RCWP Canada Monthly Review
-- June 2018
- RCWP Canada prepares to ordain new bishop
- Ascension
is integral part of whole Paschal Mystery – the life, death,
resurrection/ascension, and abiding presence of the Spirit -- and a
connection to Mother's Day
- Intentional Communities
- The Criminalization of Reconciliation
- New Liberal Catholic Church Bishop for Canada
- Vatican case against women priests highly flawed
- An Integral Anthropology for Integral Human Development
- Half the Story: Catholicism in the Modern World
- A Wake-Up Call to Liberal Theologians: Academic Theology Needs the Church
- Vocation Sunday Vigils in Armagh, Ireland; Baltimore, US; Brussels, Belgium; Bristol, UK; London, UK
- Susan Bell: ‘Profoundly honoured’ to be Niagara diocese’s first woman bishop
- Melissa Skelton new metropolitan of B.C. and Yukon
- Lutherans elect two African-American women bishops
- Phyllis Tickle: Towering presence, prophetic vision
- How to apologize like you mean it
- Mary McAleese says it's 'pure codology' that women can't become priests
- Sexism Can Kill Body and Spirit
- What does it mean to be father to a son in the age of #MeToo?
- Free pdf
downloadable books
- Francis,
the comic strip
RCWP Cananda prepares to ordain new bishop
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Editor, RCWP Canada Monthly Review | June 1, 2018
On
July 21, 2018, the eve of the feast of St. Mary of Magdala, Jane
Kryzanowki of Regina will be ordained bishop for RCWP Canada, replacing
Marie Bouclin of Sudbury who is retiring as bishop after serving for
seven years.
The
Spirit of God appears to be moving among the people of God, calling
women to be priests. Marie and Jane are among women who have heard the
call and responded. Small faith communities are coming together asking
for the pastoral services of women. The merging of these two streams --
the call of the Spirit and the call of people -- is gaining momentum
across Canada. Women priests are serving in British Columbia, Alberta,
Saskatchwan, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.
In
conjuction with the episcopal ordination, the RCWP Canada community
invites the public to a presentation by bishops from Canada, the United
States, and Europe on the growth and development of the women's
ordination movement. It will be held Friday evening, July 20, 2018, 7-9
pm, the EEEL Building, 750 Campus Drive NW, University of Calgary. (Use
Parking - Lot 21), Calgary, Alberta.
The
ordination itself is by invitation only, but anyone may obtain an
invitation, which will give details of time, place and date, by writing
to the invitation coordinator at rcwpcanada@outlook.com
Ascension is integral part of whole Paschal Mystery – the
life, death, resurrection/ascension, and abiding presence of the Spirit
-- and a connection to Mother's Day
Jane Kryznowski,
Bishop-elect for RCWP Canada | June 1, 2018
This year we
celebrated two significant things on the same day: Ascension
and Mother's Day, one sacred, the other secular. There is an
important connection between the two and a good opportunity to reflect
on the Feminine Divine.
Mother's Day
began in 1870 as an effort for peace and justice in the post-Civil War
era in the United States as Mother's Day for Peace. It was
prompted by the devastation and loss of lives of husbands and sons to
the horrors of war. About the same time women were organizing
to improve the plight of families in the mining communities of
Appalachia. These movements came together and spawned other efforts
toward justice for women and children: the suffragette and
temperance movements. Even today we see efforts by women to
effect change where injustice exists in society and even in the
church. The Roman Catholic Women Priest Movement of which we
are a part is evidence of this.
The Ascension
feast is an integral part of the whole Paschal Mystery – the life,
death, resurrection/ascension, and abiding presence of the
Spirit. It focuses on the risen Jesus being taken up to
heaven. It brings some closure to the post-resurrection
experience of the disciples. When Jesus was put to death,
they thought it was like anyone else. Dead, buried,
done. But with Jesus, things were different. He
died as Jesus, the prophet of truth and justice, the bearer of good
news of life everlasting; he was raised from death by God as the Cosmic
Christ in whom all things are restored to original oneness from which
it came. Experiencing this transformation was challenging for
the disciples and well it is for us.
The account of
the Ascension is an add-on in Mark's Gospel. It seems that
the disciples need physical connection with Jesus risen in order to
come to an understanding that his abiding spirit-presence, which was
promised to be for all time, was equally real as his physical
presence. For Mark, to see Jesus we need to go to where God
calls. The short ending in which Mary of Magdala, Mary the mother of
James, and Salome are told to take the message of the resurrection to
the other disciples includes the commission to tell them to go to
Galilee, “There they will see me.” Galilee is the place of the first
encounter and where we are called to return again and again to
experience the fullness of life in Christ.
Our
transformation into oneness in Christ is a dynamic process. a
life-long, on-going spiral: Life-death-resurrection-ascension-spirit
presence; Life-death-resurrection-ascension-spirit
presence. We grow in the spiritual life as we do in the
physical life. As our mothers gave us physical birth, Jesus,
through the paschal mystery gives us new life as sons and daughters of
God. A new life that grows richer and richer as we live into
the fullness of the gifts of the Spirit.
The call to live
Gospel justice is what women heard and followed as they worked for
peace following the Civil War and in the coal mining towns.
It is the same call that we hear today to act with justice.
Our mothers show us the way.
Mystical
theologian, Julian of Norwich wrote of “Jesus is my mother”:
"It is a
characteristic of God to overcome evil with good. (This is
the Paschal Mystery.) Jesus Christ, therefore, who himself over came
evil with good, is our true Mother. We received our ‘Being’ from [God]
- and this is where [God's] Maternity starts - and with it comes the
gentle Protection and Guard of Love which will never ceases to surround
us.
“Just as God is
our Father, so God is also our Mother. . . I am the power and the
Goodness of the Father, I am the Wisdom of the Mother, I am the Light
and the Grace which is blessed love, I am the Trinity, I am the Unity,
I am the supreme Goodness of all kind of things, I am the One who makes
you love, I am the One who makes you desire, I am the never-ending
fulfillment of all true desires . . .
“. . . God
Almighty, who is ‘Being’, has always known us and loved us . . . wanted
the Second Person to become our Mother, our Brother, our
Saviour." (From “Revelations of Divine Love” by Juliana of
Norwich (1342-1416), (LIX, LXXXVI))
The Feminine
Divine image of Mother Church giving us spiritual life echos a mother
giving us physical life. The waters of Baptism are the waters
of new birth in Christ. We are fed by Christ in the
Eucharist. We are forgiven by Christ in
reconciliation. We are tended by Christ in the sacrament of
anointing. Julian wrote, “We owe our being to [Christ]–and
this is the essence of motherhood! –and all the delightful, loving
protection which ever follows. God is as really our Mother as [God] is
our Father. . . So Jesus is our true Mother by nature at our first
creation, and he is our true Mother in grace by taking on our created
nature.” (Chapter 59)
Our mothers
were/are the face of God to us; the spirit of the living God expressed
in their love. And so I want to share the following with
you: My mother is my priest . . .
Intentional Communities
Richard Rohr, Center for Action and Contemplation | Thursday, May 10, 2018
Jack
Jezreel is the founder of JustFaith Ministries, an organization that
offers resources to sustain people of faith “in their compassionate
commitment to build a more just and peaceful world.” [1] Jezreel
describes the need for and qualities of a healthy Christian community
(which we might apply to other kinds of religious and non-religious
communities):
Big-heartedness
always draws close to the other, always draws the other close. Francis
of Assisi, Benedict, Dorothy Day, Jean Vanier—like Jesus himself—draw
people naturally into relationship. And the hunger of the human heart
that God put in us is not just for casual and recreational
relationships. We long for relationships of meaning. We long to be
connected, for healing, for vocation, and for mission. . . .
The
challenge before [Christians], again, is to claim our tradition. From
the description in Acts of the early Christian community that “shared
all things in common,” [Acts 4:32] to the early monastic families, to
the development of the hundreds of [religious] communities around the
world, to the Catholic Worker communities of the 20th and 21st century,
intentional community is what we’re all about. Or at least it ought to
be.
The Criminalization of Reconciliation
Victoria Marie, St. James Blog | May 2, 2018
Two
streams of thought intertwined with my reflections on the non-violent
direct action taken by several faith leaders on April 20th, 2018 at the
east and west gates of Kinder Morgan’s Westbridge Marine Terminal.
The
first is the current upside down political and social climate is not
unique to our neighbours south of the border. It appears that
reconciliation with Indigenous Canadians and the Earth have become
criminal offences. When reconciliation becomes meaningful action, that
is, goes beyond mere words. It threatens the powers—and they react.
Injunctions against peaceful protest is the weapon of choice.
Violations of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples,
the U.S. Eagle Act[1] and the BC Wildlife Act are committed with
impunity.
Read More
Rev.
Dr. Victoria Marie is pastor of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Tonantzin
Community Society and co-founder of the Vancouver Catholic Worker
(Samaritan House). She is also an RCWP Canada priest.
New Liberal Catholic Church Bishop for Canada
Editor, RCWP Canada | June 1, 2018
[Adapted from various sources.]
The care of the Canadian church province of the Liberal Catholic Church since 1977 by an American bishop ended on Saturday, May 19, 2018. On that date Eric Archambault, priest of the LCC in Magog, QC was consecrated bishop.
Consecrating bishops were Presiding Bishop Michael Warnon (USA), senior bishop Peter Baaij (Netherlands) and junior bishop David Carpenter (USA).
Bishop Archambault holds the office of regional authority for the presiding bishop. With this office, growth for the LCC in Canada will be facilitated since there will be an ordaning bishop nearby.
The consecration took place during a well-attended French-speaking Eucharist. Many traveled from different parts of Canada and the United States, and other countries to be present for this special event.
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In a spirit of ecumenism, by special invitation, present were two members of RCWP Canada, Bishop Marie Bouclin of Sudbury, ON and a priest, Linda Spear of Sutton, QC.
Read More
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An Integral Anthropology for
Integral Human Development
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Luis T. Gutiérrez, Mother
Pelican |
May 2018
Integral
human development entails development of each person and of the whole
person. As the patriarchal era passes away, we are hopefully on the
threshold of a renewal of humanity. Beyond the patriarchal culture,
such renewal must include a balancing of gender relations pursuant to
integral human development.
All
human beings share one and the same human nature. In the biophysical
dimension, this fundamental unity is manifested as a somatic
homogeneity that subsists in diversity at all levels, from XX/XY
chromosomes to skin pigment, eye color, and all other human attributes.
In the biopsychological dimension, every human being is a unique
personal subject but all humans are Homo sapiens, endowed with reason
and free will. In the biospiritual dimension, there is a universal need
for relationality; while no human being can flourish in isolation, all
humans can flourish in interpersonal relations.
Such
is human nature in the flesh. We are bodies, but we are more than
bodies. The body is a sacrament of the entire person, but is not the
entire person. The body makes the entire person visible, and makes
visible what is invisible but not any less real -- the inner self, the
human spirit. In Christian terminology, every human being is integrally
a body-person, or body-soul; unique and complete yet always needing to
be in relation with others in order to flourish in all dimensions of
life.
Read
More
Half the Story: Catholicism in the Modern World
Peter Steinfels, Commonweal | May 9, 2018
It is a
commonplace that the Second Vatican Council consolidated a radical
revision in the Catholic Church’s stance toward the “modern world.”
Images of battle gave way to ones of dialogue and common destiny. The
church embraced “the joys and the hopes, the griefs and the anxieties”
of contemporary humanity. The church was embarked on the “same journey”
and recognized the “good to be found in the social dynamism of today.”
How did this
remarkable change come about? Well, there is a familiar story, to which
I will shortly return. But that story, if James Chappel’s Catholic
Modern is right, is at the very least incomplete, at the most in need
of serious correction. And if Piotr H. Kosicki’s Catholics on the
Barricades is right, that story needs serious expansion and, to
complicate things, perhaps Chappel’s story also needs correction. These
are young historians coming at old topics with fresh eyes and new
perspectives.
The standard
narrative of this great Catholic transformation goes something like
this: first, the Enlightenment put the church under stress, then the
French Revolution and Napoleonic era traumatized it. For more than a
century, Catholicism suffered from institutional post-traumatic stress
disorder, reliving revolutionary flashbacks and acting out
accordingly. Every few decades a cluster of dissatisfied
believers would propose treatment; they were led by figures like
Lamennais, Montalembert, Dollinger, Acton, Newman, Blondel, Sangnier,
Sturzo, Maritain, proponents of the nouvelle théologie, and John
Courtney Murray, SJ. One after another, they were slapped down by popes
from Gregory XVI to Pius XII.
Nonetheless,
bit by bit, their message of qualified reconciliation with this or that
aspect of modernity won support, reinforced by the practical
concessions that popes and bishops had to make to the political
realities in nations from Belgium to the United States.
Read
More
A Wake-Up Call to Liberal Theologians: Academic Theology Needs the Church
Massimo Faggioli, Commonweal | May 16, 2018
The
estrangement between academic theology and the institutional Church is
one reason many younger Catholics are now turning to neo-traditionalist
circles for instruction. A new generation is re-examining what’s
happened in the church since the 1960s and reacting against the
theology that came out of the Second Vatican Council. Some younger
Catholics are also questioning the legitimacy of the secular,
pluralistic state. This is why the concerns of academic theology are no
longer merely academic.
Those who
have contact with young Catholics—for example, college students—may
have noticed that this theological anti-liberalism is not just coming
from a few marginal intellectuals. Catholic anti-liberalism is part of
a broader phenomenon, a new quest for Catholic identity that takes
various forms. It may be expressed as an enthusiasm for the Tridentine
Mass and a distaste for the Novus ordo. Or it may take the form of an
interest in countercultural communities—in some version of the
“Benedict Option.” But it can also take the form of a theo-political
imagination that rejects liberal democracy in favor of a new
Christendom. Mixed in with this ideal is often a suspicion of those who
come from parts of the world where Christianity is not the predominant
religion.
Read
More
Vocation
Sunday Vigils in Armagh, Ireland; Baltimore, US; Brussels, Belgium;
Bristol, UK; London, UK
Women's
Ordination Worldwide | April 2018
For photos and
stories about World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination, click here.
Susan Bell: ‘Profoundly honoured’
to be Niagara diocese’s first woman bishop
Joelle
Kidd, Anglican Journal
| March 5, 2018
Canon Susan Bell was elected coadjutor bishop of the diocese of Niagara
Saturday, March 3. As coadjutor bishop, she will automatically become
the 12th bishop of the diocese.
Read
More
Melissa
Skelton new metropolitan of B.C. and Yukon
Tali Folkins, Anglican Journal | May 14, 2018
Melissa Skelton, bishop of the diocese of New Westminster, has been
elected metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of British Columbia
and Yukon, becoming the first woman in the Anglican Church of Canada to
have the title “archbishop.”
Read
More
Lutherans elect two African-American women bishops
Mark A. Kellner, Religion News Service | May 7, 2018
A synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made history
Saturday (May 5) by electing the denomination’s first female
African-American bishop. One day later, a synod 900 miles away
elected the second.
First, delegates chose the Rev. Patricia A. Davenport for the office of
bishop in Southeastern Pennsylvania, a synod that includes
Philadelphia. Then on Sunday, delegates voted for the Rev. Viviane
Thomas-Breitfeld, a pastor in Beloit, Wis., to become bishop-elect for
the South-Central Synod of Wisconsin.
The votes mark an inclusive step forward for the “most white” of the
nation’s mainline Protestant denominations, according to Presiding
Bishop Elizabeth Eaton.
Read
More
Phyllis Tickle: Towering
presence, prophetic vision
Henriette
Thompson, Anglican Journal | May
16, 2018
Phyllis
Tickle: A Life will appeal to those who admire the
prodigious talents of the late Episcopalian author, poet, essayist and
marketing force behind North American religious book publishing. It
also offers a broad context of the emerging church movement circa 2005
in America and manifested in the U.K., Canada and elsewhere.
Biographer Jon M. Sweeney captures the essence of Phyllis’s gift as
“the ability to prophetically see what was coming, and then explain it
in attractive detail…she became a prognosticator and encourager to
professionals who cared about religion…” within popular culture. There
is much to care about as churches experience a decades-long decline in
membership that prompts a need to rediscover their missional core.
Read
More
How
to apologize like you mean it
Fiona
Tapp, UCOBSERVER | May 2018
Public
apologies are rife in the era of #MeToo. In an attempt to save their
careers and reputations, accused celebrity figures appear to fall on
their swords and offer loud apologies. However, these messages are
usually vague, and some include language such as “I am sorry for any
offence that my words or actions may have caused.” This type of
language diverts attention away from the oppressor and makes the victim
seem overly sensitive or defective for feeling wronged. They are
classic examples of anti-apologies.
Rather
follow these steps:
1.
Take a moment
2.
Keep it simple
3.
Admit responsibility
4.
Explain yourself
5.
Make a promise
6.
Keep communicating
Read More
Mary McAleese says it's 'pure codology' that women can't become priests
Christopher Lamb, Mar 7, 2018
Mary
McAleese, former president of Ireland addressed a press conference
regarding her views on the decline of young people and women in the
church. Young people and women are saying to our leaders ‘we demand
more from you’
McAleese was speaking ahead of a conference in Rome about women’s roles in the Church.
Speaking to reporters, McAleese also raised the ban on women becoming priests.
“Pope
Francis has said that the issue of women’s ordination isn’t up for
discussion, that women are permanently excluded from priesthood.
“I
believe that women should be ordained, I believe the theology on which
that is based is pure codology. I’m not even going to be bothered
arguing it. Sooner or later it’ll fall apart, fall asunder under its
own dead weight.”
McAleese said she wished to “pose a much more profound question” instead.
“If
you are going to exclude women in perpetuity from priesthood and if all
decision-making, discernment and policy-making in the Church is going
to continue to be filtered through the male priesthood, tell me how in
justice and charity, but most importantly in equality, are you going to
include the voices of women in the formation of the Catholic faith?
Read More
[Editor's Note: Definition of codology in Oxford English Dictionary: Foolish or untrue talk or writing; nonsense.]
Sexism Can Kill Body and Spirit
Mary E. Hunt, Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual | April 24, 2018
Imagine
my surprise when I read about the women who were shooed out of the sumo
wrestling ring in Japan when they tried to save a man’s life. What
sounds like “news of the weird” is a serious story about traditions and
how harmful they can be. It made me think of Roman Catholicism’s ban on
women priests and how deadly it is.
. . .
When
I read the article, I was struck by the many parallels with the
institutional Roman Catholic Church’s ban on the ordination of women.
While some might argue that no one ever died because women were
excluded from presiding at the Eucharist, I believe that the scandal of
gender exclusion has ‘killed’ the spirits of many people.
. . .
To
be clear, I have no great affection for sumo wrestling or for women
ordained in the kyriarchal model of church and ministry. But what is
shocking in both cases is how ‘tradition’ is misunderstood as ‘how we
have always done it’ rather correctly understood from its Latin root
‘to give or deliver or hand over’, perhaps hand on what is most
important, namely life in all its fullness. To let old prejudices snuff
out life, physical or spiritual, is simply absurd, profoundly sad, and
a colossal waste of life itself.
Read More
What does it mean to be father to a son in the age of #MeToo?
Christian Mocek, National Catholic Reporter | May 17, 2018
What does it
mean to be a father who raises a son in the age of #MeToo? What can a
father do to ensure his son doesn't end up the perpetrator in a #MeToo
story?
The answer
to this question is personal for each father. But I do think there are
universal things parents can teach, especially fathers to sons, about
consent, responsibility and honoring the dignity of the other. In a
culture where growing boys are bombarded with salacious advertising and
easily accessible lewd material, and where dehumanizing banter is
written off as locker room talk, the only choice is for fathers — and
other male role models — to teach their sons to navigate these arenas
with vulnerability, virtue andcourage.
Read More
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Vatican case against women priests highly flawed
John O'Loughlin Kennedy, The Irish Times | Apr 9, 2018
Perceptions
have changed of women’s place in society. Accepted as being fully human
and made in the image of God, a woman can “icon” Christ as effectively
as can any man.
The
Vatican Curia can be counted on to ignore accusations of misogyny,
however well-founded, They are trained (and oath-bound) to prioritise
current church teaching above all.
As a result, it is the teaching itself that must be challenged. This is not difficult.
On
the big issue, women’s exclusion from ordination, the teaching is of
recent origin and is based on remarkably shoddy scholarship. The
exclusion is long-established. The justifying doctrine is new.
Read More
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June
2018
