Bridget Mary's Blog: 9/2/18

Saturday, September 8, 2018

Bridget Mary:

Lynn Kinlan claims to have CAD - career attention deficit - every ten years or so she has switched paths. First, she worked in budgeting and policy analysis for State government. Then, she and husband Bernie decided when their oldest son was 3 and their twin sons were 1 year-old, that she would stay home with the boys. This life-changing experience made it impossible to return a government office cubicle so Lynn turned to teaching high school and community college where she discovered the Indwelling Spirit in the splendid diversity of every single student. Lynn trusts that being a priest will turn out to be her most blessed career turn.

Today, we are witnessing the demise of the clerical patriarchal model of priesthood in the worldwide sexual abuse scandal and the affirmation of women priests by millions of Catholics and inclusive faith communities.
The majority of Catholics would like to see women have equal standing in ordained ministry: in France (83%), Spain (78%), (according to a 2014 Univision poll). In Ireland (86%) and in the U.S. 64%. https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/opinion-poll-shows-irish-favour-a-more-liberal-less-dogmatic-catholic-church-1.3609563
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/cbs-news-poll-majority-of-u-s-catholics-positive-about-church/

Our international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement is a holy shakeup ordaining women to create inclusive communities rooted in Jesus teaching of God as love that embraces everyone including the marginalized and excluded in a discipleship of equals. Our renewed priestly ministry does not place the ordained on a pedestal, a higher level of being, closer to God, but, rather as companions on the journey within the community of the baptized in mutual love and service.

As Sister Illia Delio writes: “The Church has a deep structural problem which is entirely bound to ancient metaphysical and philosophical principles, not to mention imperial politics, that at this point require either a radical decision towards a new ecclesial structure or accept the possibility of a major schism... There is no adequate theological argument for excluding women from Holy Orders except the well-worn “image of God” argument which, in light of modern science, is incredible. Ordaining women priests might help save the Church from implosion.” (Ilia Delio, “Death in the Church: Is New Life Ahead” , The Omega Center, http://www.omegacenter.info/death-in-church-new-life-ahead/

In the Gospel of John, Mary of Magdala is portrayed as the apostle to the apostles. In extracanonical texts from the first to the fourth century namely the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Philip, and the Gospel of Mary, Mary Magdalene is described as a leader with spiritual authority that is rooted in her close relationship with Jesus. She receives special spiritual visions of the risen Christ. Her understanding is described as deeper than that of the male disciples and her significant role is challenged by male disciples, particularly Peter. In the sacred text, Mary is defended by Jesus or one of the male disciples. (Beyond the Canon, Deidre Good, pp. 635-636, Women’s Bible Commentary)

In the Gospel of Thomas, for example, Peter expresses anger toward Mary’s knowledge of the hidden meaning of Jesus and complains to his brothers: “Did Jesus choose her over us?” But one of the other apostles challenges Peter saying, “if the Savior considered her to be worthy, who are you to disregard her?” [Thomas 114]

Scripture scholars conclude that the Gospel of Mary confirms the fierce debate occurring in the second century over women’s leadership in the Jesus movement as it organized itself around a cult of male domination. Peter’s challenge to Mary may reflect the orthodox position and Mary’s position the experiences of communities in conflict with Peter and his followers. This bitter conflict led to the exclusion of the Gospel of Mary and other sacred texts that emphasized female leadership and feminine images of God from the officially approved canon of the New Testament, which is the reason, the Gospel of Mary is not included in the Catholic lectionary today.(James Carroll, Christ Actually, 242, 236)

In 21 centuries, what has changed? We are still having this same conversation with the Vatican’s Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith about women’s worthiness and equality.

http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_19761015_inter-insigniores_en.html

Like Mary of Magdala, apostles to the apostles we are women and men on fire with Divinity, claiming our spiritual authority as prophets and mystics, through whom the Holy One speaks and ministers today! We are leading the way toward healing and transformation of our Church as a community of equals full of compassion, and justice-seeking where all are welcome. We are co-creating a new Church that has returned to its origins.Like Mary of Magdala, Lynn Kinlan is a woman on fire, embracing Love Eternal in everyone and everywhere as she is ordained a priest in ARCWP today.

Lynn:
In our first reading from the Hebrew Scriptures, Moses is both scared and a bit stubborn. Despite Divine assurances, despite being raised in Egypt by the previous Pharaoh and knowing the culture, he tries to avoid returning to rescue the enslaved Israelites. He just doesn’t feel like prophet material; he’s seems quite sure that he isn’t destined to lead anybody anywhere.

Any of us who have had someone believe in us more than we can believe in ourselves identifies with the reluctance of Moses. When someone sees something promising in us, if we’re honest, we can admit to being a little flattered, a little curious, loving the compliment but also feeling wary of it --- because, with our talents outed, we might actually have to DO something about it.

Living our souls’ mission can be a challenge and there are a million ways in this life to escape becoming who we are really meant to be. Not so for Moses who is embraced with Divine support on that mountain: I will be there. I will be with you, Moses. I will teach you what to say. When Moses fends off the promises, the Holy One comes up with the ultimate gift– the loving assistance of another person, his brother Aaron who is the visible living, loving proof of God’s faith in Moses.

Both Aaron and Moses proceed on the Exodus task with the awareness that we must hold in our hearts; we never have to be alone. Our loving God gives us to each other. God sees the best in us - perhaps it is fair to say that the Holy One seeds the best in us - and doesn’t lose faith in us even when we are stubborn and afraid and even when in plain sight, we miss what it is we are really capable of doing.

Our second reading by Eugene Kennedy, a former Maryknoll Priest and noted psychologist describes so well the 9-11 moment when facing death, probably unsure about how much time is left, people become fully immersed in love, sending out messages of connection, gratitude and belonging. In their last moments, they are not victims of terrorists but lovers, certain and true. Kennedy notes that in this moment fraught with danger and death, “we see them as they really were all the time.”

What were they all that time? What are any of us, but blessed and created in the image of God Divine, the Source of Love and Light? We are lovers too; willing to strive beyond our human frailties to be our very best selves; searching for and adding to the love and kindness in our world. No one wants to receive a call like the ones on 9-11 but I suspect every one of us wants to live and some day, die immersed in Love Eternal.

At our best, inspired by God and those who love us, we recognize that Love is Eternal and the Eternal is Love. Moses realized this when he took on the challenge to free his people, even when it led to plagues and the first Passover and decades of desert wandering. The 9-11 callers knew it for sure as they declared that love is the strongest force in life and death. They lived out the prophetic injunction to reach out not just when it’s safe or convenient but also in times of fear and uncertainty. For us, that probably includes the moments when people do or say annoying things and when they aren’t exactly loving in return. While not simple, living like this brings us to being fully engaged in all that life has to offer, not letting it pass us by, promoting civility and moving toward harmony with everyone we come in contact with. And curiously, treating other people respectfully reminds us to treat ourselves just as well. In the moments that become days and years, whenever we can embrace being kind to one another, we are delighted and grateful for life, we are at home everywhere, in our own skins, with each breath and maybe even as we take our last breath.

The Gospel of Mary of Magdala gives us a frame for understanding those 9-11 callers as well as the ancient Moses story. In it, Jesus calls his friends and followers, “Children of the Living Spirit” and promises a Kindom of God. The phrases and ideas mirror very closely those in the Gospel of Mathew except Mathew dramatizes the message as being publicly proclaimed to large crowds. Both Mary and Mathew used the ancient concept of “Kingdom” which we have changed to “Kindom” in our readings for a more modern and egalitarian profile of justice moderated not by a patriarchal figure with dictatorial powers but by what we respect and find in common with each other as Kin or people in relationship with each other.

Rather than public proclaiming, Mary’s Gospel shows Jesus at supper nudging a few friends and followers to a deeper conversion. It is a more intimate look at Jesus and the frank perplexity of the disciples is charming, as if they are asking not for the first time, “What are you really all about, Jesus? And what’s the end goal here?” There’s a certain wanting to nail this thing down. Just how do I qualify for the glory you imagine and when is it going to happen already?

The answer is so basic that they miss it in plain sight. The glory, the treasure, the joy that is love, broken and shared is already given each one of us as blessed creations of the Divine. Getting in touch with it may require a bit of fasting from the world says Jesus…. by which I think He means, putting our cell phones down, being introspective, dreaming and wishing and hoping and making all of that into praying. It means, like Moses, joining with others to do the hard work of making this broken world a better place. Otherwise, we too miss out on the Kin-dom that’s in plain sight.

Jesus explains that the Kindom is spread over the Earth in the here and now, not in a remote part of the sky to be accessed only after we die. The Kindom dwells in each and every one of us. It isn’t something earned or deserved by following rules or atoning for past faults. And when Jesus adds that there is light within a person of light, we can sense the Kindom able to spread, ready to enlighten, and shine beyond any single person, tribe or group. For no one has a monopoly on this Kindom and nothing but our own proud or reluctant selves can separate us from the Love that is the Kindom of God.

The Holy One within Jesus speaks to the holy within us when he says, “Be still and know that I am.” If we can live like that with plain sight, we live in The Light.

"Female Catholic priest ordained in Albany, joins growing number in Capital Region" By Diego Mendoza-Moyers, Times Union

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Female-priest-ordained-joins-growing-number-in-13215003.php

Lynn Kinlan ARCWP was ordained as a priest in Albany on Sept. 8th

,Photo: Hans Pennink, Times Union

They were gathered to witness Lynn Kinlan's ordination as a priest within the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests. Standing in a white robe with a colorful sash, she was described by Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan as "a woman on fire."

"We're leading the church into a new era where the full equality of women is a reality," Meehan said. "It's a reality because this movement is doing it right now. We are living it."

Kinlan joined five other women priests in the Capital Region who have been ordained within the ARCWP, which is one of several groups pushing for the ordination of more female priests around the world. In the Roman Catholic Church, only baptized men are able to achieve priesthood, which is why the ARCWP was excommunicated from the church and doesn't operate under the authority of the pope. Still, members of the ARCWP consider themselves Roman Catholics.

Since the first women priests were in ordained in 2002, Meehan said, there are now 264 Catholic women priests throughout 43 U.S. states, as well as Europe, Africa, Asia and South America.

The Roman Catholic Church continues to deal with deep, structural rifts over the leadership of Pope Francis, as well as ongoing scrutiny into the widespread sexual abuse scandals that continue to rock the church.

Kinlan, however, believes that creating a more inclusive, community-oriented environment in parishes will help bring the church into a new era.

"We just know that the church is ripe for reform right now, and we're trying to provide a bridge to a future where there's a little less clericalism and a little more equality of opportunity," Kinlan said. "

Meehan also said the movement for women in priesthood is part of larger "civil rights, gender rights" movements aimed at empowering women. She referenced the #metoo movement against sexual harassment and assault, saying "the church needs a #metoo movement."

"When the church baptizes baby boys and baby girls, and then says to that girl 'You don't have the same rights as a boy.' That's discrimination. That's sexual bias," Kinlan said.

For some raised within the Roman Catholic Church, however, the paradigm shift is the sign of a move back toward the original teachings of the religion.

"I was a practicing Roman Catholic in the traditional church, up until a few years ago. I taught religion in the class, raised my children in it," Mary Lynch, a professor at Albany Law School, said. "I feel that I am still a Roman Catholic, but just as Jesus led a new way of spirituality in his time, I believe this feels more like the social justice and inclusive (form) of Catholicism that I grew up with."

Mary Theresa Streck ARCWP , Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Church

Thursday, September 6, 2018

New York Attorney General’s Office Has Issued Subpoenas to Every Catholic Diocese in the State Julie Zauzmer and Mark Berman, Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2018/09/06/new-york-joins-the-list-of-states-investigating-sex-crimes-committed-by-catholic-priests/?utm_term=.37c34231d6a4

The New York attorney general’s office has issued subpoenas to every Catholic diocese in the state, becoming the latest U.S. state to embark on a major investigation of sex crimes committed and covered up by Catholic priests. And New Jersey quickly followed on Thursday, announcing a criminal task force focused on investigating sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.

A person familiar with the New York investigation said that the attorney general’s office sent civil subpoenas to the eight Catholic dioceses. The Associated Press first reported the subpoenas.

The subpoenas are part of an ongoing civil investigation by the attorney general’s Charities Bureau, which is looking into whether the nonprofit dioceses covered up sexual abuse of minors. Separately, the criminal division is working with district attorneys in the state who might convene grand juries to investigate crimes committed by priests. On Thursday, Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced a telephone hotline and an online form for victims and witnesses of child abuse committed by clergy in the state of New York to contact investigators.

[More than 300 accused priests listed in Pennsylvania report on Catholic Church sex abuse]

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal also said that his office had set up a new telephone hotline for victims of sexual abuse by clergy and would investigate the allegations through its new criminal task force.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro set off a wave of investigative interest nationwide when he announced last month the results of a massive grand jury investigation, which found allegations that more than 1,000 children were sexually abused by more than 300 priests in six of the state’s Catholic dioceses, over a period spanning more than 70 years.

Due to the statute of limitations on sex crimes, almost all the abuses documented by the Pennsylvania grand jury cannot lead to criminal prosecutions, and Underwood’s office warned that any victims who report abuse in New York might also find that the crimes are no longer prosecutable under state law.

The Pennsylvania report set off a storm across the country, with many Catholic faithful demanding that their own dioceses open their files to criminal investigators to examine whether a similarly extensive cover-up took place.

After the Pennsylvania report, The Washington Post reached out to the attorneys general of the 49 other states as well as the District of Columbia to see if they had plans to launch similar inquiries or had investigations already underway. Many said they could not comment on potential investigations, while others said they lacked the authority to immediately act on local cases.

[Cardinal Wuerl target of rising anger after Pa. grand jury report]

Missouri became the first state to launch an investigation in the wake of the Pennsylvania report, announcing last month that it would explore allegations of alleged abuses by clergy in the St. Louis area, which is home to more than half a million Catholics.

New Mexico and Nebraska are also pursuing investigations. In New Mexico, Attorney General Hector Balderas sent letters to the bishops of the state’s dioceses on Tuesday, saying that the Pennsylvania report was “shaking the conscience of those throughout the world by detailing the vast extent of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests and clerics and the shocking cover-up by church leaders.”

Balderas acknowledged that the statute of limitations would likely prevent many prosecutions but said that he is investigating “in the interest of long overdue transparency.” Calling the letter a “demand…in contemplation of litigation,” he asked the dioceses to turn over by October 5 all documents relating to child sexual abuse allegations and to numerous specific priests.

In Nebraska, the state’s three dioceses said they had received an inquiry from the attorney general’s office requesting their files on the subject dating back to 1978. The dioceses of Lincoln and Grand Island said they would cooperate with the investigation; the archdiocese of Omaha did not immediately respond to The Post’s inquiry.

In the New York investigation, Albany bishop Edward Scharfenberger, who leads one of the eight dioceses subpoenaed in the state, said on Thursday that he had asked Albany’s district attorney to review the diocese’s records of handling sexual abuse cases. In a letter to parishioners on Thursday, Scharfenberger said his decision to contact law enforcement “is necessary and ultimately will result in much good, but [is] one that is likely to be difficult and incredibly challenging for us for the foreseeable future.”

“I believe a fully independent investigation, one coordinated by the District Attorney, is the only way forward,” Scharfenberger wrote. “So many people have questions about transparency and about the process. We need a thorough review of our records in order to objectively answer those questions. Our goal is to build trust, demonstrate transparency, and restore confidence that we mean what we say.”

In the archdiocese of New York, which includes most of New York City, spokesman Joseph Zwilling said that the archdiocese has not seen the subpoena but will be “ready and eager” to comply with a civil investigation.

As Catholics looked to their own leaders to follow Pennsylvania’s and now New York’s example — D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine, for one, has said that his phone has been ringing off the hook since the Pennsylvania report — some states have noted they have different laws than Pennsylvania.

The office of Ohio’s attorney general said that local law enforcement, not the state office, has the jurisdiction to initiate this kind of investigation. Other attorneys general said that in their states, investigations must either be launched on a local level or referred by local officials to state authorities.

In some states, the offices of attorneys general noted that they have relatively limited authority for prosecuting criminal violations; in Connecticut, for instance, an official wrote that the attorney general there lacks “any criminal law authority (outside of certain home improvement contractor violations).”

Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania attorney general, said after his state’s report was released that other attorneys general and state prosecutors had reached out to his office. He and his office declined to stay which states, but officials in attorney general offices in two states — Kentucky and New Mexico — both confirmed to The Post that they had been in touch with Shapiro’s office.

The New York attorney general’s office has issued subpoenas to every Catholic diocese in the state, becoming the latest U.S. state to embark on a major investigation of sex crimes committed and covered up by Catholic priests. And New Jersey quickly followed on Thursday, announcing a criminal task force focused on investigating sexual abuse by Catholic clergy.