Women Priests Project

Rev. Alta Jacko in her priestly habit, praying in her apartment in Chicago, U.S. She was the first afro american woman to be ordained Roman Catholic Priest in history. Unlikely other Women Priests, Jacko is wearing a collar. The collar is seen as a symbol of power and is often replaced by a stole. (United States, 2013)

Rev. Diane Dougherty is checking permaculture fields outside of Atlanta, Georgia, when the red light of the farmer illuminates her. She's always working for ecological, social and feminist issues. (United States, 2012)

Rev. Letitia Tish Rawles was a native american nun (for 47 years) who was kicked out by her convent , despite having multiple sclerosis. She was punished for being secretly ordained Roman Catholic Priest. She died in 2017 in the Atria Assisted Living Facility in Cincinnati Ohio. This photo was in her room and depicts a fellow nun that she loved very much. The photo has been torn by the bite of a dog. (United States, 2015)

Portrait of Rev. Barbara Zeman inside the Madonna della Strada Chapel at Loyola University where she studied theology, in Chicago.  (United States, 2015)

Rev. Dorothy Shugrue gives an underwater massage to Rev. Donna Rougeaux that suffers of muscolar pain during the annual reunion of ARCWP, the association of Woman Catholic Women Priests, in Washington D.C. (United States, 2013)

A page of the diary of Rev. Diane Dougherty. She's a former nun of the order Sister of the Humility of Mary in Pennsylvania. In 1984 she was asked to make drawings by her therapist as analysis tools. In the drawings she tried to express the way she felt inside the convent.
"Never.  I never wanted to be a nun. I didn’t wanna dress like that, I didn’t wanna be a nun like that… I knew in my heart this was not for me, but there was no other model. In 1963 I entered and then I stayed there 28 years." (United States, 2013)

Seline is a nurse working with Reverend Blanca Cecilia Cortez. At the time of the photo she was pregnant right after being cured of tuberculosis, in Bonaventura. Blanca has been working there for many years with the goal to empower Afro-Colombian women. (Colombia, 2015)

Michelle Birch-Conery was the first Canadian woman to be ordained priest, and since 2015 she's a bishop running a flourishing community in Windsor Ontario. She's a former nun from Vancouver Island, B.C. (Canada, 2015)

The living room and the favorite chair of Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan in Sarasota, Florida. She is the spokeperson for the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests in the States. She's also responsible for two big catholic communities, in Washington and Florida. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Jennifer Marie Marcus in her bedroom in Detroit. Jennie is born male and identifies today as female. She has not been allowed to become priest through the roman catholic seminary. In 2015 she has been illicitly but validly ordained by a rebel Catholic Bishop and now is part of a worldwide group of suffragettes priests called RCWP. Feminism is the radical notion that women are people too. But it doesn’t end here: the particular injustice of being a woman, is the paradigm that allow us to understand all injustices, everywhere. (United States, 2015)

Portrait of Rev. Barbara Zeman, Chicago's first ordained Catholic female priest, who serves as a hospital chaplain at Northwestern Memorial Hospital and is deeply involved in building a deeper inter-faith relationships with Jewish and Buddhist communities. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Denise Menard in her apartment in New York City a month before her ordination as priest. She had just completed the two years mandatory seminary that every nun or theologian must undertake in order to be ordained by RCWP. (United States, 2015)

Portrait of Rev. Mary Theresa Streck in the garden of Saint Joseph convent in Albany, where Rev. Mary Theresa Streck was a nun for eighteen years. She left when she decided to marry Father Jay Murnane, the catholic priest she was working with. Only after his death, twenty years later, she started following her own vocation to priesthood. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Mary Therese Streck spent 18 years inside Saint Joseph Convent in Albany, NY. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Dotty Shugrue plays with her dog Lilly in her home in Bonita Springs, Florida. She's now retired and lives with her partner Joanie. Both of them were former nuns of the Sisters of Notre Dame in Connecticut. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Letitia Tish Rawles was a native american nun who was kicked out by her convent despite having multiple sclerosis, diabetes and late stage liver disease. She was punished for being secretly ordained Roman Catholic Priest. She died in 2017. (United States, 2015)

Portrait of Caitlin, the niece of Rev. Maria Eitz. For Halloween she dressed as a killed bride to address the topic of violence against women with her community in San Francisco. Her own mother was raped. (United States, 2015)

A moment after the ordination of Rev. Jennifer Marie Marcus in Detroit. Jennie defines herself an intersex person that identifies as female. She's born male but has not been allowed to become priest through the roman catholic seminary. She fiercely fights for LGBT rights within religion. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Blanca Cecilia Santana Cortés in her garden in Popayan. She has been working as missionary in South America for her entire life. She currently sleeps in a tent in her garden, and has left her house to a pregnant prostitute. (Colombia, 2015)

Facade of the Saint Joseph convent in Albany, where Rev. Mary Theresa Streck was a nun for eighteen years. Now she's the spiritual leader of a very big Catholic Community in Albany. (United States, 2015)

Catholic members of Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community in San Diego California pose for a portrait in the labyrinth they built in front of the Church. The parish was founded and convened by Roman Catholic woman priest Jane Via and Roman Catholic pries Rod Stephens, former diocesan priest in L.A. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Jen O'Malley in her home in Long Beach, California. Jen is one of the youngest catholic women priests, she's in her forties. Most of them are mature women that entered the convent or theological institutes in the 60s after the Council Vatican the II, thinking that soon the priesthood would have become available to women as well. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Michelle Birch Conery drinking wine from the chalice, in Windsor Ontario. Michelle was the first Canadian woman to be ordained catholic priest, and since 2015 she's a bishop running a flourishing community in Windsor Ontario.  (Canada, 2015)

Demonstrators, among them priests and theologians, calling for the Catholic church to include female priests, gather prior to the arrival of Pope Francis at the Cathedral of St Matthew the Apostle, Washington D.C. (United States, 2015)

Altar girls in Louisville Kentucky. (United States, 2013)

Rehearsal of Rosemary Smead's ordination in Louisville Kentucky. The candidates to priesthood must lay on the ground of the Church. Women's ordinations must rigorously follow all the procedures and prerequisites of man ordinations. The only change allowed is the sex of the candidate. (United States, 2013)

A picture of Diane Dougherty from her family album, when she was a nun of the order Sister of the Humility of Mary in Pennsylvania. 
"When you become a nun, you have to change your name. Yes I did.  I was Sister Bryan Marie for about a year and a half.  The men made you change your name because they wanted you, as a woman, to give up all identification of who you are for the church. That was their theology that was imposed on us." (United States, 2015)

Ceiling of a shop in Bogotà selling objects for religious communities. (Colombia, 2015)

Rev. Donna Rougeaux protesting and laying in the street where Pope Francis will drive in few minutes, during the Pope visit in Washington D.C. She was one of many man and women marching to ask spiritual equality in the Roman Catholic Church. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Barbara Belly (on the right) preparing the table for Holy Mass with the help of other women, in Windsor Ontario. (Canada, 2015)

Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan in her former house in Washington DC in 2013.
Bridget Mary is bishop since 2009. Today she serves in the catholic communities Mary Mother of Jesus in Florida and Virginia. She celebrate liturgies and offer sacraments inside her communities. Bridget Mary is a former IMH nun, and the author of over 20 religious books and she's a focal point about women ordination for newspaper and TV.
"Women are still second class citizens in our own church. Sexism, like racism and classism, is a sin that breaks our hearts today. More than ever we need the experiences and wisdom of women." (United States, 2013)

In the garden, after a catholic liturgy held by Rev. Judith Bautista Fajardo that was using also body movements and chanting in order to heal people from post conflict traumas in Bogotà. (Colombia, 2015)

Liz Carlin, the wife of Rev. Jen O' Malley, during the preparation of the Women Priests Association meeting during the Women Worldwide Ordination Conference in Philadelphia. The women priests movement believes that celibacy must be optional for every human being. It can't be forced upon somebody without too often creating psychological and social problems; we have seen this play out already in the Church. Many women in the movement are former nuns, and some have indeed chosen celibacy, but it is a free choice. (United States, 2015)

Rev. Rosemary Smead being ordained in Louisville Kentucky. 

Rosy is a former Carmelite nun with a theology degree at Marquette University. Rosemary was 70 years old when she was ordained priest. The Vatican considers female ordination a serious crime; they issued an order to say that anyone who participates in the ordination of a woman to the priesthood automatically excommunicates themselves. In 2010 the Vatican put the crime of female ordination in the same category as paedophilic crime by priests. However, thousands of Catholic priests accused of abusing children have not been excommunicated. For the crime of involvement with women priesthood, people employed by the Catholic Church often lose their jobs. Pastoral associates, professors, chaplains, nurses, and even nuns lose pensions, support, and housing issued by any Catholic organisation, including schools and hospitals. (United States, 2013)

Rev. Jen O' Malley in the water in Long Beach bay, California. She holds a Masters of Pastoral Studies from Loyola University Chicago. Before being excommunicated she worked as a Coordinator of Youth ministry at a parish in the archdiocese of Los Angeles and was a program director for a national Catholic service learning program. Today Jen is also chapter leader of Call To Action Los Angeles, a national organisation seeking renewal in the Catholic Church in the States. She's also involved with Future Church and Pride, for the inclusion of LGBT members in Catholic communities without condemnation. (United States, 2015)

Women Priests Association meeting during the Women Worldwide Ordination Conference in Philadelphia. Rev. Jane Via, Rev. Maria Eitz, theologian and journalist Jamie Manson (Nathional Catholic Reporter) and other women priests are discussing the current health of Alexandra, a woman priest in Queens NY that had acid thrown at her face just a month ago. (United States, 2015)

The liturgy held by Rev. Diane Dougherty at the First Metropolitan Community church in Atlanta where she welcomes all "wandering Catholics". (United States, 2012)

Jesus seen by the altar of the Catholic Cathedral in Los Angeles, California. (United States, 2015)

Eating cheese at the annual RCWP reunion in Washington D.C. (United States, 2013)