I was ordained a priest 58 years ago today. As the number of years gets higher and higher I am more and more astonished, first of all that I have lived this long, and most of all that I have found a way to be true to my own liberal values and to remain faithful to a Church that has often frowned on them.
I fell in love with the world when I was a child, at the same time that I was falling in love with the Church. For most of my young life "Church" was the faith of my parents and extended family and the congregation of St. Mary's Church in Lonaconing and some pastors and sisters. I don't recall even thinking about bishops and the institutional church. The Church was the Catholics that I knew and loved.
In my teen years in the seminary my love for the world grew as I exposed myself to modern culture, poetry, art, music, movies, theater. I found friends there who also cherished this wonder-full world. All of this helped me grow in my relationship with God. I found God in the beauty of the world.
Then into my life came Gene Walsh and Ray Brown with new ways of looking at liturgy and scripture. I was excited by change. I began to see that the institutional church was going to have to embrace change faster if it was going to keep up with the still wonder-full rapidly changing world. My longing was answered 58 years ago when I was ordained into a Church of John the 23rd and the Second Vatican Council. Though the road to change was still rocky for some years, Pope Francis holds out the promise that the Second Vatican council is irreversible.
With God's help I still try to share with others new ways of thinking about God and a Cosmic Christ and a less clerical and more open Church, one that realizes that change has to be a constant part of our Catholic life.
Love Who love us, thank You. .
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