Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) is an international initiative within the Roman Catholic Church. The mission of Roman Catholic Womenpriests North America is to spiritually prepare, ordain, and support women and men from all states of life, who are theologically qualified, who are committed to an inclusive model of Church, and who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to minister within the Roman Catholic Church.

Bishop Christine Mayr Lumetsberger (Austria)
and Bishop Gisela Forster, Ph.D. (Germany)
ordaining womendeacons, Danube, 2004

False and True

FALSE: Women (by virtue of their sex) cannot image Christ.
TRUE: It is the call of every female and male Christian to image Christ; and it is the call of every female and male Christian to see Christ in every person.

FALSE: Roman Catholic women have never been ordained.
TRUE: Epigraphic evidence exists of women bishops. Until at least the ninth century the Church gave women the full sacramental ordination of deacons. Women priests existed in the West during the 4th and 5th centuries according to literary evidence, and according to epigraphic evidece.

FALSE: Roman Catholic women have not been ordained deacons or priests
in the modern era.
TRUE: Ludmila Javorova, ordained priest, December 28, 1970, among other women ordained. For a list of other women ordained, please visit the History Page.

FALSE: These ordinations as women priests are not recognized or valid.
TRUE: The group "RC Womenpriests" receives its authority from Roman Catholic bishops who stand in full Apostolic Succession. These bishops bestowed sacramentally valid ordinations on the women listed above. All the documents pertaining to these ordinations have been attested and notarized. All minutes of the ordinations, including data about persons, Apostolic Succession, and rituals, together with films and photos are deposited with a Notary Public.

FALSE: Mandatory celibacy goes back to the earliest days of the church.
TRUE: Scripture citations refer to the marriage of Simon Peter. Citations also
refer to married bishops and deacons in the earliest Christian churches.

1.) Jesus heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law Matthew 8:14; Mark 1:30; Luke 4:38.

2.) 1 Timothy 3:2 A bishop must be irreproachable married only once. 1 Timothy 3:4 A bishop must manage his own household well, keeping his children under control with perfect dignity.

3.) 1 Timothy 3:12 Deacons may be married only once and must manage their
children and their households well.