As someone who has worked in the Catholic Church for over 25 years it is no surprise that priests are a big part of my life. Some of my best friends are priests. So when comments and posts started appearing on social media that priests’ lives mattered less than the sacraments during the initial months of the pandemic – I took great offense. My offense was much more than personal though.

Eucharist

            Yes that word deserves one line and centering because Eucharist is who we are as Catholics. We become who and what we receive. The inability to receive Eucharist when Churches was closed was crushing for Catholics. Eucharist is our spiritual food for the journey, and we were unable to receive.

            Eucharist is also about the body of Christ and respecting every member of the body of Christ. Catholic Social Teaching calls it Respect for Life and Dignity of the Human Person. It is rooted in “Love your neighbor as yourself.” We respect all life from womb to tomb – there are no exceptions. Yet I was seeing on social media that priests were suddenly an exception. There was a post that indicated that for a priest to die while/from giving sacraments was beautiful because he was dying from what he is called to do . . .

I cannot wrap my Catholic brain and heart around that concept. I realize in our history that there are priests who ministered during plagues. There are many saints who did the same. Each of those was a personal choice made with prayer and discernment. In fairness to today’s ministers it must be noted that they did not have the scientific information we do today. To make universal statements that all priests should minister anyway is completely unfair, and does not take into account the priests’ personal health situation. Many of our Catholic priests are in the vulnerable population for this pandemic. Universal comments do not take that into account.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The ultimate measure of a person is not where one stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where one stands at times of challenge and controversy.” (inclusive language changes made by me) If our respect for life is second to sacraments, well I think we have some thinking to do as the people of God. Before one makes the argument that our faith will protect all of us, I think it is extremely important to note that our moral theology is about making informed decisions with our well-formed conscience. Universal statements that are not based on our values or teachings do not reflect our moral theology.

            My concern is that some of our faithful believed that sacraments were more important than human life. I have a wise friend that notes Jesus taught the adults and played with the children. Our Church catechizes children and not adults. Perhaps that is another one of our failures.

We are living in a unique moment in history right now – the coronavirus pandemic. What does ministry look like during this time? I live in a diocese that complicates that answer even more. On February 28, 2020 my diocese filed Chapter 11, the legal term for bankruptcy. So when the pandemic began and our state made all nonessential workers telework ministry began to take its hits.

Parish ministry leaders who were paid hourly were laid off. Theoretically that was to help them since they would not be working as many hours. Yet in those cases no one ever stopped to ask the question – How will be minister to people at this time? Thankfully many pastors/parish administrators asked the key question. Sadly not everyone did. When the diocese advised parishes to lay people off, many followed that advice.

What followed next was the end of diocesan ministry positions. Many of these cuts were planned due to the bankruptcy, but they were accelerated by the pandemic. Without public Masses there are no parish collections. So there is no money to pay assessments to the diocese. What little financial resources remained for our diocese post scandal and leadership crisis were now decreased more. So those terminations happened in early April.

“No one can serve two masters. He will either hate one and love the other, or be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Matthew 6: 24

When a crisis hits necessity determines priorities. The toilet paper shortage as this began is evidence of that. Panic buying was real. My diocese was in crisis before the pandemic. By cutting diocesan ministry positions the parishes that followed the diocese’s advice in laying off their ministry leaders now also lost the help they may have received from diocesan ministries.

For my diocese the corruption began long before I was born. The other masters that leaders chose to serve hurt countless people. Sadly that hurt continues to happen. God sent his Son to show us the way. Three years of public ministry with no buildings and little resources continue to bear fruit today. Jesus’ “master” was proclaiming the kingdom of God. Our priorities direct our actions. Even during a crisis our core priority should remain. Challenging times reflect who we truly are and what we value.

My prayer continues to be that we become the Church Jesus intended us to be. People are philosophizing that this pandemic will challenge us to create a new normal with different priorities. I hope and pray this happens in my diocese.

Over the years female teenagers have asked me why and how I can work in a male dominated institution, the Roman Catholic Church. If I were in another Christian religion, I could be ordained and be the Pastor of a congregation. Personally I cannot do that. I am a Catholic because of Eucharist. I love the Eucharist and the challenge to be Christ in the world whenever I receive Eucharist at Mass. I love that Eucharist connects me to everyone in the body of Christ past, present and future. For me I have to be Catholic because I love Eucharist.

 Yet I am a woman in a male dominated institution. I am fortunate to work in the same diocese for over 25 years. I also worked in a diocesan office which afforded me the opportunity to work with many priests in our diocese. That has helped me to establish a reputation and respect. I love my church more now than I did when I took my first paid parish position in 1991.

I set up this website after completing my Master’s in Theology because I think a female lay ecclesial minister has a unique perspective of the Catholic Church. I know that I am called to work with God’s people. My call is not the result of a shortage of priestly vocations. I would have this call regardless of the number of priests in the church – it is my vocation. As a minister I believe it is my duty to be trained, educated and to stay up to date with both theology and my field of ministry. I work in youth ministry and adolescent catechesis – in some ways those are synonyms and in other ways they are not. That would be a whole other topic.

In a male dominated institution it is important that I am educated, trained, etc. Without that I would not be taken seriously in any profession. Speaking of profession I must behave like a professional. First and foremost I do this for the people I serve and the integrity of my ministry. Walking around with a chip on my shoulder because I cannot be ordained would not serve me well. Anger and animosity do not work well with ministry and in the end only hurt the person who holds those emotions for so long. I believe I do the most good by working within my institution. Others would disagree with that and everyone is allowed to have their own opinion.

Second it is important that I respect the priesthood. I am not talking about clericalism (again a whole other topic.) Their role and ministry is unique. They are a brotherhood and they give their lives in a very different way than I do to the Church. I see them all as human beings which is also critically important. Just as I would not expect them to understand the challenge of meeting the needs of my children and ministry, I cannot understand their many challenges. How does one go from celebrating a school Mass with a bunch of kindergarteners through eighth graders to a funeral for someone’s spouse, a teenager or a baby? The emotional roller coaster of their days on a regular basis is a unique experience.

Finally I know that it is imperative that I know when and how to speak. I choose my battles or my issues so to speak. If I speak from a position of knowledge, then I am respected. I think that is true in any situation. To speak or act without doing one’s homework is not as effective. Stephen Covey’s circles of influence and concern are very good to keep in mind. Gandhi’s, “be the change you wish to see in the world” is also an excellent guide. Being Christ in the world (another challenge of Eucharist!) and in my church. That is my calling and it is what I hope I do as a female lay ecclesial minister.  

When I went to the National Youth Ministry Summit this summer one of my favorite papers was on the pendulum swings in youth ministry by Charlotte McCorquodale. I think the concept can be applied to many things including the expression of our Catholicism. It may be the result of the complexity of the Paschal Mystery. Our Catholic Mass is both the memorial of Jesus’ sacrifice and the celebration of God’s love. Those can be two different extremes.

Regardless of one’s personal taste I think we, youth ministry leaders, have a duty to share the full breadth of Catholicism with young people. Otherwise we are doing them a disservice, especially when it comes to our worship. That’s the beauty of Catholicism ~ we have something for everyone.

We are living in a particularly challenging time in our church – the sexual abuse scandal. The trust in hierarchical leadership is understandably damaged. At a time like this there is a tendency to revert to the past or to past practices ~ a pendulum swing. There is a sense of comfort in that. However we must be careful with this tendency. Comfort does not make something right.

Young people are disaffiliating from the church, and the median age is 13. We cannot neglect this fact. The recent Pew Research shows less people joining organized religion than ever before. The numbers are slapping us in the face. This is not the time for pendulum swinging and we cannot rest on our laurels (given the scandal our laurels are diminishing daily.) This IS the time to offer ALL people the full breadth of Catholicism and not our personal favorite version of it.

Peace,

Denise

Welcome to my blog aka Barbie treks through the Catholic Church in the Diocese of Buffalo! I have worked professionally in the Catholic Church for over 25 years on both parish and diocesan levels. Given that I think I have a unique perspective to share as a female leader. In 2017 I completed my Masters in Theology, so I have a little more time on my hands to share my perspectives as a woman in the Catholic Church.

I hope and pray that my thoughts and observations are guided by the Holy Spirit.

May the Spirit be with you!

Peace,

Denise