Australian Women Preach to celebrate three years

On International Women’s Day, 8 March 2024, the podcast Australian Women Preach celebrates three years of raising women’s voices in preaching the Gospel. The weekly podcast features women from a wide variety of backgrounds, cultures, theological perspectives, and denominations, who preach every Sunday.

A joint initiative of Women and the Australian Church( WATAC) and The Grail in Australia, the podcast now has 157 episodes and preaching.

Since it began, the podcast has had more than 36,000 plays and has gained over 450 followers.

The podcast was the initiative of Patricia Gemmell and Dr Tracy McEwan, who say they had the the idea out of the desire for a more inclusive church, particularly in the Catholic tradition where church law forbids women to preach during Mass.

“When Australian Women Preach launched on International Women’s Day in 2021, its purpose was to model a form of preaching rarely countenanced in Catholic liturgies,” Ms Gemmell said.

“We had been heartened by the discernment of the Australian Catholic Church’s Plenary Council that had proposed allowing the practice of lay preaching.”

“We decided to bring to the public square the broad diversity of Australian women’s voices in breaking open the Word of God and the results speak for themselves.”

“Three years later we are still here. The podcast continues to provide a space for women to use their Spirit-given gifts to reflect on and illuminate scripture.”

The podcast has featured several Uniting Church women, including Rev. Radhika Sukumar-White. The Uniting Church has featured women in preaching roles since union in 1977.

Australian Women Preach is available to listen to on Spotify.