Yes, women can be priests, and should be priests
We are faithful Catholics who show why the exclusion of women from priesthood is wrong. We raise awareness and facilitate informed discussion about women’s ordination.
Over the past 2000 years women have been undervalued in society and in the Church. In century after century prejudice and discrimination against women prevailed.
We love our family, the Catholic Church. We fully accept the authority of the Pope. We respect his personal integrity as an outstanding spiritual leader. We promote the ordination of women as part of the life-giving mission Christ intended for his Church. We work for reform from the centre of the Church and within the parameters of canon law. But the time has come for decisive action.
We are convinced that the Pope and his advisors are making a serious mistake by dismissing women as priests. We feel obliged in conscience to make our carefully considered reasons known, In doing so, we fulfil our canon law duty to speak out as church leaders encourage us to do. And we do this with deep loyalty to the Church.
“All the faithful, both clerical and lay, should be accorded a lawful freedom of inquiry, freedom of thought and freedom of expression.”
Gaudium et Spes, no 62; Canon Law no 212 § 3.
Eight out of ten Catholic scholars in the world support the ordination of women.
Documentation
Read on this site the complete texts of many contemporary Catholic theologians who give their reasons in favour of women priests.
Our site is unique in providing in full all Roman documents that ban the ordination of women. Judge for yourself the arguments of the Congregation for Doctrine in Rome.
We offer thousands of documents in English relevant to the ordination of women. They cover decrees of councils and synods, statements by the Fathers of the Church and medieval theologians, historical records, contemporary articles, classical publications, discussions on scripture, tradition and the teaching authority, picture galleries and much more. Many document the flimsy arguments used to justify discrimination against women.
Discussion
Decades of work by our dedicated team of volunteers has gone into this website. It is like an old building with new wings and extensions that were added in the course of time. We are aware that some sections need repairing and updating. To give easier access for visitors who use their mobiles, we have transferred all our 6500 files into wordpress format. But do not be surprised if on occasion you find some anomaly. We are still fine-tuning the end result.
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Equality for Women (Wijngaards Institute)
Friends of the Wijngaards Institute
“Thank you very much John for your partnership in advancing women’s equality as a Christian ideal. Your leadership has inspired me and other Christians over the years. For this reason, we are grateful to present you with CBE’s Life-Time achievement award.“
Mimi Haddad, President of Christians for Biblical Equality International, awarding our founder John Wijngaards, 10 September 2021
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Religion informs lives. We reform religion. Help us transform the lives of millions of people who struggle with religious beliefs against gender equality.
As an independent non-profit think tank, our interdisciplinary research challenges religious prejudices against gender equality, and highlights traditional and contemporary insights that have the potential to help the Christian tradition grow towards greater inclusivity, justice and compassion.
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UK: Registered Charity Number 1053251;
Netherlands: KvK no. 41056067;
USA: Registered 501(c)3 non-profit, EIN: 26-3430065.
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Join as a Member by donating monthly, and as a Thank You we will send you a free copy of the academic ebook by our Research Associate Dr Ally Kateusz, Mary and Early Christian Women: Hidden Leadership (Palgrave MacMillan, 2019).