We Are Church is at the 2025 Asian Youth Academy /Asian Theology Forum in Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Martin Schockenhoff from Wir Sind Kirche, Germany, is representing We Are Church at this year's forum.  He is pictured with friends from past years.

As a relevant spiritual formation project for young activists, the AYA/ATF places much emphasis on their religious identity amid the all-things-mixed global world. It also aims to make them what Pope Francis calls “missionary disciples” armed with strong Christian identity with socio-political awareness, socio-cultural analysis and spiritualty.

The emphasis at this year's forum is on:

• "Asian Christianity’s Critical Approach to COP 30,
• UN-led SDGs
• Religious Nationalism from the View of Peoples Caught in a Desperate Situation in Asia"

		We Are Church is the Volcano

We Are Church supporter, Soline Humbert, invites you to buy her book and journey with her vocation.

As a student in Trinity College Dublin, Soline Humbert experienced a call to the priesthood in the Catholic Church, which she was unable to pursue because of the ban on women’s ordination. She found herself on a collision course with a powerful church hierarchy intent on quashing any such vocation, and was even warned of excommunication if she persisted.

In this ground-breaking memoir, Soline candidly shares her struggles, her dark nights of the soul and her ecstasies, as well as her decades-long effort to bring about an end to women’s exclusion from the priesthood. She is told again and again: ‘The door to women’s ordination was shut and would remain shut.’ And that was that.

 But as the Catholic Church continues its decline in weekly Mass attendance, its huge drop in male celibate priestly vocations and waning cultural significance, as it reels from decades of scandals due to child sexual abuse by clergy, it is becoming increasingly clear that the time for change is at hand. A Divine Calling is an inspirational story of hope, determination, courage and one woman’s passionate desire to make a difference.

Available on 24 September 2025 from

The LIffey Press, Ireland and worldwide

Also in Ireland  Books.ie

In UK, Pen and Sword Books

Amazon

"Out of Africa can rise a hope capable of reawakening the whole Church” — Stan Chu Ilo

In VoiceAfrique, Professor Stan Chu Ilo introduces his article thus:

"The Catholic Church faces its own exhaustion. For centuries, it seemed an unshakable moral anchor. Through Christendom and global missions, the papacy exerted extraordinary influence. Today, beneath its familiar rituals, the cracks are evident. Membership is shrinking in much of the West. Debates over sexuality, morality, and governance deepen divisions. The link between faith and everyday life weakens. In too many places, Catholic witness feels muted, leadership defensive, imagination tired. There is even a contest over which version of Catholicism defines the Church—an old struggle that intensified under Francis and resurfaced in the election of Pope Leo."

"The question is not whether the old order can be restored. It cannot. The deeper challenge is whether a new vision can emerge. Can Catholicism recover a space of hope and spiritual imagination strong enough to respond to this global crisis of history and modernity?"

Read the whole article

We Are Church International wish to make it clear that we have not been invited to meet with Pope Leo XlV in October as reported in some media.

We applied to take part in the Jubilee of the Synod Teams 24-26 October 2025 in Rome as another participating organization. We were pleased that our registration was accepted upon submission. To us, this is a positive sign that confirms the Church is listening to everyone.

Along with many hundreds of delegates from around the world we look forward to hearing Pope Leo XlV deliver his address. But we are clear that no special meeting will take place with the pope and our group.

Press contacts:
Colm Holmes, Chair We Are Church International  
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.      Phone: +353 86606 3636

Dr Martha Heizer, Vice-Chair We Are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.            Phone: +43 650 4168500

The Synodal Process: Ten concrete initiatives we would like to see

Dear Bishops,

The Final Document of the Synod on Synodality allows different decisions to be reached in different places.  This represents unity in diversity. After 4 years of listening and dialogue and prayer it is past time for concrete initiatives to be taken with all the baptised for reform of structures and institutions. This is a crucial point in the entire process: Without concrete changes in the short term, the vision of a synodal Church will not be credible. Pope Leo XlV has endorsed Pope Francis’ synodal process for which appropriate decision making and decision taking processes need to be developed at all levels.

We call on you to support appropriate and concrete initiatives in our dioceses, including:

1.  Competent Women and Men preaching and leading parishes.
2. Lay led liturgies with communion
3. Co-operation, mutual attendance and Eucharistic hospitality at services in other Christian churches
4. Majority voting on Parish & Diocesan Pastoral Councils and Minutes published online
5. Annual publication of Financial Reports
6. Ordination of Women Deacons
7. Ad Limina Reports published online
8. Diocesan Pastoral Councils recommending Nominations as Bishops
9. Fair financial support and professional guidance for those affected by sexualised abuse in the church
10. Pastoral care for LGBTQ+ people in every parish.

We Are Church International will support such concrete initiatives.

With synodal blessings,

Colm Holmes, Chair, We Are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +353 86606 3636

Dr Martha Heizer, Vice-Chair, We Are Church International
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Phone: +43 650 4168500