My Brain Seems Frozen.
Now I know that some of you might think that that’s a good thing. In some respects… I might not blame you.
Here’s my problem.
I have something I am just So Excited About… that I just cannot find the words to write a blog post about it.
Three weeks ago… on Saturday, June 9th… I packed up my porky little (HA) body and drove from Fort Worth to Lexington, Kentucky. Straight… on… through. 935 miles.
Oh, I stopped for a few “power naps” in some of the more safe-appearing rest areas… but basically drove straight on through.
So… what made me do a silly thing like that ? Well… Little Ol’ Liberal/Progressive Me has always been a “rebel” of sorts. And, of course, it’s got me into hot water more than once in my life.
And yes… I have written some posts on my “Active Rain” blog about Politics and Religion… two subjects that most “sane” Active Rainers would not touch. And perhaps rightfully so.
But… to continue: I was “raised” Catholic. Grade School, High School, College, and if that was not enough… I actually taught seventh and eighth grade in the Catholic Schools in Cleveland, Ohio from 1965 to 1974 before getting into real estate.
I am one of those Catholic Women “Heretics” who thinks that Catholic Women are just as “holy” as the typical Male Catholic Priest… and just as capable, if not more so, of hearing the “calling” (to become a Catholic Priest) that comes from the part of the Trinity many religions call “The Holy Spirit.”
Well… always poking around on the Internet… it was about June 2 that I read about an Ordination that was going to take place in Lexington, KY. Not your ordinary ordination, but the Ordination of a Catholic Women Priest… administered by a Catholic Woman Bishop.
I have been a Realtor for the last 30 years or so… but for the last four years I’ve had a heart condition that no longer allows me to physically “show” homes. So honestly… I just don’t get out much, anymore.
But… after seeing and reading about this Woman’s Priestly Ordination… the thought of attending it immediately shot up to the top of my own personal Bucket List. It was something I just had to do. So… after the very difficult task of packing and loading up my Honda CRV… off to Lexington I went.
The top picture is that of Catholic Deacon Donna Rougeux lying prostrate in front of the altar as she awaits her Ordination, and for the “laying on of hands” by Bishop Meehan.
[In the above picture… the newly Ordained Rev Donna Rougeux is in the middle, flanked by Catholic Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan on the left, and Catholic Rev Janis Sevre-Duszynska on the right. Rev Donna Rougeux is 52 years old. Each of her two daughters read one of the Epistles at the Ordination Mass, and Rev Rougeux’s son played guitar in the liturgical musical group that accompanied the Ordination. There are currently 130 validly ordained Catholic Women Priests in the world… 93 of whom are either Priests or Bishops in the United States.]
It was so incredibly moving. The atmosphere of the Ordination was so hauntingly spiritual. The presence of the Holy Spirit… at least to those two hundred-fifty or so who were present… was so all-encompassing.
The Holy Spirit is at times referred to by many learned Biblical scholars as “the Feminine Aspect of The Divine.” The mentions of that are “obscure”… but they are IN the bible, and also in many versions of the older biblical texts.
The Ordination was at three o’clock Saturday afternoon, June 9th… and the Reception/Dinner… to which I was invited… was from five to seven o’clock.
The Ordination, by the way, was a VALID Ordination. The fact that it was done even though ordaining women is currently forbidden by the Catholic Church… may have made it “illegal.” However… the fact that it might be “illegal…” has NO bearing on the validity of the Ordination.
The Bishop who ordained Bishop Meehan (who is seen ordaining Rev Donna Rougeux) is currently a Male Bishop of the Catholic Church in Austria… with the full “apostolic succession” that “the Church” requires of those Bishops who ordain priests.
If I may make a comparison… someone steals a chicken. That chicken lays an egg. The egg surely is stolen… and therefore may be said to be “illegal” as well, but it is still very much an egg. (ahh… the simplicity of the workings of my seventh-grade mind.) Illegal does not equate with invalid.
Those in attendance were perhaps 250 or so in number. Mostly women… about 75 or 80% women, but a nice mixture of men, as well. Mostly older, “mature” women… (HA)… but actually, quite an encouraging mixture of folks of all ages.
After the ordination and Reception… and about an hour of conversation with Rev Rougeux, Bishop Meehan, and after making many new friends of those in attendance, I returned to my motel… anticipating driving back to Fort Worth on Sunday.
Of course… I was well aware that my hotel just might end up being surrounded by angry mobs with their pitchforks and torches… ready to burn me at the stake as one of the many Heretics who attended the Ordination.
Luckily, my fears were unfounded.
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NOTE: This is weird. When I sat down to write this post… my brain was so frozen about writing about Rev Rougeux’s Ordination that I could NOT find a place to start. I wanted to write the “Perfect Post.” So I tried to settle inside my lil brain about just what to say. I wanted to do it so perfectly that I ended up not even being able to start. Brain Freeze set in.
It was only in the actually writing this post… which was initially going to be about asking just HOW anyone of you gets past “brain freeze…” that I ended up thawing my frozen brain… and was able to write about the Ordination.
Funny how that happens.
Nice Catholic Girl from Cleveland 