Come celebrate the Eucharist at an inclusive Mass in the DC-area led by
a
Roman Catholic woman priest. The Masses are organized by some DC-area friends, families, and
neighbors as part of
WHIMM
(Washington Home Inclusive Monthly Mass), a Roman Catholic movement
begun in February 2019 to help renew the Church by experiencing a new
model of ordained ministry. Once a month, we hold a home Mass led by a
Roman Catholic Woman Priest from the Baltimore-Annapolis-Washington
area’s
Living Water Inclusive Catholic Community. The hope is to build something better so we can see it and flourish
in it. The gatherings are inclusive, and all are welcome at the table to
celebrate God’s creation.
Break bread with one of over 250 Catholic women around the world who
have become priests as part of an underground Catholic movement launched
in 2002, with the
secret ordination
of seven women on the Danube River in Germany (conducted by a male
bishop). There are now eight Roman Catholic women priests in the DC-Baltimore-Annapolis
region alone, who are holding weekly Masses for a growing community of
Catholics seeking to live into the radical vision that Jesus calls us
to, in unity with all God’s creation. These ordained women are following
their vocation--for many a call they have heard since childhood--in
an act of prophetic obedience.
“Behold, I am making something new.”
(Isaiah 43:19) Be a part of history by
witnessing the simple goodness of inclusive Catholic
ordination.
Washington Home Inclusive Monthly Mass began in February 2019 organizing
monthly Masses in private homes in DC, Virginia and Maryland lead by
Roman Catholic Women Priests. While our lectionary uses inclusive
language, the liturgies are very traditional, warm and enthusiastic with
10 to 30 people in attendance. Reflections (homilies) are done by lay
participants, often as a dialog facilitated by the priest. We have been
meeting on Zoom since March 2020 but hope to meet in person again as the
Covid rate declines. Once in person we will gather once again for "Mass
on Mass" in a park on Massachusetts Avenue at Fulton Street NW which is
near the Vatican Embassy. That Mass will also be available on Zoom. A
few of us walk to the Embassy afterwards for a short prayer service. See
the website for a brief history of the growth of Roman Catholic women
priests since 2002 to around 300 ordained women today.
Masses in the Future
To join us for the next mass or for more information, email us at
whimmdc@gmail.com or sign up for
our emails.
About WHIMM
Washington Home Inclusive Monthly Mass began in February 2019 organizing
monthly Masses in private homes in DC, Virginia and Maryland lead by
Roman Catholic Women Priests. While our lectionary uses inclusive
language, the liturgies are very traditional, warm and enthusiastic with
10 to 30 people in attendance. Reflections (homilies) are done by lay
participants, often as a dialog facilitated by the priest. We have been
meeting on Zoom since March 2020 but hope to meet in person again as the
Covid rate declines. Once in person we will gather once again for "Mass
on Mass" in a park on Massachusetts Avenue at Fulton Street NW which is
near the Vatican Embassy. That Mass will also be available on Zoom. A
few of us walk to the Embassy afterwards for a short prayer service. See
the website for a brief history of the growth of Roman Catholic women
priests since 2002 to around 300 ordained women today.
ALL Are Welcome
Thanks for your interest in WHIMM—Washington Home Inclusive Monthly
Mass. We began in February 2019 when a few Washington, DC-area friends
and neighbors gathered in a home to celebrate mass with a Roman Catholic
woman priest.
For a long time, many Catholics of conscience have moved away from the
church for a variety of reasons, including its stance on women in
general, and women’s ordination in particular. Many have remained to
work from within the institution to try and change the entrenched
patriarchal system which hurts men, women, children—all people—around
the world. It’s a tough road towards an ideal that has remained out of
reach for many during their lifetimes. However, the spirit is at work,
and deep change is underway.
In 2002, a movement began when three Catholic bishops in good standing
secretly ordained a group of seven women on the Danube River in Germany.
The “Danube 7” have gone on to practice and preach and ordain others,
and there are now around 300 Roman Catholic Women Priests around the
world who are part of the line of apostolic succession. Many are
married, too. There are ten in the Baltimore-Washington area alone, and
the number is growing.
In December 2018 several DC-area Catholics attended our first mass led
by a woman priest, at a home in Bethesda, Maryland. We then met a lot of
people who wanted to learn more about the experience. So we began
organizing a monthly inclusive mass held in DC in the Tenleytown area,
usually in a home on a Sunday morning, attended by around 30 people—some
for the first time, and some repeaters. The liturgy features
gender-inclusive language (for example, God the Creator rather than God
the Father), and all present are welcome to receive communion. After
mass, snacks and fellowship are shared (yep, donut hour transcends all
that divides us!).
What began in early 2019 with 15 people on an email list has blossomed
into a growing movement involving hundreds of DC-area Catholics. For the
May 2019 mass, we celebrated on Mother’s Day (which coincided with
Catholic Vocations Sunday) outdoors at a park near the Vatican Embassy
on Massachusetts Avenue. “Mass on Mass” (en masse) brought together 70
people despite the rain, including Rev. Susan Schessler, director of the
Roman Catholic Women Priests Eastern Region, who drove down from New
Jersey to concelebrate with Rev. Barbara Beadles. We held a second
public Mass on Mass in October, in addition to ten home masses in 2019.
In 2020, we held a mass in Arlington, Virginia and another in Bethesda
before the pandemic halted activity for March and April. In May 2020 we
held our first Zoom liturgy (Mass on Mass Media?), and continue those on
the second Sunday of each month. Who could have imagined that so many
Catholics would be celebrating mass at home this year? Mass on Mass
Avenue happened again in October 2020, with four of us including our
vocalist spread out under a big tent in the pouring rain, masked,
sanitized, and responsibly sharing eucharist (Mass in Masks). In 2021,
we held Mass on Mass at the park in May, and a second one in October in
honor of Indigenous People’s Day. The Mass on Mass tradition continued
in May of 2022, when once again Mother’s Day and Vocations Sunday
coincided.
Witnessing and being a part of these graced experiences is something
Catholic moral theologian and Carleton College professor Anne E.
Patrick, SNJM, called “prophetic obedience”—going towards the higher
calling of conscience, towards the greater good, towards inclusive and
divine justice and the dignity of all God’s creation, even if it means
going against the rule of an institution. This is a way to live into our
faith, and by example, lead the church there. The goal is not to just
bemoan or dismantle what is broken, but to also build something better.
“Behold, I am making something new!” Isaiah 43:19
Why WHIMM?
Faith is a serious matter; it can be our companion in times of darkness.
However, while this inclusive home mass effort has been undertaken with
great care, discernment and planning, still it has a spirit of whimsy
and lightness. It’s creative and uplifting, we hope. Perhaps even a
little fun. (Also if a group in DC wants a movement to get traction, a
good acronym is a must!)
Would you like to help grow the organization? You can join our
leadership circle, The Donut, and contribute your talents at whatever
level suits your interest and capability. Email WHIMMDC@gmail.com for
more info.
Look for twice-monthly emails from us about where and when to find a
womanpriest-led mass in the DC area including ours in cyber space or in
person. We are happy to answer all your questions as best we can, and we
are grateful to have your company on this joyful journey of inquiry,
mystery, and faith.
Partnet Organizations
5 Theses
This group was formed by a dozen women from DC area parishes (including
theologian Liz McCloskey and author Alice McDermott) who created a mission
statement for Church reform to encourage women to work from within for
change. The Five Theses are:
- Full transparency
- Survivors voices
- Simple living (anti-clericalism)
- Put women in Church leadership
- Pray for a reformed Church
Visit 5 Theses website
Send Email
Catholic Women Preach
Listen to wonderful homilies on this website from highly qualified and
passionate women who are active in the Catholic Church.
Catholic Women Preach
Holy Trinity Catholic Church Lecture Series The Women Who Stay
Theologians Anne Koester, who teaches at Georgetown, and Liz McCloskey
have put together weekly lecture series three times a year entitled "The
Women Who Stay". Themes have included Biblical stories of women of the old
testament, women who stood up, women of the early Christian Church, women
in the Catholic Church in Australia, South America and Europe. Prior to
the pandemic, the group met in person, but moved online in the spring of
2020, offering conversations with powerful and impressive women
theologians from all over the world. A recent series was Women Who Weave
in the Spirit and features Native American Catholic women. It is
interesting to hear the speakers' various answers to the question "Why do
you stay?" Going forward sessions will probably be both live and on Zoom.
You can register for the Zoom presentations and watch previous programs
at:
Women Who Stay
The Living Water Inclusive Community
This community has Zoom Masses every Sunday plus some in-person in the
Baltimore-Annapolis-Washington region. Living Water was organized in 2008
and has a number of women priests and a bishop who were all ordained as
Roman Catholic women priests. Like the WHIMM Masses, the liturgies use a
lectionary with inclusive language but are otherwise very traditional.
Unlike WHIMM the homilies are done by the women priests but there is
lively commentary from the participants.
Visit Lving Water website
Join the mailing list
Future Church
This organization has lectures and other programs on a variety of
subjects such as priestly celibacy, racial justice, women's leadership
in the Church, women in the scriptures.
Visit Future Church Website
Discerning Deacons
This organization launched with a beautiful prayer service on September 3,
2021 for the feast of St. Phoebe, a deacon in the very early Church who
was sent by St. Paul to deliver his letter to the Romans. The witnesses by
women not ordained but performing diaconal work in the US, in India and in
South America were so moving and powerful. There is so much grace here.
Discerning Deacons
Women's Ordination Conference
Launched in 1975, WOC provides leadership to affirm women’s gifts, to
advocate for women's call to ministry and ordination, to openly and
actively support women’s voices, and to reflect the example of
Jesus—welcoming all to the table. WOC provides many inspiring programs and
podcasts.
Women's Ordination Conference
Roman Catholic Women Priests
Women priests now number around 300 and minister in 34 states and
worldwide. The first seven women were ordained on June 29, 2002, on a boat
on the Danube River by three male Catholic bishops in good standing.
Subsequent RCWPs draw their apostolic authority from those original women
who continued to ordain qualified women over the years. The church
officially excommunicates women who are ordained, yet Holy Orders as a
sacrament cannot be removed from a person. Today these courageous women
priests minister as an act of prophetic obedience, answering to their
consciences and God in defiance of an unjust rule.
Roman Catholic Women Priests
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
Similar group but more active in the Western US.
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
