Collection search - Catholic Network for Women's Equality [multiple media (some electronic)]

Record information – Brief
1
Catholic Network for Women's Equality [multiple media (some electronic)]

Hierarchical level:

Fonds

Date:

1981-2007.

Reference:

R12321-0-2-E

Type of material:

Photographs, Moving images, Sound recordings, Textual material

Found in:

Archives / Collections and Fonds

Item ID number:

3775383

Context of this record:

Show detail Hide detail

Catholic Network for Women's Equality
Link to this record

Add to My Research

Link to this record

This link identifies the web page describing this particular record. Unlike the temporary link in your browser, this link will allow you to access, and reference, this page in the future. To link to this descriptive record, copy and paste the URL where ever needed (wiki, blog, document).

Sign in

Sign in to start saving records using My Research

Sign in
Record information – Details
Fonds includes:

6 lower level description(s)
View lower level description(s)

Date(s):

1981-2007.

Place of creation:

Canada

Extent:

1.5 m of textual records.
425 KB of textual records.
455 photographs : 419 col., 5 b&w, 30 col. negatives, 1 contact sheet.
64 MB of photographs (101 jpg).
3 audio discs (3 h, 41 min).
2 audio cassettes (1 h, 47 min).
1 videocassette (11 min).

Language of material:

English

Scope and content:

Show detail Hide detail

The fonds consists of the textual records, photographs, sound recordings, and moving images of the Catholic Network for Women's Equality (CNWE), including its predecessor movement, Canadian Catholics for Women's Ordination (CCWO). The records of the CCWO years document its growth and development from the early 1980s, including correspondence and minutes, press coverage, and newsletters, which culminated in the 1988 Women's Ordination Conference. After 1989, the records document the broadened scope of CNWE and its adoption of a formal constitution and organizational structure. The major series of records include National Work Group (its coordinating body), Annual Conferences, Newsletters, Press Coverage, and Local Groups. The fonds includes extensive documentation of the Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) Second International Ecumenical Conference in 2005, hosted and organized by CNWE.

Provenance:

Show detail Hide detail

Catholic Network for Women's Equality
Additional name(s):

Show detail Hide detail

Canadian Catholics for Women's Ordination

Women's Ordination Worldwide
Biography/Administrative history:

Show detail Hide detail

Catholic Network for Women's Equality : The Catholic Network for Women's Equality (CNWE) was founded in 1981 as the Canadian Catholics for Women's Ordination (CCWO), when four women theology students announced their plan to start an organization to work for the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church. A founding meeting was held in July 1981 in Toronto which adopted the statement: "We, the Canadian Catholics for Women's Ordination affirm women's personhood in Christ's church. We recognize our equality in Christ. We desire that all have the opportunity to participate in the life of the Church. We maintain that this participation requires the ordination of women to Sacramental Ministry in the Roman Catholic Church". The organization grew rapidly with local groups being formed in communities across the country and committees established to work at the national level.

CCWO members reached out to Canadian Catholics through letters, presentations and a regularly published newsletter. The organization communicated with (or sometimes simply to) the Canadian bishops to keep the institutional church informed of its development. It also acted as an advocate for women attending schools of theology in Canada. Many members regularly replaced their Sunday offering, or at least part of their offering, with CCWO dollars on which were printed text that spoke to issues of women's ordination. By using this currency women were able to communicate their vision of a renewed Church as well as an unwillingness to support financially an institution which refused to recognize women as fully baptized members. In 1985, the CCWO demonstrated in protest at a lecture by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, sponsored by St. Michael's College in Toronto, garnering widespread media exposure for their cause.

A wider vision of the movement began to emerge in the late 1980s that reflected an awareness of the interconnectedness of various issues related to women both in the institutional church and in society as a whole. At conferences in Ottawa and Toronto in 1987 and 1988, this vision found expression in the adoption of a new name, the Catholic Network for Women's Equality (CNWE, pronounced "Can We"), which was followed by the drafting and adoption of a constitution at a conference in Montreal in 1989. From there, the CNWE continued to grow with a broader mandate to address issues of concern to women in the church and Canadian society at large. CNWE delivers its message by hosting an annual conference featuring feminist theologians and scholars; fostering the creation of local groups in communities across the country; publishing a newsletter 3 times a year; developing resources and kits for women in the Catholic Church; raising issues of concern to reform-minded Catholics; and communicating its vision within the institutional Catholic Church and to the Canadian public through the media.

Finding aid no.:

Show detail Hide detail

MSS2472

Finding aid:

Show detail Hide detail

(Electronic) MSS2472 (99: Closed pending processing)

Source:

Private

Related control no.:

Show detail Hide detail

2007-00672-3
Ordering and viewing options

Conditions of access:

Show detail Hide detail

Graphic (photo)

[Consultation90 Open]

Graphic(photo): electronic

[Consultation90 Open]

Moving images (video)

[Consultation90 Open]

Sound recordings

[Consultation90 Open]

Textual records

[Consultation90 Open]

Textual records: electronic

[Consultation90 Open]

You can order materials in advance to be ready for you when you visit. You will need a user card to do this.

Cannot visit us on site? You can purchase a copy to be sent to you. Some restrictions may apply.