Kansas City Star on St. Therese Little Flower

The Kansas City Star Magazine ran an article on St. Therese Little Flower Parish recently. I am pleased to say that it was very well done. You may not agree with who we are, but this gives a fair idea of what you would find if you should visit. http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/1247074.html

General Convention of the Episcopal Church

To all of my friends in the Episcopal Church: You, your parishes, dioceses and the Episcopal Church will be in my prayers during this Convention. May you have peace in your hearts, clear minds, and deep humility.

Rejoice and be glad!

Episcopalian bishops and the Presiding bishop often declare that Episcopal priests and bishops who chose to enter a different Anglican province or become Catholic have "renounced their orders." In other words, the Episcopal Church is stating that they have repudiated their ordination and their ministry. Perhaps some have actually repudiated their previous ministry. Many times these same priests and bishops state they never did any such thing.

Before I made a Profession of Faith and entered the Catholic Church, I visited Bishop John Buchanan of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri and informed him of my intentions. He was surprised, but we had a cordial conversation. The very next day, I received a copy of an official notice from Bishop Buchanan, ratified by the Standing Committee, that I had renounced my orders. I never renounced my orders. When I made my Profession of Faith as a Catholic, I was not required to renounce them. When I was ordained as a Catholic deacon and priest, I was not asked to renounce them. I still honor my ordinations as deacon and priest in the Episcopal Church. The Catholic Church does, too. I am grateful for all the Episcopal Church taught me, and the Catholic Church, by accepting my seminary education, is apparently grateful, too. I still believe all of my Episcopalian sacramental and pastoral acts had all the validity the Episcopal Church had to offer. In declaring that I had renounced my orders, the Episcopal Church declared I said things that I never felt, believed, said, or intended. The way I see it, the Catholic Church has honored my integrity more than the Episcopal Church.

To be honest, though, I do renounce one particular misunderstanding about my ordination as an Episcopal priest. I renounce my misunderstanding that the Episcopal Church had any authority to ordain me as a Catholic deacon and priest. It seems so clear, now. But I have never renounced and have no intention of renouncing my ordination by Episcopal bishops as an Episcopal deacon and priest.

To those priests and bishops who are receiving copies of declarations that they have renounced their orders when they have never done so, I say, consider who is saying these things about you. Don't worry about it. The words of Jesus give comfort and strength: "Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad!" May you always be so blessed!

“Subject: Why is there an Anglican Use Mass at your parish?”

I received this note from the website

and thought you might be interested in it and my response

“Subject: Why is there an Anglican Use Mass at your parish?”

“I am writing because I’m wondering why y’all think that it is a good idea to have the Anglican Use Mass at your Parish.  I mean I’m not a regular Catholic but the word on the street is that you are having a bunch of ultraconservative white people come trapsing (sic) into your church on Sunday morning who couldn’t care less about what is going on in your community.  I mean what do people in your neighborhood think about this, or do you really care?”

Dear ____:  A little controversy can be a good thing, but I do not expect that rumors and negativity will easily sway this parish from our commitment to worshiping God, serving our neighbors and working for justice.  You may not realize that Anglo-Catholicism has a very long tradition of social justice involvement and has the reputation of being unafraid to go into the slums in London and poor areas around the world.  For example, St. Mary’s – the Anglo-Catholic parish in Kansas City – was in the red-light district and still serves the urban poor.  Anglo-Catholic parishes have attracted the very rich as well as the very poor.

            People from outside the parish should certainly ask this same question about any of our Masses, “Why do they do things that way when we don’t do things that way at our neighborhood parish?”  We can ask those questions about each other, and for those with open minds there are very good answers.  Each of our Masses is liturgically ultra, but ultra in different ways.  We are all Catholics. We are not boring.  We are different, and if we weren’t different, there would be no reason for us to be here. 

            St. Therese has found a mission in welcoming people into our parish community who do not fit at their local parish.  Whoever is informing you about those coming to our 11:15 Mass is misinformed. The director of the Human Rights Office of the diocese is a member of this parish and attends that Mass.  People who attend that Mass volunteered for our parish Christmas Basket program, contribute the parish’s Emergency Assistance Fund, and support the 64130 Holy Ground service. The core group of our Anglican Use Mass will tell you about St. Therese’s warm and healing welcome and  they now extend that welcome to others.  As long as we stay focused on serving our neighbors, welcoming the outcast, and worshiping God, I think we will meet the purposes for which this parish exists. Very few of our members at any of our Masses live in this neighborhood, but our members from outside our neighborhood make it possible to continue to serve the residents of the neighborhood.  I welcome them, and hope there will be many more. 

I hope you will come visit sometime.

Fr. Ernie

"Are you a real priest?"

I was back in Fernandina Beach for Aunt Kathleen’s funeral several weeks ago.  My sons and Keen’s other great-nephews were her pall bearers.  After they carried her casket up the long flight of stairs at the entrance of Memorial Methodist Church a couple of hours before the funeral was to begin, I invited them to walk downtown to get a cup of coffee.  They stood out from the crowd, dressed in their blazers or suits, especially compared to everyone else dressed in Florida casual style.  I didn’t consider how I stood out, dressed in clerics.  

The barista stared at me when I said, “I’ll get the coffee for everyone here who is wearing a tie.” 

“Are you a real priest,” she asked me?  “This isn’t for a movie or anything?”  I assured her that I am that this was not.  Her astonished response to my assurance that I am a priest and this was not a movie flabbergasted me.  “I’ve never seen a real priest before.  And I am Catholic!”

Married Priests

Recently the Kansas City Star ran as story about married Catholic priests, perhaps not remembering they ran a similar story about six years ago. http://www.kansascity.com/238/story/1160841.html

The nice thing about this year’s version of the story is that they avoided repeating the erroneous claim that ordaining married men would prevent child abuse.  I tried to steer the editor in a more worthwhile direction, but had no success.  Here is what I suggested would actually be newsworthy as well as the full answers to questions that were submitted to me.

“I would like to suggest that the really interesting story that has not been written would be about the number of protestant clergy who are converting to the Catholic Church.  Many times it means great sacrifice, the loss of income, shunning by former colleagues and family members, a loss of status.  For many if not most, especially those who do not come from an Episcopal background who receive special consideration, the Catholic Church does not have procedures that are able to evaluate their talents and experience and then deploy them for ministry, whether as lay ministers or ordained deacons or priests.  Even if convert clergy are willing to return to seminary and even though the Vatican is often willing to give permission for them to be ordained, most do not get the chance because there is not a local seminary and dioceses/seminaries are not equipped to provide education for married seminaries especially if they have families.  Yet there are many protestant clergy converting to the Catholic Church every year. Check out information from the Coming Home Network www.chnetwork.org.  I received many advantages through the Pastoral Provision for former Episcopal Clergy established by Pope John Paul II and then Cardinal Ratzinger.  It is said that as Pope John Paul II gave instructions to Cardinal Ratzinger on how to set up the Pastoral Provision, he said, “Don’t make it too hard on them.”

 

In answer to your questions:

1)  Preliminaries: I understand that you were an Episcopal priest. For how long? When did you convert? I was an Episcopal Priest for a little over 15 years.  I was “Canon Missioner” at St. Michael’s in Independence until I converted in 1998.  Bishop Raymond Boland was very helpful.  I met with him for about a year before I converted.  He knew that I would convert whether or not he was willing to consider me for ordination as a Catholic.  He was very gracious, but also very careful to make sure that the other priests of the diocese would not be offended or opposed

2)  How long was the process from Episcopal priest to Catholic priest? The process from conversion to ordination was about four years.  The Pastoral Provision process evaluated my seminary education and accepted most of my previous preparation.  I had to prepare for examinations for competency in all the areas that a Catholic seminarian is required to be competent, even areas that I had not studied.  Diocesan priests and faculty members at Conception Seminary assisted me.

3)  How accepted are you, not only in your parish, but from other Catholics?  Since there are 53 married clergy in the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, even though I am the only priest, there has been very little problem in being accepted.  Sometimes people have questions, and sometimes I am a lightning rod for people who think that priests who took a vow of celibacy ought to be able to get married and remain active in priestly ministry.  Others need assurance that I am not dishonoring the gifted ministry of priests and seminarians who are true to the celibate way of life.  But those conversations occur only very occasionally.  I am a priest, and only very rarely does being married ever come up in conversation.  In most situations and most of the time it is a non-issue.  I am almost universally accepted.  If I am not, people are too polite to say so.

4)  Any special advantages to being a married priest, and is there a downside?  I think being a married priest is like being a married entrepreneur, restaurant or business owner, or medical doctor.  This is not a 40 hour a week job.  Without some balance it could kill a marriage.  I was married before I was ordained in the Episcopal Church.  Valerie went to seminary with me and has been part of this ministry directly or indirectly since the beginning.  My family keeps me balanced and rooted.  Sometimes they are my biggest challengers.  I love being a husband and father.  I do not know what is like to be a priest and be celibate.  I can certainly see some advantages for the celibate priest, especially when I am telling Valerie that I am headed out for the fourth evening meeting in week.

  5)  Why is your title "pastoral administrator" and not "pastor"?  I am in parish work as Pastoral Administrator because Bishop Finn recognized that St. Therese needed a priest and thought that I had the ability.  It is a true honor and privilege to be assigned to parish work and I am grateful to him for the opportunity to serve St. Therese Parish this way. When Pope John Paul II and Cardinal Ratzinger set up the process in the early 1980s the church had very little experience with married priests and even though they were courageous in granting permission for married convert clergy to be ordained, they were unsure of how we would be received and wanted to make sure that we did not cause a scandal.  So they originally envisioned that we would be assigned as teachers and in other support jobs and not as pastors.  Being Pastoral Administrator can be considered as one of those support jobs.  Having the title Pastoral Administrator has the additional advantage of salary and benefits that are appropriate for someone with a family.

 

Holy Ground Prayer Service

Read about the Holy Ground Prayer Service in this coverage from The Catholic Key.  It was powerful!  http://www.catholickey.org/index.php3?gif=news.gif&mode=view&issue=20090417&article_id=5649