We Are Church (WAC) was founded 30 years ago in 1995 with petitions for 5 reform demands in the Catholic Church collecting 2.3 million signatures in Austria and Germany.
In those days signatures were collected using pen and paper and not with emails online!
Our 5 Demands
1. Shared Decision Making
2. Equality for All Genders
3. Optional Celibacy
4. Positive Sexual Morality
5. A Welcome for All
30 years ago WAC was regarded as almost heretical, but today our 5 demands are on the table around the world wherever church reform is discussed.
Invitation to Synod
So we were delighted to learn that any groups who had taken part in the Synodal process could apply to take part in the Jubilee Synod in Rome 23–26 October 2025. This is the first time that WAC were invited to participate in such an event in the Vatican. A total of 8 WAC delegates had their applications accepted by the Synod Office.
We Are Church has supported the Synodal process from the start and encouraged all in our network to initiate and participate in the process in their own countries. We see the Synodal process as taking up the 5 demands which WAC started out with 30 years ago.
Exclusion of Delegates
A few days before the Jubilee Synod, the Synod Office wrote to say they were declining their invitation issued 2 months earlier to Martha and Gert Heizer, as they were concerned that “their participation could be used by anyone as a pretext for ideological purposes.”
This was because the Synod Office had become aware that Martha and Gert Heizer were excommunicated in 2014 having been shown on Austrian TV celebrating a Eucharist in their home with friends and without an ordained male priest being present.
Martha and Gert replied expressing their disappointment but understanding their caution; they also again voiced their support for the Synodal process and wished it success and the blessing of our good Lord.
And so, while 8 WAC delegates travelled to Rome, only 6 attended the Jubilee events.
Pilgrimage and Optimism
I had given some time considering how WAC might respectfully register our presence. Our yellow EQUALITY T-shirts from 2024 would not be appropriate. Instead, I proposed that we might focus on the pilgrimage through the Holy Door.
WAC delegates carried the inclusive “Last Supper” on the pilgrimage around the Vatican, through the Holy Door and through St Peter’s as sign of Equality for women. This was certainly the high point of my visit to Rome.
Pope Leo gave a vital sermon on Sunday in St Peter’s:
“The supreme rule in the Church is love. No one is called to dominate; all are called to serve. No one should impose his or her own ideas; we must all listen to one another. No one is excluded; we are all called to participate. No one possesses the whole truth; we must all humbly seek it and seek it together.”
Reflecting on our time in Rome and networking with many from around the world, I have moved from feeling that our 5 demands are maybe another 30 years away to being much more optimistic and inspired – maybe 3 years?
Colm Holmes is Chair of We are Church International.