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eNews Jan - Feb 2020 Issue 120

stand for women!in your parish

vocations sunday May 3rd

and on

international women’s day

8th March, 2020

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in this issueJan - Feb 2020

TIME FOR CHANGE!PAGE

3 - 5 STAND UP for WOMEN on VOCATIONS SUNDAY, 3rd May. Here’s your DIY kit to lead your own witness where you live. Or join ours worldwide!

6 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY, Sunday 8th March; our chance to link in with Future Church, CWC and others.

7 - 9 QUERIDA AMAZONIA - our responses. Tell Future Church what you think!

10 - 12 Calling GERMAN translators! and CWO Saints and Sales.

Querida Amazonia. Has it opened the door to us in an oblique way? It seemed to be yet another slam in our faces. What is has done is to fire us up. So join our witness! Stand for women on Vocations Sunday, 3rd May, and on International Women’s Day, 8th March. We have to show the Church our equality and dignity. And we have to do it NOW!

On the following pages, pick up the links and info to do your own thing in your own parish, or join our longstanding witnesses on 3rd May at Westminster Cathedral and Clifton Cathedral. Or our ACTA friends at St Chad’s, Birmingham. It’s never too soon to start planning. And we’re here to help, to support, and to lead the way with you,

Mary Ring, Editor. news@catholic-womens-ordination.co.uk

https://www.facebook.com/CatholicWomensOrdination/

http://catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk/

https://twitter.com/CWOcampaign

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DIY KITvocations sunday 3rd May

Feel that it’s time to make a stand in your own parish?Fed up of being asked to pray for MALE vocations?

Here’s your easy DIY kit Be part of our global campaign!

1. Gather friends and supporters who will stand outside your church with you on 3rd May. Wear purple for CWO, or white for solidarity - scarves are an easy way to do this. Be inclusive, happy and open!

2. DOWNLOAD WOW Posters & Prayers: (right)http://womensordinationcampaign.org - scroll down to RESOURCES to find these.

3. Tell the Local PressLet your local press know what you are doing.See our simple Press Release template on page 4. They are often intrigued & may well get

in touch with you.

4. Social MediaSend us your pics for FaceBook pages (remember to get permission).

5. Consult us! - we’re with you every step of the way. We can send you CWO business cards, templates for prayer-cards to hand out, and lots of support.

info@catholic-womens-ordination.co.uk news@catholic-womens-ordination.co.uk.07904 210010 07968 390420

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Sample press releaseContact: Your name, phone number & email goes at the top

On Sunday morning, 3rd May, specify the time, when the Roman Catholic Church prays for

vocations to the priesthood, Catholic Women’s Ordination will lead a prayerful witness at specify

the place, asking WHERE ARE THE MISSING WOMEN?

We invite everyone to JOIN US!

We grieve that our Church, who should promote justice for all, still tries to silence us. By

refusing all voice to women - not one woman out of 1.2 billion Catholics has a vote in the Vatican -

the Church still refuses to see us as people, equal in dignity and personhood.

Without women in leadership and ordination, the Church will not survive, nor will it deserve

to. CWO has called for women to be part of a renewed and inclusive priesthood for 25 years now.

We invite support from all who care for justice, dignity and equality, and for the urgent

need for change in the Church, to JOIN US at specify place on Sunday morning. CWO will also be

holding prayer vigils at Westminster Cathedral and Clifton Cathedral at the same time, linked

worldwide, calling urgently for change.

Email Mary Ring for this template & logos: news@catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk

On Vocations Sunday, 3rd May 2020, Catholic Women’s Ordination and friends will lead a prayerful witness linked worldwide outside specify name of Church / Cathedral asking

WHERE ARE THE MISSING WOMEN?

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or join uson the piazzas!

CWO and friends will be witnessing in prayer on Sunday 3rd May.Just come along! Or get in touch.

Westminster Cathedral 10.00 - 12.30: pat@patbrown-at.co.uk

St Chad’s Cathedral Members of ACTA welcome any friends to join them for a silent prayer vigil 09.30 - 12.30 mjriordan@hotmail.co.uk

CLIFTON CATHEDRAL, Bristol,10.00 - 12.30. Wear some purple or white for women, and stand with us!news@catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk

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international women’s day

sunday 8th march

LEICESTER Market Place, LE1 5GGMeet at the statue of Alice Hawkins, suffragette, at 11.00,

to pray, sing, carry posters & walk for women to Holy Cross Church. Contact Liz Maitland: recovery4wellbeing@gmail.com

For INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAYClick on

https://www.futurechurch.org/women-in-church-leadership/women-in-church-leadership/join-women-around-world-to-witness-for-womens

to organise your own Action, like Liz in Leicester. And let us know!

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queriDaamazonia

CWO expresses its deep disappointment at Pope Francis’sExhortation:

https://catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk

After the outcry that he seemed to ignore the request of the Synod that the Church ordain married men and women deacons, some commentators wonder whether he is in fact leaving

all the Synod proposals on the table for the faithful simply to get on with.

eNews found these two commentaries perceptive:

https://www.futurechurchnews.org/article/futurechurch-signs-onto-press-release-for-catholic-womens-councils-response-to-querida-amazonia

https://international.la-croix.com/news/time-to-bury-the-clergy-centered-church/11855

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The eNews postbag is bulgingin response to our Q Amazonia Press Release

We have never had such a response before. eNews shares the gist with you.

To say l feel saddened is an understatement. I despair.

I thought I’d stepped away, but I find the anger and underlying heart-break, can still be stirred/ triggered.

One wonders what crisis could possibly compel the conservatives to wake up and smell the coffee?

I thought Pope Francis had been devolving more to Bishops' Conferences. Obviously not in 2020.

How very sad that His Holiness has missed another opportunity to move towards equality in the priesthood.

I suppose we underestimate the centuries of fear about women threatening male power in the church, and we also overestimate the pope’s own power to effect change.

Absolute power clearly corrupts absolutely. People on the ground will do what they need to do to thrive.

Terribly disappointed!

But as we all stepped back to think and read, the messages became more optimistic:

Well said! it seems that the ostrich approach dominates. We must not give up however!Keep up the good work!

Hope springs eternal!

Although the Pope has yet again 'shut the door against our hopes’, no-one can quench our hopes.

The obvious solution is to de-clericalise all ministry.

We should be glad: now we can do what we think is just and right. No more clericalism at all.

Change always comes from the grassroots.

“This means the end of the papacy as commander-in-chief. Pope Francis is saying 'Go ahead and follow the lead of the Spirit.’” (CCRI Press Release, 15th Feb, 2020).

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querida amazoniahave your say

https://www.futurechurch.org

Go to the homepage of Future Church to click on their survey, above.Or click directly on the link below, to share your views.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/QueridaAmazonia_Response

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WOW at the UN!Kate, Miriam and Therese in a groundbreaking submission at the UN

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Können sieDeutsch

übersetzen?*can you translate german?*

Calling all German translators! The Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research needs your help.

WICR have some wonderful new documents from Wir Sund Kirche (We are Church) about ways to reform church ministry in a more democratic and gender-equal way, and would be grateful for some volunteer help with them.

Some of it is fairly academic, but all of it is fascinating to those of us looking to reform our Church.

Translations can be done at your own pace, no urgent deadlines.

Contact Dr Luca Badini, Director of Research, above, for a chat: luca.badini@wijngaardsinstitute.com

* Thanks, Google-translate. eNews wishes it spoke German.

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CWO SaintsMary MacKillop Ruth Norton John Hatfield Celia Greenwood Michael O’Gara Sheila Houlihan Mary Daly Estelle White Pat McCarron Marcella Althaus-Reid Astrid Klemz Jean Palmer Elizabeth Rendall Maureen Brown Tissa Balasuriya Jack Sutcliffe Pat Regini Mary Ann Schoettly Pam Skelton Robert Kaggwa Mike Ward Anne Hepburn Peter Nelson Stanley Baxter David Konstant Eileen Sikorski Fr Kevin Kelly Fr Owen Hardwicke Jackie Hawkins Peter Seddon Veronica Seddon Sr. Catherine Houlihan

Pray for us

Prayer LinkWednesday between 6.00 and 7.00pm, please pray for CWO, its members and its mission.

Saturdays at noon, join with women and men all over the world to pray for the work of Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW).

Please take part in one or both of these prayer networks if and when you can.

The CWO Prayer

Moved by a compulsion of the Holy Spirit, we cannot remain ignorant of this injustice in our midst. We long for al l 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 posi t ions 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, Spir i t our Sustainer.

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CWO Merchandise These items are great way to advertise CWO without costing you very much. I often see people in my rear view mirror admiring the wit of my car sticker! says Pat Brown.

You can leave the pens lying around in places where it might be difficult to leave a CWO leaflet. The badges attract a lot of attention with the slogan based on the letters of ROME. We now have mugs which as well as being practical are a good way of advertising CWO. You might like to send one to your bishop!

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AWAKENING

Catholic Women’s Ordination from the Public Square,

by Myra Poole and Pippa Bonner.

£10.00 post free, from info@catholic-womens-ordination.org.uk

address as above for CWO Merchandise