WHIMM

Be the change you want to see in the Catholic Church.

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.

WHIMM in the Media

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:
  1. Full transparency
  2. Survivors voices
  3. Simple living (anti-clericalism)
  4. Put women in Church leadership
  5. 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

Academic histories of this movement

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Links to other organizations