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Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Kansas City Catholic Woman Becomes Priest In Ordination Ceremony Repudiated By Church The Huffington Post | By Carol Kuruvilla/ Media Links to Stories on Georgia Walker's Ordination in Kansas City

left to right Colleen Simon, Susie Roling, Georgia Walker, Bridget Mary Meehan, Henry Stoever Prayed the Eucharistic Prayer at Ordination Liturgy

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/06/female-catholic-priest-missouri_n_6419442.html

"A Missouri woman is claiming to be Kansas City’s first Roman Catholic priest.
Rev. Georgia Walker, a former Sister of St. Joseph, was ordained on Saturday in a ceremony that was not recognized by The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City - St. Joseph -- and will likely get her excommunicated.
Still, the 67-year-old says she wasn’t nervous.
“What the official church does to me is not relevant,” Walker told HuffPost. “They can’t take away my baptism, they can’t take away my calling to the priesthood. All they can do is deny me their sacraments.”
“But now, I am a priest and I can provide those sacraments,” she continued. “Not just to myself but to others.”
The ordination ceremony was conducted by Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan of theAssociation of Roman Catholic Women Priests. Although the national organization claims to train and ordain women as priests, it is not recognized by the Vatican.
In 2008, the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree stating that women who attempt to become priests would be automatically excommunicated by the church. In 2013, Pope Francis also reaffirmed Canon Law by stating in an interview that the door to women’s ordination has already been closed.
Jack Smith, Director of Communications for the Kansas City - St. Joseph diocese, insists that Saturday’s ceremony fell outside the domain of the church.
“It didn’t take place in a Catholic church and the ordination wasn’t by a Catholic bishop,” Smith told HuffPost. “There was nothing Catholic about it.”
But Walker and her supporters believe that women deserve a place at the altar -- and that this is in fact, what Jesus would have wanted.
“Jesus treated men and women equally,” Walker said. “He didn’t turn away tax collectors, prostitutes, or people of other religions and races.”
Born a Presbyterian, Walker said she converted to Catholicism about 20 years ago after feeling drawn by its liturgy and commitment to social justice issues. She felt a calling to become a priest, but as a woman, didn’t think she had that option. She spent about 12 years going through a discernment process with the Sisters of Saint Joseph, but did not take her final vows.
The decision to become ordained by the ARCWP was very much a symbolic move for her. She didn’t want to leave Catholicism for another denomination that accepts women priests. Instead, she wanted to keep her Catholic sense of spirituality, and challenge the church she loved.
“I’m just trying to respond to the call to be prophetic and to bring the church to a new place,” Walker said. “It needs to be pushed along, otherwise women are never going to be able to fully participate.”
With her new title as priest, Walker hopes to continue doing prison ministry. One day, she hopes to lead an inclusive parish of believers in Kansas City..."
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Monday, January 5, 2015

Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Feast of the Epiphany: Gift Bearers Are We.

“Of this One’s fullness, we’ve all had a share—gift on top of gift” (John1:16)
Jesus our Pastor, Janet Blakeley music minister
Ford Englerth and Katy Zatsick RCWP; co-presiders
Welcome
Gathering Song: All # 103 Once in Royal David’s City V 1,3,5 (please sing God instead of Lord)

Presiders: In the name of God our creator, and of Jesus our brother, and of the Holy Spirit our sanctifier. All: Amen.  Presiders: May God be with you. All: And also with you.

Opening Prayer. All: Evolutionary God, giver of all gifts, you clothe us with love and lead us to truth.  Let us realize the wonder of your call to life.  Give us a hunger to see the beauty and goodness that you see in us. Let us respond by giving all to you and by sharing life creatively with one another.  Let the birth of Jesus be a new birth for us, that we may be children in whom you are well pleased. Grant this through Jesus our brother, who lives and reigns with you, Source of all Being, and with Sophia your Spirit forever and ever. Amen 

First Reading from Paul to the Ephesians 3:2-3, 5-6

Response: Psalm 72 #785 All: “O God, every nation on earth will adore you.”

Second Reading “You Come to the Stable”
You are, today, a wise one,
Come by signs to see a late born Babe in manger laid,
A wrapped–up boy who seeks to nurse and pines
For love---to care for wanderers who’ve made
Themselves a journey on a trek to see this future---this, the least of men, a weak,
A homeless person here---the Word of “we”--who is—like all--God’s own child,
Meek beyond compare, perhaps, but look and see:
That celebrating Christmas is
The gift to give to those unworthy, see the need and fill it,
Touch a soul by healing rift and rage
With kind, forgiving, reach-out deed.
Our standing in this distant, mythic stable
Depends on how to share a big-heart table.                 (Christmas 2014 by Joris Heise with author’s permission)
This too is the Word of God.  All: Thanks be to God.

Gospel Acclamation: Alleluia (sung before & after gospel)
Gospel: A reading from the Gospel according to Matthew 2:1-12
Response after Gospel: All: Glory and Praise to you, Jesus our brother.
Shared Homily:
What gift(s) has God given to me especially this year past?
What gift(s) will I give to my community MMOJ in 2015?

Profession of Faith: All: We believe in God, the creator of all whose divinity infuses life with the sacred. We believe in God who creates, sustains and receives us.  We believe in Jesus our brother who is our path to the fullness of humanity. Through Jesus we become new people, called beyond our brokenness, lifted to the fullness of life. We believe in Sophia, the breath of God on earth, who keeps the Christ vision present and infuses energy into weary spirits. Amen to courage, to hope, to the spirit of truth, to wholeness, to the partnership and equality of women and men in God’s plan. We believe in equality, justice and peace for all including earth-home to all life. We surely believe in all this! Amen

Presider: Always mindful of God’s love and care for us, we bring our needs to our loving God.
After each petition, response is: All: God who gifts us, hear our prayer!
Presider: God of Wholeness and unconditional love, you faithfully listen to our prayers. Energize us in our works for justice, equality, and peace. We make this prayer thru Jesus the Christ. All: Amen
Collection and gifts to the table
All: Song #105 “We Three Kings” for. V 1, 5 -replace “King” with Love
Preparation of the Gifts:  Presiders: (raising bread and wine)
Ever gentle God, we offer you the gifts of bread, wine and our lives.  May we love tenderly, do justice and walk humbly with our God.  We ask this through Jesus our Brother and Way. Amen.

Please gather around the table--ALL are welcome!
All: We ask you to awaken anew in our hearts your abundant Spirit Sophia, who infuses these gifts of bread and wine with the transforming energy of life to nourish and sustain us on our journey of bringing our gifts to the world.

All: (Words of Institution/consecration, extend your hand) On the night before Jesus died, while at supper with his friends, Jesus took bread, said the blessing, broke the bread and gave it to them saying, “Take this, all of you, and eat. This bread is you, this bread is me. We are one body, the presence of God in the world. Do this in memory of me” (Pause)

In the same way, Jesus took the cup of wine. He said the blessing, gave the cup to his friends and said, “Take this all of you and drink. We are of one blood, the presence of God in the world. Do this in memory of me.”

All: Holy Spirit embrace us in our brokenness and help us give our gifts to our family, those in need and our faith community. May your Spirit Sophia birth a new world of peace and justice through our prayers, actions and words. Through your Spirit Sophia, may we create Sacred space where everyone feels accepted, included and welcomed in our Mary Mother of Jesus community, the kindom of God. Amen

All: Prayer of Jesus: Sung
Sign of Peace All: Let there be peace on earth & let it begin with me. Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was meant to be. With God as our Maker, we are family. Let us walk with each other in perfect harmony. Let peace begin with me; let this be the moment now. With every step I take, let this be my solemn vow: To take each moment & live each moment in peace eternally. Let there be peace on earth & let it begin with me!

Presiders: This is Jesus who gifts us with God’s unconditional love, who liberates, heals and transforms us and our world. All are invited to partake of this banquet of Love. 
All: We are the Body of Christ. We are the Blood of Christ.

Before receiving communion; All sing: Holy gifts for holy people; come, you hungry, and believe.  Come an take Christ’s body offered, come and be what your receive. (X2)
During Communion All sing: “We are holy, holy, holy (x3), we are whole; You are holy, holy, holy (x3) you are whole; I am holy (x3) I am whole; We are holy, holy, holy (x3) We are whole.


Prayer of Thanksgiving
Voice 1: For the thanksgiving, give thanks this way: First, for the cup: We thank you, our Father, for the sacred vine of David your son, whose meaning you made clear to us through your son Jesus, yours ever be the splendor.
Voice 2: And for the bread fragment: We thank you, our Father, for the life and wisdom whose meaning you made clear to us through your son Jesus, yours ever be the splendor.
Voice 3: As this fragment was scattered high on hills, but by gathering was united into one, so let your people from earth’s ends be united into your single reign, for yours are splendor and might through Jesus Christ down the ages. 

Prayers of Thanksgiving
Announcements

Closing song: All: #104 The First Nowell verses 3, 4, 5 Verse 3 please sing “wise ones” instead of “men” Please sing “God” instead of “King”

Final Blessing: All sing with hands raised in mutual blessing
“You are the Face of God, I hold you in my heart, you are a part of me, you are the face of God.
You are the face of God, I hold you in my heart, you are my family, you are the face of God.

Presiders: Go in the peace of Jesus Christ born anew in our hearts, let our service in 2015 begin!
All: Thanks be to God. Alleluia


“Are you finally ready to accept your gifts and your passions as signs that it’s time to listen to your heart? And as you listen, are you finally ready to step into your life in a deeper more action-oriented way? I hope so; the New Year is here.”
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" My Life as a Woman"


http://youtu.be/IP1NR8YO5OY


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Homily Mary Sue Barnett, ARCWP Priest Second Sunday after Christmas January 4, 2015

Jeremiah 31: 7-14
John 1:1-5

Twenty-five years ago I had a memorable conversation with a woman 

at the Loretto Motherhouse in Nerinx, KY.

It was one of those conversations where a few words have 

significant impact.

Myself a young adult, and she in midlife, I was poised to absorb

insight from her life experience.

Sitting in her lovely wooden rocker with a large window view of

Kentucky rolling hills behind her, she tells the story of herself as a

young adult with a decision to make. 

The issue for her is that she cannot decide.

She speaks of being immobilized by an on-going ambivalence. 

Her process of discernment seemingly goes nowhere.

After time, eventually and then finally, the burden of indecision is 

lifted.

She tells of being in a chapel. While in silent solitude she hears

and feels within her being these words:

"If you don't go forward, you will go backward."

With these words, she instantly knows what to do.

Resistance and ambivalence melt away and she is able to choose a

direction for her life. She decides to enter into the community of the

Sisters of Loretto. 

While listening to her I glanced at the rolling hills through the window

behind her and I remembered having read a theologian's description 

of God as "Depth;" that the Holy One is infinite depth and we 

experience this within ourselves like a geographical horizon that we 

explore but never grasp. 

Today's reading from Jeremiah begins with the prophet saying, 

"Thus says the Holy One." 

Like the Loretto Sister hearing divine direction in her depths, the

words of the Holy One are made known in Jeremiah.

God who is infinite depth~~and prophet who is open~~
meet one another.

There is a mutual apprehending.

It is a mysterious intermingling of divine power and human 

vulnerability as well as divine vulnerability and human power.

This intermingling illumines the consciousness of the human person

with an unmistakable awareness. 

The words made known to the prophet in this particular passage are 

words of consolation to a disoriented, dislocated and suffering 

people.

Through Jeremiah God announces:

"I will bring them in from the northland,

Gather them from the ends of the earth---

The blind and the lame among them,

Those with child and those in labor----

In a vast throng they shall return here.

They shall come with weeping,

And with compassion I will guide them.

I will lead them to streams of water."


"With compassion," says the Holy One, "I will guide them."

Rahamin  ×¨×—מין is the Hebrew word for compassion.

Etymologically it means "womb" or "guts."

Scripture scholar Phyllis Trible says rahamin refers to "trembling 

womb" and so we have a maternal image of God's bond of love 

and tender expression for individual human beings. 



Each one gathered here in this sanctuary today is an expert 

decision-maker. Each one here knows what it is to labor over a 

decision, to be in discernment about the next step to take, to struggle 

for what is the best possible choice. Yet there is always the next 

decision and the next step. 

Deep within we are all on a pilgrimage, a life-long

pilgrimage. Like the Loretto Sister and the prophet Jeremiah, we 

hunger for transcendence. Our lives are an on-going reach toward 

the ever-receding horizon. We long for newness to be revealed and 

we search for the meaning of it in our flesh and blood bodies. 

The rahamin of God, the compassion from the very guts of the 

Holy One, stirs in us on our pilgrimage. When in our lives there

is weeping, disorientation and dislocation, there is Divine

Love leading us to streams of water.

The redeeming power of biblical Divine compassion is breath-

taking: I will bring you~I will guide you~I will return you~I will lead 

you~I will guard you~You shall be radiant~You will be comforted~

You will be like a watered garden~You will dance, women and men,

young and old alike~



Theologian Wendy Farley says that Divine Love is manifest to

creation as compassion---not to suffer with it but to redeem it.

The Divine compassion that pulsed through the body and words of 

Jeremiah is the Word that was with God in the beginning, the Word 

that shines in darkness, a darkness that did not overcome it. 

It is all one~~ the Hebrew prophet; the compassionate Messiah born 

of Mary and Joseph; those of us here today whose hearts beat toward

love and healing for ourselves and for others.

The Loretto Sister said many years after her decision that the 

ineffable sign that her life as a Sister is authentic is the presence of 

compassionate love directed toward the needs of the neighbor and 

the world. The Divine Love that speaks intimate guidance in an 

individual human heart is the same Divine Love that stands trembling 

like a mother and father at the distant horizon resisting the suffering 

of Her children and restoring them to their natural beauty.

This Divine Love is in you and with you on your daily pilgrimage.

You may feel it in your gut or you may hear it in words.

Whatever mysterious way Divine compassion is revealed to you,

it is ultimately a Word that shines in darkness for you and beyond 

you.


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Sunday, January 4, 2015

"Homelessness" by Silvia Brandon-Perez, ARCWP


Sudden illness and the bleeding heart

Posted on January 4, 2015by 
The other night I was asked to rein in my bleeding heart… Although this appellation has always been used as an insult, for lo these many years, in this particular case it was a comment made by someone whom I admire and who runs about with one of the ‘bleedingest’ hearts I have ever had the grace to know or to be around, so I took the matter very seriously. For the first time since we opened our doors last year, our small shelter was going to have to send back two who had come to sleep in one of our improvised cots, who had walked to us, who were cold and hungry and tired. I was considering bringing them home with me, because it is something I had done from time to time, both by myself and with my partner and companion, husband and lover, before he made his transition. They had signed up the night before, and we had promised them a place if they arrived by 8:30 p.m. But by 7:00 p.m. we were full… 20 had come in, signed up, taken a sheet and blanket.
We are a small, unfunded shelter, the only one that lets in single men and women without children, and we only have room for 20 at the inn… As I served dinner that night (I had been lucky enough to have found frozen chicken at the Grocery Outlet on B Street at an unbelievable price of 50 cents a pound, and had brought three very large chickens, which I had roasted, to share with our guests, to go along with the wonderful soup brought by one of our volunteers. Every night someone has brought soup to share, and on New Year’s Eve we also had a number of pies and persimmon bread and all manner of home-baked goodies, plus smiles and hugs and conversation, as necessary to those who are cold and hungry and tired as food and a place to sleep and a blanket…) Anyway, as I served dinner that night I thought of the endless attack on homelessness and poverty by those who make the laws in our midst, who are joining a state and national effort to ‘get rid of’ the blight of homelessness by enacting ever more ridiculous laws against being homeless and being poor. For it is now illegal to feed the homeless in Hayward, illegal to ‘camp out’ in publicly owned areas, illegal to sleep in your car, ANYWHERE in Hayward. I found out about the sleeping in cars when I fell asleep, right in front of my office, on my way in, and was rousted by an officer who bellowed that I was breaking the law…
Years ago when I was learning to drive, I remember being told that if you became tired while driving, you should pull over for a quick nap rather than proceed to drive and perhaps kill someone while nodding off on the road… but in Hayward, if you do that, you are subject to a penalty to be imposed because of this most ridiculous enactment… So going back to my bleeding heart, a condition from which I suffer, along with our volunteers, parish members, and assorted folk, I decided to take back the two who had come and put them up, with blankets and sheets, at my own humble abode, and when I went back to do breakfast the next morning at 6 a.m., I was told that after I had left we had had to deny admittance to 7 others who had walked to us in that cold night for shelter. We really do not have the room or the money for more than 20, but my friend and mentor had a trembling voice as she told of having to say no, having to send someone back into that cold, at 11 o’clock at night. I know that the earliest two were given blankets and allowed to sit on a chair outside the sanctuary with the beds, because they had walked a long time in that very cold night to get to us.
The U.N. Human Rights Committee in Geneva has condemned the criminalization of homelessness in the United States as “cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment” that violates international human rights treaty obligations. But we in the United States, and specifically in Hayward, continue to handle the problem by punishing its victims. One of the excuses given is that ‘other cities’ are doing it, as though participating in wrong conduct is excused because ‘everyone else is doing it.’ Well, one of those bleeding hearts of old, Helen Keller, wrote at another time: I am only one, but still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
but still I can do something.
I will not refuse to do the something I can do.
We had to turn away seven people who came to us, cold and hungry and tired, because we had no room at the inn. Many of those whom we house nightly (about a third at times) during very inclement weather are veterans, and this follows a national trend, as more than 62,000 of the homeless in this country are veterans. Veterans are a specific demographic when it comes to homelessness, because they are plagued by disabilities from their experience on the battlefield, including physical injuries and post-traumatic stress and depression. Although we have put them in peril, when they return we relegate them to the dump heap, along with so many of the cast-off things with which we pollute our planet.
The sudden illness in the title? I brought back multiple loads of laundry, the 20 sheets and 20 blankets for the ones we were able to house, and while I was doing them I kept napping, and I couldn’t breathe, and I assumed I was experiencing allergies as I often do, but this morning at 5 I woke up with mucus and a sore throat and a bad cough. Had I been turned away at the inn, had I slept outside last night, I might not be able to write these words. For whatever it is that is ailing me, a sudden case of flu or something else, I slept well-covered in a proper bed with blankets and heat. But everyday people who have no heat or blankets or bed find themselves beset by illness, and may not wake up.
I am committing, as one more human being who is only one, in the words of Helen Keller, but “still I am one,” to do whatever it takes to end homelessness in Hayward. Won’t you join me?
The Torah: “Tzedakah,” or “righteousness” — doing the right thing.
“Tzedek, tzedek you shall pursue” — justice justice you shall pursue (Deut. 16:20). Reach out to others. Do what you can to help. Tikkun Olam: repairing the world.
Isaiah 58:7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter– when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
Matthew 25:35: For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’…
Hinduism, via Gandhi: Poverty is the worst form of violence.
Islam: the Prophet Mohammad Sallalalahu Alayhi wa Sallam is reported to have said, “He is not a Muslim who goes to bed satiated while his neighbor goes hungry”.
Baha’i: You must turn attention more earnestly to the betterment of the conditions of the poor. Do not be satisfied until each one with whom you are concerned is to you as a member of your family. Regard each one either as a father, or as a brother, or as a sister, or as a mother, or as a child. If you can attain to this, your difficulties will vanish, you will know what to do. This is the teaching of Bahá’u’lláh.

It isn't enough to talk about peace, one must believe it. And it isn't enough to believe in it, one must work for it. - Eleanor Roosevelt                                                                  
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
- Jimi Hendrix

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mientras no haya una distribución equitativa de la riqueza, no habrá paz. - Elena Ochoa

Ningún soldado esta obligado a cumplir una ley en contra de la ley de Dios, pues una ley inmoral nadie tiene por qué cumplirla. - Arzobispo Oscar Romero

Ça paraît un peu idiot de le rappeler : « une paix universelle et durable ne peut être fondée que sur la base de la justice sociale ». Accepter l'injustice sociale, […] c'est préparer la guerre.  - Jean-Luc Porquet
It isn't enough to talk about peace, one must believe it. And it isn't enough to believe in it, one must work for it. - Eleanor Roosevelt                                                                  
When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace.
- Jimi Hendrix

True peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice.
- Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mientras no haya una distribución equitativa de la riqueza, no habrá paz. - Elena Ochoa

Ningún soldado esta obligado a cumplir una ley en contra de la ley de Dios, pues una ley inmoral nadie tiene por qué cumplirla. - Arzobispo Oscar Romero

Ça paraît un peu idiot de le rappeler : « une paix universelle et durable ne peut être fondée que sur la base de la justice sociale ». Accepter l'injustice sociale, […] c'est préparer la guerre.  - Jean-Luc Porquet 
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Articles and Gallery in Kansas City Star of Georgia Walker's Ordination in Kansas City Star/ Jan. 4, 2015

Photo taken by SUSAN PFANNMULLER , Kansas City Star
Other photos taking by members of congregation


Georgia Walker's hands are anointed in Ordination Rite, Dotty Shurgrue ARCWP, MC at podium
Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan ordains Georgia Walker a priest, Dotty Shugrue at podium
in Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests

 Article in Kansas City Star
http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article5392290.html
Gallery of Pictures:
http://www.kansascity.com/living/religion/article5393613.html
"Georgia Walker became a Roman Catholic priest Saturday — at least, according to her and those who filled a midtown church to witness her ordination.
Catholic canon law stipulates that only baptized men may be ordained as priests, and Walker has said she’s been informed by church officials that she would be excommunicated if she went through with the ceremony.
But Walker reiterated Saturday that she does not accept that ruling.
“We are not leaving the Catholic Church; we are leading the church to a new model,” she said before the service at St. Mark Hope and Peace Lutheran Church, 3800 Troost Ave.




Representatives of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests officiated.
“The good news is that God cannot be put in a box and that God is calling women to serve the people of God in inclusive, empowered, egalitarian communities today,” said Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan of the organization.
During her homily, Meehan applauded statements of Pope Francis, who, she said, “recognizes inequality as the root of social sin and has taken positive steps to increase the number of women theologians.” But she also criticized the pope for phrases that threaten to marginalize those same women, in once instance referring to them as “strawberries on the cake,” Meehan said.
“In my view, our beloved pope needs some strong feminist friends to help him transform his chauvinistic view,” she said.
Meehan also referred to a recent “60 Minutes” interview in which Cardinal Seán O’Malley of Boston, a close adviser to Pope Francis, defended the church’s tradition of reserving the priesthood for men, adding that if he were founding a church he would “love to have women priests.” But, O’Malley added, “Christ founded (the church), and what he has given us is something different.”
Such statements disappointed her, Meehan said.
“Cardinal O’Malley and the hierarchy cannot continue to blame Jesus for the sexism in the Catholic Church, because it contradicts the life and teachings of Jesus in the gospels and the Vatican’s own scholarship,” she said to applause.
In being ordained, Walker becomes one of the more 150 female priests recognized by the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.
Walker, 67, has served as a University of Missouri sociology professor, a financial officer and hospital manager. She also is a peace activist who has been convicted of trespassing at the Bannister Federal Complex in south Kansas City and at Whiteman Air Force Base near Knob Noster, Mo.
As a priest, Walker has said she wants to establish a ministry of visiting prisons in the diocese.
In 1994, Pope John Paul II issued an apostolic letter reserving the priesthood for men only. In 2008, the Vatican said any woman attempting to be ordained and anyone attempting to ordain a woman would be automatically excommunicated. Pope Francis, during a July 2013 news conference, indicated that women still could not become priests.
The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph last month issued a statement saying that because Walker’s ceremony did not involve the participation of any “validly ordained Catholic clergy,” it would not be commenting further.
Meehan urged those present Saturday to encourage Walker in her work. Bishop Robert Finn of the diocese may threaten Walker with excommunication, she said, but added, “He cannot cancel our baptisms.”

Read more here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/article5392290.html#storylink=cpy
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Saturday, January 3, 2015

Homily by Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP : Ordination of Georgia Walker as a Woman Priest in Kansas City, Missouri on Jan. 3, 2015

left to right Colleen Simon, Susie Roling, Georgia Walker, Bridget Mary Meehan, Henry Stoever Prayed the Eucharistic Prayer at Ordination Liturgy

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, the glory of Our God is rising on you.” Sisters and brothers in Kansas City, Missouri today we celebrate the glory of our God arising in this community as we ordain Georgia Walker, a prophetic woman of peace and a leader who has worked with justice seekers from all races, ages and creeds.

In solidarity with a growing chorus of voices, we are piercing the darkness of hatred, racism, and sexism. Malaysian Muslim activist, Zairah Anwar sums it up: “God cannot be God if God is unjust.” (Calling on Faith to Defend Women's Rights)
http://www.cartercenter.org/video/Default.aspx?youtube_id=4Zj30a10S8Q&category=Peace&filter=Human%20Rights

The Feast of the Epiphany reminds us that God’s family includes everyone. God’s love is infinite, boundless and embraces all and is in all beings, all creation, all of us. We are called to live as co-luminous revelations of our God in our world in everything we think, say and do each day!

The Good News is that God cannot be put into a box, and, that God is calling women to serve the people of God in inclusive, empowered, egalitarian communities today.

Georgia chose this day for her ordination because she entered into the Sisters of St. Joseph on the Feast of the Epiphany, so it has many special memories for her. Georgia writes: “It feels special to me because of the strong image of light...not just a reflective kind of light marking the incarnation of Jesus as God's LOVE in the world, but a kind of luminosity shining out from us as the embodiment of the Divine in our world. As co-heirs and co-creators, we are compelled to bring hope and dignity to all without exception, especially those who are on the margins of our church and society.”

In 1985, Georgia Walker experienced a major conversion and became a Roman Catholic. For twelve years she was a Sister of St. Joseph during which time she pursued course work for a Master of Arts in Pastoral Ministry at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis. She is now the co-founder and Executive Director of Journey To New Life, an agency that specializes in serving homeless men and women who suffer from addictions, mental illness and chronic health conditions as they come out of prison. She currently serves on the Board of Peace Works-Kansas City, engages in nonviolent civil disobedience and volunteers at a local Catholic Worker house. Ordained a deacon in July 2014 in Cincinnati, Ohio, she is currently working on a Doctor of Ministry Degree.

Georgia plans to minister as a priest with men and women in five Missouri state prisons located in the Kansas City-St Joseph Diocese. In addition, she hopes to begin meeting with individuals in Kansas City who are interested in creating a local inclusive community where all will be welcome at the table and all will be co-equal in their participation in liturgy, service and governance

In an article by Joshua McElwee in the National Catholic Reporter, Pope Francis announced the increased presence of five women on a prestigious theological commission.” The women,” he said, "are the strawberries on the cake, but we want more." The presence of the five women, the pope said, "becomes an invitation to reflect on the role that women can and should play in the field of theology." (“Pope tells Vatican Theological Commission to respect diverse views”) http://ncronline.org/news/theology/pope-tells-vatican-theological-commission-respect-diverse-views


On December 16th, 2014, after a major investigation into the lives and ministries of U.S. nuns, the Vatican issued a positive report affirming the Sisters for their selfless service to the people of God—which reflected the social justice agenda of Pope Francis.

Kudos to the thousands of Catholics who stood in solidarity with the nuns, writing letters of support to the Vatican and showing up at nun-justice rallies! What an example of justice rising up in the community of the baptized!
http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2014/12/vatican-praises-thanks-usnuns-extends.html

While Pope Francis recognizes inequality as the root of social sin, there is a disconnect in his mindset. I cringe at some of his jokes – for example, telling nuns not to be “old maids” or “spinsters”, and using phrases like “strawberries on the cake” to refer to women theologians. http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2014/12/seven-reasons-some-women-wince-when.html

In my view, our beloved pope needs some strong feminist friends to help him transform his chauvinistic view.

As baptized members of the church, we are all related, family, sisters and brothers. Therefore, we cannot be separated or thrown out of the church by excommunication. Even though Bishop Finn has threatened Georgia with excommunication, he cannot cancel her baptism. Let’s recall that Joan of Arc was declared a heretic, burned at the stake and later canonized a saint. And, Pope Benedict canonized two formerly excommunicated nuns Mother Theodore Guerin and Mother Mary McKillop. Therefore, one could say that he made excommunication the new fast tract to canonization!

Like a deer caught in the headlights, Cardinal O’ Malley defended the indefensible sexism in the Catholic Church in his recent 60 Minutes interview with Nora O’Donnell. He said: “If I were founding a church, I’d love to have women priests. But Christ founded it, and what he has given us is something different.”

Cardinal O’Malley and the hierarchy cannot continue to blame Jesus for the sexism in the Catholic Church because it contradicts the life and teachings of Jesus in the Gospels and the Vatican’s own scholarship!

In 1976, the Pontifical Biblical Commission released a study examining the exclusion of women from the ministerial priesthood from a Biblical perspective, stating: "It does not seem that the New Testament by itself alone will permit us to settle in a clear way and once and for all the problem of the possible accession of women to the presbyterate."

Check out Jimmy Carter's most recent book, "A Call to Action: Women, Religion, Violence and Oppression,” published by Simon and Schuster and reviewed by woman priest writer and activist, Janice Sevre-Duszynska, in the Dec. 5th edition of National Catholic Reporter.

"Carter who supports women's ordination and women's equality in all religions, finds it 'ironic' that women are welcomed into many professions 'but are deprived of the right to serve Jesus Christ in positions of leadership,' as they did in the early Christian churches. Such 'sustained religious suppression of women as inferior or unqualified," he said, "has been a major influence in depriving women of equal status within the worldwide secular community as spelled out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The former president reminds us that Jesus, breaking the taboos of his time, treated women as equal to men, and that these details are reported in Gospels written by men."


I believe that on a deep spiritual, mystical level women priests are beginning a healing process of centuries-old misogyny in which spiritual power was exclusively invested in men. In order to be equals in our church at this moment in history, we need to open all positions to women including ordination as an issue of justice. Women priests are a holy shakeup whose time has come!

Women often weep when they attend a woman-priest led liturgy for the first time. All, including divorced and remarried, LGBT and former Catholics, those of other faiths or none, are welcome to celebrate sacraments in our inclusive communities of equals.

Let me share a few recent examples of how the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests is a luminous manifestation of God’s all-embracing love serving the people of God today.

Recently, one of our catacomb deacons called to tell me about her new ministry. A catacomb deacon or priest is one whose identity is not revealed because of her position within the church. She ministers quietly until the time comes when she can go public with her ordination. We have catacomb nuns as well as pastoral ministers who cannot go public for obvious reasons. One of our catacomb sisters lives in a nursing care facility and no one knows that she is ordained. One evening, a nurse came to her and asked if she would pray with and anoint a person who was dying. She went immediately, held her hand and prayed with her until she died. The nurse told her later that something inside her moved her to ask our catacomb sister to pray with this woman so she would not be alone. http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2014/12/arcwp-catacomb-deacon-ministers-to.html

On Nov. 30, 2014, Maureen McGill, a priest who co-presides at Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community and an Ecumenical Catholic Community in Florida, officiated at the blessing of the marriage of a gay couple, George and Paul. The two men were married in another state and asked Maureen to bless their marriage in Largo, Florida.

As co-pastors in their Heart of Compassion Ministries, deacon Barbara Billey and priest Michele Birch-Conery of Windsor, Ontario Canada collaborate with religious leaders of many faith traditions and with community groups in fostering the empowerment of disenfranchised persons living in Windsor's inner city, including offering memorial services for the poor and marginalized. As part of this initiative, they are inviting women of all ages and religious traditions into Wisdom Women Circles of Compassion to discover their personal and political voice, leading to activism towards systemic change for the most vulnerable women in their community.

Olga Lucia Alvarez Benjumea, who is the first ordained woman in Colombia, South America co-presided with a married priest at his 11 year-old granddaughter’s First Communion. Mari Jose describes her beautiful day in these words: "My grandfather, who is a married priest, and my mom give me Holy Communion. Olga Lucia explains why they give me Communion: ‘''For Father Gerardo as grandfather and priest, and Maria Elena, as a mom, it is they who in the home have cultivated the seeds of faith and Christian values, Maria José "'.

There are many more stories of women priests and our inclusive communities living as the light of God’s love in our midst.

Now we look forward to more stories of Georgia Walker rocking the boat in a holy shakeup here in Kansas City, Missiour! As you know, she has been a leader in the efforts to remove Bishop Finn, who was convicted of failing to report suspected sexual abuse allegations. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/robert-finn-vatican-investigation_n_5902966.html.


"Arise, shine, for your light has come, Georgia Walker. The glory of Our God is rising on you, in you and all around you in the people of God as you witness for peace, equality and justice in our world.

With Joyce Rupp, we affirm you as “a Light-bearer for others, a clear window of ...eternal starlight.”

Namaste! !

Bridget Mary Meehan, D.Min., a Sister for Christian Community, was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 31, 2006. She was ordained a bishop on April 19, 2009. Dr. Meehan is currently Dean of the Doctor of Ministry Program for Global Ministries University, and is the author of 20 books, including Living Gospel Equality Now: Loving in the Heart of God, The Healing Power of Prayer and Praying with Women of the Bible . She presides at liturgies in Mary, Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Sarasota, Florida. Dr. Meehan can be reached at sofiabmm@aol.com
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