Women are here, and we're not going away says Bishop Fresen

Bishop Patricia Fresen spoke in Santa Barbara last week, brilliant and inspiring as ever, she spoke of the paradigm shift in our Church and hopes for a more inclusive future to an audience of over 100 people.

Bishop Fresen is one of the original women ordained in the Roman Catholic Women Priests movement.  She's a well known theologian who taught at seminaries before she was excommunicated for following her call to priesthood. In her speech, she talked about the people who have inspired her by taking an action to break through injustice. Living as a White person in South Africa, her journey to understanding injustice and the need to challenge it was life changing. She learned from those working to end Apartheid that unjust laws must be changed, and to change them, they must be broken.  

Bishop Fresen and the other Roman Catholic Women Priests have since stood up against the injustice of exclusion by breaking the laws of the Vatican. The event was hosted by the Catholic Church of the Beatitudes, a community in Santa Barbara attended by many CTA members and friends. The Church of the Beatitudes believes in collaborative community leadership and living in the spirit of Vatican II; liturgy is said each week by a Roman Catholic Woman Priest. Many of our CTA members around the country worship in communities like these, and have even helped found them!

If you missed her recent talks in Michigan and California, you can hear her recent talk online!  It is sure to be an hour well spent!