Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research

13/08/2026

Father Joe Ryan writes about his time at The Tablet Festival and echoes the question posed by us on the day:

What are we waiting for? Why, in God's name, are we not ordaining women?

''How does the question of women's ordination sit within the Church's mission and development? Miriam Duignan, Executive Director, Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research spoke on the contribution made by women in the Church but with little recognition. She told us of the pink smoke over the Vatican at the time of the last Conclave; how she studied alongside seminarians and yet no possibility of Ordination. She helped us unravel some of the myths and rulings which do not allow for the ordination of women in the Catholic Church.'

It was a delight to be present at The Tablet/New Hall School Festival 2026 at Chelmsford last weekend.This two day Catho...

26/07/2026

For those not able to attend the Tablet's festival, the videos of both keynote speeches and excellent panel discussions are available to download now for a small fee.

The Question That Will Not Go Away: Women's Ordination, Theology and Development: Miriam Duignan examines one of the most significant and enduring questions facing the Catholic Church, offering a thoughtful and engaging exploration of theology, tradition and development.

Watch On Demand: These professionally recorded sessions allow you to enjoy the festival at a time and place that suits you, wherever you are in the world.

Missed the Tablet / New Hall Festival on 10–11 July 2026? Don't worry—you can still experience the inspiring conversations, thought-provoking

13/07/2026

'Miriam Duignan from the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research called on Catholics never to stop asking why the Catholic Church does not ordain women priests. Speaking at The Tablet Festival at New Hall School she said it is a sign of the Church’s health that so many Catholics are questioning this issue of the church’s teaching on truth and justice. “How can we claim a living faith if our beliefs about women are based on the teachings of medieval men?”

“As a Church we do not practice what we preach. Women do the bulk of the church’s work and bear most of the suffering of the world, yet they are told they cannot represent Christ at the altar.”

10/06/2026

We are delighted to be exhibiting AND giving Saturday's Keynote Addresss at The Tablet Festival.
It promises to be a fun and fascinating event with excellent speakers and a great crowd.
You can still buy discounted tickets for 10-11 July here: https://shop.thetablet.co.uk/collections/frontpage/products/the-tablet-new-hall-festival-2026-two-day-early-bird-tickets

24/03/2026

Making the Catholic news today: our statement - as a member of WOW - on the first woman to hold the most senior role in the Anglican Communion:

'“We join with Christians everywhere in delighting at this watershed moment after centuries of discrimination against women whose vocations to leadership were denied to placate those who prioritised patriarchal hierarchy over the teachings of Jesus. We lament the fact that the Roman Catholic Church has become a bastion of bigotry where those opposed to women’s ordination can seek refuge.'

Campaigners for women priests and deacons in the Catholic Church extended their “warmest congratulations” to Dame Sarah Mullally as she prepares to be

27/12/2025

We were asked to contribute to this article (in Playgirl Magazine!) on the Vatican's issue with women - proof that concern about prejudice and it's wide reaching global consequences is now mainstream news:

“When the hierarchy admits that women are equal to men, it would be a wonderful sign to the world that sexism is a sin and must now be dismantled. Because, the consequences of an all-male celibate leadership having such huge control over teaching and healthcare without a single women influencing decision making or policy are catastrophic. This is the most urgent issue that the world should be holding the Vatican to account for.”

Archbishop-designate of Canterbury Sarah Mullally, the schism in the Anglican communion and the cultural bias

17/12/2025

In this, our final publication of 2025, we expose the litany of lies around the Vatican's claim to have studied the question of women deacons:

''This is evidence that Catholics everywhere — even Synodal participants themselves — have been kept in the dark. Below is a forensic examination of all the machinations to deceive and deny women’s role in the church and how the Vatican has lied about their decision-making process. ''

You’ve been duped – exposing Vatican deceptions about the decision on women deacons Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri – 17 December 2025 The Synodal process has been hijacked. One of the main discussion points throughout the Synod was the urgent need to increase women’s access to church ministries...

09/12/2025

Our Director of Research makes the closing argument in today's Tablet review of reactions to the Vatincan's decision on women deacons:

Dr Luca Badini Confalonieri of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research has said, “the No from the Commission highlights the lack of good faith from the Vatican”.
The entire process, he said, particularly the selection of members of the study commission and study group, has been carried out “without transparency”, to ensure the selection of ‘yes-men’ and ‘yes-women’.
He criticised the outcome as “deeply wrong both historically and theologically” and called for the Commission to publish all the materials it relied on.

Responding to the seven-page synthesis document, Redemptorist Fr Tony Flannery said the outcome had “the same feel” as Humanae Vitae in 1968 which declared

27/11/2025

The Wijngaards Institute featured in the New York Times today in a profile of Pope Leo as he embarks on his first foreign travel as pontiff.

"I am feeling quite positive about this pope, honestly, but I do think he’s quite a conflicted man,” said Miriam Duignan, the executive director of the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research in Cambridge, England. She noted that Leo had chosen a woman as a spiritual director when he was a seminarian, and talked openly about a congregation of nuns in Peru who conduct baptisms and marriages.

But, “his job is to keep unity within the hierarchical leadership in the church today and that means not upsetting the men in power.”

The pontiff begins a trip to Turkey and Lebanon on Thursday — the first foreign voyage of his papacy, and his biggest test yet.

19/09/2025

Dr Ally Kateusz is Senior Research Associate with the Wijngaards Institute for Catholic Research. In this academic analysis of changing images and contradictory accounts of how many sisters were present at the raising of Lazarus, we are invited to question:

'Did the addition of Martha to texts and iconography correlate with a change in women’s agency and authority in the broader culture? The trajectory of female postures—from one woman standing tall with Jesus, to kneeling at his feet, to two women prostrate with a crowd of men towering over them—is shocking. This trajectory appears to reflect changing cultural perspectives regarding the proper place of women in Christian society as held by artists, their patrons, their churches, or communities. Artists mapped these social views onto the bodies of biblical women, and this art performed as a model for how actual women should comport themselves.'

The question of how many sisters were portrayed with Jesus at the Raising of Lazarus in early Christian art has not previously been explored, and interestingly, the hypothesis that Martha was added later aligns with the number of sisters portrayed in early art of the Raising of Lazarus.