When the fruit is ripe
“When the fruit is ripe, it falls.” Ralph Waldo Emerson For more than five years I have devoted energy and time to serving Mary Magdalene, First Apostle, a Catholic womanpriest community—writing for it, writing about it, talking about it, promoting it. It has been fulfilling and satisfying. I think women priests are the most effective challenge to the Vatican as it continues its unjust treatment of women. I will continue to promote MMFA and Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP). They have enriched my life and I expect this to continue. MMFA has been a way for me to find out about myself. It has been a good chapter in my life, one that helped to shape me into the person I am. But when the fruit is ripe, it falls. T he time became right for me to leave the community as an active member. While the decision was forming in me, I expected sadness to cloud my days afterward. Instead, relief and excitement bubbled up even before I left the meeting that clinched it. In the...