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  • On Holy Thursday 2020-A Roman Catholic Woman Priest Reflects

    It is hard to be alone as we walk through this Holy Week with Jesus. A most moving part of celebrating Holy Week is the communal celebrations of Holy Thursday and Good Friday and reaching the pinnacle and joy of Easter together after sharing the pain and Jesus’ teachings on the days before as Jesus makes his ways to the cross. This year because of the coronavirus-COVID-19 we can only do this together virtually and solely in our own devotions and meditations. So many of us sit alone with Jesus on these days determined not to “fall asleep” as Jesus prays. Many are attending church by zoom and other social media. Many churches and radio and TV stations such as EWTN enable us to participate when we can not be physically with our own worship communities. And we can continue to share our Reflections of the day in our blogs and other communications. So here I will share some of our Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community’s activities in earlier Holy Thursday and Holy Week Celebrations and my reflections and that of other Roman Catholic women priests. As you sit at prayer and with your Bibles and devotional readings it may help to include some of these reflections.

    Today we have reached the first of the three days of the “Holy Triduum”- the three days leading up to his death,entombment,and resurrection. It is
    Holy Thursday-where we accompany Jesus through his “last supper”-having Passover with the disciples, including his washing of the disciples feet,(and thanks to a friend’s phone call- I make clear that I believe it likely that all of the disciples were there including the women who loved and followed Jesus and his mother Mary, Peter’s wife and the other wives and children); his sharing of the bread and wine at the Passover supper-to become his body and blood of the new covenant;and later his agony in the Garden of Gethsemane as his disciples slept and the betrayer and soldiers came. (John Chapter 13 and Matthew 26:36-56.)

    In the Holy Week 2020 Living With Christ Joe Gunn writes about following Jesus’ example (p.88). “In a gesture pregnant with meaning just before the highly significant Passover meal, Jesus totally disrupted the traditional expectations of his time and culture. He stunned his disciples by insisting on serving them in the most deferential of ways: washing their feet. This deepest measure of service for others is how we must also prepare ourselves for the Easter Triduum. Pope Francis has understood Jesus message. The Supreme Pontiff shocked the world by visiting a Roman jail on this high feast day. He then kissed the feet of young prisoners. He bent the liturgical arc of this teaching moment precisely by washing the feet of those who were never previously included in such ceremonies: two women and several Muslims…Whom should we kneel before and try to heal on this Holy Thursday?” If we can not do it in person perhaps we can make a call or reach out in some fashion and symbolically wash feet until an in person opportunity is present.

    Here are two links to my earlier reflections on Holy Thursday:

    Holy Holy Thursday

    “I have given you a model to follow” Holy Thursday

    A blessed Holy Thursday to all,
    Love and prayers,
    Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP
    Rev. Dr. Judith Lee Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community Fort Myers, Florida
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  • Palm Sunday: Triumph, Hope and Betrayal Sunday April 5,2020

    It is somehow fitting that Holy Week for Christians(April 5th Palm Sunday through Easter April 12th) falls in the midst of this tragic global Coronavirus-covid-19 Pandemic. And Passover for the Jewish Community also comes in this week, on April 9th. Both events speak to us of struggle, faith,love and ultimately triumph in the midst of tragedy. They speak to us of HOPE, and hope is what we most need in the midst of this pandemic leaving fear and death in its wake, although we hear less about the many who are getting the virus and living through it.
    We need to hear those stories too for they give hope while somehow many feel betrayed that life as they knew it is now radically changed, our world is turned upside down- by a virus. One of our beloved elders here, Jack,90, a married retired priest still volunteering in the hospital, suddenly could not breathe. He was diagnosed with the COVID19 virus, hospitalized and sent home. They said he had a “non-lethal strain”. He is doing well two weeks after. Yet a 39 year old radio personality in our community got the virus and died within one week leaving a wife and young child. Another family man in his middle years is slowly getting better as is his teenage son. What is scary is that it is so unpredictable.
    Some seek someone to blame for this and scapegoat others and even blame God because we feel helpless-even powerless. We no longer have the illusion that we can control everything.(And I will leave it to you to discover if there is an upside to this as you place your trust in God even when pain and death will inevitably happen despite our sense of control and power). Meaningful routine is lost, jobs are lost, schools are closed, families are separated at the most poignant of times,we can not actually touch one another or gather for anything. Those who found enjoyment in sports no longer have them to attend or to watch on TV and those who love to gather cannot do so. We cannot even have religious services together-even in Holy Week. While there are ways that we can still be in virtual and distant community,and show love and caring creatively as in communicating with loved ones through Nursing Home windows, and have virtual religious services using zoom and social media,we miss our joint worship, our hugs and simply being together. We are also seeing the many ways people can show love and that is heartening. Yet, fear and this sense of betrayal and even abandonment accompanies pandemics even as they accompanied the original events of Holy week as best we know them.
    While most of us may not blame God or anyone else, we are wondering “where is God?” as we go through this on a huge global scale. Yet, it was for this hurting world that Jesus kept on going after Palm Sunday to the Cross. On Palm Sunday Jesus rode through Jerusalem on the back of a donkey(hardly the Cadillac or Mercedes of the times) and the common people cheered him on with shouts of Hosanna (Save us) and waving palm branches, threw their cloaks on the ground to make an easy path for him. It was a brief moment of joyful triumph though he knew what would be ahead. The crowds, full of ordinary people, including many poor and sick and outcast that he had healed,included, and helped,showed their thanks and love and hope for his reign. They didn’t understand that his reign was not to be a political one where the enemy would be overthrown and vanquished. They knew they loved him. This must have felt really good, but Jesus also knew that their love would include betrayal(Judas, his disciple would sell him for money) and denial ( even by Peter who had for a moment “gotten” who he was-“You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” ), and abandonment by the disciples, and most of the crowd. He too wondered where is my beloved Abba God,as he was left alone, brutally beaten, scoffed, jeered at and in the worst physical pain. The emotional pain of betrayal may have been just as great. Pope Francis said in his Palm Sunday homily that when there is love and trust betrayal is the worst that can happen. Yet, Jesus love for us got him through it. Wow!!

    Jesus experienced the worst pain at every level. Physically- talk about not being able to breathe in the throes of the coronavirus- nailed to the cross arms splayed out and hands and feet nailed, he could not breathe. And while his mother and the women and maybe one of the disciples followed as close as they could most of the disciples were nowhere to be seen and he faced the cross alone. He talked to His Father and quoted the Psalm about being abandoned by God, though in his native Aramaic this may have also meant, “I have fulfilled my destiny”. Simply, he faced an ugly death head on and kept on moving forward. To rise again in three days as he forecasted, to break the bonds of death, to bring us eternal life, he had to die even as we do, and it was anything but an easy death. We can now turn to him who knew suffering to know our suffering and to be with us in it, so we do not have to ever be alone. We marvel how great was his love, how great was God’s love. For Easter, we will focus on life and be glad. Thank God for Easter, it makes all the difference.
    Yet,for Palm Sunday for a brief moment we focus on the triumph of his ministry, how he reached the people no one cared about with love and how he took on anything and anyone who lost the meaning of “love your neighbor as yourself”. The Gospels say Jesus was hung between two revolutionaries, also called thieves. Indeed he was a revolutionary of the best kind,taking on the powers that be and showing the power of God’s love, making everything new again by his death and resurrection. For Holy Week we focus on what lies ahead for Jesus and we cringe for him and for ourselves even as we recognize within ourselves the lack of fidelity to love. we too go through our Good Fridays to get to Easter. And he is there with us too with the promise of life. Wow!

    For a look at Palm sunday’s past and the meditations of three women priests you can visit my earlier blog:

    Palm Sunday Reflections By Women Priests 4/9/17

    Have a blessed Palm Sunday and Holy Week

    Pastor Judy Lee
    Rev.Dr. Judith Lee,RCWP
    Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community

  • Dear Pope Francis-Please Read This

    Dear Pope Francis,
    Women Priests are already here, and speaking for myself, we love and respect you (for so many reasons including those noted below*). You are courageous and leading our church back to where it began with Jesus and to the simplicity of where it ought to be,standing with the least among us as Jesus did and challenging the religious who have ossified in their beliefs. But we must ask you to consider again your position on women. The Gospel for Sunday, the 4th Sunday in Lent is about Jesus healing the man born blind John 9:1-41). As we accept that we are all sometimes like the religious leaders of the time it is also about our blindness, our blind-spots. Humbly I suggest that as well as you see,and seeing, shed light on us, your blind-spot on women is showing particularly in your recent response to the Amazonian Synod. Below I share a letter from our Roman Catholic Women Priest Bishops world-wide. Please consider it strongly and with your heart.
    With Gratitude,
    Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP, Fort Myers, Florida

    (The RCWP Bishops Letter follows some of the reasons we hold you in such high esteem. I could not just cut and paste but a link is provided).

    *There are so many reasons to love Pope Francis and his teachings. His emphasis on Bishops and Priests and Pastors having the “smell of the sheep” on them, in other words remaining close to their flocks, knowing them, loving them, hearing them, serving WITH them, is a light in darkness for us. Similarly his emphasis on the wealth of the church being its people and serving its people, especially those without means and those on the margins, and not amassing silver and gold shines the light on some of the core values of the church hijacked in ostentatious materialism. His revulsion of the history of sexual abuse and recent “solutions” to this are also so important to the survival of the church. And his recent response to the Amazonian synod is likewise noteworthy, except for his traditional response to women where he keeps us separate in service which is, as we have well learned, never just or equal.)

    The following statement by the Roman Catholic Women Priest Bishops serves to challenge Pope Francis to risk more displeasure of some in the Vatican, in the church, of Opus Dei and ultra conservative critics and come aboard with his sister priests who are already serving alongside him and their brother priests.

    When you click on this link (line below) a download will appear on your screen, bottom left. You can then open it and read the strong letter from the RCWP Bishops.

    RCWP Bishops respond to Quierda Amazonia-r1

    Eastern Region Oct. 14, 2018
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  • Nations Are Judged By Treatment Of the Most Vulnerable: A Lenten Meditation by a Roman Catholic Woman Priest

    Readers of all faiths and no particular faith are invited to take a deep breath, exhale slowly and focus on our world and our country at this point in time. Focus on what is right and beautiful and focus on what is ugly and unjust, on the “haves and have-nots” and on those trying hard to have, to share, and to build a just Nation. You may be surprised when I say that the coinciding of Lent in the Christian tradition and the U.S. Presidential Primaries and debates DO have something in common. I will try to draw some of those commonalities here. This is at risk of alienating those who are sick of politics and promises loosely made and rarely kept. But it is also necessary and hopeful in encouraging the connections between what we value and believe in the Scriptures and applying it not only individually but as a National entity.

    My ears and my whole being perked up in the recent Democratic TV debate when two of the candidates, not totally in sync with one another, quoted similar scriptures when asked their favorite quotes: Elizabeth Warren quoted Matthew 25: 40 in the King James version ” Inasmuch as ye did it to the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me”. (Or in The Priests for Equality Inclusive Bible (TIB): “…the truth is , every time you did this for the least of my sisters or brothers, you did it for me”. And the corollary is Matthew 25:45 ” “The truth is, as often as you neglected to do this to the least of these,you neglected to do it to me…. only the just will go off to eternal life.”) And Pete Buttigeig quoted the Golden rule. “You should love your neighbor as yourself”. And each of the other candidates without quoting scripture made points about how they would make policy and or program provision for the “least of these”, including the homeless, the sick, particularly those without money, and children and youth seeking education as well as daily breakfast and immigrants and migrants. These aspirations for the Nation were very much in line with the Golden rule and Matthew 25, with or without saying so. All were hopeful for a new day for the underserved and those for whom racism, classism and gender inequality have taken its toll. Sure, the “devil is in the details” and the details of all plans and hopes need work, but at least the start of such altruistic aspirations and plans were good to hear.

    As it is now, under the current Administration, where would the USA stand in the Matthew 25 “judgement of the sheep and the goats?” To provide context-this is where Jesus frames the scene as a judgement of nations, of countries while we often apply it only to our individual lives, thereby getting only a part of the point being made. Not only do we singly have to measure up to the “rule of love,” but our country, our nation needs to do so as a Nation, as well. Matthew 25:32 states: “All the nations will be brought before him, and as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,so will he do with them, placing the sheep on his right and the goats on his left”- and those who do not feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, welcome strangers into their homes/nations-house the stranger and the homeless- and clothe the naked and visit/take care of the sick and imprisoned will be considered the “just” and will be gathered in with the good sheep. Moreover in doing so the nation and individual that does these kind and merciful things is actually doing those acts of kindness as if God stood there before them as a hungry, thirsty, outsider/stranger in need of a home, a doctor, and a welcome. So, how does the USA as a Nation do with the application of the “Golden Rule” that Jesus emphasizes (Matthew 25:31-46)? This “Rule” actually originates in the Hebrew Tradition in Leviticus 191-2,11-18 ending with “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”.

    These scriptural passages were in yesterdays, March 2nd 2020 Lenten meditations. And in today’s Lenten meditation Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s will to be done on earth. (In context this is God’s will for justice, especially for the poor and most vulnerable). While today’s Psalm 34 reminds us that ” When the poor one cried out, the Lord heard…The Lord has eyes for the just, and ears for their cry…and is close to the broken-hearted and those who are crushed in spirit.” Too often we make this about our individual emotional or spiritual states but I close my eyes and see parents and children being separated, torn apart, at the US-Mexico border and people dying on the arduous journey to the closed door they thought represented freedom and safety. And, in keeping with our Good Shepherd’s Ministry to the homeless and poorest among us, I shrink at the numbers of people of all ages still living in the streets in the USA.

    How does the USA enact and operationalize this precious Golden rule? How do we as a Nation include the interests of the most vulnerable in our policies and programs? How do the Presidential candidates enliven and enact this rule in their own lives as well as in their proposed or actual programs, policies and actions? While we are sick of political disappointments and may want to pull back-this is the time to energize to do the opposite. To find the best of the very human candidates to vote for- and to do it, and help others to get out and vote as well. Not to say,”I’m not voting-there is no one I like”. That simply leaves the decision to someone else who may not want to live the Golden rule in this time of great greed and lack of global and environmental awareness. It means assigning the environment and all of its creatures to the needs of the greedy to get more. We need instead to look forward to Spring in this winter of discontent. To embrace the new growth that can surely happen.

    To quote Sr. Chris Koellhoffer,IHM in http://www.livingwithchrist.us the word “Lent” derives from a word meaning Springtime. It evokes the feeling of seeing the new purpleblue crocus poking its head through the ice and snow as winter recedes, or the sheer beauty of a Spring day. While in many climates winter seems cold , iced over,barren and permanent, it is not. The cycle or spiral of life is still underneath and moves forward and makes itself known, sometimes when we need it most. Sr. Chris asks that we enter into this liturgical Springtime with deep listening to the word of God in the Scriptures and with “deep faith in God’s creative power to bring forth life in every heart,in every corner of our world”. Lent is traditionally a time of thoughtful and deep meditation with prayer, fasting and almsgiving. That is ,we take stock of ourselves and our shortcomings, and this can include of our Country and its shortcomings held up to the light of the Scriptures, and we fast from anything that would be unhealthy for us spiritually , as well as physically, and with a smile on our faces not a “woe is me” for trying to change something difficult with our “fasts” and prayers, we then ACT in compassion for justice and peace. And we do this in a million small ways right where we are. And those ways now need to include making wise political decisions and holding those decisions up to the light of the scriptures, and to the light of day.

    The Network federation of Sisters religious (famous for the nuns on the bus and their lifegiving, including, political activities) have a website that can inspire and guide us in this direction. Here is a link to their Network Advocates and an article about Spirit-Filled Voting that is challenging and clear. https://www.networkadvocates.org/spiritfilledvoters/listening/ Also http://www.votecommongood.com Sister Emily TeKloste of the Network Lobby for Catholic Soical Justice teaches us to Listen First, then Act. What good advice! And there are so many coalitions of interfaith religious, and of secular groups to save the environment or assist migrants and refugees, and coalitions of people who work for getting out the vote, there is a place for every one of us to get involved in making something new happen.

    So for Lent, this year do something, anything, and DO the most you can do to enact justice and make sure our Nation does the same!

    Blessings and love as Lent continues on to the Cross and YES, to the Rising up from the dead!

    For the “least of these”,
    Pastor Judy Lee,
    Good Shepherd Ministries of SW Florida
    Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP, DMin, DSW, MS

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  • Does Donald Trump Really Champion the Right to Life?

    The Roman Catholic Church is caught up in ugly partisan politics as Donald Trump attempts to assert himself as the only Right To Life Candidate for the 2020 Presidency of the United States of America. To decide if this is true one needs to look into the Social Teachings of the Church. If one knows, believes,loves and follows the Catholic teachings on Social Justice, one knows that ALL of life is to be valued ,from the womb to the tomb and ALL instances in between. All life is God-given and worth living with all the quality of living needed to live. All immigrants and strangers are entitled to their right to life wherever they and their children can truly live and thrive. All who have mental or physical challenges, both abilities and “disabilities” are entitled to a right to the fullness of life. All- of any culture, race, social class, language, color or of any particular religion or other persuasion are entitled to life. All of either gender or both genders or transgenders are entitled to the fullness of life. All of any sexual orientation including those somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum are entitled to the fullness of life. All of any age, from pre-birth to death, the young and the old and the very old and those in between are entitled to the right to life. All human beings anywhere are entitled to respect, dignity, compassion, mercy and freedom from armed conflicts and war-all deserve LIFE.

    This includes (in no particular order as all are important) challenging archaic death penalties or state appointed murder as a solution to even the most horrendous crimes. The death-penalty is a right to life issue. Compassionate treatment of all immigrants is a right to life issue. Nuclear disarmament and PEACE are right to life issues . Access to food and water and compassionate care for all is a right to life issue. This includes full access to an income, food and shelter,education and health care both preventive and remediative for ALL. This also includes attention to the ecological perspective for both humans and animals, for the rain forests and all of the environment, and all living things. Love and care for God’s Creation is a right to life response. Cruelty or disregard for any living being (human or animal of any type) is the opposite of the right to live within Catholic Social Justice teachings. Believing in the right to life includes not “bad-mouthing” and ghettoizing any individual or group of people. Valuing and championing all of these rights to life are, arguably,the most important rules we live by-the essence of the Golden Rule- LOVE your neighbor as yourself- emphasized by Jesus and an essential part of all the world’s major religions. If we love all of our neighbors- no exceptions– we make very different policies and programs and uphold actions that uphold the right to life of all-not only the unborn and not only those like ourselves.

    Here is the link to an excellent article by Tom Roberts of NCR Online on this topic of the right to life and the way the Church is being used and manipulated in ugly partisanship. I thank Ellen McNally President of our SW Florida CTA-Call To Action- group for sharing this article.

    https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/ncr-connections/trump-seals-his-catholic-deal?

    Let us open our eyes and see what is happening and act accordingly to support the universal right to life of all beings.

    Love and blessings,
    Pastor Judy
    Rev. Dr Judy Lee,RCWP,DMin,DSW,MS
    Pastor The Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community, Fort Myers, Florida


  • The Courage to Love and Serve-The Life Story of Rev. Judith Ann Beaumont – A Roman Catholic Woman Priest And A Saint For Our Times is HERE

    2014-04-26 04.22.41

    “She Followed Her Conscience in Prophetic Obedience–and Disobedience!
    This is the exciting and sometimes surprising life of Rev. Judy Beaumont: Benedictine Sister, Peace activist, “Jailbird”,prison reformer,justice seeker and provider of new life for the homeless and those at the margins and me, blessed to be her partner in life and ministry It is autobiographical as it contains her own writings and words as well as mine. It is authentic and faithful to her life of love, compassion and prophetic obedience. Be inspired and carry it on!”
    Thus reads the back cover of this book by Rev. Dr. Judy Lee, yours truly.

    This link should take you to a Review by Dr. Bridget Mary Meehan and a link to the book.
    https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/12/the-courage-to-love-and-serve-life.html

    It is available NOW at Amazon.com and by tomorrow the Kindle Direct Publication e- copy will be available too- also Amazon.com. I do hope you will read it and be inspired to continue your own acts of love, conscience and compassion.
    Thank you for your consideration. And I would love your feedback.

    Rev. Dr. Judy Lee, RCWP
    Pastor Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community , Fort Myers, Florida
    And Good Shepherd Ministries

  • New Hope For Roman Catholic Women Priests

    As we celebrate Advent,a most joyful time of hope and expectation as we await the newness of the incarnation of Christ once again in our lives at Christmas, it is energizing to receive encouraging news. It is good that during this time we who await good news on the ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church, and we who have already been ordained as Roman Catholic women Priests through the RCWP, Roman Catholic WomenPriests Movement, receive news of both action and progress. the following articles affirm hope for the future and evidence of our
    positive existence even now.
    The first article is about Amazon Synod leader, German Bishop Josef Overbeck who discusses positive views on the Ordination of women and also on the just treatment of gays in the church’s views and in the church itself. This is the link:
    churchmilitant.com/news/article/amazon-synod-bishop-female-priesthood-coming

    The second article is about Rev. Barbara Beadles,RCWP, a member of the Eastern Region of Roman catholic WomenPriests. She is welcomed by many as she serves a home Mass. This is the link:
    georgetownvoice.com/2019/12/06/

    Enjoy these hopeful pieces of news as you await the birth of Jesus and the renewal of our faith at Christmas.

    Members of the Eastern Region of Roman Catholic Women Priests

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    Eastern Region Oct. 14, 2018

    This is our Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community celebrating a House Mass,


    A Blessed Advent to ALL,
    Pastor Judy

    Rev. Dr. Judith Lee, RCWP

  • Hope for Women’s Ordination in High Places

    While, we, Roman Catholic Women Priests already do exist, we are validly ordained but “illicit”. Like the Episcopalian women who stepped out and were validly ordained for the Episcopal church in the 1970’s we hope that we are a wedge that will open the door for women’s Ordination within the Roman Catholic Church. It worked for that small group of Episcopal women priests, will it work for us within the Roman Catholic Church? It will have to, for that is where we are firmly planted, not starting “something new”. Many of us say, “well, probably not in my lifetime, but it will work- women will be both validly AND legally ordained within the Roman Catholic Church”. From seven validly women ordained on the Danube river in 2002, and the three women Bishops validly ordained by a male bishop in good standing in the following year, now there are over 265 Roman Catholic Women Priests and the number grows steadily. Yet, it is still the RC Church that must make a move to make it happen “legally” for both women and married priests.
    Here is an article from another blog site that gives some hope for the present time.
    Dr. Maike Hickson, blogger and author of A Catholic Witness in Our TIme has written this article entitled “Ban on Female Priests Not A Dogma-Says Key Amazon Synod Organizer” This is about Bishop Erwin Krautler who also sites the work of Bishop Fritz Lobinger regarding hopes to ordain married male priests and women as priests. Krautler,retired ArchBishop of Xingu, Brazil knows all too well that millions of people all over the world are not being served by any priest and that ordaining well prepared local people (male and female) would be an answer to this travesty. In March of 2018 Bishop Krautler met with Pope Francis who encouraged him to “make bold proposals” in the Amazon Synod that will begin on October 6th in QRome. It appears that Krautler has done this and we can only pray that our beloved Francis, for such he is to those who love his take on social justice and the Gospel, and others in high places will be open to hearing these bold proposals about ordination. We look forward to the Amazon Synod and pray for open ears and eyes to receive it.

    Here is the link to the excellent article by Dr. Maike Hickson on Lifesite News.

    https://lifesitenews.com/blogs/john-paul-iis-ban-on-female-priests-not-a-dogma-key-amazon-synod-organizer/

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    Eastern Region Oct. 14, 2018

    Blessings and Peace,
    Pastor Judy Lee, RCWP
    Rev. Dr. Judith A. B. Lee

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