Women-Church Convergence records

Historical note

On May 3rd and 4th, 1977, the National Conference of Catholic Bishops met at the Palmer House in Chicago to discuss an agenda from the national Call to Action organization including women’s issues such as Ordination of Women, participation in decision making, equal access to professional theological and pastoral training, elimination of sexist language, expansion of ministries, elimination of sexism in liturgies, female altar servers, and passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. This meeting gave the leaders of the group Chicago Catholic Women the opportunity to invite other similar-minded groups to share in opening a dialogue with the Bishops about these issues. Chicago Catholic Women joined with groups including the Institute of Women Today, St. Joan’s Alliance, Christian Feminists, Las Hermanas, National Black Sisters Conference, and Priests for Equality in sponsoring a hospitality suite under the name Women of the Church Coalition for this purpose. Disappointed by the result, only two Bishops appeared, and by the elimination of the entire section on Women in the final report, the member groups of this coalition decided to continue working together on justice issues for women. Women of the Church Coalition was formed around the idea of including both laywomen and women religious working together for women’s issues. In addition to working for recognition, empowerment and development of women as church, W-CC is committed to the egalitarian and self-governing participation of women in the church. To this end, W-CC has sponsored two conferences since the original one in 1983. In 1987 the conference “Women-Church: Claiming Our Power” was held, and in 1993, the conference “Women-Church: Weavers of Change” was held. Each focused on women’s spirituality, sexuality, and survival, and provided a forum for women to share, network, vision, take action, and foster hope and support for their struggles to live Gospel values and create a world without militarism, poverty, racism, and sexism.

Scope and Content Note: The records of Women-Church Convergence span the years 1979-2007 and consist primarily of documents pertaining to three conferences sponsored by Women-Church Convergence and its predecessor, Women of the Church Coalition."