REV LIZ MAITLAND Priest (Liberal Catholic) Living in the Divine Well In June 25, 2022 I was ordained a Priest in the Liberal Catholic (OCAC) Church at Wimborne in Dorset. So, I am now Rev Liz Maitland. This is exciting for me as I have had a calling to ordination since I was 19 years …
CLAUS GEISSENDOERFER Organisational Change Consultant, Host of German Catholic podcast Spiritualität 9.0 Neurodiversity and extreme ups and downs in life My story is not so much about the Catholic Church, but more about the struggles of being on the neuro-diverse spectrum. I was recently diagnosed with bipolarity. The diagnosis has given me many answers to …
SUE BITNEY Lifelong Roman Catholic. BA in Theology. Masters in Adlerian Psychology. Served in many capacities in the Church and after leaving as Social Worker with people with disabilities. My Personal Experience of Abuse Taught Me About God’s Love I was hired by our Archdiocese to work with the deaf community as assistant director of …
PAULA IVORY HOEFFER Cincinnati, Ohio, USA Wife, mother, grandmother, former Catholic school teacher, Roman Catholic Womanpriest seeking Church reform Womanpriest Obedience to God comes before obedience to men. “Obedience to God comes before obedience to men.” Acts 5,29 On January 15th, 2012, as a devout Catholic I read at my parish mass 1 Samuel 3,1-18, …
KATHLEEN ELLERTSON Cameron Park, CA Director of Veteran Art Institute, 501(c)3 Who Knew What We Were Missing I was born and raised a cradle Catholic by two Catholic parents. Our family was veryreligious; we had two nuns and a priest in our family. I took it very seriously at first. My dadtaught catechism, we said …
ANONYMOUS A white woman growing up in England, UK, striving to be an ally for survivors of clerical abuse. Bursting the Catholic bubble… I was brought up as a Roman Catholic girl in England in the 1950’s and 60’s Three generations back my maternal relatives came to England to find work and escape poverty in Ireland. …
CHRISTINA REYMER Daughter, wife, mother, Oma, sister, teacher, international development volunteer, community activist, business owner, gardener, experimental cook, cyclist, lover of the outdoors, dreamer of a better world, and a believer… I need a big God The words of pop star Florence and the Machine capture the heart of why I am committed to reform. …
RENE REID Director of Catholic Church Reform InternationalReno, Nevada, USA Church rules caused so much bickering in my family My story began in 1962 when I entered religious life and discovered that my decision hurt my mother deeply. Struggling to understand her resistance, I remembered my mother telling me she was married by a justice …
ANN SMITH United Kingdom, 72, Retired, former University Catholic Chaplain Oxford and London, HIV Research Middlesex hospital London, HIV Corporate Strategist CAFOD The Joys and Hopes, Griefs and Anxieties of Employment as a Lay Chaplain In 1978 I joined the Oxford University Catholic Chaplaincy as lay chaplain, and from 1984 when I took up an …
MARY RING Mum, granny, jill-of-all-trades, Wales, UK Survivor of Catholic male-think. Bless ’em. Sometimes It has taken me six decades to survive Catholic male-think. As a hardworking and good little girl, one of three sisters in a happy and close large family, I was indignant at the treats and fuss that our kind nuns gave …