Opening Doors Already Unlocked: Creating Space to Recognize and Support Women’s Voices and Leadership

Join the AUSCP Women in the Church Working Group for a 90 minute online gathering of women and priests. Program will include brief testimonies, a guided Lectio Divina, Conversations in the Spirit, and a Q&A.

Grounded in the Synod’s call for “full implementation of opportunities” and AUSCP’s mission of compassionate, collegial accompaniment, this event creates a respectful space for listening, shared witness, and pastoral imagination about women’s leadership in parish life. A newly released Final Report from Study Group 5 (3-10-26), calls for the creation of “new spaces” for women in diocesan governance and decision-making, stating that their inclusion is not a concession but a requirement for the Church’s mission. Our webinar will explore concrete proposals illustrated by personal testimonies and audience participation.

Join us in this timely work to bring into being a Church where leadership is a shared responsibility of the whole People of God.

Testimonies include:

The Impact of Training Lay Preaching Formation on the Laity and our Church Susan McGurgan ( Director, Preach All Ways Initiative)

Creation of Space for Lay Leadership and Impact – Katie Jansen (Parish Life Coordinator; Director of the Work, St. Francis Xavier College Church) and Tim McMahon, SJ. Canonical Pastor for St. Francis Xavier (College) Church

Lectio Divina led by Lisa M. Orchen, M.Div. (Program Director, Proclaim)

Small group Conversations in the Spirit —35 minutes

• Where have you already seen women exercising leadership or preaching in ways that are fully permitted by Church law, and what fruit have you noticed from those experiences?
• Given the Synod’s call to fully implement what is already allowed in Canon Law, what opportunities for women’s leadership or preaching seem most ready to be expanded in parish life?