Ree Goes To Rome
(Ree Hudson on left with Bishop Patricia Fresen and Elsie McGrath at historic ordination of Roman Catholic Womenpriests in Jewish Synagoge in St. Louis, Missouri)
" If there is anyone here who feels called to the priesthood please come forward." Here I am , I am ready, Send me." This is what I was saying to myself as I went forward.
I went to the altar and stood with a wonderful bishop...a-a-a-a-a woman. She told me to stand beside her and to serve communion with her. She said, " I do not like to be alone on the altar."I felt it a privilege to stand with her and see the faces of hopeful people.
I said, "Niether do I." This has remained true to this very day. Elsie McGrath and I met each other in a sidestreet old home that had become a meeting house for people who called themselves, The Catholic Action Network. It was in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri. We have now known each other for two years, and yet we have shared a lifetime in those two years. We did our first liturgy together after ordination, and with few exceptions, have stood on the altar of Godde together and proclaimed Godde's word and broke bread with all people who have been at our liturgies.
As we were preparing for our priestly ordinations Elsie and I knew that we were to be Roman Catholic womenpriests, and therefore we would follow the Roman Rite as closely as possible, while at the same time being true to a renewed priesthood in a renewed Roman Catholic Church. On the first day of October,2007 we wrote a letter to Archbishop Burke informing him of our intentions to be ordained as priests in a Jewish Synagogue in the Central Westend of St. Louis. We had visited Rabbi Susan Talve prior to this action and she agreed to allow the ordination in the synagogue. This began the ride through a conference with the bishop's lawyer, who we did not know was a canon lawyer until the end of the conversation, no more conferences with the bishop, several documents of attempted intimidation, and finally following the ordination, excommunication. I was excited about being a priest for 54 years before finally being ordained. I am still excited as a practicing priest at present. Even though I am on an uncharted path, and one that is painful at times,but full of abundant joy, I do not, nor have I ever, since ordination, been afraid to stay the course. To live in fear is to live half a life. My compassion for Godde"s people grows stronger as I continue to love them and care for them as Godde's servant. I am excited to go to Rome and to shadow the synod of bishops who are meeting in Rome to continue charting the course of the Roman Catholic Church without women, although this year there are a few handpicked women theologians who are consistent with the Vaticans conservative stance on everything. There are no feminist theologians inside, but there will be some standing outside, waiting, as I waited 54 years to become a priest. I feel like St. Paul who knew there were challenges for him in traveling to Rome, but knew it was something he was supposed to do. I too, know there is, and will be, many challenges in Rome because I am a womanpriest,and this just is not accepted by the mainstream church. Oh, but what I am saying, the church is the people and they accept me, and my wonderful sister-priests. Therefore I will be taking the church with me. This will be an absolutely awesome plane load of people surrounded by the Holy Spirit, in a womb attached to the umbelical cord of love and peace. I attended the ordination of one of our women in downtown Minneapolis in a Native American Church. There was a lodge built inside the church built with sweet willow, and a full staff made with Eagle feathers submitted by various families. I touched the eagle feathers, and the spirit of all our relations resonnated throughout my body.We broke bread together , and the bread represented the coheasiveness of one body in Christ. I have said it three ways here and it can be said in many more ways. We are together and no human can stop the spirit of Godde as it flows where it will. I am sure as I sit here that the words I heard after ordination ring joyfully:
"Your courage gives me hope."
"You go Girl."
"The Force is with you."
See Ya soon Archbishop Burke, and you too Pope Benedict.
Veni Sancte Spiritu,
Ree Hudson, rcwp
" If there is anyone here who feels called to the priesthood please come forward." Here I am , I am ready, Send me." This is what I was saying to myself as I went forward.
I went to the altar and stood with a wonderful bishop...a-a-a-a-a woman. She told me to stand beside her and to serve communion with her. She said, " I do not like to be alone on the altar."I felt it a privilege to stand with her and see the faces of hopeful people.
I said, "Niether do I." This has remained true to this very day. Elsie McGrath and I met each other in a sidestreet old home that had become a meeting house for people who called themselves, The Catholic Action Network. It was in the heart of St. Louis, Missouri. We have now known each other for two years, and yet we have shared a lifetime in those two years. We did our first liturgy together after ordination, and with few exceptions, have stood on the altar of Godde together and proclaimed Godde's word and broke bread with all people who have been at our liturgies.
As we were preparing for our priestly ordinations Elsie and I knew that we were to be Roman Catholic womenpriests, and therefore we would follow the Roman Rite as closely as possible, while at the same time being true to a renewed priesthood in a renewed Roman Catholic Church. On the first day of October,2007 we wrote a letter to Archbishop Burke informing him of our intentions to be ordained as priests in a Jewish Synagogue in the Central Westend of St. Louis. We had visited Rabbi Susan Talve prior to this action and she agreed to allow the ordination in the synagogue. This began the ride through a conference with the bishop's lawyer, who we did not know was a canon lawyer until the end of the conversation, no more conferences with the bishop, several documents of attempted intimidation, and finally following the ordination, excommunication. I was excited about being a priest for 54 years before finally being ordained. I am still excited as a practicing priest at present. Even though I am on an uncharted path, and one that is painful at times,but full of abundant joy, I do not, nor have I ever, since ordination, been afraid to stay the course. To live in fear is to live half a life. My compassion for Godde"s people grows stronger as I continue to love them and care for them as Godde's servant. I am excited to go to Rome and to shadow the synod of bishops who are meeting in Rome to continue charting the course of the Roman Catholic Church without women, although this year there are a few handpicked women theologians who are consistent with the Vaticans conservative stance on everything. There are no feminist theologians inside, but there will be some standing outside, waiting, as I waited 54 years to become a priest. I feel like St. Paul who knew there were challenges for him in traveling to Rome, but knew it was something he was supposed to do. I too, know there is, and will be, many challenges in Rome because I am a womanpriest,and this just is not accepted by the mainstream church. Oh, but what I am saying, the church is the people and they accept me, and my wonderful sister-priests. Therefore I will be taking the church with me. This will be an absolutely awesome plane load of people surrounded by the Holy Spirit, in a womb attached to the umbelical cord of love and peace. I attended the ordination of one of our women in downtown Minneapolis in a Native American Church. There was a lodge built inside the church built with sweet willow, and a full staff made with Eagle feathers submitted by various families. I touched the eagle feathers, and the spirit of all our relations resonnated throughout my body.We broke bread together , and the bread represented the coheasiveness of one body in Christ. I have said it three ways here and it can be said in many more ways. We are together and no human can stop the spirit of Godde as it flows where it will. I am sure as I sit here that the words I heard after ordination ring joyfully:
"Your courage gives me hope."
"You go Girl."
"The Force is with you."
See Ya soon Archbishop Burke, and you too Pope Benedict.
Veni Sancte Spiritu,
Ree Hudson, rcwp
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