At St. Francis of Assisi Church in Binghamton, NY we celebrated the feast day of St. Phoebe with Masses on her feast day, as well as with a prayer service and discussion during the week after regarding the synodal process and the discernment for women’s ordination to the diaconate. Our parish’s director of faith formation gave a reflection at all Masses at both St. Francis of Assisi and St. Joseph in Sanitaria Springs. Overall, the celebration and discussion were well received by our community.

We are committed to praying for the Synod and for continuing to raise awareness about St. Phoebe and the ministry of women in the Church in our area. During the preparatory discussions for our celebration, some women in the group expressed that they had tried to organize around women’s leadership over 40 years ago, unfortunately receiving too much push back at the time. They are overjoyed to be a part of this discernment and conversation today; this might be the time!