International News and Actions

July 25, 2005
Press Release

Congratulations Michele Birch-Conery

TORONTO, July 25 - The Catholic Network for Women's Equality (CNWE), a Canadian grassroots organization working for women's equality in the Catholic Church congratulates Michele Birch-Conery on her ordination as Canada's first woman Roman Catholic priest in a ceremony on the St. Lawrence River. Birch-Conery was one of eight North American women ordained in a special ceremony July 25. All risk being excommunicated from the Catholic Church in their attempts to change a church law that discriminates against women and prohibits them from becoming priests. The Vatican excommunicated seven women ordained in 2002 in Europe.

"We applaud the tremendous courage of Michele Birch-Conery and other women for taking a stand against injustice and the systematic discrimination against women that has operated for centuries in the Catholic Church, " said CNWE spokesperson Dr. Veronica Dunne. "Over the last fifty years, experts have proved that women held similar leadership roles to men in the early church, but the Vatican refuses to acknowledge that. The prejudices against women as inferior beings were deeply ingrained in Church thinking in past centuries, and are very real and present in our current day."

The Vatican fails to acknowledge that the Church did in fact ordain women in the early Church. From the third to at least the ninth century the Church has had validly ordained and active women deacons. Since the diaconate is part of sacramental holy orders, it follows that, if women could be validly ordained deacons, they can be validly ordained priests.

"Until the day when the Vatican accepts that women have equal rights to be ordained as priests, the church will have failed to reflect fully the equality, dignity and gifts of all God's people," continues Dunne. "Until then, CNWE will continue its commitment to have women recognized as full persons, created in the image and likeness of God, called and able to represent Christ through the celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church.”

The Catholic Network for Women's Equality (CNWE) is a Canadian grassroots organization of Roman Catholic women and men who work for justice and equality for women in the church and in the world. CNWE supports the Women's Ordination Worldwide Second International Ecumenical Conference July 22 to 24 at Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. Visit CNWE at www.cnwe.org.

For further information: or media inquiries, please contact:
Kathleen McWilliams, (403) 293-5359, kmcwill@telusplanet.net