Since the early ‘60s and especially under the present pope, the hierarchy has done its best to nullify the presence of resigned priests in the institutional church. It set up rules designed to exile us from the church, lest we be a “scandal to the faithful.” Their effort was made difficult by the fact that Canon Law recognizes that we remain priests and that in emergency circumstances we may/must provide the sacraments to the faithful who request them. That’s Canon Law’s way of saying that no one can deny God’s call, unless it be the one called. So, instead, by Vatican indult, we have been removed from the ranks of the clergy with all its perks and privileges and we have been reduced to the lay state. These arbitrary rules are not found in Canon Law. Actually, they make the resigned priest less equal than other ordinary lay persons, because they deny us the right to be a Reader, Eucharistic minister or Homilist, or be a religion teacher or administrator of a Catholic school. They even tell us where we may not live. In short, these rules were designed to destroy whatever credibility or influence we might have had as active priests due to our position or the exercise of our pastoral ministry. By these rules and, sometimes, by public and/or private remarks, we were made to feel guilty. We were, as one recent pope said, “Judas priests.”

These tactics have been successfully used by many bishops, including the present bishop of  Rome. Indeed, most resigned priests either left the institutional Church or continued to attend a parish where they kept their background hidden from everyone, including, quite often, their own children. But others have not gone quietly into the dark night of exile. They have remained true to God’s call despite the efforts of the hierarchy to demean and isolate them. They have countered the isolation by creating associations of resigned priests in more than 25 countries of the world. The main function of these groups is to exercise a ministry of hospitality and support. Most of these groups began publishing newsletters in support of resigned priests and the Church reforms that they advocate. As a result of these efforts, more resigned priests have come out of the closet, and with greater self-esteem and a more profound appreciation of their God-given call, they have become true priests of Christ ­true witnesses to the divine presence among us. This they do by proclaiming the Gospel message in many different ways both inside and outside the institutional Church.

Some resigned priests have continued to exercise privately a sacramental ministry either independently or through organizations like CITI, Inc. (Celibacy Is The Issue). Many other resigned priests have gotten involved in a wide variety of social justice ministries either through their professional work or through local and international organizations, religious or secular. Others have had tremendous influence as prophets of church renewal. You have seen the names of many of them in the pages of The Journal: Gregory Baum, Anthony Padovano, Terry Dosh, Paul Collins, Eugene Kennedy, Michael Farrell, Daniel Berrigan, John Shea, David Gawlik, John Shuster, Tom McMahon, Heinz Vogels, and the many members of Corpus Canada who have been featured in these pages.

At  first, the bishops merely ignored us. But as we began to make waves, to seek long overdue changes, they sought to dismiss us as over-indulgent whiners and complainers. It has been to no avail, for we have matured and we have stayed the course.

Now you will have noticed that I haven’t as yet mentioned women, whether they be the wives of married priests or former members of religious communities or both as one in the same (in the early years 60% of the resigned priests married nuns). That’s because up to this point I have been concerned with the efforts of the hierarchy to silence or discredit those they deemed a serious threat to the clerical system and over whom they had more power to control. They didn’t feel it necessary to be concerned about women, since they haven’t any real power in the institutional church anyway. Or so they thought. That was a big mistake that the Vatican has recently begun to rectify by taking women’s ordination off the table of discussion, requiring theologians to be licensed, silencing and/or defrocking troublesome nuns. Did they not see the writing on the wall, when, after the Second Vatican Council, many religious communities of women made the enlightened decision to send their talented candidates to universities in the pursuit of graduate degrees in many fields but especially in the various branches of theology? Did they not expect these bright, talented women would expose the self-serving scriptural and historical interpretations that have made women second class citizens in the institutional church? It would appear that they have woefully underestimated the power of the feminist revolution. Indeed, these women, whether they have left their religious communities or not, are making an enormous contribution to the church renewal movement. The numbers speak for themselves. In the last 30 years the number of lay persons seeking graduate degrees in divinity and those working in parish ministry have increased fourfold, and 85% of them are women. As an aside, it is significant to note the considerable presence of married priests working cooperatively with women in church renewal organizations where women and/or women’s issues predominate.

The tide has turned for all those prophets, men and women, working for church renewal. The priest shortage, clergy abuse cases and the “Chittister Affair” (WOW Conference in Dublin last July) have opened the minds and warmed the hearts of most Catholics to the need for sweeping changes. We are no longer in exile. In fact, we are in the forefront of the “future church.”

We continue to listen carefully to the Spirit and, like Jesus, we proclaim a prophetic message to everyone, whether within the institutional church or outside it. We are building God’s Global Community just as Jesus taught us. One need only read the signs of the times to see that the “Temple” church of the hierarchy, like the one in Jerusalem in 70 CE or like the one built under Constantine in the 4th century, is tumbling, stone by stone. Unfortunately, the roles are now reversed as too many bishops have chosen to live in self-imposed exile on the “Titanic” barque of Peter steaming along on automatic pilot on a collision course with disaster. I sincerely pray that they will listen to the Holy Spirit, soften their hearts, and become the captains of the Ship God chose them to be.