Living Gospel Inclusivity and Empowerment Now- https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2025/10/rev-dr-bridget-mary-meehan-arcwp-chat.html
| in St. Phoebe’s Catholic Community in Ottawa, Canada |
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| She serves as both a Priest and Music Minister |
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| Teresa presided at her mother’s and brother’s funeral Liturgy in England |
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| Teresa has served as a Chaplain on a Cruise Ship |
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| Teresa ministers to staff on Cruise Ship |
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| Teresa prays with workers on Cruise Ship Restaurant |
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| Teresa ministers as a Chaplain in a hospital in Ottawa, Canada |
our hopes and fears,
our callings and doubts
our wounds from exclusion
our longing to serve your people.
Meet us here, O Christ,
as you met the Samaritan woman—
without judgment,
without hierarchy,
without fear.
Awaken within us the fountain of living water
that no institution can silence
and no patriarchy can contain.
Amen.
In Spain, the woman priest who defies the Vatican
Christina Moreira, who claims the right of women to the priesthood, was excommunicated by the Vatican for coveting a place reserved for men. She continued her vocation as a priestess, which disturbed even the top of the Church, in a Galician parish.
By Pierre Terraz (A Coruña (Spain), special correspondent)
Christina Moreira at the altar of her informal parish in A Coruña, Spain, April 5, 2026. PIERRE TERRAZ
"This is our low-cost sacristy," Christina Moreira jokes as she opens a locker inside which she retrieves a porcelain chalice and a bottle of Spanish liqueur that will be used as mass wine. This Sunday morning, the woman of religion is busy preparing for the Easter celebration that should soon begin in the heart of this small church in the city center of A Coruña, in northern Spain.
Accustomed to the place, the faithful enter the chapel discreetly nestled on the fourth floor of a residential building by an elevator. Except for this handful of regulars, who have found their way without difficulty and for whom everything seems normal, what is about to happen here is nothing ordinary. The altar is a desk covered with a white tablecloth, the host a loaf of bread bought that morning in a neighborhood bakery, and the priest is a woman.
Ordained in 2015 after an obstacle course, then consecrated bishop in 2025, Christina remembers precisely the day of her call. "I was 14 years old. To prepare for a catechism class, I reread a passage from the Last Supper, Jesus' last supper, surrounded by his apostles. All of a sudden, I was carried to the table next to Christ and I heard him say to me: 'You will do this in memory of me,'" she recalls, still shaken by the event.
Aware that the priesthood was forbidden to women, she decided to open up to her parish priest: a tutelary figure, at the time, for this daughter of Spanish immigrants who had fled the Franco dictatorship (from 1936 to 1975), before landing in the working-class Parisian suburb of Villiers-le-Bel (Val-d'Oise). The latter acknowledges that her vocation seems real, but he orders her never to talk about it again so as not to "hurt" those around her. He encourages her to become a nun, while gradually distancing herself from the young girl. "He wanted to lock me up in a convent, to turn me into a contemplative," says Christina.
A religious procession during the "Semana santa" preceding Easter in the Spanish tradition, in A Coruña, Spain, on April 4, 2026. PIERRE TERRAZ
What follows is a crossing of the desert. One evening, as she puts on her pajamas, young Christina stands naked in front of the cross hanging on the wall in her room and implores: "Lord, if you call me to serve you, why did you give me this body? Why did you make me a woman? Lost, she finally decided to move away from religion and get closer to her roots.
Obsession
After her baccalaureate, she went to Spain for a holiday during which she decreed that her only goal would be "to go out clubbing and meet boys". There she married a man she had met at a party and moved with him to Galicia at the age of 20. For years, she did everything she could to channel her obsession, which never really left her. Even though she gives catechism classes and invests herself in the life of her parish, Christina refuses to come out again for fear of being ostracized by the community. A trying period, with a husband who turns out to be violent towards her. In 2010, an event will once again change Christina's destiny. As she reads the motu proprio, a declaration of the pope that promises excommunication to all those who abuse children within the Church, a shock hits her right in the heart. "I was enjoying myself internally as the lines went by. I kept repeating to myself: "Bravo, bravo, my dear Benedict XVI"! It wasn't too soon, with everything we knew... »
At the end of the text, a short mention warns that any woman ordained by a member of the clergy will be entitled to the same treatment, in reaction to an event that took place in 2002 on the Danube: in a boat, seven women were made priests for the first time by male bishops, outside any official jurisdiction of the Catholic Church. "There, we were put squarely on the same level as pedophiles. I was devastated," she says.
The fear of being removed from an institution that she now considers "rotten from the inside" is gone. Christina gets in touch with the "Danube Seven". At the same time, she spoke about her vocation to a Galician priest, Father Victorino, who was the first to support her. "He listened to me without interrupting me and said, 'If you had been a man, you would be a priest today.'"
Immediately excommunicated
Over the course of several discussions, Christina's mystical revelations are studied by the sisters of the community. Christina's call to be a priest is finally judged to be true. In 2015, she was ordained a priest "in the catacombs" — a phrase from the time of the first persecuted Christians, meaning "secretly" — by female bishop Bridget Mary Meehan in the city of Sarasota, Florida.
When the thing got out, Christina was immediately excommunicated by the Vatican. Back in Galicia, she still managed to join an informal parish founded by a progressive priest named Manuel Espiña Gamallo. She was allowed to celebrate her first Masses, during which she was finally able to give the Eucharist, as in the vision she had had as a little girl. The same chapel where Christina officiates today, this Easter.
Christina Moreira breaks a loaf of bread to give communion, during Easter Mass, in A Coruña, Spain, on April 5, 2026. PIERRE TERRAZ
The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, which campaigns for the ordination of women within the Catholic Church, now lists between 250 and 300 female vocations in the world. All of them made impossible by canon law. However, the Franco-Spanish priestess assures her: "The Church urgently needs women. Many of the faithful have confessed to me that they would not have confessed on certain subjects if I had been a man, especially on issues of sexual and intra-family violence. Mothers also trust me more than others. During his life, dozens of men came to confession in his parish about acts of assault, rape and violence against their spouses, for fear of being rejected if they spoke about it within the "official" Church.
On October 4, 2023, Christina was even called, despite her excommunication, to participate in the opening Mass of the synod on synodality at the Vatican. This event at the initiative of Pope Francis brought together bishops from all over the world to reflect on how the Church could become more inclusive. On this occasion, the priestess is invited to meet important personalities of the clergy, whose identities she is forbidden to reveal, to share her testimony. A cardinal is said to have confessed to him that he was "completely upset in his vision of dogma" at the end of this meeting.
"Women priests, we are a bit like Rosa Parks"
On the same day, she went to St. Peter's Square, where she decided to put on her alb and stole in public. She was arrested by the police, who took her to the police station without knowing what to blame the harmless fifty-year-old for. An agent eventually finds a law introduced under Mussolini prohibiting citizens from wearing the uniform of a profession that is not theirs, to justify police custody.
Christina retaliates, trying to explain that she is a priest and that she has even just been invited to think about a better integration of women in the Church. Ironically, her sacred clothes were confiscated, and she was released without being given a copy of the declaration she had to sign in exchange. "Women priests are a bit like Rosa Parks: we decided to sit in the wrong place, so we are made to pay for it," she concludes with disappointment."
Loving God,
On this Mother’s Day, I hold close in my heart the precious memory of my mother, Bridie Meehan.
I thank You for the gift of her life,
for her love that nurtured me,
for her wisdom that guided me,
for her courage, faith, and compassion that continue to inspire me each day.
Though she is no longer present to me in body,
her spirit lives on in the kindness she shared,
the love she planted in our family,
and the countless blessings she gave so freely.
I remember how she led us in prayer—
the rosary whispered beside the fire
in our cozy cottage in Coolkerry.
Those sacred evenings wrapped our family in love and faith,
while the warmth of the fire and the rhythm of her prayers
made our little home a holy place.
She was a woman of mountain-moving faith,
whose trust in Divine Providence knew no bounds.
In times of struggle and uncertainty,
she believed with all her heart
that God’s love would guide us through.
She showed me what true equality meant as a child
when she shared her homemade scones and loving hospitality
with Mrs. Adams, our wheelchair-bound neighbor next door.
In her gentle compassion, she taught me
that every person is worthy of dignity, friendship, and love.
She was my first teacher in the ways of love,
in the hospitality of Jesus,
in kindness freely given,
and in care for those who might otherwise be forgotten.
Today I remember her smile,
her gentle strength,
her sacrifices and tender care.- the many cups of tea and soda bread at her table
I remember the ways she reflected Your Divine Love
in ordinary moments made holy by her presence.
May Bridie now rest in the embrace of Eternal Love,
surrounded by light, peace, and joy.
And may I continue to honor her memory
by living into her goodness and kindness,
by welcoming others with an open heart,
and by carrying forward the love she so beautifully embodied.
On this sacred day of remembrance,
I feel her love still with me—
like a quiet blessing,
like a warm embrace,
like a song that never ends.
Amen.
https://www.amazon.com/Unity-Harmony-Ecospirituality-Ecology-Justice/dp/1626986363
At its heart, the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement is a prophetic movement. Like the prophets before us, we are called not merely to comfort the institutional Church, but to challenge it to embrace Gospel equality and gender justice through the full inclusion of women in ordained ministry within the Roman Catholic Church.
Prophets in every age carry both vision and burden. They see possibilities that others cannot yet imagine. They speak truths that unsettle systems built on exclusion and domination. And often, they do so without affirmation, without acceptance, and without certainty about the outcome.
This is the sacred path many women priests know well.
For more than two decades, Roman Catholic women priests have answered a call rooted in baptismal equality and the radical inclusivity of Jesus. We have stepped forward not because it was easy, popular, or institutionally approved, but because the Spirit continued to move within us with a fire that could not be extinguished.
Like Jeremiah, many women priests have experienced the challenges of prophecy.
As Rabbi Anna Maranta writes in :Voices of Fire: Prophets and Prophecy in the Hebrew Bible”, a course she presents in People’s Catholic Seminary:
“The prophet is often experienced not as a guide, but as a threat.”
This speaks deeply to our experience.
Women priests are often portrayed not as faithful disciples seeking renewal, but as dangers to institutional order. Our ministries are dismissed. Our sacraments are condemned. Our voices are silenced. Many have lost ministries, friendships, pensions, church positions, and family relationships because they chose fidelity to conscience and call.
Read complete article on Substack.
https://www.rtve.es/noticias/20260505/soy-mujer-quiero-ser-cura-vocacion-prohibida/17053409.shtml
This program aired today on the major station in Spain.
My soul sings of a God
who dwells within and among us,
a God who births new life
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| https://www.axiawomen.org/story/women-new-testament |
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| Holy Women of the New Testament Icon |
Welcome and Theme: Welcome dear Sisters and Brothers to our monthly prayer gathering. Today is the first day of May, the month when we traditionally honor Mary, the Mother of Jesus. In this month of May—a time of blossoming, renewal, and honoring Mary—we gather to celebrate the Divine Feminine: the nurturing, creative, and justice-seeking presence of God alive in all creation.
Our focus today is two-fold: honoring Mary and honoring each other as the feminine face of the Divine. Our opening prayer is The Divine Feminine Blessing, by Maribai Starr, a meditation that uses the breath to connect with our indwelling feminine presence. This breathing meditation creates deeper awareness of ourselves, while also evoking the intimacy and presence of the Spirit.
Let us pray:
Opening Prayer: Divine Feminine Blessing | 3-Minute Meditation with Mirabai Starr
https://youtu.be/oJdO3w6d7S0?si=HVCaJaxwk25CpA5y
The Divine Feminine Blessing by Mirabai Starr
Beloved One, Shekinah, Indwelling, Feminine Presence, Imminence, Embodiment, Mother-Heart,
Please come flowing into every open window in our souls right now, as we call to you.
Infuse every cell of our bodies with your fierce and tender Mother-wisdom.
Give us the strength to speak truth to power in these fractured times.
Give us the tenderness and humility to listen deeply to those that we are conditioned to otherize.
And reminder us, again and again when we forget that we belong to each other, and we belong to you.
Reflection on the Divine Feminine by Clare Julian Carbone
Was Jesus’ true purpose in coming to us to restore the Divine Feminine?
Shared thoughts