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about the movement
ABOUT THE #GODSAYSNOW MOVEMENT
The #GodSaysNow movement is a community that places itself at the service of God’s desire to see women ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church. We are joyfully activating the vast hidden support for the ordination of women as priests to make this issue impossible for the Church to ignore. Through our discipleship we are drawn into deeper communion with God and one another, and we become an expression of what the Catholic Church looks like when a woman is given the chance to participate as a priest-pastor. The movement models what we call the Church to embrace, and through our sacrifice, God makes visible that there is nothing to fear, only everything to gain.
GOALS OF THE MOVEMENT
The movement has two goals. The first is to see that priesthood included in the upcoming study on the role of women in the Church that is scheduled to take place from November 2024 to June 2025 as part of the Synod on Synodality. The second is to create a situation where the group recommends the ordination of women as priests as a matter of justice in June 2025.
The #GodSaysNow movement is a community that places itself at the service of God’s desire to see women ordained as priests in the Roman Catholic Church. We are joyfully activating the vast hidden support for the ordination of women as priests to make this issue impossible for the Church to ignore. Through our discipleship we are drawn into deeper communion with God and one another, and we become an expression of what the Catholic Church looks like when a woman is given the chance to participate as a priest-pastor. The movement models what we call the Church to embrace, and through our sacrifice, God makes visible that there is nothing to fear, only everything to gain.
GOALS OF THE MOVEMENT
The movement has two goals. The first is to see that priesthood included in the upcoming study on the role of women in the Church that is scheduled to take place from November 2024 to June 2025 as part of the Synod on Synodality. The second is to create a situation where the group recommends the ordination of women as priests as a matter of justice in June 2025.
LEADERSHIP BIOS
JAVIER BENAVIDEZ
Lead #GodSaysNow Organizer
Javier Benavidez has a 25-year background in community organizing and has helped lead many David and Goliath endeavors throughout his career, including wins around environmental justice, democracy policy, and strategies to dismantle poverty. He is a proud Native New Mexican son of a public school teacher from Albuquerque’s South Valley and a civil rights attorney from the Acequia Madre community in Santa Fe. Most recently he served as an organizer for four years with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) and a coalition of social justice-oriented institutions in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Prior to working for IAF, Javier managed several public policy campaigns and served for three years as Executive Director of the Southwest Organizing Project. Javier has worked with various elected officials, including as then-Congressman (now U.S. Senator) Martin Heinrich's Speechwriter and Communications Liaison. Javier has two master’s degrees from the University of New Mexico (urban planning and public administration) and earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Santa Clara University, a Jesuit university in California. He is the proud father of four children: Mario (17), EJ (11), Felix (9), and Eva (7).
FATHER ANNE
Pastor of the #GodSaysNow movement
Father Anne was ordained on October 16, 2021 in Albuquerque, NM through the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and is now an independent Roman Catholic priest. She has a deep love of the Society of Jesus and Ignatian spirituality, which blossomed over twelve years of ministering with Jesuits. She earned a Master of Divinity from Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA, and has worked in multiple Jesuit parishes. Her deepest desire is to serve as a Jesuit priest in a parish within the institutional Church. In addition to her formation in the Roman Catholic Church, Father Anne has a Master’s degree in Rhetoric and Writing Studies from San Diego State University, along with 25 years of experience in strategic communications, professional writing, and marketing and promotions. She harnesses this background in working for a priesthood that welcomes women.
faqsWHY CAN'T WOMEN BE ORDAINED?
Women are prevented from ordination to priesthood by a theologized sexism rooted in a long-standing fundamentalist interpretation of scripture that is supported by a simplistic historical narrative that erases both the participation of women and their long fight for inclusion in ordained ministries. In the modern era, Pope John II published Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and ineffectively declared this issue closed. Since then, calls for the ordination of women as priests have only grown louder at every level of the Church, with even some bishops and cardinals supporting the ordination of women as priests. IF THE CHURCH DOES NOT ORDAIN WOMEN, HOW IS FATHER ANNE A CATHOLIC PRIEST? Father Anne was ordained in October 2021 through the Roman Catholic Woman Priest movement. The RCWP movement began in 2002 when male bishops ordained seven women as priests on the Danube River. The following year several of those women were ordained as bishops. Those female bishops have been ordaining women as priests and bishops since. There are now approximately 260 RCWP priests across the world. Father Anne is not a part of the RCWP movement, but is an independent priest. Direct all questions about this movement to Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan at [email protected]. Find out more at arcwp.org. WHY DOES FATHER ANNE USE THE TITLE FATHER? The priest is one of the most powerful symbols in the Roman Catholic tradition. The priest symbol, like the sacraments, makes present hidden realities of God so that we can encounter them more fully. However, because the symbol is restricted to the male form alone, it produces a lopsided encounter with God, limiting the full range of experiences God desires to bestow upon us. This robs us of a more full understanding of God's nature, God's desires, and God's invitations to us. This misunderstanding of God produces the subjugation of women against God's desires. A central part of Father Anne's ministry is to expand this rich symbol with the female form. She is exactly like any male priest: she is celibate, she wears the Roman collar, she uses the Roman Missal and its traditional Catholic prayers, and she uses the title "Father." There is only one difference between Father Anne and any male priest: a female body. She claim the traditional symbol on behalf of all women everywhere, and provide the Holy Spirit the ongoing opportunity to harness this symbolic power and communicate God's desires for the full participation of women in the Church. WHAT IS THE SYNOD ON SYNODALITY? In October 2021, Pope Francis launched the Synod on Synodality, a listening process that invited Catholics to voice their prayerful feedback on the Church. Synodality is a term that describes a certain way of consultative way of proceeding that requires dialogue and prayerful listening of people at every level. Synod representatives have their final meeting in Rome in October 2024. However, Pope Francis effectively extended the Synod by creating ten working groups to study the many issues that surfaced during the Synod process. These groups will study their issues and present recommendations to Pope Francis in June 2025. These reports will close the official Synod process. It is expected that after this experience, the Church will proceed in a more synodal way. WHAT MAKES THIS MOMENT HISTORIC FOR CHANGE? There is a small opening for change that can be leveraged if people organize. One of the ten working groups created by Francis will study the role of women in the Church. The goal of the #GodSaysNow movement is to get priesthood included in this study. The time is now for many reasons. First, calls to ordain women as priests (not only deacons) emerged from around the world through the synod process. Second, the majority of Catholics in many countries believe God calls women to be priests. This includes thousands of deacons, priests, bishops, cardinals and religious, who remain silent. Third, the Synod has values of encounter and prayerful listening, presenting the unique opportunity under a Jesuit Pope to joyfully engage Church leadership so the Church can discover the invitation from God. WHY DOES ORDAINING WOMEN AS PRIESTS MATTER? The exclusion of women from priesthood perpetuates a false understanding of the human person that defines women as a second order of creation that is inferior to men and therefore have a divine mandate to be subjugated at the hands of men in accordance with God's law. This false theology continues to lead to terrible and widespread consequences for humanity through the Church's massive worldwide ministries. Women must be fully participating in the symbolic life of the Church if the Church is to more fully understand who God is, what God desires, and how God calls humans into relationship with God and one another. Full participation of women will greatly improve the Church’s ability to properly discern God’s action in the world, and to live out its mission to bring the Good News to the world. Further, because the Church is the largest non-governmental provider of healthcare and education in the world, and has observer status at the United Nations, the inclusion of women as true co-partners will have far-reaching consequences that uplift the world. |
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father anne on tour
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2023 Fall/Winter
Pueblo, CO Colorado Springs, CO Fort Collins, CO Denver, CO Salem, OR Portland, OR Tacoma, WA Seattle, WA Flagstaff, AZ Phoenix, AZ Tucson, AZ Los Angeles, CA 2022 Fall/Winter Villanova University Loyola University Maryland University of San Francisco College of Wooster Sacred Heart High School |
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VIDEOS
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GRAPHICS
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High resolution Photos
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published articles
MEDIUM.COMHow to respond when you are admonished for “lobbying” during the synod
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medium.comIf the Roman Catholic Church wants to end abortion, it must ordain women as priests
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PRESS COVERAGE
national/international media
National Catholic Reporter | August 9, 2024
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BBC News | December 12, 2022
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BBC Documentary | The Women Fighting to be Priests | December 3, 2022
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The Well Woman Show | December 10, 2021
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National Catholic Reporter | October 14, 2021
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New Yorker |
June 28, 2021
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The Year in New Yorker Photos | December 7, 2021
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print & radio
Santa Fe New Mexican | October 26, 2024
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KUNM Women's Focus | August 31, 2024 | No link available
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Gothamist | May 7, 2024
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The Los Angeles Loyolan | January 15, 2024
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The Paper. | Cover story | November 29, 2023
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KUOW Puget Sound | October 27, 2023
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Albuquerque Journal | October 10, 2023
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KCRT | Trinidad, CO | FYI with Eli | October 5, 2023
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Faith in Progress with Rabbi Hillel | KRFC Fort Collins | October 5, 2023
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Colorado Springs Gazette | October 2, 2023
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The Villanovan | November 2, 2022
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KUNM Women's Focus | July 30, 2022 | No link available
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Soul Searching with Rabbi Neil | KSFR Santa Fe | Second Interview | June 24, 2022
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Soul Searching with Rabbi Neil | KSFR Santa Fe | February 20, 2022
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KOB TV | October 16, 2021
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Santa Fe New Mexican | October 16, 2021
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Downtown Albuquerque News | September 13, 2021
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podcasts & online news
Lapsed | October 2, 2024
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Beyond Belief | July 27, 2024
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Mad Catholic | March 25, 2024
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Your Radical Truth | February 22, 2024
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Highly Spiritual Person with Camille | January 22, 2024
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Idea Cast Interview Series with Justin Sweeney | July 15, 2023
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Living Your Life Without Limits with Shannon Jackson | July 14, 2023
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Life is About More Than Living with Alfred Harrell | June 16, 2023
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Captainese | May 10, 2023
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Beyond Picket Fences | May 10, 2023
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Another episode of Your Radical Truth | April 4, 2023
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Your Radical Truth | March 20, 2023
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Saving Your Life with Rev. Lynne Hinton of the New Mexico Conference of Churches | July 23, 2022
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You're on Mute with Aisha | March 31, 2022
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Lapsed podcast | February 1, 2022
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Brut.media | November 29, 2021
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Speaking in Church | Episode 44 | October 13, 2021
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On a Mission | Episode 27 | September 5, 2021
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