First Catholic pregnant priest now the mother of Finn

The Ecumenical Catholic Communion considers itself to be part of the one, holy, catholic church. The Roman Catholic Church says "no," it is a heretical group. There is only one, holy, Catholic Church, and that's the Roman one founded by the apostles and Peter and all those guys and that has been in business since the first century.

Heh, heh. Nice mythology, but not true. Heh, heh.

Sts. Clare & Francis is an ECC church in Webster Groves, Missouri. It is led by Frank Krebs, a former Roman Catholic priest, and by Jessica Rowley, 26, who was ordained as a Catholic priest about a year ago.

ECC churches welcome all people, but is especially attractive to those who have been "marginalized" by the Roman Church -- divorced folks who've remarried as well as gays and lesbians.

Pastor Rowley was raised a devout Roman Catholic, attending Catholic schools in Chicago. She received an Master's of Divinity from Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. Eden is an established, highly-respected seminary, and though affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ denominations, has a thoroughly ecumenical approach.

Her husband is a pastor of the United Church of Christ.


Pastor Rowley gained a certain notoriety when she became pregnant last year. She was, many said, the very first pregnant Catholic priest. She gave birth to a son, Finn, on November 21, 2008. She and her husband said at the time they planned to baptize Finn in both the Catholic and UCC churches.

Rowley does not belong to the association, Roman Catholic Womenpriests. She doesn't claim to be a Roman Catholic. She is not tied to the Vatican. As a result the St. Louis Archbishop is leaving her alone. Archbishop Raymond Burke excommunicated two other women who were ordained as Roman Catholic priests last year.

He doesn't care about Rowley as he doesn't consider her to be a "true" Catholic. There is only ONE Catholic church, says a spokesman for the St. Louis Archdiocese. The ECC is not truly "Catholic," and thus the Roman Church doesn't really care what they do. "To be Catholic, authentically," saith the spokesperson, "is to be in union with the Pope and the bishops of the Catholic Church."

Of course it is. Furthermore, if too many people defy the authority of the Pope and his skirted Cardinals, chaos could result. More women would want to ordained. Lay people might want to have a real say in the organization and operation of the Roman church. Priests might even get married (legally). Pretty soon folks would have the gall to get divorced and come right back to take Holy Communion. All the gay priests would insist on coming out the closet.

"Jesus Christ, what a mess that would be!" saith an anonymous cleric wandering vaguely down a a long, narrow Vatican hallway.


Ain't religion wunnerful?

Oh, here's what one loving Catholic Christian said about the Rev. Rowley: "...this woman is neither catholic nor priest is more of an animal trying to celebrate the Holy Eucharist in front of the divine."

And another: "She is Not A Catholic Priest Period..."


Read more here. And here.

A priestly hell

According to one so-called "man of god," a Roman Catholic priest in South Carolina, Catholics who voted for Barack Obama are going to hell and should not receive communion unless "they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation."

When word of what this priest said got to heaven, Jesus Christ, sitting at the right hand of the Father, who is himself, next to the Holy Ghost, who is also himself, said loudly to the angel Gabriel, who was seated in front of the trinitarian One, "Jesus Christ! These people are idiots! Did they not ever listen to what I said? Bring me a martini, Gabe, straight-up, shaken, not stirred."

"Aye, aye, Sirs," said Gabe, who straight-away went to find a bar. There's one on every corner in heaven, you know.

"Now, settle down, Jeez," said the Father who is Jeez and the Holy Ghost. "No sense getting your robe in a knot. They'll never learn. We made a serious mistake with that vision you cooked up for the faux rabbi, Paul! Who knew he'd screw everything up so badly?"

"Hey," chimed in the Holy Ghost who is Jeez and the Father. "I could do one of my numbers on that priest and make him disappear when he's putting on his alb in the sacristy. Presto! I could turn him into sacramental wine. He'd be gone."

"Ah, phooey," said Jeez. "That wouldn't solve the problem. Those damn bishops are making all kinds of noise about this abortion thing, too. God, you'd think they'd have better things to do!"

"Yup!" said the father.

"You know we worked hard to get Obama in the White House," said the Holy Ghost. "All those damn prayer warriors whining about that goofball cheerleader from Alaska! Give me a break!"

"That was a pain," said Jeez. "They just about shut down our whole system for a month! Wait until I get my hands on that Muthee character and that Dobson nut out in Colorado Springs! Muthee's gonna do about a million years with the witch of Endor. That oughta shut him up! And Dobson, well, when I get through with him, he'll be begging me to toss him off the top of Pike's Peak!"

"So, what now?" asked the Father.

"I don't know," the Trinity cried in unison. "We've fought these self-righteous bastards for 2,000 years and what have we got to show for it? Benedict XVI, John Hagee, Dobson, Ted Haggard, Pat Robertson, Joel's Army, Pentecostalism ... I'm about ready to throw in the towel."

"Nah, we can't do that," said Jeez. "We've got too much invested. Boy, I sure wish we'd had better biblical editors. They really screwed things up. Nobody knows what to believe and the ones who think they know are making the situation worse."

"All right, I'm about ready for my nap," said the Father as Jesus and the Holy Ghost suddenly became very tired. "We gave these idiots free will and we can't go back on our word. But we can change our reward system, 'cause they really don't know what we've got planned. I'd suggest that a special hell be set up where all those who claim to have the Truth will go when they die. It will involve horrible torture and I expect there will be lots of pain and screaming. But we'll let the Devil deal with that."

Jesus and the Holy Ghost, almost asleep now, asked groggily, "What the hell are you talking about, Dad?" They never call the Father, Dad, unless they're very tired and of course being One they already knew what he was talking about.

"We're going to make them listen to Sarah Palin speeches over and over again for seven million years!"

"Oh, my God!" they exclaimed in a unified trinitarian cry.

And then, the three of them, as one, took a nap.

But that South Carolina priest has no idea what he's in for!