People in the IRCWP Movement

We are both women and men who believe that God has called us to the vocation of the priesthood:

• to pray and spread the Word of God (Acts 6:4)

• to serve and shepherd God’s people

• to celebrate the sacraments.

 

We are about 300 people in number from multiple continents. 

 

Our calling from God “is to the place where our deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet” as Frederick Buechner says. This hunger is especially true for the millions of people who have left the Catholic Church.
 

We, the priests in this movement, want to be “midwives of grace” as Matthew Fox suggests.

 

While the faithful pray in Institutional Churches for more vocations to the priesthood, the Hierarchy remains blinded to what the Holy Spirit is doing and how She is working! God continues to call people to the priesthood – including women (single and married), married men, LGBQT+ people. But, the Hierarchy holds fast to the rules that were established in the 1100s limiting priestly vocations to unmarried men. May the hierarchy open wide the doors that Vatican II envisioned.  

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We are ordained with Apostolic Succession. Male ordained bishops, who trace their roots back to St. Peter, began laying hands on and ordaining women as priests in 2002 and bishops, shortly thereafter. Women bishops now ordain the priests. 

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The Catholic male bishops who ordained women in 2002 and all of the people who have been ordained - including Rev. AndreaGrace - are practicing prophetic obedience to God and civil disobedience to the Catholic Church's cannon law. 

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Watch Rev. AndreaGrace's homily from her ordination. 

 

What We Do and Where We Serve:

• When we hear God's call, we begin a discernment process.

• Once we determine we should proceed on the ordination journey, we apply to one of the two Roman Catholic Women Priest movements - Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests or  Roman Catholic Women Priest.

• If we are accepted, we begin our formal studies through a seminary. 

• We are ordained as deacons and then priests in the rituals outlaid in the Roman Catholic Church.
   

Rev. Eileen Fisher says that “ordination changes how we show up in the world.” Some of us move through our world, doing our usual work, as ordained priests, bringing a more Spirit-filled approach. Many of us serve as prayer leaders in house-churches (Acts 2) or larger communities. Others serve as chaplains or minister to groups of people on the “fringe of society” – like migrant workers, families in transition, oppressed people in Latin America. There is a social justice dimension to much of our work.

 

Rev. AndreaGrace is leading the BeLoved Inclusive Catholic Community based in MetroWest Boston with online services. 

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Why: We believe that God has called us to be pray-ers for and with God’s people. We are thirsty to continue learning and serving in community with others who believe in building God’s kin-dom of love and justice, mercy and compassion here on earth based on our beloved Catholic tradition. 

 

IRCWP Timeline

Women served Jesus and promoted His Way in leadership positions from the time He lived through the early 12th century.

• One of the first people Jesus invited to share about the Messiah was the Samaritan woman (John 4:16).

• After His Resurrection, He appeared to Mary Magdalene and told her to go tell the other disciples. Mary Magdalene is considered the Apostle to the Apostles and Rev. AndreaGrace was ordained a priest on Mary Magdalene's Feast Day.

• St. Paul writes about St. Junia, who was "outstanding among the apostles." (Romans 16.) You may learn more about St. Junia and early Church women priests in the book, The Lost Apostle: Searching for the Truth About Juniaby Rene Pederson. 

• In the 1970s, growing out of the Women’s Liberation movement, women began advocating for equality in the Institutional Church and Women's Ordination Conference was founded.

• In 2002, prompted by the courageous request of Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger, Bishop Romulo Antonio Braschi and Bishop X (who remains anonymous) ordained seven women on the Danube River, including Christine. These trail-blazers are known as "The Danube Seven" and the founders of the Roman Catholic Women Priests. In the following years, more women were ordained to the priesthood and these men ordained Christine and other women as bishops. The women bishops now ordain other priests and bishops.

• In 2005, twelve women were ordained in North America on the St. Laurence River.

• In 2010, the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) split-off from the initial group, with a slightly different method of operating. Rev. AndreaGrace was ordained in the ARCWP movement. She often prays with RCWP churches, as well. The two groups continue to collaborate, leading God’s people and the Church back to our roots in Jesus’ way of love and justice with female leaders and ministers.

 

IRCWP & The Institutional Catholic Church

 Throughout the Catholic Church’s 2000+ year history, the rules have changed dramatically about everything. People – especially women – have been excommunicated for their “outlandish” beliefs and actions only to be recognized as wise, Inspired leaders later – even canonized as saints  – including

• Sts. Mary MacKillop,

• St. Mother Theodore Guerin and 

• Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila
   

Roman Catholic Women Priests treasure:

• our Catholic faith

• the sacraments

• a weaving together of Scripture and tradition

• a belief that God has spoken through the ages and continues to speak to us today

• the communion of saints - those who have passed and those who walk among us

• a way of life that incorporates social justice

• Jesus' example of radical hospitality, that welcomed all to the table
   

We want to serve our Church and more importantly, our God. We say YES to God through our preparation and ordinations. Like Rosa Parks sitting on the front of the bus, our ordinations are practices of civil disobedience that awaken people and help to change canon laws. Meanwhile, we provide places for people to come and be nourished in Spirit-filled communities. As we take these courageous acts, we pray that the Church will one day soon recognize the validity of God’s calling of women to the priesthood and our A/RCWP ordinations. 

 

 

Additional Resources

https://arcwp.org

https://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org

BBC World Service – 100 Women: The Women Fighting to Be Priests

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZ-gA1tfkp4&feature=youtu.be

Pink Smoke Over the Vatican