Women’s Ordination Conference 50th Anniversary
DETROIT, MICHIGAN •
MAY 22-24, 2026
Together we will embark on a pilgrimage to honor the feminist thought-leadership of our 1975 landmark gathering and *energize* our movement for the future.
*WOC50 is in the Herstory Books*
Even a couple of weeks past the conference, we are still glowing from the experience we shared in Detroit with all of you.
Featured Speakers
Featured Speakers
-
Dr. Natalia Imperatori-Lee is Associate Professor of Systematics with a focus on ecclesiology, feminist theologies, and Latinx theologies at Fordham University.
-
Dr. Teresa Delgado is Dean of St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and professor of theology and religious studies at St. John’s University.
-
Dr. Nontando Hadabe is an African Catholic woman feminist theologian based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Speakers & Presenters
Why detroit?
In December 1974, Mary B. Lynch wrote a letter to 70 Catholic leaders to express her enthusiasm for women’s ordination, and the urgency of the moment to work for change. Of the people who received her letter, thirty-one of them attended a meeting a few weeks later to begin to plan the first Women’s Ordination Conference.
More than 1,200 people, including many religious sisters and priests, participated in the first ordination conference from November 28-30, 1975 in Detroit, Michigan.
The Women’s Ordination Conference is a grassroots-driven movement that uncompromisingly calls for women’s ordination and gender equity in the Roman Catholic church through bold activism; dialogue; and creative, prayerful witness.
“Oh, I’d ordain women tomorroW. And it would change everything.
— Cokie Roberts
Watch our opening liturgy
On November 30, the first Sunday of Advent, WOC opened its 50th year with a liturgy with the theme “Persevere Until the Dawn,” co-presided by Dr. Lizzie Berne DeGear and Rev. Kori Pacyniak, with a reflection by Maria Soledad del Villar Tagle.
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions, or if you are interested in volunteering for the conference.
Email
woc@womensordination.org