First Kansas City Woman Ordained Priest

            Several weeks ago there was a momentary tizzy when Georgia Walker, a Catholic woman, was ordained.  The Kansas City Star and the National Catholic Reporter proclaimed her to be the first Kansas City woman to be ordained a Catholic priest.      

            Actually, a different Kansas City woman, Katrina van Alstyne Welles Swanson was ordained as a Catholic priest on July 29, 1974, over 40 years before Georgia Walker.   On that solemn morning, in front a congregation of two thousand, she was presented for ordination as a priest in Christ’s holy Catholic Church, just as Georgia Walker was presented recently.  Katrina Swanson was ordained by three bishops.  One of them was her father, the Rt. Rev. Edward R. Welles, Bishop of West Missouri.

            Bishop Welles, of course, was an Episcopalian.  Almost everyone would recognize that if Welles was Catholic, it was of a peculiar sort.  Katrina and Georgia, and the bishops that ordained them, share a kind of communion with the Catholic Church because they share the same baptism.  And perhaps the Catholic Church would recognize that the historic episcopate maintained in the Episcopal Church and claimed by the Womanpriest movement has a certain affinity with essential Catholic structures.  They may even claim to celebrate some or all of the same sacraments and preach from the same bible.  But Bishop Welles would never have claimed the right to join the council of all the Catholic bishops at Vatican II. Nor would he have ever claimed to believe or to teach everything the Catholic Church believes and teaches.  He may have worn a cope and miter and have stood beside the local Catholic bishop, but he would never have claimed to be in communion with him, or to celebrate the sacraments for local Catholic parishioners.  He could claim to be Catholic, but only within the context of the meaning of that term as understood by other Episcopalians. All of those ordained by him could only make a similar limited claim.  And the bishop who ordained Georgia Walker can only make a similar claim.

            The Catholic faith is not about magic, and bishops are not dispensers of magical power.  The bishops who ordained the two women were not acting for the Catholic Church.  Catholic bishops represent the whole Catholic faith and act in union with the universal church. The bishops who ordained Katrina and Georgia reject much of what Catholic Church understands to be essential to Catholicism, they teach much that is incompatible with Catholicsim and they were not in union with the universal church. So they could not have ordained Katrina and Georgia as Catholic priests, in the most common understanding of the term.  The definition of Catholicism made by Katrina’s Episcopal Church and Georgia’s Womanpriest movement does not include communion with the Catholic Church and does not include the full Catholic faith.  They can define the word Catholic for themselves and use it within their own context in whatever way their traditions choose.  But if all are honest, they will recognize that their definitions are very peculiar. 

            Georgia Walker is not even the second Kansas City woman to be ordained a priest.  In the forty years since the first ordination of women as priests, any number of Kansas City women have been ordained  priests.  Given the movement of members back and forth between the Catholic Church and the Episcopal Church, it is likely that a few Catholic women were ordained priests in "Christ's Holy Catholic Church" by Episcopalian bishops.  It is also possible that others have been ordained priests in one of the iterations of the Old Catholic Church that sprout locally.  A little research could determine the numbers, but it really doesn't matter all that much.              Episcopal bishops ordain priests for the Episcopal Church. Old Catholic bishops ordain Old Catholic priests. And Womanpriest bishops ordain Womanpriest priests.  Only Catholic bishops ordain priests for the Catholic Church.  No matter what her ordination liturgy may have claimed Katrina Swanson was only a priest in the Episcopal Church, not the Catholic Church.  And no matter what her ordination may have claimed, Georgia Walker is a priest for her movement, but not for the Catholic Church.

            The recent attention to Georgia Walker’s ordination does have a potential positive outcomes. It gives us an opportunity to remember a bit of local history and recall headline-making events.  Katrina Wells Swanson nor Georgia Walker will not be recognized as Catholic priests for the Catholic Church, but Katrina’s ordination should be remembered as being a historic first, forty years before Georgia’s.

Practical Questions About Liturgy at Our Lady of Hope

1. What is the church like?

When you walk into Our Lady of Sorrows Church where we worship, you get a distinct feeling of the presence of the Lord. Indeed He is present in the Blessed Sacrament. Upon entering one becomes immediately "worshipful" in manner and upon entering one is given to silence.

2. How is the liturgy celebrated?

Whether the congregation is small or large, everything is dignified, and reverent as the "Lord of Hosts is with us".  The vestments are rich and beautiful, often handmade.  Then the solemn manner in which sacred ministers, cantors, servers, altar guild and readers perform their part in the eternal drama, absolutely contributes to the piety of all. This tone and manner is shared by the congregation, who fully participate.

3. What kind of music is used?

Probably the most dramatic contribution to the Anglican Patrimony is its hymnody. Magnificent music planned and directed by Dr. Bruce Prince-Joseph our organist, sung in the most venerable traditions, shared by a congregation singing to the rafters literally lifts the soul to the heavenly throne.

4.  How do the people receive communion?

We receive communion in the traditional manner, kneeling at the altar rail.  Those who cannot kneel are welcome to stand. Some receive the sacrament on the tongue. But most make a simple, humble "throne" of the left hand for the right, whereon is placed the precious Sacrament. From there, the Body untouched is raised to the mouth of the communicant.

5. Are the people reverent?

Such things as bowing the head at Our Lord's name, making the sign of the cross at timely points of prayer, genuflecting at the Incarnatus in the creed, acknowledging the Lord at the elevation of the Host at the time of consecration - all these "engage" the faithful in the act of worship. The faithful are not only involved, but their participation lends to their understanding and their personal piety. They help us to present ourselves as a "living sacrifice." They help to shape a humble, contrite, awe-inspired heart when we come before Him. That reverent participation is also a part of the Anglican Way.

5. Why not use everyday English?

The language of the liturgy is Elizabethan English, as in most traditional parishes. Its formality, poetry, and beauty add a special dignity, and once again reverence, to the order of worship and contribute to the piety of the people. It helps to establish in a unique way, a humble, separate, not presumptuous, relationship between creature and Creator. It doesn't put off, but rather gathers together reverently. Formal expression can be inspiring. Therefore those prayers and hymns employing that formal language tend to put the faithful in a reverent attitude before the Holy of Holies.

6. How is the liturgy related to the Anglican Prayer Book?

The Book of Common Prayer is itself a work of great spiritual and practical genius, a rich gift to the faithful. Anglicans know it as well as they know their Bibles. Anglicans throughout the world can pick it up and know they are "at home.  All of those familiar with the prayer book tradition will be soon right at home with the Catholic “Book of Divine Worship” used in Ordinariate liturgies.  Catholics will immediately recognize the familiar structure of the Mass, enriched with historic Anglican devotion.

7. Who can receive communion?

Because Catholics believe that the celebration of the Eucharist is a sign of the reality of the oneness of faith, life, and worship, members of those churches with whom we are not yet fully united are ordinarily not admitted to Communion. Eucharistic sharing in exceptional circumstances by other Christians requires permission according to the directives of the diocesan bishop and the provisions of canon law. . . . " 

(Many thanks to Marthat Eischen, "Anglican Patrimony or the Anglican Way," published in VirtueOnline, June 29, 2011.)

The Anglican Use Liturgy

Those who grew up in the Episcopal or Anglican churches may be right at home with some of the liturgy we use on Sunday mornings.  Even Methodists who know their own traditions will find some language that is familiar.  However, some things will definitely be unfamiliar, and we may trip over strange wording.  Some of the unfamiliarity is caused because various national Books of Common Prayer developed differently in the U.S, Canada, Britain and Australia.  Our liturgy unites the various traditions.  Some of the unfamiliar bits are not from any official Book of Common Prayer but come from Anglican and American Missals – versions of the Anglican liturgy used in some Anglo-Catholic parishes before the liturgical changes introduced after Vatican II.  It is likely that the liturgy we are using is unfamiliar to everyone in some way.  Even so, it is an attempt to preserve and express the Anglican tradition, to create a liturgy that will unite the members of the Ordinariates around the world, and also celebrate a liturgy that is a gift to the Catholic Church

Fifth Anniversary of Anglicanorum Coetibus

A Homily for the Feast of the Dedication of St. John Lateran.  November 9, 2014. Our Lady of Hope. Kansas City MO

What are we doing here? 

            Last week the question touched on a real controversy for the churches of the reformation: 

            Purgatory, Prayers for the Dead, and the Sacrifice of the Mass.

Today we can ask the same question, but not stir up and controversy. 

            The only controversy – and very little of that – is why celebrate the Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica at all?  Anglicans stopped celebrating it 450 years ago. 

            Catholics may even wonder why we do it.

            Why take up a whole Sunday to celebrate the dedication of a church most of us have never even heard of?  Sundays are supposed to be more important than any other celebration except for major feasts and solemnities.

So we’ve just answered our question.  We celebrate this Feast as if it is a big deal because it IS a big deal.  It’s a bigger deal than the celebration of the dedication of Cathedral of the Bishop of Rome, given by the emperor Constantine after the Peace of the Church – the Basilica of Christ the Savior, the Head and Mother of all churches, the oldest church in the West.

The Lateran Basilica is the first Christian temple.  It tells us a great deal about the Christian faith.  Christians did not create a temple and place it among all the older ones to the pagan gods and goddesses.  Christianity is not one religion among others.

Nor did they build a temple to serve primarily as a shrine for an empty Holy of Holies as in Jerusalem, or a place for an idol into which only priests or priestesses could enter.

Rather, this first Christian Temple was a basilica – a former public building, rededicated to the celebration of the sacraments and the proclamation of the word of God – a Temple for the People of God, priests and laity.

The Lateran Basilica is a House of God and a House of the Church.

Even so, it doesn’t see to be a big enough deal to trump the celebration of Sunday – the primordial feast.

That is, until we start praying and reading the scriptures appointed for the day.

Then you see that we are not as much celebrating the dedication of the church building as we are celebrating the living Church of God, the mystical Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit. 

If we are looking for any controversy of a protestant kind, we could ask, “Did Christ intend to establish a church?” And answer, “Yes indeed he did!  And this is it!”  And I am not talking about Our Lady of Sorrows – as beautiful as it may be.

It may not be an accident that almost exactly five years ago – November 4, 2009, Pope Benedict issued his Apostolic Constitution Anglicanorum Coetibus.  And it was just two years ago, exactly, that we celebrated the opening Mass of the Anglican Use Conference we celebrated.

The opening four paragraphs of Anglicanorum Coetibus are a stunning proclamation of the reason why we celebrate this Feast of the Dedication of the Lateran Basilica.

I have the bad habit of skipping over the opening paragraphs of documents like this – all the “Whereas” paragraphs, and get right to the action paragraphs, “Therefore be it resolved.”  Not that the Pope writes like the Roberts Rules of Order.  But these four paragraphs are worth spending some time on.  Pope Benedict XVI established the “ecclesiological principles”  that establish the source and purpose of the church’s unity.

Pope Benedict teaches us that the church is the People of God gathered into the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  That the church is designed to bring people into unity with God and each other, and to preach the gospel to every creature.

We are baptized into one church, united by the teaching of the apostles.  We profess one faith, and break one Eucharistic bread.

Almost all of his fourth paragraph is a quotation from the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church, Lumen Gentium:

            “This single Church of Christ which we profess in the Creed as one, holy, Catholic and apostolic, “subsists in the Catholic Church which is governed by the successor of Peter and the bishops in communion with him.  Nevertheless, many elements of sanctification and truth are found outside her visible confines.  Since these are gifts properly belonging to the church of Christ they are forces impelling toward Catholic Unity.”

It is a remarkable statement by the Council and by the Pope, and it rings true to my experience and faith.  It tells us that even while we lived the disunity that contradicts the will of Christ and wounds the Church and scandalizes the world, the Holy Spirit was with us.  And the same Holy Spirit was calling us home.

Although he did not quote it explicitly when he wrote Anglicanorum Coetibus, Pope Benedict may very have had in mind another statement from Vatican II, the Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio

            “Among those in which Catholic traditions and institutions in part continue to exist, the Anglican Communion occupies a special place.”

In other words, the most important traditions of our Anglican heritage, our liturgical and sacramental heritage and our historical episcopate were tools of the Holy Spirit.

Our Anglican heritage was more than just a personal and private satisfaction.  It played and still plays a role in God’s plan to unite all things in Christ.  We should always be grateful.  It was there that we came to love the teaching of the apostles, the church fathers and the saints.  We were built and nourished with sacraments that were not empty vessels.  We were united in a way through the historic episcopate..

But as valuable as it was, it was and is a wounded community, and a wound in the unity of the Body of Christ.

We picked and chose the parts of the Catholic faith that we liked, and we fought with others picked other parts and who rejected the parts we chose.  We celebrated some sacraments, and rejected some others as unnecessary, or not even sacraments at all.  We experienced the embarrassment and scandal of bishops who rejected the faith they were sworn to uphold and who were unable to live in unity with even their own small portion of the Christian world.

In Anglicanorum Coetibus Pope Benedict heard and responded to the groups of Anglicans who repeatedly and insistently petitioned to be received into the Catholic Church.

But more than that he heard and listened to the Holy Spirit and the Prayer of Christ that all his disciples be one.

And he issued an invitation to receive the church’s healing medicine.

That we join the church in the profession of the faith in its entirety.

That we join the church in the celebration of all the sacraments instituted by Christ.

And that our leaders join the governance of the Church through the College of Bishops united with its head, the Roman Pontiff.

We aren’t here to point the finger at our brothers and sisters who haven’t accepted the invitation and taken the church’s medicine, yet.  We don’t have to point the finger because the Lord is reaching out his hand to them.  The same God who called us into unity is calling them, too.

And we ARE here to ask God to show us how we can be of help to those who are suffering from the wounds in the Body of Christ, and for whom the church’s medicine seems bitter and for whom it requires sacrifice.

We ARE here to celebrate with joy (Anglican, restrained, and dignified) joy, the unity that Pope Benedict offered and that we received, the great living and very real unity with the Mystical Body of Christ, the Temple of the Holy Spirit.

Does Kansas City Need Another Catholic Church? 4

I began by saying that if we have nothing distinctive to offer, then there are plenty of other Catholic parishes in Kansas City.  But Our Lady of Hope is not like any other.  We have a particular mission: to those sisters and brothers whom God is calling into the full communion of the Catholic Church.  Certainly every other parish shares that same mission.  But none of them, except for those in the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, are called to place that mission at the top of the list. All of us were separated, called, and reconciled, so we know what kinds of sacrifices are sometimes required.  We also have another distinctive characteristic: Joy!  Catholic converts are happy Catholics.  We know what we have found!  The treasure in a field, a pearl of great price.

I invite you to read the story of one of our Ordinariate priests who was with us at the recent clergy and wives' conference.

http://www.calledtocommunion.com/2014/10/does-the-center-hold-the-story-of-fr-albert-scharbachs-journey-from-westminster-theological-seminary-to-catholic-priest/

Does Kansas City Need Another Catholic Church? 3

Does Kansas City Need Another Catholic Church? 3

            Everybody needs to know that Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church is really small.  Even by Episcopalian standards, where Sunday attendance in an average parish has declined to 65, we are very small.  On a good Sunday we have about half that many. If we are content to join the slow decline of Episcopalian, Anglican, mainline Protestant and Evangelical parishes (last one to leave, please turn out the light) then no, Kansas City does not need us. If our goal is to preserve a liturgy as a museum piece and to serve the religious sentiments of club members, then no, Kansas City does not need us for that, either.

            A few weeks ago I asked one of our original members, Jodeen, how she came up with the suggestion of Our Lady of Hope for our name.  She told me, “I didn’t know anything about the name.  I believe it was a direct inspiration from God.”  Our name calls us to be people of hope.  This whole Christian enterprise started with one person.  Luke does not record that anyone was with Mary when Gabriel visited her. And from the one person who dared to believe that the hopes of her people would be fulfilled, everything began.  One is not none, and small is not nothing.

            Back when I was working in the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri with my good friend, Fr. Jim Carlyle, our jobs were to start or restart parishes.  We knew that new parishes have a much better chance of growing than old ones, because when everyone is new, all start from the same place.  There are no established power structures that newcomers have to break into and people can start belonging right away.  We both had small groups to start with, but our goal was to open new churches with 200 in attendance on our first Sunday. We used telemarketing, mailings, and personal invitations.  He worked to launch St. Anne’s Episcopal in Lee’s Summit, and I worked to re-launch St. Michael’s Episcopal in Independence. Twenty years ago, we both worked to remove perceived “barriers.”  That meant making the liturgy user-friendly, the music contemporary, denominational identification invisible, and to a certain extent, the faith non-challenging.

            Things have changed a lot in twenty years.  Our Lady of Hope is no more than what we used to call a “core group.”  We don’t have any plans to do any telemarketing. If anything, Our Lady of Hope is doing a slow launch.  I don’t have the luxury of devoting myself to this project full time, and we don’t have the financial resources that the Episcopal diocese devoted to our projects.  But we have something that is much more important – the Catholic faith, the inexorable work of the Holy Spirit and the prayers of Mary and of all the saints.

            Our Lady of Hope has a potential that our previous work in the Episcopal diocese never had.  And we have a potential that no other Catholic parish can match.  The Holy Spirit is our telemarketing campaign.  And the Holy Spirit is calling evangelicals into the Catholic Church.  Can you imagine what a Catholic parish would be like if it fully embraced and empowered their evangelical skills and zeal instead of keeping them at arm’s length?  The Holy Spirit is calling Anglicans, Episcopalians and Methodists who love their tradition, but even more love Christ and his call to be one in him as he is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is calling Catholics who want to celebrate the liturgy in the beauty of holiness, and who are eager to share the depth of their faith with others.

            Are you being called?  Do you know others who may be called?  Do you hope to be part of a Catholic parish like this?  Are you willing to give of yourself, your time, your energy, and your faith, and to be a person of hope?

More to come!

Does Kansas City need another Catholic Church? 2

Four or five years ago it seemed that having an "Anglican Use" community as part of St. Therese Little Flower Parish could be a long-term mutually beneficial solution.  I was thinking that I could remain at St. Therese until retirement.  The Anglican Use community added resources to the struggling inner-city parish, and the parish provided space to worship, a link to the wider Catholic community, and assistance with pastoral programming.  We began some projects that assumed we would have a long-term home at St. Therese.

When I was thinking that I could remain at St. Therese long-term, I didn't realize was that St. Therese Parish and the Anglican Use community had a deep and basic conflict.  St. Therese Parish depends on attracting people who feel like they don't fit in a regular parish.  St. Therese Parish can be very warm and welcoming and some neighborhood parishes can be very cold.  But some of our key parishioners had a deep animosity toward the church hierarchy and Catholic dogma and discipline.  On the other hand, I and the other former Anglican converts who joined me at St. Therese had made an adult choice to enter the Catholic faith.  And to enter the full communion of the Church we had affirmed that we believe what the Catholic Church believes.  This was a rift that simply could not be bridged, and it continued to feed the suspicions of some parishioners that our presence and my pastoral leadership could not be trusted.  It became clear to me that I would not be able to remain at St. Therese long-term, and it also became clear that one person could not be pastor of both communities.

The Anglican Use community at St. Therese never discussed this.  Instead our discussion focused on our future.  Our study of Anglicanorum Coetibus and the mission of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter convinced us that we needed to take charge of our own future and find a way to enter the Ordinariate.

Now that we are Our Lady of Hope Catholic Church we can embrace our Catholic identity in a way that would never have been possible at St. Therese Little Flower.  Converts make joyful Catholics, and that should make us good evangelists.  I am convinced that this is our fundamental mission, more important than anything else, that we put Christ first.  We are taking steps to put our money and our program where our mission is, and to keep from getting diverted into things that will take lots of energy but aren't directly related to our mission.

More to come!

Does Kansas City need a new Catholic Church?

Does Kansas City need a new Catholic Church? Only if the new one does something the others cannot do.

Just a couple of years ago it appeared that Kansas City might actually get two or three new Catholic Churches.  There was some excitement that Kansas City's two Traditional Anglican Communion parishes might enter the Catholic Church along with the whole TAC.  The bishops of the Traditional Anglican Communion had asked for a way that they and their churches could enter the full communion of the Catholic Church while retaining some of their Anglican traditions and retain some responsibility for their own governance.  "United, not absorbed" was the goal of Anglican reunion with Catholicism as the early 20th Century Malines Conversations had described it.  Pope Benedict offered Anglicanorum Coetibus. Based on that Apostolic Constitution, Ordinariates were established in Great Britain, the United States and Canada, and Australia.  There was a lot of excitement prior to the Coming Home conference sponsored by the Anglican Use Community at St. Therese Little Flower and a number of Anglican priests participated.  The former Anglicans at St. Therese believed that they could help facilitate the project of healing church divisions by sharing their experience in becoming Catholic.  They were open to the possibility that they could cease to exist as a separate community and that they themselves could be absorbed into one of the existing Anglican soon-to-be-Catholic parishes when they entered the Catholic Church. But by then, the original excitement of the TAC was fading.  Rome had made a very generous offer.  But most of the Anglican parishioners in the pew didn't want to be Catholic, and the TAC bishops apparently weren't terribly enthusiastic about actually entering the Catholic Church.  Several of the Anglican bishops and many of the Anglican priests did not meet the required educational standards for ordination in the Catholic Church, and several had marriage issues.  A few TAC Anglican parishes around the country entered the new Ordinariate, but none of the local ones did.  That meant the former Anglicans at St. Therese Little Flower had to mull over their own reason for being.  What did it mean for them to be "United, not Absorbed"?  What was their reason for being?  Did they have a permanent future at St. Therese?  How could they enter the Ordinariate when the parish they had joined would always be part of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph?

More soon!

I'm not going to be able to catch you up on all the changes since I posted last.  Here are the basics:  after seven years at St. Therese, Bishop Finn allowed me to return to hospital chaplaincy.  So now I am full-time Catholic priest-chaplain at St. Mary's Medical Center in Blue Springs.  Sometime I might write a little bit about why I decided it was time to leave St. Therese.  For now I will just say I was burned out, and St. Therese needed a chance to find another way ahead.

Sometime soon I may also write a bit about hospital chaplaincy.  For now I will just say that much of my day is like sales - I make a lot of calls.  Most of the time response seems to range from mildly pleased to mildly displeased.  But on occasion there are people in situations in which I fulfill my vocation and make a difference.

The challenge in life right now is pastoring a new Catholic Church in Kansas City - Our Lady of Hope, a mission of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.  We were part of St. Therese Little Flower for over five years.  We didn't join the Ordinariate immediately because we didn't know how we could have one foot in a diocesan parish, and one foot in the Ordinariate.  Finally, after some study and prayer, it seemed clear that our future had to be in the Ordinariate.  Last January Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson received us as members.  When I left St. Therese, it seemed time to finally decide where we ought to be located if we are to have a mission to include people from through out the metro area.  So we are launching out on our own.

Beginning November 2, we will be located at Our Lady of Sorrows for Sunday Mass at 9:15.  I will write about that, too!

World War II Letters from Dad

These are letters Dad wrote in May 1942, 1943, 1944, and July 1945.  He was proud to serve his country and work hard with other men.  He couldn't tell his family very much about what was going on around him, and after the war he never talked very much about it.  His letters reveal how much he loved them and looked forward to coming back home.  When the 850th Engineers Aviation Battalion started having reunions, you could tell how much he valued them and the time they shared together.  I know very little about his time with the "Negro" 1864th Engineer Aviation Battalion.

Postmark May 22, 1942

Free

Batry. A, 26th F.A. 9th Div.

Fort Bragg, North Carolina

Dear Dad,

It looks now like I won’t get home in June for the deer season. There are about 15 or 20 men who haven’t had furloughs yet ahead of me. Most of these were to have left this week but their furloughs have been canceled. We are due to leave for Virginia sometime before long; don’t know just when yet. It’s been put off so many times, I don’t think anyone knows just when we will leave. We’ll be up there for about 15 days. So it will be some time in July before I’ll even have a chance to put in for another furlough. I saw two deer this morning almost in camp. Both of them were does. 

I don’t know if I’ve written any of you or not, but I have some German prisoners here now. They were taken off a sub. somewhere off the coast. I don’t know if it’s a military secret or not. Haven’t seen anything in the papers about it. 

We’ve been put on a gas ration too. Are only allowed one gallon a day per truck, so we haven’t been riding very much. We’ve traveled just as much but do it on foot now. We can leave camp at eight in the morning and do fifteen miles before twelve o’clock. The call this a mechanized army but if you don’t have good feet you won’t last long. 

If it looks as if Stuart is going to be called, try to talk him into getting something before he is drafted. I wrote him a few days ago not to wait until the last few days before he starts looking around. I certainly hope he doesn’t have to go; but if he does he can do better than be drafted into a regular army outfit. 

Love,

Jr.

____

Lt. Ernest P Davis, Jr.

850th Engr. Avn. Bn. (Stanstead Airdrome)

APO #517 New York, NY

(VMAIL)

27 May 1943

Dear Kathleen,

It took about 15 days for your and Momma's letters to reach me.  I don't know if its any faster or not but it does take less shipping space coming over and gives me enough room for what I need.

We are all learning to drive on the wrong side of the road and count English money.  Tell Dad I took the Battalion's money in to the town this week to get it changed.  One of the many bags the finance officer gave me was an Atlantic National Bank bag.  It was like seeing someone from home.  One of the Sergeants who waited on me worked in a bank in Atlanta and knew Uncle Billy.

I tried to send some flowers on Mothers Day but we couldn't use the telegraph office that day.

It's getting late; and my paper has just about run out so good night.

Ernest Jr.

Airmail

850th Engineer Avitation Battalion

23 May 1944

Dear Mamma,

I don’t think it would be giving away any military secrets to say that we are on the firing range today.  Came out this morning but don’t commence firing until tomorrow.  There’s very little to do for the balance of the afternoon except sleep;  which Lt. Smith, my tent mate is doing, while I’m using his paper and envelopes.

It’s bright and sunny this afternoon.  Some of the men have taken their shirts off.  I’m sitting with my back against a stone wall looking out across an open field.  The rifles on the firing line are making quite a noise and Smith is snoring so it’s not as quiet as it might be.  Most of the men would rather be out here, even when they have to sleep on the ground, than in the camp and I know I would.

You should see our mess truck.  It’s arranged so the cook can cook right in the truck even in convoy.  The cabinets and cupboards are built into the side.  The three gasoline ranges have fit right across the front end.  We’ve raised the top so that a man is able to stand up without bumping his head.  Everything is very compact but we have no trouble feeding two hundred men.  One of the cooks told me at noon that he would rather cook in the truck than in the kitchens back in camp.

Received a letter from you yesterday which had taken about fifteen days to come across.  There was one last week which had been written since the one which I received yesterday.

I can think of nothing else for now so goodbye and love to all of you.

Ernest Jr.

At Sea

1864th Engineer Aviation Battalion

July 3, 1945

Dear Mamma,

It’s almost too hot to sleep tonight. If it were allowed I’d take a blanket out on deck and sleep there but since the ship has to be kept blacked out we have to stay below deck after dark.

I’m writing this in the ward room where it’s not much cooler but with the fans going it’s better than the top bunk in our compartment. 

We have picked up and dropped off mail once since we left the States. This will have to wait until we reach our final destination; which is still over a week away. I’ve never realized how much water there is on this side of the world. 

There has been little to do on board ship but eat and sleep for the past two weeks. Even though that gets tiresome it’s going to be hard to get back to work again. 

The first day or two out we had a bunch of sick Negroes. They are over it now and will be as glad as I will to get their feet on land again. 

Barbara had a lovely wedding I know. Wish I could have been there. Send me her address when you write again. 

Has anyone heard from Howard and James Clark lately? They should be getting home before long. Had a letter form an officer in the 850th not long ago and they were stationed near Nuremberg and had been assigned to the Occupational Air Force. So he didn’t think they would get home before next year anyway. 

Love to all,

Ernest Jr.

The Light of the World: A Sacristy Conversation

The Light of the World: A Conversation with Clark Massey

           After noon Mass on Thursday Clark Massey of Simple House asked me, “Do you have any old candles?”  “Do we have candles!  Take a look at these” I replied and pulled open a drawer in the sacristy.  Clark started loading up with the stubs of altar candles and I asked him “What do you need them for?”  “For the homeless,” he replied.  “They use them for heat.”  “That’s right,” the man who was with him added.  “With a candle and a blanket I have woken up in the morning nice and warm with snow all around.  And I can heat up a can of soup, too!” I was amazed, realizing how little I know about how some of us live, and trying to imagine myself being thankful for the heat of a candle.  “Tell everybody they are blessed,” I said.

Hiking on my Ordination Anniversary

A Hiking Story

            Wednesday November 23 – the ninth anniversary of my ordination - was the third day of my hike.  The first day was foggy, the second day was rainy.  For two days I had passed colorfully named scenic view after scenic view, but could only see through the fog and rain for 100 yards or so. The third day – well.  All days start about the same.  It takes about an hour to get some breakfast – even if it is just some granola bars and hot chocolate – and get everything packed back up and ready to go.  It was nice starting downhill – but downhill means you-know-what, and on Wednesday it meant going down low enough to meet the highway and a park entrance.  Going back uphill was a two-hour trek up the east side of the Shenandoahs to the top of Mary’s Rock.  It seemed like a worthy goal for an ordination anniversary.  The rain was dripping off the trees and it seemed like it was going to rain again – which mean putting on my rain gear, and then taking it off when it didn’t really rain.  Rain gear does a good job of keeping the rain out, but it can also make it steamy “inside” especially when burning all that energy to climb as well as walk.  Climbing means fighting gravity as well as inertia.  I do better against inertia than gravity.

            Getting to the top was elusive.  It seemed like it must be just around the next bend or just behind the next rock.  I was almost relieved to get there several times before the rock in front of me was the last one.  Stepping around the rock from the east side to the west side, the wind and the view hit me at the same time.  It seemed like the wind was blowing at 40 – 50 miles an hour as it hit the side of the mountain and then was forced up and over the top, and I was at the top.  I could hardly stand up, and the cold wind that was beating against me was chilling me so fast that it scared me a little.  But the sun and the view out over the Shenandoah Valley was amazing.  Little farms with barns and silos covered the valley floor, with little clusters of houses in villages and bigger clusters in towns.

            Wednesday was a long day, hiking right along the crest of the ridge.  Every time the path ducked down on the east side of the ridge there was some relief from the wind.  Every time it passed along the very top or down the west side, the views were great, but wind!  I had to cover a lot of miles that day to get to the next shelter.  By 2:30 in the afternoon I was passing by Skyland Lodge – the place where Valerie, Margaret and her mother and I would share a late Thanksgiving on Friday.  After hiking for ten miles, I still had four miles to go and sunset comes at five o’clock.  In good terrain I can make two miles an hour.  I was tired, but told myself, “You can do this” as I passed the stables where the horses were already out in the pasture.

            The light was getting dim when I started smelling the smoke from someone’s wood fire.  That meant the shelter was pretty close.  As I turned off the side trail down to the shelter the sun had already set.  The view out over the Shenandoah Valley revealed the sparkling lights from a small town.  The shelter was empty, and even though there was a pile of wood that some previous hiker had gathered, the wind was too strong to make a fire.  The temperature was down close to freezing and the wind made it feel even colder, but I had enough layers to stay warm and get set-up for boiling some water for dinner with my alcohol stove.  There must have been a clear line-of-sight to a cell-tower down below because I got a good signal on my cell phone and called Valerie.

            A hundred yards further down the path, there was a small cabin – one of several that the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club make available.  Soon, a father and son came up the trail to check me out and invite me down to warm up by their fire.  It was a nice ending to a long day.  A family with three sons had rented the cabin for the Thanksgiving holidays and were roasting a chicken over the fire.  They had spent the day gathering firewood and now were enjoying the results of their adventures.  The well-chinked logs kept the wind and cold out.  The gas lantern made it bright and cheerful, pushing bedtime back later than it would normally be for me who would usually eat, clean up, and crawl into a warm sleeping bag no matter how early it might be.  It was nice to be able to peel off my layers and get warmed up and spend a little time with some people who just chanced to meet out in the woods.  But soon, even though it was only 8:00, my tired body told me it would need the next ten or eleven hours to recover for the next day’s hike.

Married Catholic Priests?

For some reason reporters like to ask married Catholic priests whether the Catholic Church should change the rules and to allow the ordination of more married Catholic men.  When I ask reporters why they don’t ask celibate Catholic priests what they think about it, they look at me funny, like it never occurred to them.

Maria Antonia asked me what I think about opening the Catholic priesthood to married men several different ways in an interview for Channel 9 News November 27.  She is a very good news reporter and interviewer, and I think she really wanted to know.  She asked the question a number of different ways, and I answered it a number of different ways.  The snippet that was chosen for broadcast is something I really said and really believe.  I do believe that the idea opening the priesthood to married men deserves deep thought.  But they didn’t broadcast my answer to the next question: If I could make the decision for the Catholic Church today, would I open the priesthood to married men?  No. 

As a married Catholic man I am very grateful that the Catholic Church deemed that it was appropriate to ordain me as a Catholic priest, but I would still be Catholic even if I were not ordained.  There are about a hundred or more former Episcopal priests as well as former Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian and other protestant ministers who have been ordained as Catholic priests and many of them are married.  In addition we have some Catholic priests who are widowers and have children and grandchildren; we have many Eastern Rite Catholic priests with wives and children, and we have many, many ordained deacons with wives and children.  So we are getting a lot of experience with married Catholic clergy.  We have gifts to offer, and limitations, too. 

When married and celibate priests gather, the question of changing the rules of celibacy hardly ever comes up.  A celibate priesthood has been a great gift to the church for 1500 years, and every time the church has gone through a period of spiritual renewal, the gift of celibacy has been renewed and the church has been reinvigorated.  We certainly do not want to introduce a change to this great gift, which the pope, most bishops and most current priests support and find life giving, unless we have done some deep conversation, study and prayer.

Does being married and having children make me a better priest?  I don’t know how to measure that.  It makes me different, but I cannot say that it makes me better.  I have never been a priest without being married and having children.  It is part of who I am, and I have no way of telling how I would be different if I were celibate.  There are many times when coming home to Valerie and the kids gives me a sense of balance in my life, especially when going through difficult times at church.  But it also works the other way.  I am sure there are times when I was not as available to Valerie and the kids as I could have been if I church needs and pressures had not intruded.  I find that if I have more than two or three evening meetings a week, family life really suffers.  Fr. Steve Cook, Pastor at St. Peter’s, told me that he spends six or seven nights a week with parishioners in their homes or at meetings at church.  There is simply no way I could match that.  His parish is blessed to have a celibate priest.  Does that mean that my parish suffers because St. Therese has a married one?  I don’t know.  It is possible.  Right now I’m the only priest they’ve got, and there’s no way to test whether I would be a better pastor for them if I were celibate.

Episcopalian Bishop Robert Folwell gave me some advice that I have tried to live by, even as a Catholic priest.  He said, “Put God first, your wife second, your children third, and the church after that.”  What would it mean if most Catholic priests were unavailable to their flocks because they need to have family time?  Catholic priests are “married” to the church in a way.  Some Catholic priests call their breviary their “wife.”  Their lives are very different from the one I have lived. It may be essential that Catholic priests be able to put the needs of his flock next after God.  It deserves much thought.

Would married Catholics find it easier to relate to a married priest when discussing their own family issues?  People have occasionally told me that.  But no priest, single or married, can ever say, “I know how you feel” or “I know what you are going through” even if we have experienced something similar. None of us knows what it is like for the other person until they tell us.  We do our best to meet people in their need and to be as helpful as we can, perhaps a little from our own family experience, but mostly from what we learn from the person herself or himself and from what we have learned from helping others, always dependent upon God’s help.  It is easy to forget that all priests have families: parents and siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews.  We are probably just as likely to have experience with divorce, to have relatives who are single and married, straight and gay.  Whatever our family status we try to assist the person in the way that is appropriate for them.

Would having more married priests help the Catholic Church, especially through the troubles the church is facing now?  No.  There is no evidence that a person’s marital status makes a person more or less likely to abuse a child.  The Catholic Church is one of the safest places a child can be, and even safer with the new safeguards instituted by Bishop Finn recently.  All priests, employees and volunteers that work with children are background checked, trained and re-trained.  The safety of children is of first importance.  If child abuse is suspected, we call the police first and then our ombudsman will investigate.  Other institutions – public schools, sports leagues, scouts – all have problems and work hard to be safer.  But the Catholic Church is held to a higher standard because we hold ourselves and call others to a higher standard.  When we fail or appear to fail it is doubly troubling and very public.

People who say we should have more married priests are trying to be helpful.  When there is a tragedy, people often say things with the best of intentions.  Perhaps they say things they have heard other people say, without really thinking deeply about it.  Those who have experienced a tragic loss can easily remember the things that were said by people who were trying to be kind.  Saying that God doesn’t give us more than we can bear or that God needed another angel may contain some truth, but it is not helpful to the person experiencing the tragedy.  Saying that married priests would help the Catholic Church is similar.  It is meant to be helpful.  There may be some truth in it.  But it is unrelated to the current circumstances.

Should the Roman Catholic Church start ordaining more married men?  I think we should ask our celibate priests what they think about it.  How does this gift of celibacy make them better priests?  We should also ask the Catholic faithful if they have to share a priest with his wife and children, and that their priest is no longer “married” to his flock.  It is an idea that deserves much study and deep thought.  The Catholic Church does not make decisions like this quickly, without deep thought, study and conversation.  Perhaps the best we can say is that our current married Catholic clergy who are deacons, former Episcopalian and protestant clergy, and Eastern Rite priests could help with that study, deep thought and conversation. 

Chamber of Commerce Urban Core Initiative

I am thrilled by the announcement that the Chamber of Commerce will engage in an urban core neighborhood initiative, with leadership by Terry Dunn of JE Dunn Construction and Brent Stewart of the United Way.  I'm not sure what they have in mind, but I'm eager to learn more.  I'm sure lots of neighborhoods will be lining up to work with them. Or maybe not.  Business people can get tired of endless meetings that only seem to lead to further meetings.  Jesus could speak admiringly about the ability of business people to get things done.  Read Luke, Chapter 16:1-8.  We've got lots of resources to work with.  Just think about the 63rd Street and Meyer Blvd. corridor.  It is almost wall-to-wall schools from Wornall to 71 Highway:  Southwest, Border Star, St. Peter's, University Academy, Banneker Charter, Hogan Prep High and Middle, the new Kauffman Charter, Nazarene Seminary, Brookside Charter.  And there are commercial anchors - or potential ones - from one end to another: Brookside Shopping Center, The Landing, The Citadel, Research Medical Center.  UMKC and Rockhurst are just a few blocks away.  I would think that Highwoods would be eager to redevelop the areas east of Brookside to protect their investment. Just think what we could make of this - all of those kids coming into this corridor every day, all of those teachers and administrators, doctors, nurses and patients.  With the right know-how, and economic and political ability, we could make a huge difference in the lives of the students.  Could we break through the school against school competition and work together for the kids, mornings and evenings, weekends and summers?  With all these kids already here, why would they need to flock to the Plaza if there were something constructive to keep them here?  Could the Chamber get done with others haven't been able to do?  To turn The Landing into a transportation hub and destination for residents from both sides of Troost?  Get the Citadel going with a decent supermarket?  It would be difficult, surely.  But not as difficult as raising the dead.

Another shooting today

Another shooting today.  This time people in two cars were shooting at each.  Kids from the school were outside for PE.  None of the kids was hurt, but one from the car was wounded.   But this is the fourth shooting close to St. Therese in four years, the second this summer.  Neighbors are abandoning the neighborhood, almost 30% between 1980 -1990, more than 20% between 1990 - 2000, less than 20% between 2000 - 2010.  Is it getting better or does it just mean those who have the ability have already gone?  Families with kids are leaving fast.  Older folks are the ones left.  They're committed because they own their homes.  Today I felt like telling everybody to get out.  Maybe we all ought to move to Leawood or Blue Springs.  Chester set me straight - we can't give up hope.  Sometimes the pastor needs pastoring.  I'm glad Mayor Sly James has reconstituted a commission to reduce violent crimes. God bless them but I'm not going to hold my breath.  If this was happening  on the Plaza it would get fixed fast.  Where people have economic power, City Council acts like greased lightning.  When people are poor or live in red-lined communities - official or not - their school kids have to brave the bullets from assault rifles firing from cars  driving by the playground.  I'm not saying there are fast and easy fixes.  Again, nobody will talk.  The rogue who got shot won't say who shot him.  What does any of this have to do with having a "well regulated militia"?  I say, let people have assault weapons, or even a tanks, but where's the well regulated part in what's happening on our streets?  If these guys want to play with guns, let them join the national guard.  http://www.kmbc.com/video/29157274/detail.html

Another Murder Outside St. Therese

B. J. buzzed me on Wednesday afternoon and said, “There’s been a shooting up on the corner.” From my office I can hear shots from the north, south and west, but the church blocks the sound from the east, so I hadn’t heard the shots. She pointed out the front of the rectory toward the corner of 58^th and Euclid, cattycorner from the church. “Get the holy water and meet me there,” I told her, and took off running. The sirens were coming from every direction. I don’t know how she did it, but it seemed like B.J. got here just moments after I did. The police were jumping out of their cars and running in our direction. Before they were able to stop me I was able to pray, “Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world, in the name of the Father who created you, in the name of the Son who redeemed you, and in the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctified you. And may your resting place today be with the saints in paradise.” At least that’s what I was trying to say, but with the sobs and the anger at another stupid killing, I know I didn’t get it all said before the police were yelling to get back from the car and rolling out their crime scene tape. At least I was able to do the minimum that priests do, before the tragic end of another sacred life became a crime scene, not a church and not a deathbed.

Then there were choices to be made. What do you do when there’s been a shooting at your church? This certainly wasn’t part of my seminary training. Certainly there was the work of being pastor, checking in with church staff. The neighbors started coming outside to look up the street and wonder what was going on, so I walked down Euclid to speak with them. Sr. Ann Landers was out with the neighbors, too. The crime scene was so large that I couldn’t walk up Euclid to see the neighbors outside on the north side of 58^th Street, or those who were east on 58^th Street.

What else should we do? Do we lay low and hope that no one notices? Having a murder practically on the church steps is not the kind of publicity a church needs. Too many people are needlessly afraid of taking a step east of Troost already. But the maddening thing is that this was the third killing since I’ve been here – just a little over four years. About three years ago a man was shot late one Saturday night as he walked east on 59^th Street, and was able to stumble over beside the school in front of the convent before he died. We kept that one quiet, not wanting to upset people at Mass the next day. Then last fall, during the afternoon just after school had let out, two young men exchanged shots on Michigan Avenue, just a few houses south of the school. One of them died in a pool of blood. Happening just before the evening news, there was no way to keep that one quiet.

Our decision to speak up this time was not made by one person, and it was not pre-planned. It came partly out of the grief and anger at this murder, the 63^rd killing in Kansas City so far this year. Do we speak out, and if we speak out, what do we say? B. J. was there, and Estelle Tunley. Eva Schulte and Jerry Jones were upstairs with their CCO team. They were ready to drop everything and help plan the response. Does this call for a political action or spiritual action? In our conversations, inside, outside, on the fly, we realized that 63 murders would not be tolerated in Leawood; there would be a community response from every corner of society that would determine the cause, respond to it, and put an end to it. Why do we tolerate such an outrage in Kansas City?

We decided that even though a political response is necessary, we needed to pray and to mourn for the tragic loss of this sacred life, of this man whose name we didn’t even know. We decided on a prayer vigil for the next evening at 6:30. Eva knew we needed to reach out immediately to a wider circle of our neighbors, so they quickly printed flyers and began to visit the homes on the blocks around the church. Notifying church members and neighborhood residents was not easy, and I apologize to everyone who would have responded if you had heard. I am also grateful to everyone who responded and came to pray and honor the victims.

Reducing the violence will also take political power. Pastor Emeritus Wallace Hartsfield, Sr. said that people groan, then they moan, then they speak, and then they shout. We need to remember our grief and anger to motivate us to work together with hope and faith. It seems to me that we need to ask our political leaders two questions: “What can be done to reduce the violence. Why aren’t we doing it.”

If you would like an opportunity to find out how to ask those questions and others in ways that can help bring about the change we need, please join us at St. Therese on Saturday, August 13, at 10:00 a.m. in the Church Hall.

Church community reacts to neighborhood shooting - NBCActionNews.com

Church community reacts to neighborhood shooting - NBCActionNews.com

Church group cries for help after a man is found dead near the church’s doorsteps -NBCActionNews.com-Kansas City

Church group cries for help after a man is found dead near the church’s doorsteps -NBCActionNews.com-Kansas City

"Becoming One"

I would have been happy if forty people turned out for our Becoming One conference on the Ordinariate. As of today, 63 people have registered! We represent Anglican, Episcopalian and Catholic affiliations. About half of us are clergy and members of clergy families. Clergy include several deacons, a number of priests, an archbishop, Anglican Bishop David Moyer and our diocesan bishop, His Excellency, the Most Rev. Robert Finn. Clergy will be here from two Anglican Use Catholic parishes - Our Lady of Walsingham Catholic Church in Houston, and Our Lady of the Atonement in San Antonio. In addition to those from the Kansas City area, people are coming from Nebraska, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

As a sign of the unity for which we are striving, Bishop Finn and I invite all clergy to wear cassock and surplice or appropriate choir dress, take part in the procession, and sit together in the church. Sadly, because of our unhappy (but temporary!) divisions, we cannot invite all to concelebrate and receive communion (yet!) at a Catholic mass. However, we both want this to be an experience of the high level of unity we have already achieved, and a foretaste of that unity we will all share in the near future.

On Saturday morning at 11:00 we will celebrate a Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit in the presence of His Excellency, Bishop Robert Finn. We will sing Healy Willan’s Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena. Fr. Christopher Phillips will be preaching.

Last week I attended Dr. Bruce Prince-Joseph’s rehearsal for Evensong and Benediction (scheduled for Friday, February 25 at 6:00 p.m. here at St. Therese). It was stunning. The acoustics at St. Therese are superb. He has a small men’s schola, Catholics and Episcopalians, who will provide the musical backbone for the service. We will be singing “Anglican Use” Evensong from the Catholic Book of Divine Worship, The Hymnal 1980, and the Liber Usualis. Dr. Prince-Joseph will be challenging us to sing antiphonally between the congregation and schola. We have not sung Evensong together before. I urge you to be ready to jump in with both feet ad majoram dei gloriam!

For those of you in the Kansas City area, there will be two rehearsal opportunities if your Evensong and Gregorian Chant are rusty and you don’t want to sight-read: the next two Wednesday evenings, 2/16 and 2/23 at 6:30 p.m. in the church here at St. Therese.

Thank your to Fr. Robert Scheiblhofer of St. Barnabas Anglican Church in Omaha for agreeing to lead Compline on Friday evening, and to Fr. Robert Hall of St. George’s Anglican Church in Bentonville Arkansas for agreeing to lead Morning Prayer on Friday morning.

Registrations for the full conference and meals are still being received at www.diocese-kcsj.org. Look for Events under Quicklinks. Everyone is welcome to the conference liturgies: Evensong and Benediction on Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Mass on Saturday at 11:00 a.m.