Reasons for Hope
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INSTITUTIONAL SIGNALS

 Though Pope Francis has said the issue of ordination is "closed," it is clear that the topic of women's ordination is on the table in the Roman Catholic Church:
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• In October 2022, the Vatican released the Working Document for the Continental Stage of the ongoing Synod on Synodality called Enlarge the Space of Your Tent. Paragraph 64 names the ordination of women to priesthood as a topic for discernment.
  
  
• In September 2022, the summary document by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops captures the desire of the people to have women ordained as priests and bishops as a matter of justice. 
  
  
• Bishop Franz-Josef Bode of Germany supports the ordination of women to priesthood. 
  
  
• In March 2023, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich of Luxemborg says it is possible to revisit the teaching of JPII on women's ordination.
  
  
• In August 2022, Bishop McElroy, now Cardinal, supports the ordination of women deacons. 
  
  
• In July 2022, the Australian Church publicly supported women deacons. 
  
  
• In June 2022, Cardinal Ouellet stated, "the subordination of women to men is the fruit of sin."
  
  
• In June 2022, the Church in Spain documented its desire for the Church to dialogue about women priests in its synodal document. 
  
  
• In February 2022, the Vatican’s Synodresources.org website included a toolkit from the Women's Ordination Conference indicating an openness to discernment.

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• In February 2022, the German Bishops voted in favor of ordaining women as deacons.

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• In March 2022, a Roman Catholic University in the United States hosted an official talk on women's ordination for the first time.
  
  
• In April 2022, a Hong Kong Bishop commented on his hope for the ordination of women.
  
  

​Going a little further back, we see that:

• In June 2021, Irish Bishop Gerard Nash called for women priests. 
  
  
• In January 2021, the Archbishop of Dublin Dermot Farrell offered support for women deacons.
  
  
• In Sept 2020, Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, SJ expresses his openness to considering women's ordination to priesthood.
  
  
• In October 2018, Bishop Vincent Long of Australia indicates support for women's ordination as priests as part of a broader platform of reform. 
  
  
• In Sept 2015, California Bishop Francis Quinn expressed his support for the ordination in an Op-Ed in the New York Times.
  
  
• In November 2012, Fr. Roy Bourgeois was excommunicated for his public support of women's ordination.
  
  
• In 2009, Bishop Gumbleton is told by Bishop Sample not to come to his diocese because of his position on women's ordination. 
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There has also been notable movement under Pope Francis toward equality more broadly:​
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• In July 2022, Pope Francis announced he would appoint two women to the Dicastery for Bishops to give women a role in selecting the world's bishops. 
  
  
• In March 2022, Pope Francis reorganized the Roman Curia to allow lay women and men to head Vatican departments.

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• In November 2021, Pope Francis named Raffaela Petrini as secretary general of the Vatican governorate. She is the first woman to hold this position.

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• In August 2021, Pope Francis named Sr. Alessandra Smerilli as interim Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development.
  
  
• In February 2021, Pope Francis named Sr. Nathalie Becquart as an undersecretary to the Synod of Bishops. She will be the first woman to have a vote in a synod.

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• In January 2021, Pope Francis updated canon law so that women can be formally instituted to the lay ministries of lector and acolyte.
  
  
• Pope Francis has expanded the participation of women, naming women to positions of leadership, including subsecretaries for the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life; the Director of the Vatican Museum; and positions on the Council for the Economy. 

The Pope and bishops are prayerful men who endure great stress to lead a worldwide Church. They have backed the entire Church into a corner with the irrational attachment to the teaching on ordination. Let us help them find the way out. 
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Women Priests Exist(ed)

PRIESTS OF YESTERDAY
There is historical, archeological and scriptural evidence that women served as deacons, priests and bishops in the early Church. For example, Phoebe is named a deacon by St. Paul in the Letter to the Romans; Pliny the Younger in a letter to the Emperor Trajan asks for guidance about two women deacons; and Justinian refers to women deacons.  The excavation at Ashdod also unearthed inscriptions of women deacons. There is also an lengthy latent tradition of Mary being revered as priest. 

Some of the oldest surviving images of Christians worshiping at Church altars portray women in official liturgical roles and are in some of the most significant churches in early Church history. If these images were of men, would you assume they were in leadership? 

• A reliquary box in Old Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome dated around 430 CE that shows a woman and a man holding up a chalice.
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• A stone sarcophagus in Hagia Sophia Church in Constantinople dated around 430 CE revealing a woman and a man with raised arms in the “orans” prayer posture.
  
  
• An ivory box from the 500s CE called Pyx with women at Christ’s tomb portrays only women (no men) in liturgical procession to the altar, three with raised arms in the "orans" pose and two more women swinging censers.
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• Frescoes from 2nd to 5th centuries in an underground chapel from the Catacombs of Priscilla in Rome show a woman wearing a liturgical garment and stole in a priestly pose and another woman with arms outstretched at an altar celebrating Mass. (Also see Jesus' Female Disciples, minute 36.)
  
  
• Mosaics from the 4th century covering the tomb of Giulia Runa in the Cathedral of Annaba, Algeria that reads “Giulia Runa, presbytera (priest).
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Furthermore, canon law banning women from ordination was not instituted until around 1140 CE.  A ban is only instituted to stop a practice already in existence (otherwise a ban is not needed). 



Thanks to researcher Miriam Duignan of the Wijngaards Institute for her work in tracking the many archeological discoveries.   
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RESOURCES
There is volume after volume of research by
reputable academic scholars. ​
Hidden History of Women's Ordination
When Women Were Priests 
The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church
​Essays on Women in Earliest Christianity Vol I & Vol II
Wijngaardts Institute for Catholic Research
Women's Ordination Conference
Jesus Female Disciples | History Documentary
FutureChurch presentation with Christine Schnek, CSJ
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PRIESTS OF TODAY

PRIESTS OF TODAY
Women today are also living out their call to serve as Roman Catholic priests. The Roman Catholic Woman Priest movement began in 2002. Seven women were ordained as priests by male bishops on the Danube River and one year later several of these women were ordained as bishops by a male bishop. The female bishops have been ordaining women as priests and bishops since. There are now 260 Roman Catholic Women Priests around the world, pastoring communities, working for social justice, and ministering to the sick and imprisoned. 
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LINKS ON FEMALE PRIESTS

Pink Smoke Over the Vatican
Womanpriest by Jill Peterfeso
Hidden History of Women's Ordination by Gary Macy
When Women Were Priests by Karen Jo Torjesen
Roman Catholic Women Priests
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests 
Hildegard Haus

God.Says.Now.