Married priests Began Community as Outreach to Divorced and Remarried Catholics, Now Inviting Women Priests to Minister in Titusville, Florida
Fr. Pat Mahon said that he along with two other
married priests provide Eucharist for St Christopher’s Faith Community which
Fr. Mike Gallagher started about 20 years ago, especially for devoiced and remarried
Catholic’s and others who were alienated from the Church. Over the years St. Christopher’s has
attracted Episcopalians, Lutherans, Methodists and others on the journey of
faith. Off season participants number about 50 and during the season about 150
participants. They are in need of an additional priest to help with Liturgy
because Mike Gallagher is 83 and is dealing with some health issues.
Wanda (Russell ARCWP) and I went down the following
weekend, experienced their faith community at worship and then shared a
wonderful dinner. We brought some literature for them including Pink Smoke Over
The Vatican. Pat said he would prepare
the people to receive Women Priests. The
following weekend he gave a wonderful homily on their need for an additional
priest and women’s call to priesthood. See beautiful homily below.
Miriam Picconi ARCWP Co-Presides at Liturgy on Nov 16th with Fr. Mike
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| Miriam Picconi ARCWP and Father Mike Gallagher Co-Preside at Liturgy at St. Christopher's Catholic Community, Titusville, FL. |
On Saturday, November 16th
I concelebrated Eucharist with Fr. Mike. He started the liturgy and gave most
of the homily and then invited me to share with the congregation. We celebrated together at the altar and the
people joined in the Eucharistic prayer.
It was truly an awesome experience.
For this time Wanda was a greeter and passed out flyers on our ministry
and the flyer on ARCWP.
Before and after the Liturgy people were most
gracious in welcoming us. The warmth and acceptance was almost overwhelming. We
felt right at home. We are now committed to the third Saturday of every month.
Wanda and I will concelebrate in December.
--> We feel really blessed to share in this community of faith.
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| St. Christtopher's Catholic Community |
Homily to Community on Previous Sunday by Fr. Pat Mahon:
Women Priests
Apollo XIII radioed Houston Control, “Houston,
we have a problem.”
St Christophers, we have a problem. Like the
virgins in the Gospel we have to prepare for a future event which will affect
our entire church community. We have a shortage, not of oil, but of priests. As
you know Fr. Mike founded this community over 20 years ago to provide a service
to all the people in TGO. He was especially interested in providing church and Eucharist
for divorced Catholic who had remarried and would not be welcome at the
communion table in traditional RC churches. Fr. Mike is trying to recover his
strength and does not feel hem can stand for an entire Eucharist. I will be
going to the mountains of Georgia for the holidays our children but we be here
most of the winter. Fr. Jim also has plans and will not be here sometimes.
The situation-can we provide Eucharist every
Sat during the season? Do you want Eucharist every Sat?
Knowing
of no other men who were available to assist us, I contacted Bishop Brigid Mary
Meehan in Sarasota and she helped us find women priests who are willing to
serve us. BTW, I have concelebrated with Brigid Mary in her faith community in
Sarasota. She is wonderful Irish spirit-filled lady. After Brigid Mary put me
in. contact with two priests, I would see people from St. Christopher and I
would ask them how they felt about women priests. Some of those I asked went on
to ask others among you. Some of you were hesitant. Others said, “Why not?”
A bit about the history of the RC women priest
movement. In a male dominated, patriarchal church, we often forget the women
disciples were the last witnesses to the crucifixion-the men had fled in terror.
John Mark was so scared that he left his tunic behind and fled naked into the
night.
Mary Magdalen was the first witness to the
resurrection and came to be known as the “apostle to the apostles.”
Unfortunately, a male dominated church began the process of painting her as a
prostitute.
I cannot go into all the evidence here;
however, Fr. Mike has a video, Pink Smoke
over the Vatican, which you can borrow. Paul refers to Phoebe, a deaconess
at Crenchae. There is written and archaeological evidence that women in the
early church were in leadership roles. Archaeological evidence shows women in clerical
garb on mosaics in the catacombs.
Further evidence is that councils began to condemn women in ministry as
the church after Constantine hijacked the church into a male-dominated empire.
Canon Law says that only men can be ordained.
Arguments about ordinations revolve around apostolic succession. This means
that bishops ordain bishops who ordain priests and that the chain goes all the
way back to the apostles-or so they say.
The church argues that only men can be
ordained because Jesus was a man. The priestly character does not depend on
male characteristics.
The church also argues that only men can be
ordained because there were only men at the Last Supper. Really? I do think
that Jesus’ mother Marry and the female disciples would have been present.
In the modern era, we do know that a bishop in
Czechoslovakia during the days of Communism ordained Ludmilla Javarová so she could minister
to the many women in the communist prisons. Eventually a group of seven women
were ordained on the Danube River in 2002 and a worldwide movement was
underway.
The entire women priest movement is a matter
of justice. It is a matter of justice and the church should be about justice
for all. Unfortunately, the male-dominated patriarchal church has always
treated women as second-class citizens. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas considered
women to be incomplete men; therefore, women were inferior. The discrimination
against women in Saudi Arabia today highlights the way women were treated in
Jesus’ time. Women still are treated like this in the middle east. The ruler in
Saudi Arabia has imprisoned key leaders he considers to be corrupt in the Ritz
Carlton--throw me into Ritz Carlton briar patch. He does plan to let women
drive cars.
The hierarchy from the pope down persists in
denying justice to women in the church. Even discussing the ordination of women
is verboten. Several years ago, I was scheduled to give a retreat on social
justice to a parish in the Venice Diocese ion the west coast of Florida. A few
days before the retreat, my deacon friend Max called and told me I was
forbidden to talk in his diocese. Why? The week before I had attended the Call
to Action Conference in Milwaukee and gave a talk on Thomas Merton and
Nonviolence. When I asked for a reason, I got one. You attended a conference of
a group that advocates the ordination of women and that is against church
doctrine. Eventually, I left the RC Church and joined the nearby Episcopal
Church where I was already involved in their healing ministry. I realized that
I would be long gone before the RC Church would act justly toward women and the
LBGTQ community.
We often get the notion that the church never
changes.
In fact, the church is evolving just like
every other organization on earth. How many of you remember the Baltimore
Catechism? Easy questions with easy pat answers. When Sister Mary Holy Water
called on you to answer a question you were supposed to have memorized, your
whole life passed before your eyes. Looming in the background was the in famous
three-cornered ruler and your knuckles
There are many examples of changes in the
church. At one point the church condoned slavery. Today the church condemns
slavery. The church condoned imperialism that conquered other people and their
land and resources. Today, Pope Francis is condemning nuclear weapons.
In our time, we are seeing a change. Pope
Francis, in his paper, The Joy of Love,
outlines a process which paves the path for divorced and remarried Catholics to
return to communion. Fr. Mike was way ahead of his time!
Paul in Galatians 3:28 makes it very clear
that making decisions based on gender are not appropriate in Christian
communities. He says, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor
free, nor is there male and female, for
you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Eventually, the church will come to its senses.
The first step may be ordaining women to serve as deacons. The patriarchal
approach will slowly crumble and the riches women in ministry can bring as
priests will be unleashed.
In a recent post, Franciscan Richard Rohr gets
it right. Men and women both have gifts which can bring us closer to God:
Masculine and feminine journeys may use
different symbols, stories, images, rituals, and metaphors that get us to enter
the temple. We must honor the need for action, movement, building, repairing,
rescuing, and heroic hardship that men often enjoy. We must honor the
community, relationships, empathy, intimacy, healing, and caring that many
women usually value. In the end, however, the object and goal of all
spirituality is finally the same for all genders: union, divine love, inner
aliveness, soul abundance, and generous service to the neighbor and the world.
Next Saturday, the Reverend
Miriam Picconi will celebrate the Eucharist with you. Please welcome her warmly
as she is willing to drive here from Palm Coast to serve you.
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