Censors and Killjoys

We know who they are! They are even “on parade” on Holy Thursday and Ordination Day at the Cathedral of Saints Peter & Paul in Philadelphia! They censor our rituals; they kill the joy of our celebrations by denying access, based solely on gender, to ministry and, most egregiously, to a holy Sacrament. They do it the big ways we all know about, but in small ways, too: a raised fist, a derisive shout, a dismissive look, a turning away.

I read this passage in a delightful little book called 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith. The character was speaking about the established church in Scotland, but oh, how it applied to our own:

“Well, now there are all sorts of censors and killjoys. Earnest, ignorant people who lecture us on what we can think and say. And do you know, we’ve laid down and submitted to the whole process. It’s been the most remarkable display of passivity. With the result that when we encounter anybody who thinks independently, or who doesn’t echo the received wisdoms of the day, we’re astonished.”

A second character brings it home:

“In such a way freedom of thought is lost, by small cuts. By small acts of disapproval. By a thousand discouragements of spirit.”

That last sentence boldly states how it may work with our own established hierarchy — if we let it. Instead, let’s resist; let’s act; let’s keep on astonishing them all! Join us for our annual Ordination Day Mass on Saturday, May 18 at 9:30am,.outside, at Sister Cities Park across from Saints Peter & Paul Basilica in Philadelphia where, inside, men only are being ordained.

Our Mass is led by a woman blessed in sacramental love.

Astonishing!