How it all began...

I wanted to begin the blog so I can write when I need to.
I will include my application for the program Roman Catholic Women Priest

Application for the
RCWP Preparation for Ordination
Submitted April 1, 2009


Question 1 Autobiographical details.
1.1 Facts:

I was born January 3, 1943 in Detroit MI. Both of my parents were first generation born in America children of Polish immigrants. I am the third child of a family of seven; I have three brothers and three sisters ages 52 to 72. One of my brothers, Joseph is deceased (1991). Both of my parents are deceased my father in 1987 and my mother in 1998.

I grew up in rural Michigan about an hour away from Detroit. I spent the first half of my life living in various suburbs around Detroit attending undergraduate school in Detroit and a Masters from Michigan State at East Lansing, MI. After my marriage in 1976 to Dow we moved to Blacksburg VA and lived there for 17 years. In 1996 we moved to Chicago where I have lived for the last 13 years. I plan to move to Lexington KY on May 1 of this year.

I am a “cradle Catholic” and experience myself as one of the Vatican II generation coming of age when the Council was called by Blessed Pope John XXIII.

I have two grown children Rose Lisa age 42 married to Charles Ryan parents of three children. My marriage to Lisa’s father was annulled on April 3, 1974 by the Tribunal of the Diocese of Lansing Michigan. Jason Scott age 32 is engaged to Jodi Bower and is to be married October 31, 2009. I am divorced from Dow Scott, the father of Jason as of September 8, 2008.

After moving to Blacksburg in 1979 I became a MBTI management consultant and practiced as part of Dow’s consulting practice. I was active in the founding of a hospice for the New River Valley covering 5 rural counties and was the volunteer coordinator for 10 years working with about 100 families and patients during that time. Moving to Chicago I entered the CPE program to become a hospice chaplain after completing a second Masters in Theology from Loyola University in New Orleans. I have ministered as a hospice chaplain for the last 7 years after completing the CPE program in 2002. I work 3 days a week with a case load of 20 patients. I plan to retire before I move to Lexington KY and to focus my energy on studies to be a RCWP and to work for Justice (especially for women in the RCC) and Peace.

1.2 Personal Journey toward priesthood.
I remember “being priest” with my brothers using the St. Andrew missal as our sacramentary and a towel as the chasuble. At the time I was probably 10 years old in the early 1950’s. They were older, my brother Joe an altar boy, but I do not remember them dissuading me. This is my earliest memory of being called to the priesthood.

In the 1960’s Vatican II began and the Roman Catholic Church was alive with the Spirit of change. Vatican II was God’s calling to the People of God challenging every member to bring Christ to the world through works of justice and peace making. As the changes were introduced I immediately took on the roles of Eucharistic Minister and Lector in each parish where I worshiped. I was active on the parish councils in Michigan and later Virginia. I knew I was called to help build my faith community.

After moving to Virginia I chose to participate in the Ministries Formation Program (MFP) a three year program of study. Under the auspices of Bishop Walter Sullivan who is very supportive of women, the program followed the structure of the preparation for the deaconate but permitted women to be “commissioned as leaders” in their faith communities. I then took up the position of Minister for Justice and Peace at St. Mary’s in Blacksburg VA. I was also active with the Neuman RC ministry on VT’s campus and ministered as part of their RCIA program for a number of years.

Throughout the 80’s I also worked to create the New River Valley Hospice with other dedicated volunteers making presentations to churches and community organizations. We created a network to sustain this work of compassion and I discovered I was drawn to this ministry. After its creation I oversaw the provision of hospice services, except medical care, to our patients and families. At the same time I joined WOC the only woman from the New River Valley to be on its membership list.

In the early 90’s I attended a healing workshop in No VA at an Indian Spirituality Center. In the closing ceremony I was to choose a stone and reflect on its meaning for me. I chose a green stone that sits on my desk today. As I chose the stone from a large bowl, the words were given me, “I accept my femaleness and my maleness. I am the servant of the servants of the Lord.” I pondered these words after the weekend closed. Who is called to be servant of the community? I wrestled with understanding and its meaning for me. In prayer I asked the Sacred Heart (my icon of our Loving Godde from my Polish Catholicism), “Was I called to be a priest? How could this be? Rome will never agree.” Jesus replied, “You are a priest, in pectore meum.” Later I returned to prayer and asked the Sacred Heart, “Were my prayers and my understanding of my priesthood acceptable to God?” Given to me was the image of myself on bended knee offering the robes of priestly function to God at the altar.

In the early 90’s Bishop Sullivan introduced the long-distance learning program from Loyola New Orleans leading to a Masters in Theology: Pastoral Studies. For three years we gathered weekly as a learning circle with each theological reflection deepening my understanding of Sophia present to and in the faith community.

From 1991-1995, I facilitated The Word Program, a jointly Episcopal-Catholic Scripture Study. We met weekly and each year one subject was covered. These included The Hebrew Testament, the Christian Testament, Church History and the Theology of the 20th Century. The group process was Theological Reflection on events from the daily lives of the members. This educational and leadership opportunity permitted me to minister with others of the Catholic and Christian faiths.

For worship I attended monthly meetings of Women Church which met in homes. Our small circle came together to share faith as revealed through our ministries, we blessed and broke bread together. After my first time with Women Church, I experienced the validation of “laity gathering to bless and break the bread of our lives.” The next time I attended Sunday Mass I entered into two worlds; the one before me with the priest in his role and simultaneously living the experience of Women Church, a small gathering of women consecrating the bread and wine. I became nauseated and disoriented as both scenes and times were held in my soul. After a few minutes I regained my equilibrium but I will never forget the experience “outside of time and in eternity.” This experience confirmed for me that gathering for Eucharist occurs in many settings and all are equal in God.

During this same time period, Bishop Sullivan was approached by Catholics in Christiansburg VA who wanted to open a parish. I was selected to be the founding Pastoral Coordinator and held the position until I left the New River Valley. This was my introduction to the daily management of a faith community and also deepened my experience as a priest for the 75 families that gathered together weekly for worship in the Lutheran Church. I also learned that my understanding of the role of women within the Roman Catholic Church is an impediment to ministering in a “traditional parish.”

I graduated with my Masters in Theology in 1997 after I moved to Chicago. I wanted to be in active ministry but no longer wanted to work for the institutional church. I could not compromise my own truth. My spiritual director proposed that I take CPE and become a hospice chaplain as this was my desire after we discussed future ministry and discerned my call. What better place to be a priest than to accompany families and their loved one who is moving into her/his final stage of life. As a hospice chaplain I have attended spiritual and emotional healing among family members, listened to past mistakes and spoke words of God’s forgiveness. I have provided Eucharist for patients and family members all through their journey of loss and grief. I have presided at many funerals/wakes/graveside services and helped others preside at their loved one’s service.
I have facilitated the healing process by leading grief groups and facilitating the annual memorial service for families offered by hospices. Over and over family members have affirmed my priesthood and ministry with them.

In Chicago I began to attend an intentional inclusive Eucharistic community in Chicago and volunteered to be a presider for liturgy once a month as the community calls forth members as in the earliest Christian churches. I have done so for the last thirteen years and my faith has deepened and my priesthood affirmed by the worshiping community. This community grounded me in the priesthood of the faithful and I was blessed to have this community of justice and peacemakers to nourish my priesthood.

In 1999 I was asked to serve on the board of Women’s Ordination Conference which exposed me to the larger work for ordination in the United States and beyond. I would serve 2 terms as a Board member and be part of the discussion and affirmation of the ordinations of the Danube 7 and the following herstory. I have attended seven ordinations and have been on the planning committee for the first ones in Chicago in the fall of 2008.

Early in 2000 WOC held a meeting at my home with Rosemary Radford Ruether as speaker. We questioned how to respond to the Archdiocese’s call for men to be priests. The famous WOC billboard campaign originated at that meeting. Eventually the campaign was taken to Ireland and to Rome. Versions of the billboard campaign calling for women’s ordination were created throughout the United States.

After 9/11/01 my son Jason joined the US Army and in 2005 was deployed to Iraq where he sustained life-threatening injuries. Jason was to live at Walter Reed for 1 year. See www.captjason.blogspot.com for a journal I kept at Walter Reed as I lived there for eight months while Jason was recovering. It also relates my priestly peacemaking ministry while I lived on post at Walter Reed. My priesthood was again affirmed as I ministered especially to all the grieving family members I met at WRAMC. This experience was truly life changing for me.

I returned to Chicago from Walter Reed in June of 2006 and I became more deeply involved in the anti-war movement. Reflecting on my experience theologically, I spent 2007 speaking across the US for peacemaking while being active with local efforts in Chicago. I was a spokesperson for Pax Christi National at the SOA Vigil at Ft. Benning GA in 2007. I know I want to speak for peace as a Roman Catholic priest answering the call of Vatican II within the much larger dimension of church reform. I feel called to be a priest building the Beloved Community for Justice and Peacemaking. I say of the prophetic obedience of women priests “We are enfleshing the Dream of Sophia for the People of God.”

As I attended the ordinations of many other women my friends kept asking, “Katy when are you going to be ordained?” After attending Janice’s ordination in Kentucky last August and having Roy Bourgeois MM participate and give a reflection, I knew that now is the time for me to join RCWP. I want to support the vision of the Roman Catholic Church lived by Roy and Janice. I do believe as part of the Vatican II generation, I am called to live the inclusive priesthood for the People of God.

I will retire in April and begin the formal process of preparation for ordination. I am energized and excited to be joining the most amazing and awesome group of women the Roman Catholic Church has nurtured through our faith foundation to follow the Way of Jesus our brother. Sophia gathers us to call all to the Oneness who is God.

1.3 Transcript of studies
Undergraduate: Business Administration-Human Resources, Wayne State Un. 1973
Masters of Labor and Industrial Relations, Michigan State University, 1975

Ministries Formation Program, Diocese of Richmond VA, 1980-1983

Program for Spiritual Directors, Benedictine Abbey at Pecos NM, 1991-92.

Masters of Theology, Loyola University-NO, 1997.
Courses include:
• Ministry in Context
• Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith
• Christian Origins
• Grace and Christ
• Church, Sacraments and Ministry
• Morality and Ethics
• The Cultural Context of Ministry
• Personal Context of Ministry


Ques. 2. Reflection:
“I stand before you with empty hands at the beginning of a path”

I would like to reflect with St. Theresa of Lisieux, the selection is from her “Story of a Soul”, pg 194 (emphasis is author’s):

I understood that if the Church had a body composed of different members, the most necessary and most noble of all could not be lacking to it, and so I understood that the Church had a heart and this Heart was BURNING WITH LOVE. I understood that it was Love alone that made the Church members act, that if Love ever became extinct, apostles would not preach the Gospel…I understood that Love comprised all vocations, that love was everything, that it embraced all times and places…in a word, that it was eternal.

For me as a Polish Roman Catholic, with parents first born generation in America, the icon of God’s love that Theresa writes about is carried most clearly by the image of the Sacred Heart which hung wall of my childhood home next to the matching Immaculate Heart of Mary.

So as I stand at the beginning of the path to ordination and formal recognition of my priesthood I created a sculpture of my hands holding Love, the burning heart of the Sacred Heart Image. On the Sacred Heart is myself as the words given to me “you are a priest in My heart.”

The still life revealed itself from inner truth as I was deciding how to take a photo of my art work. I call this piece “Love Revealed.”

I believe the Creator, the force behind the Big Bang of evolution is Love. This truth is revealed most clearly through the light of Jesus our brother and so the candles burn as witness to the presence of truth. Three candles are present for the Trinity of Christian faith.

The woman stands as the fourth member of the Trinity revealing a truth of God not yet accepted yet Love calls me to witness to through our priesthood. Woman is the feminine image of God. Resting on her left hand she carries the dove of peace symbol of Sophia and also the symbol of the peace of God which will come with wholeness for humanity as individuals and as the community. The masculine and feminine will be honored and integrated within the personal and collective community. Women will be accepted as images of God for the People of God and this truth calls me to the priesthood now in this time and place.

The rocks of the piece remind me of the timelessness of our creation even though each created life is very short. The rocks arise from the force of the Big Bang and are from the earth created about 14 billion years ago. After the Big Bang, first there was stardust which coalesced into a planet born in the week of creation (Genesis 1) which modern science has taught continues still. I too am of the stardust of creation destined to carry God’s love to all whom I meet.

The daffodils tell of the cycles of the year, the rhythms of the earth and my own spiritual, physical and emotional life. Winter, spring, summer, fall. The earth is in the season of spring; a time of new beginnings. For me especially this year spring is a new emotional and spiritual beginning as I publicly claim my priesthood as servant for the larger faith community.

Finally from clay is the imprint of my hands holding the burning heart of Jesus, the icon of God’s Love for each of us and all of creation. Clay again the material of the earth itself as my physical body is of the earth’s clay. Reminding me that I too, this bearer of God’s Love for the world, a witness to Love through my priesthood, one day will return to the earth. My spirit, my human love will return to the Source of all Love, the Mystery of existence and its reason for being.

Each of us is on the path living our part of human evolution into the fullness of God’s Love. This art is pleasing to me and brings me deep joy. I claim it as my emotional and spiritual position as I begin the path toward my ordination.

I thank RCWP for the opportunity for this meditation and creation of art that is “Love Revealed” to me.