In one weekend we experienced the excitement of the newest wave of the Holy Spirit and seemed to be moving on the wave the entire weekend. Bridget Mary's words sum it up well..."The Revolution has begun." To tell this story I need to start with how the weekend began. On Friday Janice and I went to Cincinnati for a Mary Magdalen prayer service with the Sisters of Charity at Mount Saint Joseph. The lady who did the reflection talked about how important it is for women to be ordained as priests! This prayer service was very well attended and the message about women being ordained set the stage for what followed. The next day, we were getting ready to go to the showing of Pink Smoke at the Esquire Theatre in Cincinnati and were sidetracked with the awesome article on the front page of the New York Times about the 150 American Priests signing a statement supporting Roy who advocates for women's ordination. So Janice and I went out to get some copies of the New York Times. We bought the last copy the store had and took it to the showing of Pink Smoke. After experiencing the exhilaration of a sell out showing of Pink Smoke (200 people) we were eating lunch and were reminded by Ruth that Roy was going to speak at a CTA gathering in Pittsburg tomorrow. Janice asked Ruth how long it took to get to Pittsburg from Cincinnati. Ruth told her that it takes 5 hours. Janice looked at me with the words 'Road Trip' written on her face and I told her I had never met Roy and had always wanted to meet him. So with no clean clothes in our suitcase and no map and no place to stay...yet, we took off to Pittsburg. It was like a modern day version of disciples journeying to see a prophet. Ruth told us to get on 71 and then 70 to Wheeling and when she got home she would call us with the rest of the directions and give us Joan Hoak's phone number so we could call her to see if we could stay with her or one of her friends when we got to Pittsburg.
Janice has a new car with the ability to get phone calls through bluetooth allowing a 'conference call effect' to be the way we used the phone as we journeyed along. When one travels with Janice Sevre-Duszynska in this fashion, it doesn't take long to see how connected she is to so many people through her peace and justice work and with our movement for women's ordination. The whole time we were driving phone call after phone call came in from people who saw the New York Times article. There I was in the passenger seat connecting the calls and hearing all these people I only knew about from reading about them call her and say "Did you see the New York Times Janice?" Or "Great picture in the New York Times Janice!" Every time we got a call like that we both started laughing. It was very entertaining and inspiring.
Many phone calls later along with great conversation between the calls, we arrived at Joan's house and spent the evening talking to Joan and her husband and listening to Roy being interviewed on a local radio station. The next day we went to an old German church downtown to attend mass, lunch and hear Roy talk. The gathering was sponsored by CTA and it was very well attended (about 300 people). Joan presided at the mass and Janice assisted with communion. The mass was beautiful and it focused on Mary Magdalen. At the end of mass Joan called me and Janice to the front and told everyone that Roy attended Janice's ordination and that I was going to be ordained as a deacon on Sept. 10. Everyone clapped. There was a break before we at lunch.
During the break a lady came up to me and asked me to tell her how I became interested in the movement. After telling her some of my story she said she was going to be a nun but had not taken her final vow. She said she felt like she was supposed to be at this CTA event but didn't know why. She had never been to a mass with a woman presider until this event. When I told her I was a chaplain she said she always wanted to be a chaplain. At one point she got tearful and said she felt like there was a big reason for her to be there. When I suggested that maybe God was calling her to be a priest she cried tears of joy and said she would pray about it. I think this lady will not be making her final vow to be a nun! It was amazing to see the Holy Spirit working with her right before my eyes! She hadn't even heard Roy speak yet.
Fr. Roy was inspirational and I found myself moved to tears at several points when he passionately said words supporting women's ordination. I guess that was the first time I had ever heard a male priest be that openly supportive and it touched my heart deeply. It was great to talk to him and personally thank him for all of his work. He is a prophet. CTA agrees with my observation and they gave him an award for being a 21st century prophet.
When it was time to leave we said good-bye to Joan, John and Roy. We drove and talked to more people on the phone as we journeyed back home. What a spirit filled and empowering weekend! We are in exciting times. I never dreamed this would be happening in my life time! My heart is filled with thanksgiving to our God that I am part of this very important moment in a time when the Holy Spirit is once again breathing new life into the church that we love.
Donna Rougeux, Ordinand/ARCWP
Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests
www.associationofromancatholicwomenpriests.org
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