Good Times, Happy Memories

Here are a few more photographs taken during my brother and his family’s recent visit to the Twin Cities. The photo above, for instance, shows my brother, Chris, and my two youngest nephews, Brendan and Mitchell.

One reason why I think it's important to share such personal photos on The Wild Reed is that images like these help to counter and dispel the fallacies that some religious folks (and, yes, that includes some Catholic folks) have about gay people: fallacies that say that gay people are “anti-family”; that we’re out to destroy the family and civilization; that we have insatiable sexual appetites and are consumed with the need to experience as much promiscuous and impersonal sex as we can. Crap like that.

The reality is I have a family. I’m part of a family. I love my family, and all its members love me – just as I am.

And do you know what? That love inspires me to be the best person I can be – in all aspects of my life.

And do you know something else? I’ve discerned and experienced more life-giving truth in that love than in any document on homosexuality written to date by the Vatican.

I have absolutely no doubt that Vatican pronouncements will one day reflect the love and reality of gay people’s lives and relationships. And it is the love that shines through these photos I share today, and through the lives, families, and relationships of gay people around the world, that is facilitating this transformation.

And that’s good and beautiful news, wouldn’t you say?



Above and below: On Sunday, August 3, my brother and I took his two youngest sons canoing and kayaking through the chain of lakes in South Minneapolis - Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, and Cedar Lake.



Above: Mitchell among the water lilies!


Above: Chris and Mitchell on Cedar Lake.


Above: Brendan in the canoe.


On Friday, August 1, after a wonderful day in the river town of Red Wing, my friend Kathleen and her son Joey, along with my friend Daniel, joined me and my family at my house for a meal, a game of Egyptians, and to watch the season finale of Doctor Who!

Above from left: Daniel, Brendan, me, Mitchell, Joey, and Liam playing Joey’s board game, Egyptians.



Above: Daniel’s new puppy was a big hit with my nephews and Joey. Actually, he was a hit with us adults as well!



On Saturday, August 2, I hosted a BBQ at my home for my brother, his family, and a number of my friends in the Twin Cities.

Above (from left): Mitchell; Liam; Brendan; Marguerite Corcoran, CSJ; and Rita McDonald, CSJ.

Marguerite and Rita were my “companions” during my CSJ consociate candidacy process.



Above (from left): Jane McDonald, CSJ; Molly; my sister-in-law, Cathie; me; and my nephew, Mitchell.

Earlier in the week, Molly hosted a wonderful pool party for my brother’s family.



Above (from left): My nephew, Brendan; Tom White (who with his wife, Darlene, are co-founders of Catholic Rainbow Parents); Rick Notch; Sue Ann Martinson; David McCaffrey (CPCSM co-founder); David's partner, Michael Douglas; me; my nephew, Mitchell; Rita McDonald, CSJ; and Kate McDonald, CSJ.



Above: Standing with my sister-in-law, Cathie, and my youngest nephew, Brendan.



Above: On Monday, August 4, we attended a St. Paul Saints game at Midway Stadium.



Above: With my older brother, Chris, and three of my four nephews, Brendan, Liam, and Mitchell. The boys’ older brother, Ryan, did not accompany the family on its U.S. holiday.



Above: With Liam.


Above: Mitchell.


Above: Brendan.

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• An Afternoon at the Science Museum
• Pool Party
• Climbing Barn Bluff
• Out and About - July 2008
• Catholic Rainbow (Australian) Parents
• The Bayly Family - July 2006

A Smaller, Purer Vision of the Church – and Why It Won’t Work

I must admit that that I sometimes find it a challenge to stay positive and hopeful when it comes to the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. After all, it’s a hierarchy of (albeit diminishing) influence in the church and the world that encourages and rewards unquestioning obedience, intellectual dishonesty, and spiritual immaturity - especially in relation to sexuality.

But then I read something like the following article by Ted Schmidt (pictured at right), editor of the Canadian online Catholic paper, The New Catholic Times: Sensus Fidelium, and author of the book, Journeys to the Heart of Catholicism, and I feel renewed and hopeful once again.

Perhaps you will too.

____________________________________


The Little Flock
By Ted Schmidt
The New Catholic Times: Sensus Fidelium
August 4, 2008

Jesus went searching for the sheep that was lost.
We all have a place in the big tent of Catholicism.
A tiny perfectly orthodox society we are not.
Catholics struggling to be Christian need room to talk
to each other, argue with each other and most importantly
to engage the world with each other. In the end we will need
John XXlll’s “medicine of mercy” more than
brother Ratzinger’s constant hectoring.

Now that Pope Benedict has left Australia it might be helpful to briefly tease out his oft-quoted ruminations of the “Church of the little flock.”

In interviews which go back decades, Pope Benedict reiterates that the future of the Church will be smaller, maybe “a mustard seed where it will exist in small seemingly insignificant groups.” These groups, of course, will be utterly loyal to anything which comes out of Rome. A necessary culling will be the order of the day, say like the 300,000 Catholics driven out by the archbishop of Cologne, Joachim Meissner. “Chaff and wheat must be separated,” the then Cardinal Ratzinger said to journalist Peter Seewald in 1985. While few expect Benedict XVI to mount a massive proscription of ‘dissident’ Catholics, the probability is that the docile bishops promoted in the past 25 years will, by their increasingly irrelevant navel gazings and authoritarian centralization, drive progressives out.

The “little flock” concept seems a polar opposite to James Joyce’s definition of Catholicism as “Here comes everybody” and Jesus’ very own injunction to ignore the 99 and go seeking the lost one.

In a brilliant small book written after Vatican II, The Shape of the Church to Come (Herder, 1971), Karl Rahner had this to say about “the little flock”:

When we speak of ourselves today as the beginning of a “little flock,” we first remove a misunderstanding. “Little flock” does not mean a ghetto or a sect, since these are defined by a mentality: a mentality which the church can afford in the future even less than today. A sectarian or ghetto mentality is propagated among us – not under this label, but under the pretext that we are becoming Christ’s little flock which has to profess the folly of faith and of the cross. Any deviation must be fought with the utmost severity in the name of true faith and authentic Christianity.

If we talk of the “little flock” in order to defend our cosy traditionalism and stale pseudo-orthodoxy, in fear of the mentality of modern society; if we tacitly consent to the departure of restless, questioning people from the church so that we can return to our repose and orderly life, and everything becomes as it was before, we are propagating, not the attitude proper to Christ’s little flock, but a petty sectarian mentality. This is dangerous because it shows up, not under its true name but in an appeal to orthodoxy, church-loyalty and strict, Rome-dictated morality.

It seems to me that the great Rahner was prescient in his analysis of the reactionary fear which was beginning to set in after the revolutionary Council.


Jesus was in a big tent

The “cosy traditionalism and stale orthodoxy” which are in vogue today are thin gruel for a pilgrim Church marching through history. This narrow view of the Church is alienating too many of the Catholic faithful who long for something like John XXIII’s magnanimous and invitational “medicine of mercy.” We need a pope, not of the little flock but the big tent. Benedict, “ganz Schwarz,” as he was dubbed in his native Germany (“way too dark”), with his abstract, ethereal theology hardly ever filtered through life, has simply shown up at the wrong time.

There are other popes Benedict might emulate at this time. In 1964 Pope Paul Vl wrote a brilliant encyclical on dialogue. His main points are still worth taking very seriously:

The dialogue of salvation did not physically force anyone to accept it; it was a tremendous appeal of love which, although placing a vast responsibility on those toward whom it was directed, nevertheless left them free to respond to it or to reject it.

But it seems to us that the relationship of the Church to the world, without precluding other legitimate forms of expression, can be represented better in a dialogue,

79. This type of relationship indicates a proposal of courteous esteem, of understanding and of goodness on the part of the one who inaugurates the dialogue; it excludes the a priori condemnation, the offensive and time-worn polemic and emptiness of useless conversation. If this approach does not aim at effecting the immediate conversion of the interlocutor, inasmuch as it respects both his dignity and his freedom, nevertheless it does aim at helping him, and tries to dispose him for a fuller sharing of sentiments and convictions.

85. And before speaking, it is necessary to listen, not only to a man's voice, but to his heart. A man must first be understood; and, where he merits it, agreed with. In the very act of trying to make ourselves pastors, fathers and teachers of men, we must make ourselves their brothers. The spirit of dialogue is friendship and, even more, is service. All this we must remember and strive to put into practice according to the example and commandment that Christ left to Us.

It is difficult to see much of this dialogue in Joseph Ratzinger.

Leo XIII (1878-1903) could be a second teacher to the present pope. He acknowledged that his pontificate was successful because: “I was never afraid to appoint as bishop somebody who disagreed with me.”

There was something extremely disquieting about Cardinal Ratzinger’s clinical evisceration of so many creative theologians who disagreed with him. Do we really think these men do not love the Church as he does? Does not the fact that so many had their reputations trashed, their health endangered bother this Mozart-loving enforcer? Do we really believe that the God of Mystery can be so limited to the univocal voice of brother Ratzinger? Many of us share the respected theologian from Chicago, Fr David Tracy’s view that “Cardinal Ratzinger seems to be conducting a campaign to impose a particular theology upon the universal Church and upon all theologians. It won’t work.”

No it won’t work, because in the words of another great churchman of years ago, J.B. Phillips, “Your God is too small.” The God of Life, the God of History and that God’s Holy Spirit who “blows where it wills” (John 3:8) is no captive of the Catholic Church. That Spirit is working through universal justice movements and the humanization of the world. These are the “signs of the times” which the Church needs to attend to, one less Catholic and more catholic, another pilgrim for justice and agent for God’s reign.

We do not need a little flock “purified of anthropological, sociological or horizontal accents” but a Church like its Jewish founder, who emptied himself for God and God’s project. This is the only Church which makes any sense and one Joseph Ratzinger believed in when he said in 1962: “The meaning of prophecy is the protest against the self-righteousness of the institutions. God throughout history has not been on the side of the institutions but on that of the suffering and the persecuted.”

Ted Schmidt


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
What it Means to be Catholic
A Church That Can and Cannot Change
Who Gets to be Called Catholic – and Why?
Comprehending the “Fullness of Truth”
Beyond Papalism
An Australian Bishop’s “Radical” Call for Reform
Authentic Catholicism: The Antidote to Clericalism
The Holarchical Church: Not a Pyramid but a Web of Relationships
“Uncle Vince” is at it Again
The Two-Sided Catholic Crisis
Chris McGillion Responds to the “Exacerbating” Actions of Cardinal Pell
It’s Time We Evolved Beyond Theological Imperialism
Thoughts on Authority and Fidelity
Thoughts on Relativism
To Whom the Future of the Catholic Church Belongs
Archbishop Nienstedt’s “Learning Curve”: A Suggested Trajectory
A Catholic’s Prayer for His Fellow Pilgrim, Benedict XVI
The Shrinking Catholic Tent
The “Underground Church”

The Challenge of Peace

Nineteen years ago, on the 6th anniversary of the publication of the US Roman Catholic bishops’ pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace: God’s Promise and Our Response, Pax Christi USA compiled and published a book entitled, Dear Bishops: Open Letters on the Morality of Nuclear Deterrence Addressed to the US Catholic Bishops.

With today being the 63rd anniversary of the world’s first nuclear attack (on the Japanese city of Hiroshima), it seems fitting to share one of these letters. This particular letter was written by Joan Chittister, OSB.

___________________________________

Dear Bishops,

One of my most hopeful moments of church came when the bishops of the United States were willing to wrestle with the questions of nuclear morality in a nuclear world. One of my most disappointing moments, on the other hand, came when you failed to say that deterrence that is aimed at the destruction of the globe is morally unacceptable, that a defense system that has already begun to erode the social fiber of our country with its lustful, gluttonous, profligate use of resources could possible be a sinless activity.

How can we possibly say that what is immoral to use is moral to design and develop and deploy? How can we possibly say that to abort a fetus is morally wrong but that the weapons intended only to abort the whole human race is not? How can we possibly make ourselves and our generation more worthy of the ultimate act of retaliation than at any other possible moment in history?

Isn’t the arrogance of those postures alone a sin against the Holy Spirit?

How is it that we can ask people to be prepared to die in nuclear warfare in the name of a “defense” that is destructive but refuse to ask them to be prepared to die in passive resistance in the name of the gospel? All that would happen to us if we faced a nuclear attack without weapons is that we would die, but isn’t that the very posture that we clearly espouse even now in the name of “defense”? And isn’t that precisely the kind of deterrence that we expect from the non-nuclear world even now?

The point is that we say nuclear weapons alone can be a deterrence to nuclear war. But surely there is a rational and Christian deterrence as well that would be equally effective.

It was a Christian state that designed the Holocaust, and Christian countries that waged the Inquisition, and Christian states that burned witches and napalmed Vietnamese villages and used the atomic bomb [on civilian populations], not once but twice, for experimental purposes. Now, with all the planet and universal human morality and civilization itself at stake, in an age when errors cannot be forgiven, we are begging you, lead this Christian state to more than that.

The Rule of Benedict requires humility as the cornerstone of spirituality built in the patriarchal culture of imperial Rome. We need that same humility now from the church. Call the country to negotiations, to human respect, to faith and to humility in our dealing with both the little and the great ones of the world.

There is an ancient proverb that teaches, “Wherever there is excess in anything, something is lacking.” Finish the fine work you have begun and give the nation what it lacks, to its peril, in its excessive militarism – the challenge of peace.

– Joan Chittister, OSB

Recommended Off-site Links:
Hiroshima Marks Bomb Anniversary with Hopes for US Change – Agence France Presse, August 6, 2008.
The Lies of Hiroshima Live On, Props in the War Crimes of the 20th Century – John Pilger (The Guardian, August 6, 2008).

Climbing Barn Bluff

Early this morning I drove my brother and his family to the airport. Their wonderful visit to the Twin Cities had come to an end. Not surprisingly I’m feeling a little down today.

Still, I’m happy that they’re continuing their U.S. holiday (they flew this morning to San Francisco). And, of course, we all have our happy memories (and photos) of our time together this past week.

For instance, last Friday (August 1) we traveled to the beautiful river town of Red Wing where, among other things, we climbed Barn Bluff (pictured above).



Rising almost 400 feet above Red Wing, Barn Bluff is one of the most well known natural features along the Mississippi River.

Artist Henry Lewis, who called the view from the bluff’s summit, “indescribably beautiful,” wrote of a Native American legend about the origins of Barn Bluff. According to this legend, a mountain twice as large once stood on the site, yet the inhabitants of two Dakota villages quarreled over possession of it. To settle the dispute without bloodshed, the Great Spirit divided the mountain into two parts. One part was left as what is now known as Barn Bluff while the other part was moved downstream to the second Dakota village where it rises above the present day city of Winona and is called Sugar Loaf.



Above: Ascending Barn Bluff on its steep, exposed (and hot) western side.




Above and below: The spectacular views from the northern end of Barn Bluff’s summit.

The eighteenth century explorer Jonathan Carver described the views from Barn Bluff as “the most beautiful prospect that imagination can form: verdant plains, fruitful meadows, and numerous islands abound with the most varied trees. . . . But above all, reaching as far as the eye can extend, is the majestic, softly flowing river.”




Above and below: Descending the bluff on its eastern (river facing) side, where the vegetation is very lush and the temperature always much cooler than anywhere else on the bluff.




Above: Barn Bluff is a popular spot for rock climbers.



Above: The southern end of Barn Bluff, where we began and finished our adventure!



Above and below: Visiting other attractions of Red Wing - including the riverside area of the town (above) and Memorial Park with its panoramic views of the town and its surrounds (below).

Pictured above (from left): Mitchell, Cathie, Liam, Brendan, and Chris - Red Wing, Friday, August 1, 2008.





Above: Red Wing is renowned for its arts and crafts. I bought the above sculpture of a hare at a store in Red Wing called Cut Above Home. As you can see, this beautiful sculpture now sits in my garden and serves as a reminder of my brother and his family’s visit and, in particular, our time together in Red Wing and at Barn Bluff.


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
An Afternoon at the Science Museum
Pool Party
Out and About - July 2008

"We Are All the Rock"

The following interview with my friend, Roman Catholic Womanpriest, Judith McKloskey (pictured, at right, with me at her August 2007 ordination in Minneapolis), will be published in the forthcoming August 2008 issue of The Progressive Catholic Voice.

___________________________


“We Are All the Rock”
An interview with Roman Catholic Womanpriest,
Judith McKloskey
By Michael J. Bayly
The Progressive Catholic Voice
August 2008

Michael Bayly: Can you explain what exactly the Vatican recently said about women who have been ordained as Catholic priests and deacons?

Judith McKloskey: On May 29, 2008, (ironically, the eve of the 577th anniversary of St. Joan of Arc being burned at the stake) the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly named the Congregation for the Defense of the Faith) issued a General Decree.

The translated text follows.

Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith General Decree

Regarding the crime of attempting
sacred ordination of a woman

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, to protect the nature and validity of the sacrament of holy orders, in virtue of the special faculty conferred to it by the supreme authority of the Church (see canon 30, Canon Law), in the Ordinary Session of December 19, 2007, has decreed:

Remaining firm on what has been established by canon 1378 of the Canon Law, both he who has attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, and the woman who has attempted to receive the said sacrament, incurs in latae sententiae excommunication, reserved to the Apostolic See.

If he who has attempted to confer holy orders on a woman or if the woman who has attempted to receive holy orders, is a member of the faithful subject to the Code of Canon Law for the Eastern Churches, remaining firm on what has been established by canon 1443 of the same Code, they will be punished with major excommunication, whose remission remains reserved to the Apostolic See (see canon 1423, Canon Law of the Eastern Churches).

The current decree will come into immediate force from the moment of publication in the 'Osservatore Romano' and is absolute and universal.

The Decree is signed by William Cardinal Levada, Prefect, and Angelo Amata, SDB, Titular Archbishop of Sila.

An accompanying article by Catholic News Agency, mentioned several recent ceremonies (referred to as “attempted ordinations”), including the November 11, 2007, ordinations in St. Louis of Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath and the May 4, 2008, ceremony involving Kathy Redig of Winona, Minnesota.

“In latae sententiae” is a type of excommunication which church officials say occurs automatically upon certain actions. It has been interpreted historically to mean that persons are not permitted to receive the sacraments nor to hold public leadership positions in the church. In many cases, this type of excommunication can be lifted locally. But in these cases, church officials say, only the Apostolic See can receive these persons back into the Church. This particular decree, in official language, is “absolute,” “universal,” and “immediately effective.”


Michael Bayly: How has this personally affected you? What’s been the response of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement?

Judith McKloskey: From my childhood I remember a poem Edwin Markham wrote:

He drew a circle that shut me out.
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in.

My immediate response was deep sadness that the top authorities in our church have chosen to issue this decree. Instead of spending energy and resources addressing the major issues facing our church and world, they are hurling verbal lightning bolts at a few mostly-retirement-aged women and men. A healthier way to “protect the faith and unity of the Church” is to bring policies and practices more in line with the values Jesus lived for. Church authorities could be dedicated to protecting the young from abuse, insuring equal treatment of women and the poor in our world, and addressing global environmental degradation. Church authorities could re-establish access to the sacraments as its top internal priority. Persons could be called forth for sacramental ministry based on their gifts, not their gender or marital status.

Soon after my initial reaction, I began to see the decree as an affirmation that church officials are now taking the Roman Catholic Womenpriests initiative seriously.

If church authorities would engage in dialog rather than in pronouncements, they could find ways to incorporate our efforts into the larger church. We do not intend to form a schismatic church. We are asking our church to expand its imagination in service of its mission.

I am not surprised that the Vatican has issued this decree, just disappointed. When I took this public step, I knew there would be consequences, some of which would not be pleasant. God calls me to follow in faith, even when that means risking the wrath of church officials. My ordination is valid; it was performed by a bishop who was consecrated by three bishops in active ministry in the Roman Catholic church. I reject the phrase “crime of attempting sacred ordination of a woman.” Pedophilia is a crime; covering up pedophilia is a crime; stealing from the church is a crime. Responding to a call from the depths of one conscience is not a crime.

Personally, the excommunication decree has affected me mostly as a time and energy drain. Thinking about it takes energy and time I prefer to spend serving the needs of the persons and communities who contact me. I cannot count the number of Catholics who have expressed to me their delight in and gratitude for the fact that women are now serving as deacons and priests within Catholic communities. I often hear: “It’s long overdue!” and “Your courage brings me hope for the future of our church.” At the seven ordinations in which I have fully participated, the tears in the eyes of those assembled, the cheers and the ovations greeting the newly ordained stand for me as lighthouses on the difficult and foggy days. I continue to receive communion with a clear conscience. Far from “gambling with my soul” (to use the phrase of one conservative commentator), I am in joyful peace. Each day affirms my choice to respond publicly to a call I first heard in early childhood.

The Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement rejects the penalty of excommunication. We consider ourselves loyal members of the RC church. We stand in the prophetic tradition of holy disobedience to what we believe is an unjust canon law – canon 1024 – which reserves ordination to men. We believe canon 849, that baptism [not gender] is the gateway to the sacraments. Recent scholarship affirms that women were ordained in the first 1,200 years of our Church’s history. We are reclaiming that history. Roman Catholic Womenpriests offers a model of a renewed priesthood in a community of equals. And yes, some people and some church leaders find that very threatening.


Michael Bayly: Can you talk briefly about the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement? When did it start? What are its aims? How prevalent is it?

Judith McKloskey: The Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) movement began in Austria and Germany in the late 1990’s, when some Catholic women convened to study theology. They, in effect, developed a seminary program. Upon the completion of their studies, they eventually located several bishops who agreed to ordain some of them. On June 29, 2002, seven women were ordained priests by validly ordained male bishops. The ceremony took place on a ship on the Danube River, between two countries. These seven women were formally excommunicated. The next year two of these women were consecrated bishops. There are now five bishops, including one from California. These women were consecrated as bishops so that they will ordain women to the transitional diaconate, then to the priesthood.

RCWP is an international initiative. Its mission is to spiritually prepare, ordain, and support women and men from all states of life, who are theologically qualified, who are committed to an inclusive model of church, and who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to minister to the People of God.

Growth in Europe is slow; their circumstances are greatly different from those in the U.S. and Canada. RCWP has grown quickly here in North America. The first ordination in North American took place in 2005 on a ship on the St. Lawrence Seaway, between the U.S. and Canada. The first ordination in the U.S. was in 2006 in Pittsburgh. Because of the rapid growth, regions were formed. In 2007, there were seven ordination ceremonies in North America; as of July, there have been five ordinations in 2008 in North America. Two or three more ordinations for 2008 have been scheduled.

In addition to the public ordinations, there have been some what we call “catacomb ordinations.” These are for women and men whose public ordinations would most likely result in loss of livelihood, because they work within Roman Catholic churches and organizations.

As of July 20, 2008, six years after the first U.S. woman, Dagmar Celeste, was ordained a priest through RCWP, there are 30 priests in RCWP and 11 deacons in the U.S. In Minnesota, as of this date we have three priests: Regina Nicolosi of Red Wing, Kathy Redig of Winona, and myself, Judith McKloskey, of Eden Prairie. Mary Smith of Long Lake is now a deacon. Other women are in RCWP’s formation program; still others are discerning their calls.

(NOTE: A book about RCWP, entitled Women Find A Way, has recently been published. Information about it can be found here. Another good source of information is the official RCWP website, which can be viewed here.)

Above: Bishop Patricia Fresen (center) with newly
ordained womenpriests, Rev. Judith McKloskey and
Rev. Alice Marie Iaquint – Minneapolis, August 12, 2007.

Michael Bayly: Monsignor Angelo Amato of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith recently declared that: “The church does not feel authorized to change the will of its founder Jesus Christ,” an apparent reference to Christ having chosen only men as his apostles. How do you respond to such a contention?

Judith McKloskey: When I first read, back in 1994, that church officials said the church didn’t have the authority to ordain women, I laughed. Think about it. When have you EVER heard Roman Catholic church leaders say they lack authority to do anything? When it serves one’s purposes, it is easy to hide behind the skirts of history.

The contention that the church cannot ordain women because Jesus did not ordain them is illogical. First, Jesus did not ordain anyone to the priesthood as it has evolved over time. Second, Jesus chose mostly married Jewish men as disciples. Jesus did not ordain any Caucasian, celibate men. But then, this entire discussion is not about logic, nor has it ever been. As Rev. Nancy Taylor said after the recent RCWP ordinations in Boston, “Prejudice in liturgical clothing is still prejudice.”

As far as interpreting the will of Jesus and speaking for Jesus, anyone claiming that ability would be wise to be cautious. At most we can hope to spend our lives in humble discernment of what we believe is God’s voice in our world. God is God; we humans are not.


Michael Bayly: What drew you to be ordained? What sustains you during these difficult times? What keeps you hopeful?

Judith McKloskey: My path to sacramental ministry has been a spiritual river in my life since early childhood. Where could the yearning go? In 4th grade I was told girls couldn’t even serve at the altar, much less become priests. The river went underground for years, because priesthood was a forbidden dream for women in the Roman Catholic church. Little did I know, God was using all the experiences of my life to prepare me. Outside of and within my Roman Catholicism, the formation continued. On January 9, 1994, I responded fully, clearly and consciously to this call to sacramental service. Every day of my life since then I have lived as priest, to the best of my ability. After continued theological studies and completing the RCWP formation program, I was ordained to the diaconate in October, 2006.

On August 12, 2007, to my great joy, I was publicly ordained to the priesthood here in Minneapolis, along with Alice Iaquinta from the Milwaukee area. Ordained to the diaconate that day were Kathy Redig of Winona, and Ree Hudson and Elsie McGrath of the St. Louis area.

What sustains me is prayer and spiritual practice, mine and that of the many persons who are kind enough to keep me in their prayers and thoughts. My family and friends bring me strength and the perspective of humor. What also sustains me and brightens the occasional down days is God’s people. Sensus fidelium is a phrase used to indicate that a doctrine or belief is fully valid because it is accepted, or received, by the people. I believe that God’s love includes all of us. When the official church leaders speak from a narrow perspective, I remember the many people who have contacted me to offer support and affirmation and gratitude.

My business card includes the phrase “celebrating sacraments and rituals with faith communities.” At baptisms, weddings, anointings, reconciliations, attendance at ordinations, and at the bedsides of those chronically ill or near the threshold of death, I have been privileged to witness the sacred events of people’s lives. Throughout this first year I have been invited to celebrate Eucharist with diverse communities. It is an honor to discern with and facilitate the community prayer of a particular group of people with their God. This mission and these shining moments in time are what keep me going.

Here is one example. One day recently I celebrated Eucharist with a group of people at someone’s family farm. After morning prayer the next day, a community leader invited me to be seated in the center of the circle of people gathered. They’d all heard about the excommunication decree, he said, and found it ridiculous. But they figured it would help me to hear so from them. They surrounded me in the circle, touched me, and many prayed aloud about their gratitude that I had been ordained to serve them as priest. Two spoke of receiving joy and serenity from me. As tears flowed down every face I saw, I remembered that very morning, walking across a field and finding myself standing upon a large flat boulder, hidden among the stalks of waist high grain. The words “you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church” came to me and I realized it was the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul. The words are for all of us. We are all the rock upon which Jesus builds – all of us baptized Christians, serving God and each other and our world to the best of our abilities. In this I place my hope!


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Ordained in Minneapolis
Thoughts on Ordination, Intellectual Dishonesty, and the Holy Spirit of which the Prophet Joel Speaks
Could Christ Have Been a Woman?
Responding to Excommunication
The Discussion Continues
Revealing a Hidden History
Crisis? What Crisis?
Reflections on The Da Vinci Code Controversy
Thoughts on The Da Vinci Code
Mary of Magdala

Recommended Off-site Links:
Why Ordain Women? - The Australian Ordination of Catholic Women.
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Women-Church Convergence
Women’s Ordination Conference
“Some Women Seeking Ordination Won’t Wait for Church’s OK” - National Catholic Reporter, January 27, 2006.
“The Defiant Deacon” - Minnesota Women’s Press, December 2005.

Recommended Blogs:
God is Not 3 Guys
Bridget Mary’s Blog

Out and About - July 2008

Above: One of the many beautiful flowers in my garden. For more summer blooms, click here.



Above: Thanks to the generosity of my friend, LeMonte, I have (for the month of July and part of August) the use of a car. And not just any car, but a Lexus!



Above: Veteran journalist and author, Robert Blair Kaiser, who was in the Twin Cities, July 20-21, promoting his latest book, Cardinal Mahony - A Novel.

For more on Kaiser and his work, click here.



Above: On a rainy Saturday, July 19, my friend Paula and I drove from the Twin Cities to St. John's Abbey in Collegeville, MN, to hear British theologian James Alison (below) deliver an address entitled, "Speaking the Truth in Love: How to be Catholic and GLBT."




Above: Standing at right with (from left) James Alison and Robert Pierson, OSB - St. John's Abbey, Collegeville, July 19, 2008.



Above and below: On Tuesday, July 29, my older brother and his family arrived from England for a week-long visit.

On Thursday, July 31, after a lovely pool party hosted by my friends, Molly and Brigid, we had dinner with my friends Ken and Carol and their family and friends in their beautiful South Minneapolis backyard.

Pictured above from left: Sue Ann; my nephew, Liam ; Ken; Paul; Cass; Carrie; my sister-in-law, Cathie; my brother, Chris; my nephew, Brendan; and my nephew, Mitchell.



Above: My nephew, Liam, chats with my friend, Kathleen.




See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
Back in the USA
Out and About - April 2007
Out and About - May 2007
Out and About - June 2007
Out and About - July 2007
Out and About - August 2007
Out and About - September 2007
Out and About - October 2007
Out and About - November 2007
Out and About - December 2007
Out and About - January 2008
Out and About - February 2008
Out and About - March 2008
Out and About: April 2008
Out and About - May 2008
Out and About - June 2008

Pool Party

My friends Molly and Brigid arranged and hosted a wonderful pool party for my visiting family at Molly’s apartment complex this afternoon.



Above (from left): My sister-in-law, Cathie; Molly, Brigid; and my nephew, Liam.



Above: My brother, Chris, and my nephew, Mitchell.



Above: With my nephew, Brendan, and my friend, Brigid.



Above: In Molly’s apartment. From left: Me, Molly, Cathie, Mitchell, Brendan, Chris, and Liam.



Above and below: The incredible views of the Mississippi River and downtown Minneapolis from the rooftop of Molly’s apartment building.



See also the previous Wild Reed post:
An Afternoon at the Science Museum

An Afternoon at the Science Museum

My older brother, his wife, and three of their four boys are visiting from England.

Yesterday afternoon we visited the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul. My friend Kathleen’s son, Joey, also accompanied us.

As you’ll see, the current main attraction at the Science Museum is the “Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination” exhibit.



Above (from left): Brendan, Joey, and Mitchell - July 30, 2008.





Above: Liam.





Above (from left): Joey, Brendan, Mitchell, and my brother Chris.