Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat in preparation for Episcopal Ordinations

(Photo of Roman Catholic Womenpriests Ordinations
in Ottawa, Canada in 2007)

To all the women in RCWP USA,
Firstly, let me introduce to you those who, at this moment, are participating in holding your Sacred Space, in holding the rim of your space on the North American continent as you prepare for and journey towards and to the epicsopal ordinations .



We are:
Europe West
Marlene Wijdeveld
Bishop Patricia Fresen
We have the promise of more to come
from Europe when we begin our daily common prayer on March 29, through to and including Easter Sunday.

We are:
Canada
Priests:
Marie Bouclin -Canada East (Sudbury)
Canada West
Monica Kilburn Smith (Calgary)
Jim Lauder (Van Island)
Michele Birch-Conery (Van Island)
Our Elder Co-ordinator
of St. Francis Chapel Ministries
Patricia Fitzgerald (Mayne Island)
Our Western Region Administrator
located in Calgary
Shelagh Mikaluk

Our candidates on the path do diacionate ordination:
Kim Sylvester (Van Island)
Rose Mewhort(Galiano Island)

And there are others with us who hold our space from deep within the Catacomb realities.
They should not be forgotten as powerful Presences in RCWP.


We also expect wider participation from our support people as we evolve in our Cloud of Witness presence and prayer. for and with you.

I am attaching our reflection and prayer for today to your responses because we know that in a Discipleship of Equals, the dialogic impulse (pulse I should say), the heart beat of our communities is essential,. Thus our role in servant leadership to listen for and to the movement of the Spirit amongst us as we language our responses, our prayer conversation with our God ( who always has the first Word) and then with each other in our liturgies and in Sacrament.

So on this Ash Wednesday, where I awoke wondering what we would offer you next and when we would do it, I found your grateful and heart-felt responses to us on the RCWP/NA list.

They are so heart fully grateful that we have been calling and communicating with each other in a return of ecstasy and joy and wonder at the unfolding of such a simple call offered just last night, the Eve of Ash Wednesday.

A reading for today is re-languaged from PEOPLES COMPANION TO THE BREVIARY: FOR Ash Wednesday. It reads:

You are a people holy to our God; Our Godde has chosen you to be God's people, Godde's treasured possession. It was because our Mother and Father God loved you and kept the promise sworn to our ancestors that now you have been rescued from the house of slavery. Know , therefore, that God is faithful . Our God keeps Covenant loyalty with those who love her, with those who love him to a thousand, thousand generations.
Dt. 7:6, 8-9

We pray that we wil be filled with the Holy Spirit, that our hearts will be renewed and our vision clarified as we take this new turn in our RCWP path, in our community on the journey to the first
USA Episcopal ordinations.