One group’s leap of faith
Catholics move to splinter church Spiritus Christi Buffalo to find more inclusive practices than those found in diocesan parishes
A decade ago, when a large group of Catholics feuded with the Diocese of Rochester over issues such as female priests and blessing of gay unions, the very public dispute resulted in the dismissal of a longtime priest, the ouster of a nun from her order and the firing of a pastoral associate — as well as national media attention.
It led to a splinter congregation, Spiritus Christi Church, that draws as many as 2,900 people a week for its worship services in downtown Rochester.
The break also rippled quietly westward into the Diocese of Buffalo, where a small but faithful group gathers weekly inside a Protestant church on the West Side, guided by the same principles of inclusion preached by the Rochester congregation.
They call themselves Spiritus Christi Buffalo, and on the first Wednesday evening each month, the Rev. James Callan, the ousted Rochester priest, drives the 76 miles on the Thruway to celebrate a Catholic Mass in Buffalo.
“It’s always been small, about 20 people,” said Callan, who began offering the Masses in 1999.
But now the members of Spiritus Christi Buffalo are embarking on a campaign to attract a larger following.
In November, they moved from an Episcopal church on North Street to Pilgrim-St. Luke’s United Church of Christ on Richmond Avenue and started weekly Saturday afternoon Masses, which are celebrated by a former Buffalo diocesan priest who left the priesthood in the 1970s.
Spiritus Christi Buffalo is made up of an eclectic mix of cradle Catholics, including some who continue to participate in traditional diocesan parishes, Protestants and even some self-identified agnostics.
“Sometimes I feel like I’m breaking rules,” said Rosey Nogle, who also attends St. Timothy’s Church in the Town of Tonawanda, “but as far as breaking from the Catholic Church, my entire life, I’ve seen the Vatican backing away from promises it made at Vatican II.”
The Second Vatican Council from 1962 to 1965 ushered in some dramatic reforms, such as the celebration of Masses in vernacular languages. But many liberal Catholics have long maintained the true spirit of the council was never truly fulfilled.
The Vatican, for example, requires that only Catholics free of grave sin are eligible for Communion. It also prohibits the ordination of woman and married men and strongly condemns same-sex marriage.
Spiritus Christi openly invites anyone to receive the Eucharist during Masses. In Rochester, the congregation is led by a woman, the Rev. Mary Ramerman, who was ordained in 2001 by a Catholic bishop who is independent of the Vatican, and has hosted several gay union blessings.
“I don’t think turning people away is very productive for a religious community,” said Nogle, who is studying in the lay program at Christ the King Seminary and hopes someday to follow in Ramerman’s footsteps and become a priest.
Patricia Harris attends both Spiritus Christi and SS. Peter & Paul Church in Hamburg. After Mass on Saturday, she worried how her affiliation with the Spiritus Christi group would be interpreted at the Hamburg parish.
“I anticipate they’ll see this as a heretical movement,” she said, acknowledging that she did not look forward to the encounter.
Still, she added, “I have to be here. Whenever they found out, now or later, this is where I need to be.”
Even the former priest, John Radice, who has been married 31 years and has a son, maintains a strong attachment to his home parish, which he declines to name.
But Radice downplays any controversy.
“I don’t see how praying is controversial,” he said.
Besides, he added, “We’re doing nothing under any organized church’s auspices. There is no conflict with any organized church. . . . We’re not doing this in a Roman Catholic church building. We’re not looking to challenge any issues with the Roman Catholic church.”
Others in Spiritus Christi Buffalo have taken a full leap of faith into the community, saying they no longer felt at home in diocesan parishes.
“I can’t be one way on Sunday morning and another way on Saturday nights,” said Lynn Rice of West Seneca, who used to travel to Rochester for the Spiritus Christi liturgies.
Sister Jean Becker, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Penance & Christian Charity for 42 years, said she couldn’t in “good conscience” continue in a parish that excluded women, gay people and others from full participation.
“It was getting harder and harder for me to worship in a church where I felt injustice was inherent in the very service I was participating in,” she said.
Spiritus Christi is now her parish community.
Becker’s superiors know about her situation and so far have not objected, she said. A Sister of St. Joseph in Rochester was dismissed in 2002 from the congregation because of her participation with Spiritus Christi.
Becker said she loves her community of sisters and would not want to leave, but “if that happens, I just have to risk that for my beliefs. I can’t be a coward about that.”
Nonetheless, the dynamics around the Spiritus Christi community in Buffalo are far different from those in Rochester, where Bishop Matthew Clark was forced to address a disagreement involving one of his priests at an active Catholic parish, Corpus Christi, where Callan had been pastor for more than 20 years.
Here, Spiritus Christi Buffalo already operates as an independent entity and does not have a priest who is answerable to Bishop Edward U. Kmiec.
But the small congregation anticipates growth as more people learn of its existence.
Becker, for one, believes “there are thousand of people in the Western New York area just waiting for this.”
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