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Witnesses
Intercommunity Peace and Justice Center
Seattle, WA
May 1, 2024

Our St. Phoebe celebration was an opportunity for us to practice synodality outside of a specific church space. We invited members from the community to spend an evening with us engaging with one another around the topics of women’s involvement and leadership within the Church. Our event began with a grounding prayer written by a local prayer writer, followed by a spiritual reflection given by a faculty member from a local university.

The main portion of our event featured a fishbowl discussion with seven different diverse members from the local Catholic community. Our deepest hope was that our conversation would uphold the synod’s intentions to deeply listen and authentically discern to and with one another. Following the fishbowl discussion which broadly discussed women’s involvement in the Church and the potential for diaconal ordination, those who observed and listened had the chance to participate in small group discussions to discern and reflect together. The evening concluded with inviting participants to engage in a letter writing campaign for the General Assembly of the Synod, as well as commissioning members of the community who were traveling to Rome for the General Assembly.

There was an inherent openness at our celebration that reflected a deep sense of invitation. We are inviting the experiences of all to be shared, and in-turn, inviting the presence of the Holy Spirit in our community. Many attendees remained in the space long after our formal celebration ended. This willingness to stay and be together demonstrated that we created a space of generative belonging. Our presenter did a wonderful job explaining the ministry of St. Phoebe and breaking open for us how our vocations are given by God and therefore cannot be taken just because they are not fully recognized by an institution.

St. Phoebe invites us to walk together and to continue to generously receive one another. This event was a challenge to our community to listen to diverse perspectives and to be willing to understand those defined as “other.” There is so much hope that the women of the Church offer all of us. Their light is holy and brighter than ever! We will continue to open space for and alongside one another.

Witness
“Being able to be educated on who St. Phoebe is and giving others the chance to meet her, being part of a community of women who promote an inclusive model of the church, and seeing my own community come alive and heal from division provides a vision of what can and will be possible one day in the Catholic Church.”
Kathleen O'Brien
Maryknoll Bay Area Regional Coordinator in the Mission Formation Department
Witness
“I have witnessed these women become Catholic high school teachers, professors, writers, administer parish life and leaders of prayer services. Women have been my peers and supervisors, except in diaconal ministry. I continue to hold out hope that women’s gifts for ministry and service can and will be acknowledged by the church.”
Fr. Tom Cwick, SJ
Pastoral Minister, North Side, St. Louis, MO
Witness
“I am grateful as a pastor and a part of the BCCs here to learn and journey together with others. As a priest in our community, I am proud to be a part of this ministry to uplift women who are struggling. It is great joy and fulfillment. In my personal life, I have experienced the richness of acknowledging and uplifting the witness of women in the early Church and also in our Church today.”
Fr. Vincent Dsouza, SJ
Pastor and Base Christian Community Leader, India

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