We Are Church International calls on the cardinals with the Holy Spirit to find a successor who will continue Pope Francis' course of reform with courage and vigour. Only in this way will it be possible to truly overcome the internal and external crises of credibility in the Roman Catholic Church triggered by sexualised violence, clerical abuse of power, discrimination against women and self-centredness in the long term.

After the very moving funeral service for the late Pope Francis, We Are Church International calls on the cardinals before the conclave, which is about to begin, to take the signs of the times seriously and courageously continue the course of reform initiated by Pope Francis. With the Vatican letter on the implementation phase of the World Synod, which he approved, Pope Francis has also committed the local churches to implementing concrete reforms beyond his death. Now it is up to all of us, with the new pope, with every cardinal and every bishop, to ensure that our Church regains its credibility and becomes a home for all.

The sermon by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Dean of the College of Cardinals, at the requiem, the applause in St. Peter's Square and the numerous obituaries have made it very clear what fruitful impulses Pope Francis' twelve-year pontificate has brought to the Catholic Church worldwide. These must now be continued and also secured in canon law. The great worldwide sympathy for the death of Pope Francis has once again made clear how great the expectations of the Catholic Church worldwide are and how much interest there is in it when the Christian faith is proclaimed and practised in a credible and contemporary manner.

Background

We Are Church was founded exactly 30 years ago in Austria in response to the abuse scandal involving the then Archbishop of Vienna, Hans Hermann Groër, and has since been working on all continents and in an international network for a renewal of the Roman Catholic Church in line with the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).

The five concrete demands for reform (shared decision making at all levels;  full equality for women; no compulsory celibacy for priests; positive sexual morality; good news instead of threats) have now become a widely accepted canon of reform. This applies to the Synodal Path initiated in Germany in 2019, to the World Synod convened by Pope Francis, and to other synodal processes around the world.

Press contacts:

Colm Holmes, Chair We are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                        
 Phone: +353 86606 3636

Dr Martha Heizer,  Vice-Chair We are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                                  
Phone: +43 650 4168500

Christian Weisner, Wir Sind Kirche Germany          
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +49 172-51 84 082

‘The Chosen’: LAST SUPPER

'The Chosen': Last Supper Trailer; Men only at the Last Supper!
FAKE NEWS!

‘The Chosen’ is an excellent series about the life of Jesus told in a very realistic manner. But it has completely lost my admiration by presenting the LAST SUPPER as a male only event!

'The Chosen': Last Supper Trailer: Jesus' secret meeting with 7 women disciples "... keep your distance from me in Jerusalem..."

All of his women disciples who had figured equally throughout are suddenly banished. To explain this ‘The Chosen’ has added in an invented scene of Jesus meeting alone with 7 of his women disciples saying “I ask that you keep your distance from me in Jerusalem these few days.” No scriptural basis if offered for this totally fictional meeting.

No where in the gospels does it say that the women disciples were excluded from the Last Supper. And the next day the women were at the foot of the cross while the men ran away!

Throughout his ministry Jesus treated women and men as equals.

Has ‘The Chosen’ sold its soul to the patriarchal church?

Colm Holmes
Chair
We Are Church International

Attention of: Cardinal Mario Grech
Secretary General of the Synod
Vatican City

CATHOLIC LAY LEADERSHIP SUBMITS CHURCH GOVERNANCE AND WOMEN DEACON REPORTS TO AID VATICAN STUDY GROUPS

Your Eminence,

The Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research is happy to provide you with reports we have prepared, in Italian, to guide three of your study groups on the topics of women in ordained ministry and governance in the Church (including the selection of bishops).

Our founder, Rev. Dr. Johannes Wijngaards (1935 - 2025) was a Dutch priest and former Vicar General of the Mill Hill Missionary order. He was a contemporary of many of your brother Cardinals and Bishops, having obtained his Licentiate of Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute and a Doctorate of Theology at the Pontifical Gregorian University in the early 1960s. He founded our Institute in service of the Catholic world, including by addressing errors and omissions in Catholic teaching and practice. Perhaps finally in his death, Rev. Dr. Wijngaards’ lifelong work will be given serious consideration by those appointed to offer recommendations on these matters.

The below listed international reform networks join with the members of the Wijngaards Research Institute for Catholic Research to submit to you:

1. Attention of Study Group #9: The “Proposed Constitution for the Catholic Church”.
The goal of the constitution is to offer Study Group 9 one possible way to integrate commonly proposed reforms into a legal framework that is coherent, pragmatic, as well as compatible with biblical studies, theological research, and ecumenical dialogues.

The constitution builds on that grassroots consultation, and it is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between bible scholars, church historians, theologians, canon lawyers, and scholars from other relevant disciplines.

The constitution also responds to the formal recommendation by the “Synodale Weg” (Synodal Way) of the Catholic Church in Germany that “the discussion on a Lex ecclesiae fundamentalis, and its norms which are fundamental for the legal system of the entire Church, [...] be rekindled and brought to a positive conclusion” (for the reference, please see the Overview document linked below).
The final draft of the constitution is the result of an interdisciplinary collaboration between bible scholars, church historians, theologians, canon lawyers, and scholars from other relevant disciplines, and has been endorsed by 67 academics from 17 countries.

Two documents for Study Group #9:

● Text of the Constitution itself at https://www.wijngaardsinstitute.com/costituzione-chiesa-cattolica/ (downloadable as PDF in Italian, English, Spanish, German, and French);

● Accompanying document, which includes both a Cover Letter for Study Group 9, and an Overview outlining the constitution’s background, precedents, key proposals, and main documentary sources (in canon law - both Catholic and of other Christian Churches - as well as in international/human rights law), available as a PDF at https://drive.google.com/file/d/1g8littF7g6L0YIOvXJvWuv9yiAv80jbF/view?usp=sharing.

2. Attention of Study Group #5: Research Documents on Women Deacons.

Our research has brought together what is arguably the largest collection of historical evidence and other material concerning women deacons for most of church history.

Many documents confirm that these ordinations took place by means of a rite substantially identical to the one for the ordination of their male counterparts: that is, their ordinations were by the imposition of the bishop’s hands and took place in the sanctuary, in front of the altar and during the Eucharistic Liturgy immediately after the Anaphora, just like for the ordination of male deacons, presbyters, and bishops. Several Popes authorised Sacramentaries containing ordination prayers for women deacons.

Document for Study Group #5: “A Documented Appeal to Request the Re-instatement of the Ordained Diaconate for Women”, available in Italian, Spanish, French, Dutch, German, and English at https://www.wijngaardsinstitute.com/diaconato-per-le-donne/.

3. Attention of Study Group #7: “Proposal for the Reintroduction of Episcopal Elections”.
This proposal is inspired by the pioneering yet concrete procedure advanced by Blessed Antonio Rosmini, as well as by the constitution of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, and by the practice of other Christian Churches, such as the Episcopal Church (United States).

Two documents for Study Group #7:

● “Proposal for the Reintroduction of Episcopal Elections”, available at https://www.wijngaardsinstitute.com/proposal-for-reintroducing-democratic-elections-of-bishops-by-the-local-church/ (in English);

● Luca Badini Confalonieri, “The Election of Bishops by Clergy and People: Antonio Rosmini’s Neglected Solution.” Theological Studies 73, no. 1 (2012): 82–114, available at https://theologicalstudies.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/4-Confalonieri-Election-of-Bishops.pdf.

We would be grateful if you could forward the documents to the three Study Groups above mentioned, and we trust they will prove to be helpful aids to their synodal study and discussions.
We take this occasion to express our consideration and esteem in Christ.

Miriam Duignan
Executive Director
Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research

CO-SIGNATORIES:
Australian Catholic Coalition for Church Reform
We Are Church International
Spirit Unbounded
International Church Reform Network
Catholic Church Reform International
Be the change
Root & Branch Synod

Overview Proposed Constitution Catholic Church

We Are Church International welcomes the process leading to the ecclesiastical assembly in 2028 in Rome as set out in the Press Release by Cardinal Mario Grech dated 15 March 2025. This places the focus on Local Churches to implement Synodality in their different contexts and introducing concrete reforms.

In particular the Local Churches must now implement structures that ensure that the entire community are involved in all essential decisions – and not just in an advisory capacity. These structures must show clearly how lay people and particularly women, who all have the same baptismal dignity as clerics, will share equality in decision taking and administering the church.

We are Church International calls for transparent processes to be adopted for the selection of lay participants at assemblies and synods. Clerics should be responsible for selecting clerical representatives and Lay people should be responsible for selecting lay representatives.

We are Church International calls for the decisions of the ecclesial assembly to have deliberative power.

We are Church International notes that the June 2025 deadline will not be met by all the Study groups. Regarding the ordination of women to ministries we see this as a continuation of many decades of discrimination against women, always searching for new excuses why only men are called to serve, when Jesus clearly called women and men.

Press contacts:

Colm Holmes, Chair We are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: +353 86606 3636

Dr Martha Heizer, Vice-Chair We are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. Phone: +43 650 4168500

We Are Church International are pleased that Pope Francis is no longer in danger of death and continue to call for prayers for his speedy recovery. We can only hope that Francis, with his incredible energy and charisma, can accompany the renewal process of the Roman Catholic world church for as long as possible. Francis has opened the door for many things that can and must be done now; but there is still much to be done.
 
On the occasion of the twelfth anniversary of the election of Pope Francis on 13 March 2013, We Are Church International once again appeals to the entire church community and to church leadership at all levels, to remain faithful to the urgently needed reform course initiated by Francis and confirmed by the World Synod.
 
In the twelve years of his pontificate, Pope Francis has initiated a radical reorientation of the Roman Catholic Church, both internally and externally, as he announced in his speech before the conclave. This is why he was elected by the cardinals. But the crisis in the Church is far from over. And there is strong resistance to Pope Francis' reform course, which was previously unimaginable. Unfortunately, many bishops have not yet followed him. But the hot topics must be addressed, and this is especially true with regard to real equality for women in the Church.
 
We are Church International and the Catholic Women's Council have therefore launched a petition "Equality in the Catholic Church" for the Holy Year 2025. The church only has a future if everyone reorients themselves together towards the liberating message of the Kingdom of God.
 
Press contacts:
Colm Holmes, Chair We are Church International  
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                         Phone: +353 86606 3636
Dr Martha Heizer,  Vice-Chair We are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.                                   Phone: +43 650 4168500
W  www.we-are-church.org