Legacy

Dear Cardinal George,
While you may be intent on punishing women who are called to the priesthood — do you realize that our little church in Chicago has had more women ordained than from any other Catholic church in the world?
This is the legacy, Cardinal George, that you are faced with — the chickens coming home to roost if you will. The Lord does work in mysterious ways! When you ordered Delle Chatman to stop talking about being called to ordination, and when the healthcare of a woman dying of cancer — that the Spirit would catch fire in our little church! Can you believe that little St. Gertrude's parish in Chicago has had so many women called? That we are surrounded in holiness? It's truly amazing to be a part of, to witness!

After Katy Zastick, Alta Jacko and Barbara Zeman were ordained through Roman Catholic Womenpriests, you knew you had to make an example of Janine Denomme — by denying her a funeral Mass. I mean, FOUR women called to ordination in a year — what if the POPE finds out what's going on at St. Gertrude's! Heads would surely roll!

But what can you do? I mean, the facts are the facts — the Spirit has got hold of the women of St. Gertrude's — and is having Her way with them! And not even the Pope can stop that....

The Cornerstone

The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Psalms 118:22

I awoke with a gasp this morning. It has less than 24 hours since learning of the death of my dear friend Janine Denomme, but I was startled to hear her story on NPR as my alarm clock went off this morning. Since learning last week about our church's refusal to grant her a proper Mass of the Resurrection, due to her ordination into the Catholic priesthood last month — I have had to put my anger aside to grieve for my ailing friend, and to honor her wishes that her funeral not become a political rally. But now that the story is out there, I feel that it is okay to write about it in a public forum.

To be clear, I do not blame our parish priest at St. Gertrude. He has been clearly anguished by the decision of the hierarchy — the turning away from all the Christ asks of us, the refusal to show mercy or kindness to a dying woman who has been an exemplary Christian. Fr. Dom is a kind and loving priest, and my heart truly aches for him as well.

Our church buries criminals, pedophiles, all manner of sinners — and we count on God to do the judging. Unless you're a woman who has faced down the all-boys club. That simply cannot be tolerated! You must pay!

The sad part here is, there is really nothing they can do to "punish" Janine, because they cannot lay claim to the "church," only the walls that they own, and the male priest that they can order about. Janine will, in fact, have a Mass of the Resurrection. And it will, in fact, be full of her "church." Janine will remain a priest in the kingdom of God for eternity.

Janine was keenly aware of her choice — and all the possibilities and consequences of civil disobedience. It is activism like this — and sometimes it's painful consequences (for all of us) that brings about change. I admire Janine so much for her lifelong commitment and amazing bravery and courage in the face of such obstacles. As Archbishop Oscar Romero once said, "we are workers, not master builders. We are prophets of future not our own." Janine knew that change, particularly in a structure as archaic as our church, would come slowly — yet she persisted. Janine could not not be Catholic!

And here's the thing: We're not leaving Our Church! So listen up, Cardinal George! We'll be banging on you're door soon about this atrocity. Bishop Kane — don't think you're getting off the hook on this one — you're cruelty will not be forgotten or go unanswered by THIS Catholic girl! You've got some 'splainin to do! And after we lay our dear friend to rest, you can expect to be hearing from me and others. Count on it.

Out There

It seems that Cardinal George's feathers have been ruffled by DePaul University's courageous hosting of the 2nd annual Out There connference. The conference, which seeks to "address a wide range of issues of relevance to LGBTQ faculty, staff, and students at Catholic institutions, from nuts-and-bolts organizing in student services to the place of LGBTQ Studies at Catholic universities and the challenges of Catholic identity for LGBTQ individuals," will be held Oct. 19th and 20th.

Cardinal George's concern? That some of the speakers might "move from reflection to advocacy," in suggesting that LGBTQ Catholics press for changes in the moral law or form groups that ignore the magisterium. In my opinion, we don't need to form groups that ignore the hierarchy — most Catholics have been doing that already for ages, particulary on matters of sex. Furthermore, to reduce the entire conference to a focus on whether or not LGTBQ Catholics are encouraged to "live chastely" is yet another example of the church's failure to see the myriad of issues that affect LGBTQ Catholics and focus on sex as a "grave sin."

George's recent Archdiocesan article reads like an admonishment of anyone who would give pastoral support to LGBTQ Catholics without making it clear to them that they are expected to live celibately. Not only does he posit this as the Catholic moral code, but he goes so far as to state that "even non-religious" accept "the sexual complementarity of men and women is built into the morphology of our bodies and into the very purpose of sexual acts." So anything other than the perfect yin-yang of man-woman is therefore a mortal sin? Wouldn't celibacy therefore also be a sin, since it negates the "perfect union" that God has calls us to? And if not, is repression what God demands of anyone with the "inclinations" that Cardinal George fears "put our salvation at risk?" Has George learned nothing from the scandals that have rocked the Church these past years?