On June 24, 2023, we congratulated Carmella Cicirelli as she was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in Westland, Michigan! She was a Deacon with the Great Waters Community and our blessings and prayers rest with her as she takes this step of faith and courage and responds to God’s call to serve as a Priest.

By July of 2023 Roman Catholic Women Priests will have ordained 5 new priests and 5 new deacons throughout the United States. All are well prepared and well educated for their duties. As of now, 3 priests and 5 deacons are already ordained this year. We are on a roll and nothing can stop us now. We have almost 290 members world wide since our beginning on the Danube river in 2002. (See http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org ) More are on their way. Women are being chosen by their faith communities to serve them as ordained clergy. Women are called and women are ready,and women are being blessed with the support of their communities.

These are the women who have responded to God’s call and their community’s call thus far this year:

Priests: Eileen Mary Matley ordained on June 4, 2023 in Urbana, Illinois, and Carmella Cicirelli ordained today, June 24, 2023 in Westland, Michigan, both of the Great Waters Roman Catholic Woman Priest Community. Susan Russell also of Great Waters will be ordained a Priest on July 8, 2023. Bishop Mary Keldermans presiding.

Andrea Grace Weaver of the ARCWP Community will be ordained a Priest on July 22nd in Lincoln , Mass. Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan presiding. Amina Wolf of Northern California was incardinated on June 4, 2023, RCWP Bishop Jane Via Presiding. .

Deacons

Mary Pretorius Murphy was ordained Deacon on April 16, 2023 in Weston, Vermont. Bishop Jean Marchant of the Eastern Region of RCWP was presiding.

Karla Jenson was ordained a Deacon in Los Gatos , California of May 6th, 2023. Bishop Suz Thiel was presiding.

Susan Knapp and Adina Myer were ordained Deacons on June 4, 2023 in Northern California, Bishop Jane Via presiding. And Andrea Grace Weaver was ordained a deacon on June 10th in Lincoln, Mass with ARCWP Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan presiding.

We offer our deepest blessings and Congratulations to these courageous and called women who are now ordained clergy in the roman Catholic Church.

Saluting Some of Our Priests

We have the opportunity to recognize some of our priests each month. This month, we

wish to salute Rev. Josie Petermeier for her priestly service and for the financial services role she has so well and selflessly offered to RCWP. While this is a behind the scenes role, we could not function without it! And we also offer her love and prayers as she battles with cancer.

We recognize the years of faithful Priestly service of Rev. Marty Meyer-Gad and we join her in her hope that one day there will be no need for priests as the laity will carry on all tasks given our equal call to love and serve Christ Jesus.

We also recognize the priestly service and service as an ARCWP Bishop in Colombia, South America of Rev. Olga Lucia Alvarado. She has been a priest since 2010.

We especially thank + Rev. Suzanne Thiel, Bishop, for her careful record keeping and her passion for promoting RCWP over the years. I am indebted to her for this and for the information in this report though I am totally responsible for its content. I ask all of you who read it to pass it on- YES, there are women who are Roman Catholic Priests, and YES, we are growing and continue always to love and serve God’s people.

May our Loving God Bless and Keep you,

Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP

Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, Pastor the Good Shepherd Community in Fort Myers, Florida

June 24, 2023

As Christians- Christ followers- we ponder on what “being a Christian” and “loving justice” means in our lives and we know that those who follow Judaism and other religions also seek to live just lives. In following the commandments of Jesus, “to love God with all of our beings “and “to love our neighbors as ourselves” (Matthew 22: 37-39) there are two critical themes. One is to attend to justice-that if we truly love our neighbors- all of them everywhere- we will work to make sure that all are treated with full equality and justice. And, we also need to open to loving all of God’s marvelous creation. For God’s love is for all of creation-all living things and the total beauty of the earth. And, this brings us great joy!

The Psalms are wonderful as they often capture all of the themes that guide our lives.

Psalm 33 begins:

“Sing out your joy to YHWH, you who love justice-praise is fitting for loyal hearts….Sing God a new song….everything God does can be trusted. YHWH loves justice and right and fills the earth with love” (The Inclusive Bible TIB: the First Egalitarian Translation) .

We note that the Hebrew people were hesitant to call God by any proper name as doing so is so powerful that it is a “God-perogative” to call by name. So some older translations say “the Lord”-“Rejoice in the Lord…” while the one I used above uses YHWH, the Hebrew acronym for God. Still another translation by Nan C. Merrill “Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness”, 2008, Continuum) uses the word Beloved or Love for God: “Rejoice in the Beloved, O you holy ones!” I do prefer to call God Beloved and Love and I recommend Merrill’s book of Psalms to you. But the important thing is not the name but the essence of the God who loves us, and what this God asks of us.

As Psalm 33 says above: “YHWH” 0ur God, loves justice and right and fills the earth with love.” How wonderful is that! Yet, we look around and also see injustice and evil. The King James says instead of “fills the earth with love” “the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord”. Indeed, we can see and feel goodness and love all around us and all around the world. But we also can see and feel the evil and injustice everywhere. We see that most of the world’s resources are still lodged firmly in the hands of a very wealthy few who do not really share it. And we see the greed of those who have and yet want more, but not to share with those who do not have. We see the poor blamed for being poor so the wealthy can feel justified in hoarding most of the wealth. We see nations where this is the rule and people escaping to go to where they can make a living, yet are sometimes stopped at the doors and not let in. We see so-called Christians and religious others keeping the wealth to themselves and not really addressing how to spread it around so all may eat, all may have shelter and all may live.

Indeed the first church discussed in Acts shared all goods and “no one was poor”(Acts 2:44-45). Not so these days, at least in the major and dominant Christian churches. Now we emphasize belief and not actions. When we do teach and preach on actions it is a nice Sunday Sermon- for we still do little to share the resources that we have-as churches and as individuals who attend them. When we do this, as individuals we are at least on the road of creating the kingdom of God that Jesus preached about here on earth. So, indeed if we all lived this truly sharing kind of love it could make a difference.

Take Care of God’s People

Psalm 33:12 says “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord”(KJV) or “Happy is the nation whose God is YHWH (TIB), or “Blessed are all people who respond to Love’s Way”( Merrill translation). Indeed this Psalm reminds us that to be happy in God as nations and as individuals we need to love and revere our loving God and also “respond to Love’s Way”. We need to LIVE the commandments of love. We need to LIVE Jesus and to Live Love’s Way. That is to work to make sure everyone has what they need to live, especially the basics of food and shelter, and clothing, and love. We are clearly to welcome the poor person and the immigrant and praise God with and next to him or her. That is our job as those who hear the words of God in the Psalms, the Scriptures, Hebrew and Christian ,and the words and life of Jesus.

Take Care of God’s Creation- Of all Living things

And, we are to also take care of God’s beautiful creation. In Genesis we are put in charge of the earth: “”God blessed humankind and said “…Fill the earth and be responsible for it!…Watch over all living things on the earth….” (Genesis 1:28 TIB). Psalm 33:6-9 (TIB) says ” By your word, Yhwh, the heavens were made, by the breath of your mouth all the stars. You gather the seas together and control them, putting the Deep into its vault. Let all the earth revere YHWH…” and “Through Love Consciousness the heavens and earth were created….All creation, from the distant stars to the depth of the seas, Is held together by the Oneness of Love” (Merrill Translation). Indeed then, we are to thank our God of love for this world and do all we can to care for all of God’s people and creation. We are to ask God to teach us to love as God loves.

There is so much pollution and lack of care for the environment that climate is changing as it never has before. We must attend to our air, our water, our forests and our seas that are becoming full of plastics. There are so many species that are in danger of disappearing from the face of the earth because of our greed. Once again elephants are in danger as we plunder them for their ivory, for example. And our animal shelters here are full of abused and neglected and unwanted pets. Yes, some are there because people who loved them died or became ill but so many more are there because no body cares. One of my friends , Carol Schauf, volunteers in an animal shelter. It is a good one where animals are lovingly cared for until they are adopted. Yet, there are other shelters nearby where animals are killed for overcrowding and for the least thing that justifies the word “unadoptable”. The same pet if sent to the no-kill shelter would be adoptable until adopted. Recently a local government official suggested money be diverted from shelters to parks and recreation as pets the shelter could become a kill shelter and save money. I was heartened to see the uproar about this and the plan was shelved. Indeed, this was a good example of caring for God’s creation. My cousin Jackie Marion gives a good part of her life to publicizing animal issues in shelters- if she could all would be adopted and she fights for this. Another good example of caring for God’s creation- to care for those who can not speak for themselves, right here in the USA and world-wide. Below is Pippa, adopted by my friend and neighbor Doris from our local shelter.

So our beautiful Psalm today tells us about God’s love for God’s precious people and God’s creation and it asks us to do the same. Perhaps you can look around your world and see how you can do this . Our Psalm asks us to sing a new song and to sing to God with joy. God loves justice and fills the earth with love. Let us do the same with joy. Let that joy be the joy of helping those who do not have, both human and animal and caring for the earth itself -for this is Love’s Way.

Love and blessings Pastor Judy Lee,RCWP

Good shepherd Ministries, Fort Myers,

June 23, 2023

Today I am thinking of all the wonderful and special men who have been fathers to me throughout the years. There are my Uncles, Jack, Warren and Jule who were my fathers as I was growing up. I lived in our family home with my Grandma and Mother and with Jack and Warren, and Jule visited regularly. I loved and looked up to each very different Uncle. My own Dad, Albert Carl Beach, left my Mom and me when I was two and I did not meet him until many years later. I will include a poem about him here from my book, The Flame Keeper And Other Poems (2007). So this is also written for those who were devoted fathers but not biologically and for those fathers, biological or not who made mistakes and did not parent until a later time. And especially for fathers who loved and did their jobs and inspire us-like Bobby Robinson (picture at end) Pete Lee, and Mike Marion and Mike Chester who exemplified the very fathering of God to their children and to us.

There are the Pastors of my youth in Brooklyn, New York- Pastor Dave Ver Nooy and Pastor Mel Williams who loved, friended and guided me from early years until my later years and Father Al Jaenicke, our priest in Hartford Connecticut who lived up to the name of “Father” for all of his varied congregation. Excerpts of their poems will be included here. I also had a wonderful male teacher in the fifth grade, Mr. Arnulfo Chisari who helped me discover my mind and my gifts and was the kindest of men. Mr. Eugene Shapiro in the eighth grade also served this important role. I was so blessed with all of these teachers and guides.

So this is for all men who fathered children not their own, the Uncles, Cousins, Pastors, Priests, teachers,coaches and friends who stepped in and filled the role better than anyone could, blood or not. And it is, of course, for all the women who had to be father and mother to their children, like my own beloved Mom who made me feel I could do anything for good in this world-and so I did!

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

This is for my missing “dead-beat Dad” who came through in the end.

Below is an excerpt from a poem about Pastor Melvin G. Williams who was truly a most beloved “father in Christ” to me from my early teen years in the late 1950’s when we met until he passed in 2000 to spend the Millenium with his beloved Jesus. I was one of a few white and Asian kids in a mostly African American Bethany Methodist Episcopal Church where each one of us were treated by our Pastors, one white, Dave, and one black, Mel, and all of the church members as their precious children and youth. I am ever thankful for Bethany and all who touched my life there. I became Roman Catholic in the late 1980’s and will also include my poem about Father Al Jaenicke here. St. Michael’s Parish in Hartford, Connecticut was so much like the Bethany of my youth in all the ways that counted- in diverse caring people and in sound theology and its application that I was delighted to join that Congregation.

ON PASTOR MELVIN GARFIELD WILLIAMS

Pastor Mel

Across time and space. …….”

FATHER ALFRED JAENICKE

Father Al, as we called him, was the priest and Pastor for a large mostly African American and Hispanic Roman Catholic church in the North end of Hartford, Connecticut. His love and caring for his diverse congregation was the love a father has for his precious children- it showed what our loving God was like in human terms. Like the Pastors of my youth, he wore himself out serving his people. He was ill when he retired to go to Brazil and serve with a friend in the mid 1990’s and he went home to his loving Father a few years later and before my ordination to the priesthood in 2008. Yet, I know he would have encouraged me and my then life partner Judy Beaumont whom he loved as a sister when she became a priest many years later, in 2012. We served the people with him and were always inspired by him. The Shelter for the Homeless where Judy administered and served was on the same grounds as St. Michael’s Church. Before we got together Judy lived in the former convent on the grounds as well. Sadly, the Diocese has closed St. Michael’s down. There it still stands, empty except for the memories, a light to the community now darkened. But I will celebrate its humble and wise priest here. And so many will always remember the Christ-light we can still see through those windows.

I have been a priest for almost fifteen years now. The call and the road to answering it came later in my life. But, I often wish I could still talk to Father Al about our church. Yet I know he is smiling on us from heaven and still guiding me. When I grow up, I want to be like him!

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY TO ALL who love and serve God’s people and to all who have fathered us into life.

AND A SPECIAL Happy Father’s Day to my beloved Cousin Bobby Robinson, Jule’s son, who is father to our extended family now!

Love and blessings,

Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP

Good Shepherd Ministries, Fort Myers, Florida

June 18,2023

Summer Musings

Summer is a time for something different. The breezes blow, the sun shines, sometimes way too hot, and the rain falls, usually gently and refreshes the day. Here in Florida, summer is much longer, yet it also passes from us quickly as the years go by. It is often a free time for those who are students or teachers in academia. As a Professor of many years, and a student as well, I learned to cherish and love summer. Though my academic days are over, and my “pastoring” work and duties are never over, I still love summer. So I thought I would present a different kind of writing here: poetry–my own and that of others. There is a fleeting sometimes startling beauty in poetry, like that of summer. We must grasp it gently and firmly, or it is gone too soon.

The following poems are from my book The Flame Keeper and Other Poems, Judith A.B.Lee, PublishAmerica, Baltimore, 2007). It is out of print now and I will be sharing some of the poems on this blog this summer. The first poem is about keeping the flame of relationships alive over time. Relationships are precious. They change over time but do not lose their original shine in our lives. We are charged with keeping the flame alive.

May we all work at being flame keepers so cherished people in our lives are not forgotten or lost. Be the first one to mend any rifts-. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” asked Cain of God in Genesis 4:10. Indeed he was, and indeed we are charged to care lovingly for our brothers and sisters-all of them, ALL of them. People of all cultures, colors, incomes, sexual orientations and identifications, languages, politics, persuasions, and appearances. God loves all people deeply and fully, and we, too, are to love our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 29:39-40).

Welcome to Summer Dear Friends

This one was written in my twenties and that is a long time ago. Yet, I remember every exhilarating minute of these bike rides near Canarsie Bay in Brooklyn, New York. And now I cherish my trips to Fort Myers Beach only 20 minutes away where I can experience this joy all year, but especially in summer.

The picture below is at Coney Island, in Brooklyn, New York…always my home.

My Coney Island

HAPPY SUMMER To ALL,

Bless you and keep you,

Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP

Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, Good Shepherd Ministries- Fort Myers, Florida

June 16, 2023

“In the beginning God created…. (Gen 1:1)” EVERYTHING! Chapter 1 of the book of Genesis- the first book in the Bible gives beautiful descriptive metaphors of God creating all that we know of the earth and the cosmos. I love “Waters: swarm with an abundance of living beings!” (Gen 1:20) That is amply illustrated in the picture above of a Moorhen family tending their young on little lake, and in the picture of abundant lake life below. All beings are to “be fruitful and increase…” “God saw that this was good and blessed them” is said about every aspect of creation, including humankind that is given the charge of stewardship of all that was created (Gen 1: 26). “Humankind was created as God’s reflection; in the divine image God created them; female and male God made them” (Gen 1:27). I just love the end of that Chapter “God looked at all of this creation, and proclaimed that this was good–very good”. Gen !:31).

I admit that of all of God’s creatures I am most concerned about humankind as we too often plunder and harm the most amazing creation that we exist in. We are too often horrible to each other and to all living things. We allow each other to starve and thirst and go homeless all over the world. And we continue to have wars that demolish one another and the environment. We continue to use violence rather than reasoning to solve disputes, and we are greedy and want more and more. We are too often not very good stewards. Even with this little lake we have to be careful not to fill it with plastic and landscaping products that harm it. And this is a very small scale example of what is happening all over the world.

The Citizens Climate Lobby (CCL) is a group that takes stewardship of our environment seriously. My friend, Linda VerNooy gives her life to this cause and to this group. I am so moved and inspired by her. Like her father before her, she has opened my eyes more and more to what is happening in our natural world. There are local Chapters of this group (citizensclimatelobby.org) and the groups are active on local and national and international issues, particularly regarding how we are changing the world we depend upon in terms of seasons and weather and climate in general. One might sign up for the newsletter@citizensclimatelobby.org. With the recent partisan struggle over debt limits many of the gains made in the past years on clean energy incentives and care for the climate are on the table. President Biden intends to keep these gains and we can be helpful with letters and phone calls to our congressional representatives.

This blog is a challenge to all of us to do all we can to preserve the beauty of Creation. I will simply show some varied beautiful things/aspects of and from my natural world, both near and far, and hope it helps you to reflect on what gives you joy too. And then inspire you to find your own ways of protecting Creation.

SPRING– Up North

FLORIDA SPRING

The Beauty of New Life

MAY OUR LOVING GOD BLESS YOU AS YOU LOVE AND CARE FOR PEOPLE AND CREATION all around you and to cherish your favorite things,

Love and blessings,

Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP

Good Shepherd Ministries Fort Myers, Florida

5/24/23

From time to time this blog will use pictures more than words to convey meanings. The meanings will be your own and if you wish to share them we will add them to the blog. Be blessed! Pastor Judy

T

These beautiful flowers greeted me on my morning walk. What a way to start the day!

Here I comment on some of the reasons our ministry is called The Good Shepherd Ministry of SW Florida. Although most of us these days are not tending sheep, sheep were all around Jesus and his community in his time with us. The image of the vital care of the shepherd for the sheep moved Jesus to identify as The Good Shepherd. The “Good Shepherd” readings from the Gospel of John help to explain why Jesus referred to himself as the good shepherd and why l love this description of Jesus so much. In addition to loving and serving Gods people- especially the poorest and those on the outskirts of society, I am an “animal person” meaning that God’s creatures have a special place in my heart. Presently l am caring for an elderly dog adopted a few months ago, thirteen cats -ages 18 years to three years and three birds, cockatiels. I have a young man from our Good Shepherd community who helps me care for them- Gaspare also has a special love for animals. The Gospel of John teaches us:

“I am the good shepherd, and I know mine and mine know me….and I will lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. These also I must lead, and they will hear my voice, and there will be one flock, one shepherd….” (John 10:14-16)

I am, as always, moved by the intimacy and inclusion in these words of Jesus. His relationship with the sheep is one of caring and trust. His love extends even to “laying down his life” for the sheep. They are called by name and the sheep know his voice and do not follow strangers. And he is not parochial, he is including those of other folds. There is a genuine relationship there. How blessed we are to be part of that huge diverse flock!

I have always felt drawn to Jesus, the Good Shepherd. As I sit here at my desk to my left is a depiction in embroidered cloth obtained and made a long time ago, of Jesus carrying a little lamb and reaching toward another sheep. And on my right on my other desk is a Bible that a Good Shepherd church member gave me, opened to the 23rd Psalm describing God as ‘My Shepherd” who leads me into green pastures and by the still waters, and “restores my soul”. In the accompanying picture is Jesus on a mountain- side carrying a lamb and leading the sheep. Although the Jesus figure is not accurately Middle Eastern in appearance, the care for the sheep is heart warming. Jesus fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 43:1 “I have called you by name and you are mine!” How blessed it is to be called by name by our loving God.

In my autobiographical book “The House on Sunny Street: A Tale of Two Brooklyns…” ( PublishAmerica Press, 2013-Amazon.com-Kindle copies- also published in Spanish as Mi Hogar en la Calle Soleada- America Star Books, 2015) I share that when I moved to Florida over 25 years ago needing a professional change, I wandered away from addresses the Real Estate Agent gave me and and saw this house with a little lake right behind it. When I stood by the lake I knew that God, my Shepherd was still leading me by still waters to gain rest for my soul. We bought that house! Also in the book is a story of getting lost as a small child after church and one of the men of the church finding me and carrying me to my frantically waiting mother. Mr. Leopold Dyce was from Jamaica, in the West Indies, and yet I felt that he was the arms of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, for me that day.

Even as a child I felt called to follow the Good Shepherd, and to be the arms of the Good Shepherd for others-to help shepherd the flock. I was happiest inviting friends to church. Throughout my life, no matter how old I was I could see Jesus lifting me to his breast as a little lamb, and I could feel him finding me and bringing me home as an adult when I strayed away from the flock. (It was not easy to stay with the flock when some strong members rejected me for the gayness I embraced in my thirties). I would find other flocks and somehow Jesus always kept me close to Him.

Hence, when my life partner Judy Beaumont and I started our ministry in Fort Myers, Florida in 2003 by buying a house where a homeless woman and her family could live, we easily agreed to call our ministry The Good Shepherd Ministry. When I was ordained a Roman Catholic Woman Priest in 2008, we were ministering with the homeless and hungry in a local park (since 2007) with the support of many who chose to assist this ministry. In 2009 we bought a building to be our Church Home and a shelter for the homeless that we called Joshua House, Jesus’ House. More than a hundred people left homelessness behind once they entered those doors. We came together to become The Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Church located in central Fort Myers. Those who served and those who were served became one serving church.

Below are some pictures of our Good Shepherd Community. Like the sheep Jesus taught about we are diverse, all colors and sizes and shapes. Each one different and each one called by God to follow. In the second picture below some of our members are joining several from earlier years in electing to be Confirmed as followers of Jesus. Over 30 people of all ages and walks of life were baptized in our Good Shepherd church. In the last picture we are meeting outside during Covid, Pastor Marina Teresa Sanchez-Mejia is standing next to our Church elder, Mr. Harry Gary and myself. Like sheep we have developed a wonderful mutual aid and friendship community. It is good to know that sheep are actually smart creatures who form friendship groups, know each other and care for one another. Our community exists to the present time even though early deaths and moving have diminished our numbers. Retired now, I am not able to offer regular Mass. Pastor Marina is working full time in a Hospital and has a separate Hispanic ministry. We meet as we can but are still a community. We would do well to emulate sheep in developing non-hierarchical mutual aid communities where young and old are cared for. I enjoyed the research on sheep by Tamsin Cooper, Online, 2022, and in Countryside Magazine Sept, Oct 2020. I am happy to be one of the sheep!

Bless you as you seek to get to know and follow the Good Shepherd,

Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP

Good Shepherd Ministries of SW Florida 5/3/2003. Amended 5/4 /2024