Roman Catholic Women Priests in Rome for Spirit Unbounded Conference in 2023
At the heart of ARCWP’s vocation is a steadfast commitment to gospel-centered dialogue—the kind of listening that is rooted not in fear or control, but in trust in the Spirit who speaks through the whole community. Dialogue is not a strategy for avoiding conflict; it is a sacramental practice of mutual reverence, where we encounter Christ in one another’s stories, questions, wounds, and wisdom.
True dialogue calls us to stay at the table when it would be easier to leave, to listen across difference, and to resist the temptation to silence or dismiss voices that unsettle us. In this way, dialogue becomes an extension of our open-table Eucharistic theology: no one is excluded.
As a renewal movement, ARCWP grows through holy wrestling—the courageous exchange of perspectives held in mutual respect. We recognize that discernment unfolds through conversation over time, through prayerful questioning, through mistakes and conversions, through shared silence and shared speech. Dialogue is how the community listens together for what the Spirit is birthing among us.
In a Church culture shaped by centuries of top-down authority, ARCWP intentionally models a different way: co-responsibility instead of control, accompaniment instead of domination, relationship instead of regulation. Dialogue keeps us grounded in this vision. It protects us from becoming what we seek to transform.
Many of our members have written personal letters, and the bishops of the international Roman Catholic Women Priests movement have formally written to Pope Leo with this same invitation—requesting an open and respectful conversation in which we may share our lived experiences of vocation and ministry, for the sake of a Church that can truly flourish as an inclusive spiritual home for all God’s people.
No comments:
Post a Comment