities on Thursday, July 22: Chicago: 4:30 p.m. CST, Archbishop Quigley Center, 835 N. Rush St. Local contact: Claire DesHotels. Philadelphia: Morning vigil at Three Sisters Park. For details, reach out to local contact Lauren Barbato. Washington, D.C.: Candlelight vigil and procession to St. Matthew's Cathedral (1725 Rhode Island Ave. NW). Meet at Dupont Circle fountain at 8:00 p.m. EDT, with vigil at the steps of the Cathedral beginning at 8:15 p.m. Local contact: Greer Hamilton. If you'd like to participate and there's not a vigil in your location, don't worry! You can download our prayer card here (and in Spanish here). Consider wearing red (and including a paper red egg if you can!) and sharing a photo on social media with the hashtags #OrdainWomen and #ToutesApotres. You can tag us on Instagram @womensordination and on Twitter @OrdainWomen. Curious about the red egg? It's a symbol associated with Mary Magdalene that represents God expanding what humans think is possible: Read more here. We look forward to celebrating with you with a day of beauty and creativity! For any other questions, please connect Program Director Katie Lacz at klacz@womensordination.org.  Mary Magdalene Vigil Prayer Service with Toutes Apôtres! On Wednesday, July 21, at 8 p.m. CEST/2 p.m. Eastern Time (US) join our collaborators Toutes Apôtres! for "Toutes Soeurs" (All Hearts), an ecumenical, interfaith and inclusive prayer for the equality of women and people discriminated against within our religions. The event will be streamed live from Paris on their Facebook event page. The event will be in French, but a translated script can be obtained by emailing contact@toutesapotres.fr. The service will include a video statement in English from the Women's Ordination Conference. WOW 25th Anniversary Liturgy: Sunday, July 25 Our partner organizationWomen's Ordination Worldwide is celebrating its 25th anniversary with a feminist, inclusive Eucharistic liturgy on Sunday, July 25 at 4:00 p.m. CEST/10:00 a.m. US Eastern Daylight Time. All are welcome! Please register here.  Petition closes on July 22nd!  Add your name to our letter to Pope Francis The recent changes to canon law officially make ordaining a woman a crime punishable by excommunication.  We know that the vast majority of global Catholics see this for the ridiculous affront that it is, and reject these transparent efforts to silence women called by God.  That’s why we are renewing our ask for you to sign and share our petition to Pope Francis, which we will deliver to the Vatican on the feast day of Mary Magdalene.  Mary Magdalene fearlessly followed God’s call to “go forth and tell” the Good News of the Resurrection.  She did this, despite religious law that prohibited women as witnesses in court.  She did this against religious law.  She did this, and helped begin the Church on earth.  So we claim her as our patron saint as we continue to reject man-made laws that discriminate against women and hinder the work of proclaiming the Good News. We walk with her as model and guide as we fearlessly proclaim God’s love and inclusion.  Sign the letter to Pope Francis and share!  ‌  ‌  ‌  ‌ Donate to WOC