God Is Not 3 Guys

Our womanpriest community, Mary Magdalen, First Apostle, yesterday welcomed Bishop Patricia Fresen from Germany, originally a Dominican nun in South Africa, now an ordained priest and bishop in our movement. We celebrated Mass, presided over by our pastor Mary Smith, who, as usual, delivered a homily that compares with the best researched homilies I have heard from theologians who teach in a school of theology. After our liturgy and a snack, we listened to Fresen describe her dream of an inclusive non-hierarchical church without top-down power. There would be no popes and cardinals dictating commands and inciting fear by excommunicating those whose conscience directs them to disobey. Power would reside in the people, all the people. Leadership positions would circulate to prevent corruption and abuse. In the discussion afterward, we heard about hopeful developments in our movement, but one young, idealistic theology student was troubled by our criticism of the present structure. Ar...

Stories about what “the church” does, thinks, teaches usually refer to the hierarchy, but we all need to be reminded that Vatican II defined church as the whole community of people—we are the church. Catholic bishops who disapprove of contraception—including Benedict XVI—are out of step with the morality of the church as defined by Vatican II. Without question, the Catholic Church as a whole accepts contraception as a blessing, not a sin, because it prevents a variety of health problems for women and enormous financial stress for the poor. When the Health and Human Services Department of the Obama administration ruled that religious organizations must offer contraceptives in the insurance packages of their employees, I rejoiced. Then the outcry from Catholics, even those who use birth control (Why??), followed by what I thought was brilliant—the administration saying that insurance companies will bear the cost (in the long run, no cost, because contraceptives save money). The bish...

On public radio I called myself a Catholic atheist, or did I say I’m an atheist Catholic? I can’t remember. In any case, people ask me, “How does that work?” Culturally I am Catholic. Every school I graduated from—grade school to grad school—was Catholic. From the beginning of my life to the present, Catholicism informs me, shapes me, inspires me, piques my interest, and suffuses the air I breathe. I am an a-theist or a non-theist because I do not have belief in a god or gods, which is theism. If you’re a religious person, you may protest, I don’t believe in idols; I believe in God! But I think you believe in a being outside of yourself, external and superior to nature. I don’t. I believe in a Source not superior to nature, but in nature, enlivening nature—“God” in all and all in “God.” I imagine you protesting, That’s what we believe in! If you agree with me that “God” is not outside of us but within us (the Catholic hierarchy doesn’t like this), I may accept that you don’t be...

Father's Word Waning, August 2, 2013 Host of the Internet radio show, Voices of the Sacred Feminine, Karen Tate indignantly addresses those safely insulated in that cocoon of media-sanctioned callousness. Don’t learn how your religion has devalued women and decimated cultures. Don’t explore how history has been re-written. Those things don’t touch you. You’re comfortable. Why should you care? That suffering is the plight of The Other, those people not like you. The ones that don’t really count, at the margins of society. Their suffering is their punishment for not being like you and playing by your rules and worshiping your God, or more accurately your version of religious dogma written by men. . . . Will you care when it’s your daughter’s life in danger but she cannot have an abortion because white Christian men have obliterated the separation between church and state with their ideology? Next time you go shopping do you know, or care, that the cashier standing there...

In the name of the Mother and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In the name of the Father, and of the Daughter, and of the Holy Spirit. In the name of Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva. [creator, preserver, dissolver/restorer] In the name of Isis, Osiris, and Horus. In the name of Buddha, Dharma, and Sangha. In the name of Juno, Artemis, and Hecate. Religions are full of trinities. Our speech is full of trinities. Ever notice it? I do because I’m a writer and notice the tendency to group in threes. Reading, writing, and ‘rithmetic. “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Christ has died; Christ is risen; Christ will come again. Ours is a three-dimensional universe with height, width, and depth in space; past, present and future in time; and three states of matter—solid, liquid, and gas. Scientists now think there are universes with different sets of dimensions that we can’t fathom because our minds are shaped and limited by certain constraints of our minds (thus Immanuel Kant ). Because th...

JannAldredge-Clanton has published books of inclusive hymns for use in Christian worship. I invited her to write a guest blogpost.    Jeanette The words we sing and speak in worship matter. Words carry great power to contribute either to the Good News of peace and justice or to support unjust systems.  In worship, words carry power because of the sacred value given to them; their power shapes belief and action.  Combined with music, words become embedded in the memory of singers.  I can recite from memory all stanzas of most songs in the hymnal used in the church where I grew up, but I have little recall of the sermons.  Christians should care about the names and images we use for Deity because our sacred symbols reflect and shape our deepest values.  When our names for divinity are exclusively male, we give greatest worth to men. If we truly believe that women are equal, then we must include female names and images of Deity in our worship.  Bu...

May 9, 2014 Cardinal Gerhard Müller: Since Barbara Marx Hubbard addressed the Assembly on this topic two years ago, every issue of your newsletter has discussed Conscious Evolution in some way. . . . futuristic ideas advanced by the proponents of Conscious Evolution are not actually new. The Gnostic tradition is filled with similar affirmations . . . Müller questioned if their programs were promoting heresy . LCWR states in reply: We do not recognize ourselves in the doctrinal assessment of the conference . . .  We experienced . . . genuine interaction and mutual respect. . . . LCWR was saddened to learn that impressions of the organization in the past decades have become institutionalized in the Vatican . . . LCWR builds on Pope John Paul II.   Long fascinated by science, he had the Vatican begin a process that would eventually lead to a statement in 1992 admitting church officials had erred in condemning Galileo. . . . …. The Leadership Conference of ...