Volume 25, Number 3    December 2003

WOC: Women in ministry are today's prophets

“A heretic teaches what the church doesn’t. A prophet teaches what the church doesn’t—yet,” said Genevieve Chavez, Executive Director of Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC), in reference to the pioneers who have been fighting for a ‘theology of inclusivity’ for almost a century.

Chavez traced the years of effort to “dismantle the oldest and biggest sexist institution in the world,” the Vatican. Since 1911, when Britain’s St. Joan’s Alliance worked with the suffrage movement to include ordination, to landmarks such as the first Women’s Ordination Conference, Detroit, 1975; to bringing to light Ludmila Javorova’s ordination in the Czech underground church; to the ordination of seven women in June, 2002 on the Danube River, the WOC has consistently pushed the Roman Catholic Church to be inclusive at all levels.
Inclusivity is not only about women. “You can’t just simply add women and stir and expect all of the problems of hierarchy to go away,” said Chavez, mother of four boys. “We will push reform past ordination. Our work toward liberation of Catholics includes the liberation of all people.”

Joy Barnes, who is succeeding Chavez and also coordinates WOC’s Young Feminist Network and co-chairs the Women-Church Convergence coalition, described three current WOC strategies:

!. The ‘Ministry of Irritation’ at the grassroots level challenges church policies through public actions, prayerful protests and “Ordain Women Now” billboard campaigns in Chicago, Detroit and other cities.
2. The ‘Ministry of Walking with Women Called’ offers resources, support, and dialogue to women who feel called to the priesthood. Barnes says that WOC is witnessing powerful examples of “women just doing it!”
3. The ‘Ministry of Prophetic Obedience’ identifies women and communities who want to move forward with community-based ordinations. “WOC will help make it happen,” said Barnes.

WOC is on the Web at www.womensordination.org WOC's 30th anniversary is in 2005. That year will also see the Second International Women's Ordination Now (WOW) conference July 22-24 in Ottawa, Canada. The first WOW event was in Dublin in 2001, where the Vatican tried but failed to prevent Joan Chittister from attending and delivering an historic address.