Mission
Father Anne's mission is to see women welcomed into the Roman Catholic priesthood.
photo by Nathaniel Tetsuro Paolinelli
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who is father anneFather Anne was ordained on October 16, 2021 in Albuquerque, NM through the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and is now an independent Roman Catholic priest. She has a deep love of the Society of Jesus and Ignatian spirituality, which blossomed over twelve years of ministering with Jesuits. She earned a Master of Divinity from Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley, CA, and has worked in multiple Jesuit parishes. Her deepest desire is to serve as a Jesuit priest in a parish within the institutional Church.
In addition to her formation in the Roman Catholic Church, Father Anne has a Master’s degree in Rhetoric and Writing Studies from San Diego State University, along with 25 years of experience in strategic communications, professional writing, and marketing and promotions. She harnesses this background in working for a priesthood that welcomes women. |
why father?The priest is one of the most powerful symbols in the Roman Catholic tradition. The priest symbol, like the sacraments, makes present hidden realities of God so that we can encounter them more fully. However, because the symbol is restricted to the male form alone, it produces a lopsided encounter with God, limiting the full range of experiences God desires to bestow upon us. This robs us of a more full understanding of God's nature, God's desires, and God's invitations to us. This misunderstanding of God produces the subjugation of women against God's desires.
A central part of my ministry is to expand this rich symbol with the female form. I am exactly like any male priest: I am celibate, I wear the Roman collar, I use the Roman Missal and its traditional Catholic prayers, and I go by the title "Father." There is only one difference between me and any male priest: my female body. I claim the traditional symbol on behalf of all women everywhere, and provide the Holy Spirit the ongoing opportunity to harness this symbolic power and communicate God's desires for the full participation of women in the Church. |
Philadephia, 2015
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the call to new life
It can be difficult to discover that the Church is out of alignment with God on a particular issue. While the institutional Church is masterful in presenting itself as unchanging, it is an undeniable fact that Church tradition has changed dramatically over its 2000-year existence. This is fact. These changes include total reversals in doctrine on issues like religious freedom, celibacy, the presence of truth in other religions, the sinfulness of slavery and anti-Semitism. By pretending tradition doesn't change, the institutional Church commits a great disservice because it makes the Body of Christ ill-prepared for the ongoing awakening that naturally occurs over time when we prayerfully walk with God. We are called to cultivate a disposition of the paschal mystery, allowing God's Holy Spirit to ever-deepen our understanding of who God is, what God desires, and how God calls us into relationship with God and one another. In other words, we must give the Holy Spirit the freedom to teach, and be willing to die to the self to be brought to new life.
"You cannot swim for new horizons until you have courage to lose sight of the shore."
