Catholic Women's Council

Pilgrimage

The Catholic Women’s Council (CWC) is a coalition of Catholic women’s groups and networks representing five continents, various countries, language and cultural groups, which are joining together on a pilgrimage towards Rome. Through virtual, local and global initiatives, these groups will express their creativity and discovery of the dignity and equality of women in the Church.

In the months leading up to March 2022, initiatives by CWC affiliated groups will be shared below with the goal to explore the understanding of equal dignity and equal rights in the Church. Each pilgrimage can take many different forms. We challenge you to be creative! There will be meetings, lectures, common prayers, conversations, artistic expressions, concerts, debates, dancing, bicycle trips and more. We hope these initiatives by our member groups will inspire, uncover and express the hope, the commonalities and the struggles that many Catholics grapple with around the world.

Our Goal

These virtual and physical pilgrimages will lead up to a major gathering in Rome in March 2022, where we will bring our many different voices together in a single vision of hope for the Church. At this gathering we will bring major issues and solutions that women have been working tirelessly to improve and change in our Church.

Emerging Themes

Initiatives

All events and initiatives are organised by CWC affiliated groups. Find out below where your local CWC event is happening or join an online, virtual initiative.

Not an affiliated group of CWC? Click here to find out how your group can join.

Initiatives location

Siamo Tutti – Anne Soupa

Dopo l'incontro internazionale con la teologa francese Anne Soupa, vogliamo parlare della sua candidatura e del potere nella Chiesa nel contesto italiano. Con Anne Soupa dialogheranno Paola Cavallari, Paola Lazzarini e Antonietta Potente, l'incontro sarà' moderato da Ludovica Eugenio.

Italy

12 December | 10:00am CET

More info

Voices of Faith – Kamingespräche. Gleiche Würde gleiche Rechte – Kirchenmänner denken nach

Auch viele Männer engagieren sich für gleiche Würde und gleiche Rechte von Frauen in der römisch-katholischen Kirche. Wir bringen sie miteinander ins Gespräch. Denn für wirkliche Veränderungen müssen sich Menschen zusammensetzen und ihre Visionen teilen, damit sich die Handlungsräume weiten.

Germany

29 November | 20:00pm CET

More info

Past Initiatives

The CWC network has run common global actions as well as their own locally led initiatives. Click on the button below to browse past pilgrimage actions.

See more here

Express yourself

We want to know, what dignity and equality mean to you as a Catholic. Express your ideas in your own creative way – it could be an inspiring message or a vision of the future of our Church, an artwork, a poem or a song. Share a symbol, a sign or a story. We are curious about what you want to add to our mosaique!

Click the pictures below to see how other Catholics around the world are expressing themselves.

Nontando Hadebe

May 29, 2020

There is an African proverb that says 'a weaning baby that does not cry aloud will die on its mother's back' Many of us have seen pictures of African mothers carrying their babies on their backs and so the proverb encourages the child to cry and make a noise if it is experiencing discomfort or any threats. Women in the church have been rewarded for being silence and submissive to ecclesial authority even when it is harmful to their well being, dignity and flourishing. Women receive contradictory messages related to their identity as equal because they too share the imago Dei made in the image of God and at the same time are unequal and excluded from equal participation in all structures and leadership position in the churches. The voices of women have been muted and their histories of participation in leadership roles has been downplayed or erased as is the case of the role of Mary Magdalene. The silencing of women and denial of equal participation has life and death implications. During the HIV pandemic many women who were faithful to their partners died and children were left as orphans because of the refusal of the church to allow women to protect themselves through use of condoms. The World Health Organization has described intimate partner violence as a global health crisis of epidemic proportions. The culture of silence in the home extends to the church where many women continue to keep silent in the face of abuses that include sexual but not limited to sexual - to be excluded, voiceless, spoken for, denied access to decision making and ecclesial offices because of simply being women violates the dignity of women. Often church teachings operate in isolation from each other for example Catholic Social Teaching that affirms dignity of all, preferential option for the poor, solidarity and subsidiarity is not applied to women who comprise majority of the poor, those denied human dignity and excluded in decision making positions. In African context national, regional and pan-African institutions promote gender equality but their efforts are being hindered by churches and cultural teachings that continue to support the marginalization, inferiorizing of women in the face of multiple threats to life. Like the weaned baby, women will 'die' at multiple level if they remain silent!

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Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage

Our Goal

Initiatives

Siamo Tutti – Anne Soupa

Voices of Faith – Kamingespräche. Gleiche Würde gleiche Rechte – Kirchenmänner denken nach

Past Initiatives

Express yourself

Express yourself

Ralf Knoblauch

Mary McAleese

Mukti Bosco

Chantal Goetz

Teresa Forcades i Vila

Kleinhans, Maria-Theresia

Archbishop Emeritus Sylvain Lavoie OMI

Marcia D’cunha

Charlotte Duff-Clarke

Virginia Saldanha

Paola Lazzarini

Tina Beattie

Bishop Vincent Long

Lana Bobić

Franziska Strohmayr

Nontando Hadebe