Christina Moreira ARCWP on TV in Spain- during Pope Leo’s historic visit

 Thank you, Christina for sharing the good news that women priests serving inclusive Catholic Communities is already a reality in the Catholic Church !

“Persistent Justice” - Address to WOC on 50th Anniversary by Mary Hunt

Thank you, Mary Hunt, for your prophetic voice for Gospel equality for women and non -binary genders in the Church.  

Originally published by

 

As a cradle Irish Catholic, brought up in the 1950’s in Syracuse, New York, ordination was not among my career choices. In the mid-1960s, a priest who taught religion at Bishop Ludden High School confidently assured the girls in my class that only men could be ordained. We girls discussed this after class. In our 15-year-old wisdom, we concluded he was wrong.

I went on to study Theology and Philosophy at Marquette University in 1969, and then to Harvard Divinity School in 1972 where I was part of the first sizeable cohort of women students. Most of them were brilliant and creative Protestants preparing for ordination and jobs with paychecks and pensions. That was new to me. The other Catholic and I were preparing for academic careers, blissfully ignorant of the ministry. Rosemary Radford Ruether taught at Harvard then. Mary Daly was nearby at Boston College writing Beyond God The Father. So, I picked up the basics of feminism from those friends and mentors by osmosis by the age of 23.

I went on to theological doctoral studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California, in the fall of 1974. I lived initially at the Episcopal seminary (Church Divinity School of the Pacific). I mistakenly thought it would be a hotbed of feminism because the first eleven U.S. Episcopalian women had just been ordained, validly if illicitly, on July 29, 1974. Imagine my chagrin when some of the women in my dorm preferred not to the discuss that watershed event for fear of endangering their own chances for ordination.

In the fall of 1975, word spread in Berkeley about a Women’s Ordination Conference in Detroit. A local Catholic woman, Judy Whitehead, said although she could not go, she wanted to give a scholarship to someone from Berkeley. I was chosen and jumped at the chance. I praise her name today. I attended the conference like a sponge, soaking up the people and ideas, passions and pains. Who could forget the session when those who felt called to ordination were invited to stand? We young ones sat on the floor to give chairs to our elders in the crowded room. I remember kneeling since I wanted to see who stood. It was exhilarating to know that there were women bold and insightful enough to make their callings public.

In retrospect, I think we all should have stood, not because we all wanted to be ordained to a clerical, celibate, hierarchical priesthood. Rather, we all should have stood because what was at stake then, as now, is a much larger struggle to guarantee every person the right to choose and fulfill their vocations to the best of their ability for the sake of the world.

The non-ordination of women, as the great feminist biblical scholar and WOC collaborator Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza named it, is a symbol and an example of the many ways women and non-binary people, immigrants, people of color, and those with disabilities are systematically marginalized. In the 14^th century, Catherine of Siena declared: “Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.” Anything that stands in the way of doing what one feels called to do diminishes the whole world. We won’t stand for it.

Since 1983, when Diann Neu and I started WATER(Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual), we have collaborated consistently with WOC through the Women-Church Convergence. One memorable protest, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights” was at the Vatican Embassy in Washington on August 26, 1987.  A dozen of us were arrested. WOC Founding Director Ruth McDonough Fitzpatrick proclaimed: “We will not accept men telling women they can’t be priests because that’s the way God wants it; She does not!”

In the 1990’s, WOC lobbied the bishops at their annual meetings in Washington. We loitered in hotel lobbies, greeting bishops, and urging them along. We visited the vestment suites in the hotel where bishops would shop for finery in their free time. Some Dutch companies brought especially beautiful robes and mitres. It was shocking for the Dutch salesmen to see women trying on their wares. No one lasts long in this movement without a robust sense of humor.

The installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Sarah Elisabeth Mullally, underscored our apparent lack of success compared with the achievements of our Anglican siblings. But we have accomplished more than our mission.

What we have accomplished despite the non-ordination of women?

1. Our faithful, sustained, varied, creative, and generous work has changed the face of institutional Roman Catholicism.

The refusal of patriarchal officials to make needed changes in structure and polity, combined with the worldwide clergy sexual abuse scandal, has left the institution weakened to the point of irrelevance. It is tarnished as a source of moral wisdom at a time of global peril. Pope Leo’s anti-war/anti-nuke rhetoric notwithstanding, imagine how much more powerful Catholic non-violence claims would be if they came from a credible institution.

Saint Sr. Theresa Kane, of blessed memory, in her historical welcome to Pope John Paul II on October 7, 1979 at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, laid out women’s willingness to serve “in and through the Church as fully participating members.” The failure of decision-making men to embrace this generosity astonishes and scandalizes to this day.

The Spirit moves on. More than a billion Catholics are church in no uncertain terms and without apology. We now have women and non-binary priests and ministers, who, with the rest of us, are busy meeting the needs of the world not fretting about the failures of the church. The day will come when those in high office regret the error of their ways. They will come to our grandchildren to ask forgiveness which we would grant them today if they ask us and change their ways. Meanwhile, our energies are trained on stopping war, ending racism, ableism, sexism, and poverty, safeguarding the planet, and ministering to those in need. We are busy.

2. Ordination as we knew it in 1975 is a different sacrament today

Think of your own call to ministry, perhaps your ordination, and the many ways you minister to the needs of the world. Contrast your training with that of young male seminarians who are still educated like hot house flowers, far from the company of women and non-binary people, and limited to a narrow curriculum. My studies in interreligious and non-religious settings, my Clinical Pastoral Education in a women’s prison, and my several years of living and teaching in Argentina during a dictatorship were preparation for meeting the needs of the world as a scholar and as an activist.

Catholic lesbian, bisexual, queer women have a more difficult path than our cis gay male brothers who are in the vast majority in their circles. Women who live beyond the heterosexual norm were the first intersectional challenge to the women’s ordination movement. To our movement’s collective credit, we were met for the most part with hospitality and respect despite what I know is still some trepidation about the movement being seen as queer. More intersectionality is incumbent upon us, especially with people of color and young people who must be accorded the same welcome.

Women, especially queer women, have been the canaries in the coalmine on ordination. We experienced early the need to move beyond the institutional church. In a May 2026 discussion hosted by the Women of Dignity and WATER entitled “Catholic Lesbians and Queer Women Look at Women’s Ordination— Roles, Contributions, and Expansive Options,” two lesbian women described their ordinations.

One, a former WOC staff, spoke about accompanying her beloved father at his deathbed in 1983. A male priest was invited to offer the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick. The priest said, “Hello, my name is Ed and I am a priest.”  Her father, near death, replied, “Nice to meet you and so is my daughter.” With good reason, she considered that her ordination. Her powerful artistic and social change work is proof that when you are doing your God-given work, you set the world on fire. Thank you, Marsie Silvestro.

Another lesbian woman priest spoke of her three ordinations. Her first ordination involved religiousdisobedience. In 1988, she was asked to preside at a Mass with New York Dignity in front of St. Patrick’s Cathedral during the HIV/AIDS pandemic. She was also arrested for civil disobedience in New York City protesting the infamous 1986 “Halloween Letter” in which Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger defined homosexual orientation an “objective disorder” and an inclination toward “intrinsic moral evil.” That is still official church teaching, our abundant healthy love notwithstanding.

Her second ordination was as part of a “priesthood of all believers” who founded “A Critical Mass: Women Celebrating the Eucharist.” That group fed homeless people in the park near the earthquake-damaged Oakland Cathedral in California, and then celebrated Eucharist with all.

Her third ordination was in 2005 by Roman Catholic Women Priests bishops and the community assembled on a boat on the St. Lawrence Seaway. She called it a symbolic reinforcing of her already priestly work. She ‘priests’ with style. Thank you, Victoria Rue.

So it goes that women rejected by patriarchy create and find new ways to meet the needs of the world.

3. Thanks to the women’s suffrage movement for inspiration as we persist

The play Suffs reminded me of parallels between the struggle for the right for some women to vote, and our ordination struggle. In 1920, white women, and far too much later Indigenous, Asian, Black, and Brown women gained suffrage. Recent Supreme Court actions threaten to reinscribe Jim/Jane Crow era dynamics, but the constitutional right to vote is clear.

White women made mistakes: they left women of color on the margins of the movement; they fought one another over the right way to proceed; but it took all of their efforts to get it done. Once they won the vote for white women, many turned their attention to the Equal Rights Amendment and to civil, especially voting, rights for people of color. Racism remains strong nonetheless.

We, too, have made many mistakes. U.S. white women have learned that our experiences, our faith, our families are not normative especially in an increasingly diverse global church growing fastest in Africa and Latin America.

A second lesson from the Suffrage movement is that our work is not a quick fix for a single problem. It is the work of our lives, generations from cradle to grave, for which the bonds between/among us are as important as the outcome, and the outcome is far more than women priests.

The suffrage campaign lasted 72 years, from the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 to the Ratification of the 19^thAmendment in 1920. Many who envisioned the goal, including Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, were long dead and the young people of the movement aged into graceful old women. Sound familiar?

Those of us here this weekend who attended the 1975 conference as young people are not dinosaurs but relics. Some of our siblings here today will, by the grace of God, celebrate WOC’s centennial whether women are ordained by then or not. Why? WOC’s mission is “to advocate and pray for women’s ordination as deacons, priests, and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic Church.” That is a worthy project which may not be finished even in another fifty years. But it is what the Divine invites in us, with us, and because of us in service of a safer, fairer, greener world that matters.

Suffrage leader Alice Paul dedicated herself body and soul to the movement in a laser-focused way although she was a bit of a pain in the neck. Other women got sick and died trying. We have lost many along our way, some to old age, some to broken hearts as their dedication was rewarded by stones not bread. All of us challenge and fortify one another.

Like our suffrage sisters, sometimes we are driven wild by the demands of purists or by the compromises of those who practice expediency. We know those people; we can be those people! But the bottom line is that the vote was not won by one strategy, nor will ordination be won by one path. There is no one, right way to justice. There are many, varied, sometimes seemingly contradictory strategies. Viewed from the far side of the moon, as we now can, the differences fade and the struggle is really one. The bonds between/among us are what endure in epic struggles like suffrage and ordination. These struggles require commitments of a lifetime and generations of people to bring about not a single goal but a transformed Earth.

 

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Mary E. Hunt is an American feminist theologian who is co-founder and co-director of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) in Silver Spring, Maryland, US. A Catholic active in the women-church movement, she lectures and writes on theology and ethics with particular attention to social justice concerns.

 

Ordain Women Now! ( It’s Biblical, It’s Rational, It’s Time) from Daily Kos

 https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2026/6/1/800048727/community/ordain-women-now

Churches should ordain all genders to leadership positions in the church. Patriarchy wastes the God-given talents of women. All genders should flourish within whatever vocation (calling) God has given them, including the vocation to pastoral ministry. 

Regarding women specifically, the celebration of women’s gifts would be in keeping with the Bible, which deems both men and women to be made in the image of God, to love and be loved and celebrate love (Genesis 1:27). Although it was written during times of horrible misogyny and violence, the Bible still repeatedly records women’s leadership. Miriam was a prophet (Exodus 15:20) who led the exodus along with Moses and Aaron (Micah 6:4). God appointed the prophet Deborah as a judge, leader of the Israelites (Judges 4). When the priests Hilkiah, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan, and Asaiah needed help interpreting a newly discovered religious text, they consulted the prophet Huldah, wife of Shallum (2 Kings 22:14). Isaiah’s wife was likewise a prophet (Isaiah 8:3). And the prophet Joel predicted that the Holy Spirit would animate both men and women (Joel 2:28–29). 

Recognizing the powerful women hailed by his tradition, Jesus chose to celebrate and empower women. The Gospel of Luke records that Anna the prophet praised Jesus’s arrival at the temple as a boy, making her the third person (after Mary and Simeon) to recognize him as the Messiah (Luke 2:36–38). Once Jesus began his ministry, he defied patriarchy by including women among his disciples; he included among his followers Mary Magdalene, Joanna (the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza), Susanna, and many other women who supported Jesus with their own funds (Luke 8:1–3). 

 the ancient world, women were rarely considered suitable for education, but Jesus invited them to learn (Luke 10:38–42). Matthew records only female disciples being present at the crucifixion (Matthew 27:55–56). Luke recounts that women were the first to discover Jesus’s resurrection, but when they told the male disciples, none but Peter believed (Luke 24:9–11). Women were Jesus’s most faithful disciples, perhaps because Jesus has no fragile male ego to defend.

The early church continued Jesus’s liberating praxis. Paul writes that, since all are one in Christ Jesus, there is no longer male and female (Galatians 3:28). He acknowledges that women can be prophets (1 Corinthians 11:5), an acknowledgement ratified in Acts, which deems Philip the evangelist to have four unmarried daughters with the gift of prophecy (Acts 21:8–9). Paul calls Phoebe a deacon of the church (Romans 16:1) and calls Junia an apostle (Romans 16:7). He refers to Euodia and Syntyche as his coworkers (Philippians 4:2–3), as well as Prisca, Mary, and Tryphosa (Romans 16:3–12). 

One of the oldest Christian basilicas in Israel refers to “the Holy Mother Sophronia,” while its references to male and female deacons are almost equal in number.  Scholars now call this basilica the “Church of the Deaconesses.” 

Despite this evidence for the historical importance of women’s ministry, most churches do not ordain women. They give a variety of “reasons” for their refusal, but there are good reasons to ordain women, who can preach as well as men, perform sacraments as well as men, care for the sick as well as men, interpret the Bible as well as men, and lead as well as men. These “reasons” cannot justify the ongoing waste of talent and denial of call. 

Tragically, people are so used to male priests and pastors that they have a hard time imagining otherwise. Given our unholy tendency to divinize the familiar and demonize the unfamiliar, the idea of women’s ordination offends many. Nevertheless, those denominations that ordain women generally attract more female than male pastors. The first church that my wife, Abby, and I pastored had a slew of female ministers before we came as co-pastors. When I gave my first sermon, a girl in the congregation exclaimed to her mother, “I didn’t know men could preach!” 

That girl had never felt spiritually excluded, thank God. By ordaining women and using gender-balanced language for God, we assure girls that they, too, partake in divinity. We inform boys that girls are their spiritual equals and deserving of equally respectful treatment. We encourage women who have been marginalized by their spiritual traditions to feel centered. And we allow men, many of whom have or had emotionally distant relationships with their fathers, to have a closer relationship with their metaphorical Mother-God.

The Reign of Love, toward which the church works, celebrates all difference as a gift from God that enriches reality. For the church, the many genders provide the many perspectives through which we see into the Holy, together. (adapted from Jon Paul Sydnor, The Great Open Dance: A Progressive Christian Theology, pages 224-226

It Only Takes Two or Three: the Story Behind Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community by Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Inclusive-Catholic-Community-Liturgies-ebook/dp/B0H44MGCV5?dplnkId=5d2bbac9-2391-4597-a28f-ebec63c78ef8&nodl=1&th=1&psc=1#immersive-view_1780690364255

Twenty years ago, I had a dream.

I dreamed of a Church where everyone was welcome at the table. A Church where women and men shared ministry as equals. A Church where those who had been excluded, wounded, or silenced could find healing, belonging, and hope.

At the time, I often asked myself a simple question:

What would have helped me begin a new faith community?

The answer became this book.

Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community: Liturgies, Homilies and Resources is much more than a collection of prayers, liturgies, and practical tools. 

It is the story of an impossible dream that became a living reality.

I began with a conviction rooted in the words of Jesus:

“Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

I discovered that building an inclusive Catholic community does not require a large congregation, a church building, or institutional approval.

 It begins with a few people willing to gather in love, trust the Spirit, and take the first step.

The rest evolves in God’s time.

And so it did.

What started as a small gathering grew into the vibrant Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community, a welcoming community where all are invited to participate fully in liturgy, leadership, and ministry. 

Along the way, I witnessed countless moments of transformation: women answering calls to priestly ministry, people returning to faith after years of exclusion, and communities discovering new ways to embody the Gospel’s radical hospitality.

This book shares that journey.

Within its pages, you will find practical guidance for creating inclusive liturgies, preaching interactive homilies, celebrating sacraments, nurturing community, and building faith gatherings rooted in compassion, equality, justice, and love.

But even more importantly, you will find an invitation.

An invitation to rediscover that you already belong at God’s table.

An invitation to trust that the Holy Spirit is still creating new forms of Church in our time.

An invitation to believe that what may seem impossible today can become reality tomorrow.

If you have ever dreamed of a more welcoming Church.

If you have ever wondered whether a small group could make a difference…

If you have ever longed for a faith community where every voice matters and every person is valued.

This book is for you.

The message at the heart of Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community is simple:

It only takes two or three.

Gather in love.

Trust the Spirit.

Begin where you are.

The rest will evolve in God’s time.

With hope and gratitude,

Rev. Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan

Dean of D.Min and M. Div. Programs at Global Ministries University

Priest on pastoral team of Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community 

Bishop, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests

Co-Founder, People’s Catholic Seminary

Author of Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community: Liturgies, Homilies and Resources

New Book by Rev. Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP -Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community- Now in paperback and on Kindle: See Link on Amazon.Com

https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Inclusive-Catholic-Community-Liturgies-ebook/dp/B0H44MGCV5?dplnkId=5d2bbac9-2391-4597-a28f-ebec63c78ef8&nodl=1&th=1&psc=1#immersive-view_1780690364255

 

Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community: A New Resource for Communities of Gospel Equality

I am delighted to announce the publication of my new book:

Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community: Liturgies, Homilies and Resources

This book is the fruit of nearly two decades of ministry with inclusive Catholic communities and the worldwide Roman Catholic Women Priests movement. It emerges from my lived experience of community where all are welcome at the Eucharistic table, where women and men share leadership as equals, and where the Gospel comes alive through participation, dialogue, compassion, and justice.

At a time when many Catholics are searching for spiritual homes that embody the radical inclusivity of Jesus, this book offers practical resources and inspiration for creating vibrant communities rooted in Gospel equality.

Inside, readers will find:

• Inclusive liturgies for liturgical seasons : Advent, Lent, Easter and Pentecost, and the feast days of St. Mary Magdalene, St. Brigid of Kildare, St. Teresa of Avila,  and All Saints Day. 

• Interactive homilies and reflections that invite participation and shared wisdom

• Resources for weddings, funerals, baptisms and Ash Wednesday.

• Practical guidance for developing communities of equals grounded in prayer, mutual support, and shared leadership

Stories and experiences from the evolution of Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community

This book is not simply a collection of liturgical resources. It is an invitation to reimagine Church as a community gathered around an open table where everyone belongs and every voice matters.

I dedicate this work to the members of Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community and to the women priests, deacons, bishops, and supportive communities around the world whose courage, faith, and prophetic witness continue to renew the Church.

My hope is that these pages will encourage seekers, spiritual leaders, small faith communities, and parish groups to create sacred spaces where people can encounter the Divine Presence in one another and experience the healing, empowering love of God in gatherings where all are welcome. 

As Jesus promised:

"Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." (Matthew 18:20)

May this book inspire communities everywhere to become living signs of hope, inclusion, and Gospel love.

With gratitude and hope,

Rev. Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests

Creating an Inclusive Catholic Community is a practical and inspiring guide for building communities of Gospel equality through inclusive liturgies, interactive homilies, open-table Eucharist, and shared leadership. A valuable resource for spiritual seekers, faith communities, and all who long for a Church where everyone belongs.

A Practical Guide to Developing an Inclusive Catholic Mass by Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

See new e-book: https://www.amazon.com/Creating-Inclusive-Catholic-Community-Liturgies-ebook/dp/B0GY6JLNBB

Inclusive Catholic liturgy is rooted in the Gospel vision of radical welcome, shared discipleship, healing, justice, and the full participation of the People of God. In inclusive communities, liturgy becomes more than a ritual led primarily by clergy. It becomes a sacred gathering where all are invited to pray, reflect, share leadership, and celebrate the Divine Presence in their midst.

An inclusive Catholic Mass seeks to embody the spirit of Jesus’ open table hospitality where everyone is welcomed, valued, and affirmed. Women and men, LGBTQ+ persons, married and single people, seekers and long-time believers, those wounded by institutional religion, and those searching for spiritual community all find a home at the table of Christ.

This guide offers practical steps for developing meaningful, participatory, and spiritually nourishing liturgies for inclusive Catholic communities.

1. Begin with a Vision of Community

Before planning prayers or choosing music, ask:

Who is this liturgy serving?

What are the pastoral needs of the community?

What hopes, struggles, and joys are people carrying?

How can this liturgy foster healing, justice, compassion, and belonging?

Inclusive liturgy begins with relationships, not simply ritual structure.

The goal is to create sacred space where people encounter Divine Love, experience community, and deepen their commitment to Gospel living.

2. Create a Welcoming Environment

Hospitality is one of the most important ministries in inclusive worship.

A welcoming environment includes:

Greeters and hospitality ministers

Accessible worship space

Inclusive signage and language

Warm introductions

Invitations to participate

Sensitivity to newcomers and marginalized persons

Whether worship occurs in homes, churches, community centers, or online through Zoom, the atmosphere should communicate:
“You belong here.”

3. Use Inclusive and Expansive Language

Language shapes theology.

Inclusive liturgy expands traditional language for God and humanity to reflect the fullness of Divine Mystery and the dignity of all people.

Examples include:

Holy One

Divine Wisdom

Creator

Spirit Sophia

Sacred Presence

Holy Mystery

Shekinah

Christ Presence

Inclusive language also avoids exclusively male references for humanity and ministry.

For example:

“Brothers and sisters” may become “Beloved community” or “Friends.”

“Men” becomes “people” or “humanity.”

“Kingdom of God” may become “Kin-dom of God.”

Inclusive language can be profoundly healing for those who have felt excluded or invisible within traditional worship.

4. Encourage Shared Leadership

Inclusive Catholic communities reflect a discipleship of equals.

Shared leadership may include:

Multiple liturgical ministers

Shared preaching or dialogue homilies

Community-written prayers

Lay leadership in ritual roles

Shared Eucharistic prayer

Collaborative liturgy planning

The presider serves the community rather than dominating it.

Shared leadership reflects the understanding that all the baptized are called to ministry.

5. Plan the Liturgy Around a Theme

A meaningful liturgy often grows from a central theme grounded in Scripture and contemporary life.

Themes may include:

Compassion

Healing

Justice

Resurrection

Ecological spirituality

Inclusion

Hope

Forgiveness

Courage

Peace

The theme shapes:

Opening prayer

Music

Homily

Ritual actions

Community prayers

Blessings

A clear theme helps unify the worship experience.

6. Select Scripture Thoughtfully

Many inclusive communities use:

The Roman Catholic lectionary

The Comprehensive Catholic Lectionary

Additional readings from women mystics, poets, theologians, and justice leaders

Scripture reflection should connect:

Ancient wisdom

Contemporary struggles

Personal experience

Social transformation

Inclusive communities often incorporate voices historically excluded from liturgical proclamation, including women theologians, Indigenous wisdom, and ecological spirituality.

7. Create an Interactive Homily

The homily becomes a sacred conversation rather than a lecture.

A brief reflection by the presider may be followed by questions such as:

What speaks to your heart in today’s Gospel?

Where do you see God’s presence today?

What challenge or invitation do you hear in this reading?

How are we called to respond as a community?

Interactive preaching:

Encourages participation

Builds community

      Honors shared wisdom

Deepens engagement with Scripture

The Spirit speaks through the gathered assembly.

8. Develop Inclusive Prayers

Inclusive liturgies often create original prayers grounded in community experience.

Important elements include:

Opening prayer

Transformation or penitential rite

Prayer of the community

Eucharistic prayer

Communion prayer

Blessings

Prayers should:

Reflect compassion and justice

Include diverse human experiences

Address contemporary concerns

Invite healing and hope

Use accessible and inclusive language

Community members may help write or lead prayers.

9. Celebrate Eucharist as the Prayer of the People

In inclusive communities, Eucharist is understood as the sacred action of the entire gathered community.

Many communities invite all to pray portions of the Eucharistic prayer together, including:

Epiclesis

Words of institution

       Memorial acclamation

Great Amen

This reflects:

Baptismal equality

Early Christian communal worship

Shared participation in Christ’s presence

The Eucharistic table is open to all who seek spiritual nourishment and connection with Divine Love.

10. Use Symbol, Ritual, and Creativity

Inclusive liturgies often integrate:

Candles

Anointing

Shared blessings

Movement

Sacred dance

Art

Silence

     Water rituals

      Healing rituals

Ritual touch

Ecological symbols

Symbolic actions engage body, heart, mind, and spirit.

Creativity helps communities experience worship as alive, meaningful, and transformative.

11. Incorporate Music that Invites Participation

Music should encourage communal singing and spiritual engagement.

Choose music that reflects:

Inclusion

      Justice 

Compassion

Peace

      Ecological awareness

Hope

Many inclusive communities incorporate:

Contemporary liturgical music

Taizé chants

Global music traditions

Feminist hymnody

      Meditative music

Music becomes prayer that unites the community.

12. Honor Diversity and Accessibility

Inclusive worship intentionally considers:

Physical accessibility

Neurodiversity

      Cultural diversity

Gender diversity

      Intergenerational participation

Online accessibility

Ways to foster inclusion include:

Printed or digital worship aids

Large print materials

       Closed captioning

Flexible participation options

        Sensitivity to trauma and spiritual wounds

True inclusion requires continual listening and learning.

13. Include Rituals of Healing and Justice

Inclusive communities recognize that liturgy must connect with the realities of the world.

Services may include:

Healing rituals

      Blessings for caregivers

Prayers for migrants and refugees

Ecological lament and commitment

      LGBTQ+ affirmations

Memorial rituals

Justice-focused prayers and actions

Liturgy becomes both prayer and prophetic witness.

14. Evaluate and Reflect Together

After liturgy, invite reflection:

What touched people spiritually?

What fostered participation?

What could be improved?

      Did people feel welcomed and included?

Did the liturgy reflect the Gospel values of justice and compassion?

Inclusive communities grow through ongoing communal discernment.

Sample Structure for an Inclusive Catholic Mass

Gathering Music and Welcome

      Opening Prayer

Transformation Rite

Scripture Readings

Interactive Homily

      Profession of Faith or Communal Statement

Prayers of the Community

Preparation of the Table

Inclusive Eucharistic Prayer

Communion Rite

Prayer After Communion

Blessing and Sending Forth

Final Reflection

An inclusive Catholic Mass is more than revised language or shared roles. It is a spiritual vision of Church rooted in Gospel equality, compassion, healing, and co-responsibility.

Inclusive worship proclaims that:

All are created in the Divine image.

All are welcome at the table.

All are called to ministry.

The Holy Spirit speaks through the entire community.

As inclusive Catholic communities continue to grow around the world, they offer a living witness to a renewed Church where liturgy becomes a sacred celebration of love, justice, healing, and hope.

In these communities, Eucharist is no longer centered on clerical power, but on Christ alive within the gathered people of God.

And perhaps this is the renewal the Spirit is bringing forth in our time.