The history of DDS...

This workshop emerged out of one-to-ones and small group conversations with those interested in working to restore women to the ordained ministry of the diaconate in the Catholic Church. So in a particular way, if the question of women’s ministry is important for you, this is a space to go deeper. Maybe God is calling you to formal ministry and maybe God is calling you elsewhere. Let’s find out! 

We also welcome participants who yearn for deep, spiritual community and who see themselves as bridge builders, animators of social mission, community organizers, artists and creatives. We want to trust what is emerging and give you space to work on a project that has been on your heart for some time, but for which you haven’t had the space and support to really plot it out and move it into the world. Our desire is to help strengthen our collective work for spiritual renewal and structural reform (aka: synodality!)  by nurturing leaders and those who are discerning their place in living the mission of the Gospel.

Discern, Dream, Scheme offered its first cohort in summer of 2020, and its second cohort in December 2020. Cohort 3 gathered in January 2026.