We Are Church Ireland Celebrating 25 years

We Are Church Ireland

Charity Reg. No:      20203544

Website:                   wearechurchireland.ie

Facebook Page:      facebook.com/WACIreland

Twitter:                     @we_irl

Email:                        info@wearechurchireland.ie

YouTube Channel:         

youtube.com/channel/UC5qKZvHT-DOKqdZ_UyFDRtg

Photos on Front Cover:

We Are Church Ireland was founded after a visit by Thomas Arens from Germany who addressed a meeting in All Hallows on 10 May 1997.

The top photo shows Eamonn McCarthy, Helen McCarthy, David Creed and Thomas Arens.

The triumvirate of Helen Costello, Helen McCarthy and Chrissie Brennan.

And some photos from the first meeting in All Hallows.

The last group photo is from a meeting of We Are Church International in All Hallows on 3 November 2013.

TIMELINE

We Are Church Ireland Celebrating 25 years

1995  Wir Sind Kirche in Austria launched a petition for reform in the Catholic Church  with 5 goals at Easter 1995. Martha Heizer, Thomas Plankenstein and                       Bernadette Warnleithner were the initiators. Together with Germany some 2.5 million signed.

1996  The Austrian initiators attended the Call To Action (CTA) conference in Detroit, USA where Hans Küng, Bishop Jacques Gaillot, Paul Collins and Thomas                   Arens were among the speakers. Helen & Dan McCarthy attended this CTA conference  and made contact with the WAC team to ascertain if they would             come to Ireland?

1997 Three Irish lay reform groups (BASIC / LEAVEN / POBAL) invited Thomas Arens to come to All Hallows in Dublin on 10 May to speak about the launch of WAC             in Germany and Austria. This led to the founding of WAC Ireland with the following on the Core Group:

·                        Helen McCarthy

·                        Helen Costello

·                       Chrissie Brennan

·                       Catriona McClean

·                       Liam Deaton

·                       David Creed

·                       Phil Dunne                         

WAC drew up an Irish style petition “Gui An Phobail” (Prayer of the people of God) which was launched on 5 September in All Hallows. Over 1000  signatures           were collected. Helen & Dan McCarthy represented Ireland in Rome in October at   “Incontro Internazionale del Popolo Di Dio” (International Gathering of             the People of God). A Manifesto for the International Movement We Are Church (IMWAC) was drawn up by the delegates.

1998 To raise awareness of what actually happened at Vatican ll Fr Austin Flannery agreed to give two talks (1) “Day of Reflection” in All Hallows, Dublin                           (2) “Emerging Voices for Renewal & Justice in the Roman Catholic Church today” in the Great Southern Hotel in Galway. Galway contacts: Regina                            O’Gorman; Jennifer Sleeman; Yvonne Dolan; Sean & Pat O’Conaill; Jo & Joe Curley; Sr Claudine; Liz Roddy. Valerie Stroud from WAC UK attended.

1999 Fr Austin Flannery gave two talks in All Hallows “Vatican ll revisited” (40^th anniversary of Pope John XXlll) 24 January & 23 September. Helen & Dan                            McCarthy visited the Holy Land in October.

2000 Westport Conference. Contacts: Brendan Butler; Bishop Brigid Mary Meehan; Blair Kaiser.

2001 Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) First International Conference held in Dublin organised by BASIC with 300 attending. Vatican attempted to                          prevent  Sr Joan Chittister speaking at this conference.

2002 The Clerical Child abuse scandals gave a new impetus to WAC.

2006 Helen McCarthy represented Ireland at the WAC International meeting in Uppsala, Sweden. Christian Weisner there for Germany.

2007 Helen McCarthy & Helen Costello represented Ireland at WAC meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. Impressive visit to FAVALA. Mass with Bishop Gaillot. Visited                       restaurant run by women who had been helped by church people to get on            their              feet. All Hallows meeting on 31 May.

2008 Helen McCarthy & Helen Costello represented Ireland at WAC meeting in  Strasbourg.

2009 Helen & Dan McCarthy represented Ireland at WAC meeting in Freising and  reported on the Ryan Report. John Allen gave a talk in Dublin.                       Phyllis Zagano gave a talk in Limerick.

2010 Christian Weisner (WAC Germany) in Dublin to give a talk in Avila (14  February). Donal Dorr meeting with Helen Costello. Castlebar conference              (19 August)

2011 In June WAC Ireland was relaunched with a new Core Group:

·               Phil Dunne

·                   Brendan Butler

·                   Mary Cunningham

·                   Finbarr Quigley

·                   Jerry McCarthy

·                   Jackie Nelson

           Press Conference in Buswells Hotel, Dublin. Brendan Butler & Phil Dunne joint leaders.

2012 ACP organised a meeting attended by over 1000 in the Regency Hotel “Towards an Assembly of the Irish Catholic Church” (7 May); IMWAC meeting in                   Lisbon (16-18 October) attended by Brendan Butler; Advent liturgy in Davenport Hotel (2 Dec); BASIC merged into WAC bringing its “Last Supper” by                         Bohdan Piasecki which helps raise €1,000 pa with sales of prints & cards.

2013

27 Jan          Vigil at Papal Nunciature in support of Fr Tony Flannery

13 May         WAC meeting with Sr. Florence Deacon, President of LCWR in the USA who spoke about her meetings in Rome (350 in Milltown Park)     

29 Jun          AGM speaker: Fr Peter McVerry; Principles of Organisation approved

Aug               Maureen Mulvaney and Josette Vassalo attended WOW meeting in Woking 

30 Sep         Joint Press Conference ACP – ACI – WAC-IRL in Buswells Hotel re letter to Pope Francis from over 100 reform groups (30 Sep);

1-3 Nov        International WAC meeting in All Hallows

1 Dec            Advent Liturgy in Manresa

15 Dev          First edition of WAC Quarterly Newsletter

2014 AGM voted (23 YES, 1 NO; 1 abstaining) to support Martha Heizer to continue in her role as a Co-ordinator of IMWAC after she and her husband Gert                                     were excommunicated for presiding at a Eucharist in their home without an officially ordained priest.

7 Jun             WAC AGM: Brian Robertson (WAAC South Africa)

17 Sep           MARY T MALONE’S Book Launch “The Elephant in the Church” by Gina Menzies in Marianella

23 Sep          "PINK SMOKE OVER THE VATICAN" DVD & Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan

27 Sep          "THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM" WOW Open Forum Mary T Malone

11 Oct            "STARTING A NATIONAL CONVERSATION" ACI

13 Oct           "SYNOD ON THE FAMILY" Gina Menzies

10 Nov          "THE VATICAN CONGREGATIONS" Dairne McHenry

30 Nov          ADVENT LITURGY in Manresa

2015 WAC decided to support the Marriage Equality Referendum, which was passed by 62% on 22 May 2015.

12 Jan           "MARRIAGE EQUALITY FOR GAYS & LESBIANS" - Brian Glennon

2 Feb             "2015 SYNOD ON THE FAMILY" - Angela Hanley

9 Feb             Workshop on 2015 Synod on the Family - Dairne McHenry

14 Feb           Vigil at Papal Nunciature in protest at Vatican image of Women (naked torso in bondage) Papal Nucio Charles Brown came jogging by in his                                  shorts. but refused to engage.

25 Feb          WAC submission re Synod of the Family

9 Mar            "DIVORCED AND REMARRIED" - Finbarr Quigley

13 Apr          "DISCRIMINATION FOR ADMISSION TO PRIMARY SCHOOL" - Clem Brennan & Nichola Murphy

13-15 Mar   Phil Dunne & Colm Holmes attended IMWAC Meeting in Vienna

13-16 Apr    Brendan Butler & Soline Humbert attended ICRN meeting in Limerick

9 May           Sr Theresa Forcades in Dublin

11 May         "TAKING A CHANCE ON GOD" - DVD; Brendan Fay

6 Jun             WAC AGM: Brendan Butler "MONSENOR ROMERO"

14 Sep          New WAC Mission Statement

12 Oct           "WOW CONFERENCE” - Tony Flannery

9 Nov            "NEW BOOK & SYNOD" - Gabriel Daly

29 Nov          ADVENT LITURGY in Manresa

2016 WAC promoted the 12 Irish priests calling for debate on the ordination of women

11 Jan           "COMMUNICATING THE MESSAGE of WAC Ireland" - Pat Coyle

8 Feb           20 years of Women’s Ordination Worldwide - Soline Humbert & Colm Holmes

14 Mar         "Infallibility or Mystery?" - John McEvoy

25 Mar         "Justice for Survivors" - solemn procession on Grafton Street

4 Apr           "World Day of Prayer for Women’s Ordination" - Candle lit Prayer vigil at St Brigid's Well in Kildare

11 Apr          “Woman and Church: Steps on the long journey to inclusion and mutuality” – Mary T. Malone

9 May           "Islam and women; Islam and Human Rights; Islam and Jesus" - Dr Ali Selim

25 Jun          WAC AGM. "My experience at the hands of the CDF" Gerry Moloney

12 Sep          WAC Survey of members: Results and discussion. Survey ranked “Full participation of women “ as our most important objective; 

21 Sep          WAC endorsed Wijngaards’ Institute Catholic Scholars’ Statement on the Ethics of Using Contraceptives

10 Oct           "Personal Experiences of an Inter Faith Journey" - Catherine McCann

17-20 Oct     Margaret Lee attended the ICRN meeting in Chicago

4-46 Nov      Phil Dunne & Colm Holmes attended IMWAC meeting in Rome

14 Nov          "History of Bioethics" - Gina Menzies

27 Nov          ADVENT LITURGY in Manresa

2017 The highlight of this year was attending Fr Tony Flannery’s mass with 1000. WAC wrote to 29 bishops asking them to publish their Ad Limina Reports –                           only 6 replied saying these reports are confidential for the Pope.

9 Jan           Film: "Radical Grace"

22 Jan         Attended a Mass of Celebration for Fr Tony Flannery’s 70^th birthday in Killimordaly Community Hall with over 1,000 present ignoring ban on                                      Tony  celebrating mass in public!

13 Feb          "Church, Media & Journalism" - Justine McCarthy

13 Mar         "How the Catholic Church is irrelevant to many young people" - Anne Marie Butler

25 Mar         World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination: Prayer vigil at St Brigid’s Well in Kildare

10 Apr          WAC Members Discussion (Joy of Love and WAC Strategic Plan)

7 May           Vocation Sunday - Prayer Vigil in Support of Women's Ordination Worldwide outside Procathedral in Dublin

27 May         WAC AGM: “Reforming the Catholic Church” - Gerry O'Hanlon SJ

11 Sep          "An Ecumenical Journey in Faith" - Mary Cunningham

2 Oct             "Listen with the ear of the heart (St. Benedict): One woman’s poetics of life in and with the Spirit” – Nóirín Ní Riain

29 Oct           Reformation Project 500 - Prayer vigils outside churches & cathedrals (including Cathedral in Armagh)

13 Nov          Seán Fagan Memorial lecture - Angela Hanley

10 Dec          ADVENT LITURGY in Manresa

2018 The highlight for this very busy year was the visit of Pope Francis to Ireland and WAC actions in response

15 Jan          Gabriel Daly: "Difference, Division and acceptance of Diversity" 

12 Feb          Harry van den Akker: "Marienburg- A Movement beyond Church Reform"

10 Mar         Annette Esser: “St Hildegard of Bingen”

16-18 Mar   At a meeting of WAC International Colm Holmes was elected Chair and Finbarr Quigley joined as Treasurer.

9 Apr           Tony Mac Cartaigh: “Being the change”

14 May         Sabine Schratz: “Not Up for Discussion – the effect of the Reformation on the culture of debate within the church(es)”

20 May        RED for Pentecost – WAC International action

25 May         WAC members were urged to follow their conscience in Abortion Referendum (approved by 66%);

31 May         Petition to Pope Francis: Change Church LGBTQI Language

16 Jun           Brendan Butler & Margaret Lee & Tony Flannery at ICRN conference in Bratislava

16 Jun           Mary McAleese in conversation with Ursula Halligan for our AGM (Gonzaga College; 200 attended)

30 Jun           WAC applied for a stand in the RDS at World Meeting of Families and were refused – despite lots of stands left empty;

30 June        WAC took part in our first Dublin PRIDE March which had the theme “We Are Family” (60,000)

20 Aug          Wijngaards Institute launch of LGBTQ project in Trinity College

22 Aug          EQUAL FUTURE 2018 Launch at Horse Show House

23 Aug          Rainbow Choir HEAR OUR VOICES outside World Meeting of Families at RDS 

25 Aug          WELCOME POPE FRANCIS – BUT JUSTICE FOR * ABUSED * WOMEN * LGBTQI+  on Halfpenny Bridge with umbrellas and banners

26 Aug          Joined Stand4Truth march for TRUTH JUSTICE LOVE

24-26 Aug    WOW SC meeting in Kildare

15 Oct            WOC Poster action: “Votes for Catholic Women” 

28 Nov          Joe Mulvaney book launch “Speak Out For Reform” in All Hallows

8 Oct             Claire Jenkins: “Male & Female he created them? Perspectives on                                           Transgender in RCC “

12 Nov          Joe Mulvaney: “Speak Out For Reform”

2 Dec            Advent Liturgy in Manresa

2019 The highlight this year was “The Women the Vatican Could Not Silence”: A conversation between Mary McAleese and Sr Joan Chittister to celebrate                               the award of the 2019 Alfons Auer Prize to Mary McAleese. With the support of Voices of Faith and Trinity College this event had an audience of                                 400. (2 Nov). 

14 Jan           Marie Collins spoke about how Pope Francis and the bishops should tackle the clerical abuse scandals

15 Jan           WAC joined GNRC as Member for Ireland 

11 Feb           Minister Josepha Madigan: “Opening ministries in the church to women” (event moved from MIC to Talbot Hotel)

17 Mar          Colm Holmes was elected Chair and Finbarr Quigley Treasurer of WAC International Oscar Romero DVD

8 Apr            Sheila Curran: “Immigration”

13 May          Mary T. Malone gave a wonderful talk on her book “The Elephant in the Church” in the chapel in Mercy International Centre

8 Jun            At our AGM Tina Beattie was the key note speaker: “Women in the Catholic Church: Hopeful but not Optimistic” and she launched our new                                        painting “Last Supper” by Nora Kelly

13 Jun           Rev Brandon Robertson: “A Christian Case for LGBT+ Inclusion”

29 Jun          WAC Ireland took part in the Dublin PRIDE march (100,000 – second only to the St Patrick’s Day parade!)

9 Sep            Sr Nellie McLaughlin: “The Environment”

14 Oct           Sharon Tighe Mooney: “Why not me?”

2 Nov            Mary McAleese and Joan Chittister in conversation with Ursula Halligan

11 Nov            Fr Bernárd Lynch: ”Vatican Hypocrisy and hopes for the future”

1 Dec            Advent Liturgy

2020 The highlight this year was our NO WOMAN NO CHURCH rally outside the Papal Nuncio’s residence to mark International Women’s Day (8 Mar).                                          From that date on all our meetings including House Eucharists moved online because of Covid for the next 2 years. 

13 Jan           Eamon Maher: “The Cultural Legacy of Irish Catholicism from 1979 to date”

10 Feb           Fr Roy Donovan: “What does it mean to be Catholic today?”

9 Mar           Brian Grogan SJ: "Pope Francis' Gospel Centered Church" (9 Mar);

20 Apr          Diarmuid O'Murchu "Expanding our View of Christian Faith Today"

25 May         Amanda Dillon: "Women in the Early Christian Church"

15 Jun           Jayne Ozanne: "My Story: Just Love" 

26 Sep          AGM

2 Nov            Tony Flannery: From the Outside

23 Nov          Anne Soupa: Candidate to become Archbishop of Lyon

29 Nov          Advent Liturgy

2021 The highlight this year was that Bishop Paul Dempsey became the first bishop to accept an invitation to give a talk to WAC Ireland! Bishop Paul                                           was probably the youngest person at that event….

2 Feb            John O'Brien: The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church

22 Feb          Church Hall Meeting

15 Mar          Doris Reisinger: Abuse and Reform in the Catholic Church

2 Apr            Good Friday Liturgy: Noirin Ni Riain

21 Apr           Valleymount Parish Team: Rita Fernandez and Fr Seamus Ahearne

15 May         David Timbs & Peter Wilkinson: Australian Plenary Council

26 May         Diarmuid O'Murchu: The Life of Jesus as the Basis for Eucharist

12 Jun           WAC AGM: Speaker: Sharon Tighe Mooney: Seeking Scripture - towards a new church

14 Sep          Jane Mellett: Laudato Si

12 Oct           Bishop Paul Dempsey: National Synodal Assembly

9 Nov            Kieran O'Mahony: Restoration of Reformation?

5 Dec            Advent Liturgy

2022 The highlight of this year so far would be Ursula Halligan’s interview with Sr Jeannine Gramick – a true prophet for our times.

17 Jan           Church Hall Meeting

28 Feb          Tom Doyle: Abuse and Cover up in the Catholic Church

10 Mar           WAC First Synod Listening Session

24 Mar          Sr. Jeannine Gramick interviewed by Ursula Halligan

28 Mar         Nicola Brady: Synod and National Synodal Pathway

20 Apr          WAC Second Synod Listening Session             

27 Apr          Phyllis Zagano: Women Deacons and Synodality

28 May        AGM: Keynote speaker: Gina Menzies; "25 years of WAC - Is reform of our church on the way?"

Photos on Back Cover:

1.  Press Conference in Buswells Tony Flannery; Dairne McHenry; Brendan Butler; Cathy Molloy 30 Sep 2013

2.  Mary T. Malone book launch with Gina Menzies and Marie Collins 17 Sep 2014

3.  Women’s Ordination Worldwide meeting in An Grianán, 27 Sep 2014

4.  Protest at Vatican image of women at Papal Nuncio’s 14 Feb 2015

5.  Soline Humbert with YES poster for 2015 Referendum for Marriage Equality

6.  Dublin PRIDE march theme “We Are Family” with We Are Church Ireland 30 Jun 2018

7.  Pope Francis Visit: EQUAL FUTURE August 2018

8.  Pope Francis visit: Rainbow Choir; August 2018

9.  Pope Francis visit: Halfpenny Bridge; August 2018

10.                Dublin PRIDE march with We Are Church Ireland 29 Jun 2019

11.                “The Women The Vatican Couldn’t Silence” – Joan Chittister & Mary McAleese with Ursula Halligan; Siobhán Garrigan; Stephanie Lorenzo; Colm Holmes & Soline Humbert 2 Nov 2019

12.                “NO WOMAN NO CHURCH” rally outside Papal Nuncio’s for International Women’s Day 8 March 2020

13.                Sr Jeannine Gramick interview with Ursula Halligan 24 Mar 2022

14.                WE ARE ALL CHURCH Logo by Nieves Fernandez