Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Judy Lee Presides at Celebration of Baptisms and First Communion in Ft. Myers Community, Florida

This was a joyful day of new beginnings in our Church of the Good Shepherd: An Inclusive Catholic Community. During our regular Mass in the late afternoon of June 13th, 2009 two young people were Baptized and four ,including the two newly baptized, received their first Holy Communion. They were welcomed warmly to new life in Christ and to our Community with a rousing A-men ! ( Hear this as sung by Sidney Poitier in Lilies of the Field-but with even greater gusto and warmth).
The girls Maria, 15, Marcella ,7, Marina,13 and Josefina, 11 completed a preparation process of several months and deeply understood the steps they were taking in following Jesus. Lucy Conley, our Master's student from Adelaide, Australia and Lauretta Rasmussen, a resident of our Joshua House, and Kathy McGhan, a volunteer, assisted me in preparing the group. The parents who initially asked for the Sacraments for their children also participated in some parts of the preparation process and the whole community was supportive and involved. The families, traditionally Roman Catholic, one Hispanic and one Italian, had been denied Sacraments in the institutional Church due to marriage situations and had responded by delaying the Sacraments for their children, and one by non-participation in the Church since before her children were born. You can understand the joy of these parents at finding a church home to include them within the renewed Church.
The picture of the larger group standing outside of the Church are some of the community members and God-parents who stayed to celebrate with the families. After the Celebration we had a festive community meal, and in the last picture we see Carl, Jasper and Nate having seconds at the food table. Carl and Nate also live at our Joshua House, a Guest Residence for formerly homeless men and women making the transition to permanent housing. Carl is our head Usher and Nate is our Lector. Mr. Harry Gary ,standing next to me in the large picture is our Church Elder.
Our gathering hymn ,led by Hank who also is our Community Music leader and Artist, was "Let The River Flow" and its words were so true today. "Let the poor man say I am rich again..let the blind man say "I can see again-Oh,oh, let the river flow". The families and the
whole church of the poor and non-poor together was blessed by the waters of Baptism and the faith of the children on this beautiful day.
Judy Lee+, Priest of the Poor in Fort Myers, Florida