CIRCLES
‘Women’s Ongoing Internet Consultation’!

Important new development!

We have upgraded our CIRCLES facilities. The new version can be found at www.womenpriests.org/circles.

In the new version of CIRCLES we will be operating two sections: one accessible to all and the other one as a protected members' area. This will enable us to continue our discussions without unwanted harassment.

The existing members of CIRCLES are being transferred to the upgraded version, with the same User Name and Password they had before. You will receive an email letter confirming the transfer. If you want to go straight into the members' area, feel free to do the registration yourself (on entering the new CIRCLES).

Meanwhile the old version of CIRCLES will continue to operate in this location on www.equalityforwomen.org so that you can still check on the material that has been posted there.

Old CIRCLES

MEMBERS
log in here!

  

Music?
Background music?


Any problem getting in?
Please, write to me!
Thanks.
Small technical hiccups may
arise that we can easily resolve.

Who or what is ‘CIRCLES’?

Women in the Christian Churches, and especially in the Catholic Church, look forward to the day when authority and priesthood will be reformed and when women as well as men will enjoy full and equal access to all the ministries.

CIRCLES offers women the opportunity to be involved in a non-stop, world-wide, multi-sided interaction over the internet
- sharing valuable insights and experiences
- planning effective action on local level
- pooling available information
- linking isolated efforts into wider networks
- giving mutual support and, where needed, healing.

For a small subscription fee, members can benefit from the accumulated wealth of exciting new contacts and vast academic and informational resources. Men too are welcome to join as guest members.

CIRCLES runs four forums on which discussion will be going on day and night. They cover:

  1. Notice Board. Here members can publish information on recent developments, upcoming events, reports.
  2. Sharing & Exchange. This is for sharing experiences and discussing their implications, suggesting plans, requesting cooperation for specific projects, asking any question that seems relevant. General, or one-to-one, advice will be offered here by experienced counsellors.
  3. Congress. Forum for intense exchange of views on select topics.
  4. (Vocation) Support. This forum is especially reserved for women called to the priestly ministry.

Each forum has a chatroom attached to it in which special-interest groups can meet at specific times of the week. The chatrooms will be open all the time, of course, so that members and guests can discuss matters "live" at times of their own choosing -- or just wander in and chat!

How to join

  1. Step One. Pay your annual subscription (from as little as $ 12 a year, = £ 8, Euro 12).
  2. Step Two. Complete your membership details (your name, email address & password)
  3. Step Three. Enter CIRCLES membership area.

You will be guided along!

Current Congress topic

February 2006 Countering the opposition to women priests in a pastorally sensitive way
Facilitator : Joss Rickman

Please, enter and share your own thoughts and experiences!

Next Congress topic

April 2006 Rights of Catholics in the Church
Facilitator: Ingrid Shafer
What rights should Catholic lay members have in the Church

Previous Congress topics

November 2003 ‘Collegiality (or lack of it !) in the Catholic Church’. Part 1. COLLEGIALITY OF POPE AND BISHOPS.
December 2003 ‘Collegiality (or lack of it !) in the Catholic Church’.
Part 2. CO-REPONSIBILITY OF THE LAITY
   
February 2004 Untruth in the Church
March 2004 Bishops who seek Church reform speak out
April 2004 What do we mean by ‘renewed priestly ministry’?
suggested by Ordination of Catholic Women, Australia
May 2004 Women presiding at the Eucharist?
Facilitator: Soline Vatinel, BASIC , Ireland
Sept 2004 Pope & Feminism
The relationship between women and men
Nov 2004 Women Bishops
The Anglican debate on 'headship' and Women Bishops
Mar 2005 The Eve Complex
The myth of women's 'inherent sinfulness’ and its legacy based on Anne Baring's article 'eve in Christian culture'
Apr 2005 JPII legacy
Articles and commentaries on the late Pope's papacy
October 2005

The effects of the clerical child abuse on the US Church
Facilitator : Chris Roussel
How is the Church coping with the aftermath of the abuse scandals. This Congress is based on the Church in the US but the Church in other parts of the world have been similarly affected.
If you are already a member,
log in here!		   If you want to apply for membership,
click here!

In choosing the name ‘Circles’ we were inspired by Sr. Joan Chittister’s insight that in today’s Church we do not need pyramids of authority, but circles of interaction.

CIRCLES is a joint initiative of the Catholic Internet Library regarding Women Priests (www.womenpriests.org) and Equal Rights for Women (www.equalrightsforwomen.org).