Monday, March 9, 2026
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. EDT
Location: Copley Hall Copley Formal Lounge
This dialogue — just one day after International Women’s Day — will highlight the remarkable work Catholic women are doing around the world to promote the common good, as well as the opportunities ahead to continue to advance women’s leadership in the Church. Women lead major social service organizations, hospital systems, and educational institutions. They have leading roles in dioceses large and small, and in countless parishes and organizations across the United States. They are scholars, business leaders, policymakers, legislators, journalists, activists, and advocates for the principles of Catholic social teaching. Yet as the Church has recently acknowledged, women still “encounter obstacles in obtaining a fuller recognition of their charisms, vocation, and place in all the various areas of the Church’s life.” This dialogue will bring together Catholic women leaders to discuss how the Church can better acknowledge the richness of women’s current and future contributions to advance the common good.
Kim Daniels, director of the Initiative on Catholic Social Thought and Public Life, will moderate the dialogue.
Recording
The dialogue starting at 6:00 p.m. EDT will be recorded and posted online for later viewing.
Participants
Joanna Arellano-Gonzalez
Joanna Arellano-Gonzalez is co-founder and director of training and formation at the Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL), a Catholic and Christian-rooted community organizing coalition that integrates liberation theology, spirituality, and grassroots organizing to advance community transformation.
Cynthia Bailey Manns
Cynthia Bailey Manns is the director of adult learning at Saint Joan of Arc Catholic Community in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was one of four U.S. lay participants at the Synod on Synodality.
Anne Thompson
Anne Thompson is an award-winning reporter with NBC News. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she covers the environment, economic issues, Pope Leo XIV, and the Catholic Church.
Sr. Jane Wakahiu, LSOSF
Sr. Jane Wakahiu, LSOSF, is a member of the Institute of the Little Sisters of Saint Francis, Kenya. She provides leadership and direction of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation’s Program Department and oversees Hilton’s Catholic Sisters initiative.
Accessibility
All accommodation requests should be sent to cathsocialthought@georgetown.edu by March 6. A good-faith effort will be made to fulfill requests.