CITI's International Connection-- Chapter Eight

If you are new to this blog, you may wish to read the archived blogs first since the story is being written somewhat chronologically. What is posted below is the most recent. Thank you. CITI's first "live" introduction to the international movement of married priests occurred at a 1993 U.S. married priest conference where I happen to be seated next to the Rev. Dr. Heinz-Jurgen Vogels of Germany. Heinz was president of the German married priest movement and he and Lambert Van Gelder of The Netherlands had helped Paolo Camellini found the International Federation of Married Priests (see previous chapter), which first meeting was held in Ariccia just outside of Rome. Theologian and author Heinz saw the value of CITI's mission, and suggested that I attend August's Madrid conference of the International Federation. My French pretty much forgotten (I didn't speak English 'til I turned seven), I invited my sister Pauline who was both fluent in French and Spanish to come along, promising some touring after the conference since attending a religious conference was not enough of an incentive for her to travel to Spain with me in the middle of the summer. Though she had been supportive of my work thus far, she was accustomed to first class hotels and wasn't excited about committing to five days in a convent in the outskirts of Madrid during the hottest month of the year when everyone in Spain is at the beach. "Outskirts" is putting it mildly. We took a plane to Madrid, a train as far as it could reach, then a bus as far as it would go, and finally had to awaken the only taxi driver in a village from his siesta so that he could drive us the rest of the distance. We were dragging big suitcases across dirt paths in this little town in a 100 degree/100% humidity climate, following someone who spoke only Spanish and hoping he was taking us to the right place. Pauline remembers explaining to the taxi driver that we were traveling to attend a married priest conference. He stopped the car, turned to us and said, "There's no such thing as 'married' priests." And, so began my education through her translation, and in three or four days she was able to explain CITI's mission in both Spanish and French without my assistance. The convent itself was 15th century vintage with obviously no air conditioning except in the auditorium and the bedrooms were probably designed for cloistered nuns of that era--10 x 12, a small lavatory and two wire spring beds with just sheets and a bathroom down the hall. It was too hot for blankets. In fact, everyone on our floor left their room doors open to catch the slightest breeze, nonexistent for five days. The dining room reminded us of the eating scene in the movie, "Oliver." Unaccustomed to European meal habits, it seemed we were hungry all the time and of course, there were no vending machines. But, like other married priest conferences I had attended, the joy of the gathering was in the beautiful sacred people we met daily and experiencing the international flavor of talks and presentations in different languages. Because of the meekness I had previously witnessed among the beautiful gentle and spiritual married priests and their spouses, the strength that I saw in the global gathering enlightened me to the power and courage they had in numbers, especially with their colleagues across the waters. Neither individual organizations, nor individual married priest groups, nor individual convents nor retreat houses would ever stand up to the Vatican by themselves. Collectively, however, they had "chutzpah." Apparently, a few months before the conference when it became public that the International Federation of Married Priests would be meeting at the Dominican House of Studies in Madrid, the Papal Nuncio contacted the Convent Director threatening to "permanently close down [his] entire operation if he allowed married priests to meet there." The Convent Director responded to the Papal Nuncio that he "wanted that in writing, explaining which law he was breaking; otherwise the Congress would be held as planned." No letter came and the meeting was held without incident. Rent A Priest was met with mixed emotions by the various countries. Though the French booed me off the stage, others like England, Australia, India, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Ireland and some in Spain were supportive. The people from the Philippines called CITI the Number One married priest movement in the world, this after only one year in existence. What made CITI different as a new organization was that it was started and run by lay people and our mission was to serve those among the public who needed sacramental and pastoral care, defying any church law that opposed the ministry of married priests. All other married priest organizations at the time were founded and run by married priests and the mission of most was to engage or attempt to engage in dialogue with the hierarchy to try to get the church to change the law of mandatory celibacy. These priests obeyed their promise to their respective bishops that they would not celebrate Mass. The European movement, with the exception of CITI's three new allies Paolo Camellini, Heinz-Jurgen Vogels and Lambert Van Gelder, never accepted CITI as one of its affiliate members. We were too different and they especially didn't like the name Rentapriest. We were later contacted by Kirche Intern, Austria's Catholic magazine who subsequently ran a three page story on CITI/Rentapriest, leading to two new Rentapriest-type movements in Austria and Switzerland. They did not survive, however, because they used a less catchy name and the organizations were run by married priests rather than lay people who could stand up to the hierarchy if need be. There were splits between Camellini and the International Federation during the next year and Paolo and Heinz scheduled their own international synod similar to the original (Arricia), in Assisi in 1995 and then another in Atlanta, Georgia USA in 1999, the latter at which I was invited to preside. The international synods were profound gatherings of married priests and other interesting parties from throughout the world. Without a specific agenda, something the left-brainers were not understanding especially in Atlanta, everyone came to the meetings with inspirations/papers that arrived at a common goal--almost like the people had been hand-picked by the Holy Spirit. At the Assisi meeting for instance, the majority of profound papers presented from several countries spoke of the future of the Catholic Church in the form of small faith communities--like the early days of the church. Former Carmelite contemplative, Donna Amy Podobinski and her Holy Ghost Father and husband William presented a related paper on Freedom-Unity-Integrity, now a new blog, accessible through the rentapriest website. A retired Venetian judge presented a paper on the corruption in the Vatican; and I, on clergy sexual abuse being a rampant international problem, something I would later study from a scientific basis. (See The Bingo Report: Mandatory celibacy and clergy sexual abuse available on Amazon.com). #30