March 10, 2018.
We Are Church International today issued its complete and unanimous endorsement of Mary McAleese’s groundbreaking speech at the Voices of Faith International Women’s Day event Why Women Matter.
We call on Pope Francis to immediately develop a credible strategy for including women as equals at all levels throughout our Church and in both ministerial and decision-making roles. This strategy must begin with the Pope and other Catholic leaders listening to what women have to say, without rebuttal or limits on what can be said. They must then develop clear and measurable goals for reversing the centuries of oppression and discrimination women have faced within our church, as well as a system to audit and report on progress toward these goals.
We Are Church International believes, as Dr. McAleese proclaimed, “The Catholic Church has long been a primary global carrier of the virus of misogyny. It has never sought a cure though a cure is freely available. Its name is ‘equality.’
The time to seek that cure is now.
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We Are Church International (WAC-I) founded in Rome in 1996, is a global coalition of national church reform groups. It is committed to the renewal of the Roman Catholic Church based on the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) and the theological spirit developed from it.
Contact: Marianne Duddy-Burke,