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WHAT IS OUR IDENTITY?
One Congregation’s 20 Year
Journey from Reactive exRoman Catholics to American
National Catholics
May 1, 2015
Fr. James Lehman, FCM
Chapter I-Koinonia
I was ordained a Permanent Deacon in 1987 for the Roman Catholic Church
and began working at Immaculate Heart of Mary Cathedral as the Administrator. I
was encouraged to do some outreach to the Gay and Lesbian community. This was
around 1993 and the journey began. The group met and we chose the word
Koinonia which is a transliterated form of the Greek word, κοινωνία, which means
communion, joint participation. It identifies the idealized state of fellowship and
unity that should exist within the Christian church, the Body of Christ. We
gathered weekly for fellowship, prayer and the reading of the Sunday scriptures.
Eventually the group said that they wanted more and wanted Eucharist. Around
the same time I had a conversation with a friend of mine standing outside of the
IHM Cathedral and asked why we could not have a church where all were
welcome. She said we could and she would help me. I met with the Roman
Catholic bishop and asked for a leave of absence as I was feeling more and more
not at home in the Roman Catholic Church.
Chapter II-Peace Lutheran and Beginnings
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I began to search the web looking at
Independent Catholic Churches and found one
that seemed to fit. It was Anglican, which was
a little different for me, but they were
welcoming to all and had a distance learning
program so that I could complete my classes
here in Las Cruces. I began my studies and
Koinonia continued to meet in our home. On
October 31, 1995 we met around my dining
room table and requested from Anglican Bishop Craig his permission to form a
parish. We chose the name “Holy Family” as Jesus, Mary and Joseph were not a
traditional family, as were not many of us. We began to look around for a place to
meet and approached Pastor Steve Loy of Peace Lutheran ELCA. Our first service
was in the Fall of 1995. My ordination to the Anglican priesthood took place April
13, 1996 in front of a packed church of family and friends. The next Sunday we
had about 5 people in attendance.
We started with a Saturday evening service and then moved to Sunday
evening. People in authority tried to shut us down saying we were confusing the
people but we continued and the Lutherans gave us sanctuary. We continued to
struggle for a number of years working to build community.
Chapter III-First Christian Chapel and Transition Time
In 2002, after becoming disenchanted with the direction of the Anglican
jurisdiction and its lack of faith communities, we began to look for an ecclesial
home that more fully manifested our vision of Church where “all are welcome” but
this was not to be the end of our journey. We wrote new By-Laws, borrowing from
our Bishop Peter Hickman, and while we were reclaiming our Catholic tradition,
we would later realize that not all, in what came to be known
as the ECC, had the same common vision. About a year later
the Ecumenical Catholic Communion (ECC) was formed
and I was Incardinated into the ECC as a priest and
connected to a new bishop. The ECC used the word
Catholic in its name but this was not defined and in time this
would become a problem. Some said it was like sailing a
ship while building it or sailing a ship with no rudder.
These issues would eventually become critical and would
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affect our local functioning.
Eventually we saw that to grow we needed to have a Sunday morning
service as 90% of the people in this country go to church on Sunday. One of my
friends from the Interfaith Council of New
Mexico State University was Rabbi Jerry
Cain and he told me of a place which I
needed to look at. It was the chapel of First
Christian Church. This was around 2003.
We loved the friends we had made at Peace
Lutheran but it was time to move. We met
with the leadership of First Christian, Rev.
Knotts and their Council, and shortly after
moved into their chapel which seated about
40 people. Our previous space could hold about 175 and with only about 20
people in attendance we felt overwhelmed by the space. The new space was an
intimate little chapel which we could set up as we wanted. It was lit by windows
on the right side which opened to an atrium. Very soon we would appreciate the
windows as for the next couple of years
we doubled in size every year. People
would stand outside the windows looking
in as we grew from 20, 40, to 80 people.
With this move our growth exploded, and
in 2005 we gained 13 families, then 15 the
next year. In 2006 The Albuquerque
Journal wrote an article on us and this
brought us more people. During this time
leadership questions and needs were
minimal and often the community
gathered as a whole to make decisions, we functioned like Congregationalists,
even though we had not made a conscious decision to do so, but we were living
out the By-Laws which had been borrowed from our new bishop. The Council
met and prayed about the problem of our growth. We had to either turn people
away or look for a new space.
A committee was set up and we looked at store fronts and old churches but
we were small and could not afford much. My old friend Rabbi Cain heard that
we were looking for a larger space and said they were planning to move their
synagogue to a new location and asked if we wanted to buy their old Synagogue.
We were excited and went to the bank but we were turned down. This was a
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blow to us. This was in 2006 after being at First
Christian only about 3 years. Sadly we informed
Rabbi Cain that we could not get a mortgage. A
few days later I had a phone call from him telling
me that David Steinborn and Tom Levy, members
of the Synagogue, had purchased the building and
that they would be willing to sell the building to us.
They really wanted us to have the building as they knew that we would respect
the 50 years of celebrations and traditions which had taken place in their
building. We were able to raise about $53,000 in a few months. It was going to
happen. On Feb. 7, 2007 we signed the papers (10 year interest free note with a
balloon payment) and began the renovation of our new home.
Chapter IV-New Home (Temple Beth El) and Growing Pains
In 2007 we gained 36 new families, as we
moved into our new home. Until that time we were a
“church in a box,” setting up for liturgy each week in
the rented space of the church. We needed more
permanent housing and moving into a new space was
a time of faith, trusting that we would continue to
grow and that we could afford the mortgage. We did not know what Old
Catholic or Ecumenical Catholic meant, and we simply felt like ex-Roman
Catholics, but with a laity that had a strong voice. Indeed, the laity led the
discussion and lived out their faith to buy the new facility. We had raised
$53,000 in less than a year – and so the Spirit had spoken. New families came to
us asking for baptism and marriage. They felt alienated from Rome but found a
comfortable home with us.
The people who joined us were divorced and
remarried, gay and lesbian, and the un-churched. The
new building brought us wonderful opportunities for
growth, but also chaos. When we started, I was a part
time pastor and spiritual advisor and the founding
families ran the church. Now we had to move to a
pastor as executive with part time office staff. I
began to realize that I had to both educate and lead the community in a different
way but was not sure how to change the direction we had been going. I began to
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explore information sent out by the Alban Institute and saw that the leadership
structure had to change as the community grew. The information I read attested
to the fact that this is often a difficult and painful process and it was.
In 2008 growing conflict identified itself over a truly trivial matter. Given
the changes we were experiencing, conflict was inevitable and the specific issue
in which that conflict was expressed was in many ways irrelevant. There were
new leaders on the board and the old leaders believed that they were the founders
and so had a permanent and special role in the running of the church. They were
offended that they were only consulted but not given veto power. The old guard
saw my actions and that of the new Council as authoritarianism, for they were
“the voice of the laity.” Remember, that at the beginning we functioned as a
“community of the whole.” Many said that the church “belonged to the laity” and
“this was a lay led church,” but what did that mean and where did this attitude
come from?
Moving into our new building meant that decisions had to be made more
rapidly; it became apparent that our parish polity/organization was not fully
functional. Up until this time I consulted with the President of the Council on all
decisions that were to be made. This would require multiple phones calls trying
to track the individual down for what was often a minor issue but we were
dealing with major issues as we had moved
into a building which was 50 years old.
At this point I requested that I have a
vote on the Parish Council, as I felt that my
voice was not being heard. I had voice on the
Council but could only vote to break a tie and
so I was left with the feeling that my voice
was less than equal to the others. In the Roman
Church, the Parish Council is just advisory and has no real say in the decisions
being made. At Holy Family the pendulum has swung to the other side where the
pastor had no say. I only had the power to speak my mind.
I thought that the Spirit speaks to us and that we best live out the traditions
of the early church when all have a right to be heard, speaking from their roles
and functions. Bishops are our teachers, wisdom leaders and the shepherds of the
flock. They are to maintain the traditions of the Church Catholic, and the priests
are extensions of this role at a local level. Some of my fellow pastors in the ECC
did not even attend their Council meetings and were proud that the laity
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was in charge. Later I realized that this was not an anomaly but was a
characteristic of the Church of which we were part. This different understanding
as to the ecclesiology of the church led to constant conflicts and was constantly
being played out both nationally and locally.
Chapter V-New Council and By-Laws
In 2010, the Holy Family Parish Council leaders and I launched a
committee and rewrote our By-Laws (replacing the one with which we had lived
for about 6 years). We worked to have our new By-Laws more closely reflect our
functioning. Through the years this has led to multiple revisions and some
people left. We had to take care that we did not just react against the overly
clerical experience that so many had in the Roman Catholic Church.
The Pastor became a leader of the church with primary authority over
issues of theology, spirituality and liturgy.
The pastor also functioned as administrator
and a member of the Finance Committee and
Parish Council. Policies were set up to protect
the church in the areas of finance. All of these
changes reflected the suggestions of the Alban
Institute and with our size (100+ Families) the
pastor functioned more as the CEO. We
developed a Finance Committee where there was a healthy dialogue with the
laity having a strong presence. The Parish Council became a place where
policies were set. These bodies displayed an essential dialogue where everyone
had a voice.
The dialogue referred to above is the essence of liturgy. Liturgy is like an
orchestra, where each instrument has a part and the whole orchestra is led by a
conductor. Each part is important for beautiful music. If everyone in the
orchestra tried to conduct, or played out of step with the rest of the instruments,
the result would be loud noise.
I believed that the changes made to our local By-Laws more clearly
reflected the vision of the church and its synodal structure, for the both the pastor
and the laity had a voice. Each voice brings its own wisdom and life experience
to the Council, discerning the will of the Spirit. Together we make a “joyful
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noise to the Lord.” Together we sing a hymn of beauty and peace.
The Christian life is centrally reflected in the laity. The laity is the focus of
what it means to be Christian. The clergy are called from the laity—called by the
voice of the Apostles in the name of Christ. The Church cannot be established
without bishops and clergy; and the Church cannot be constituted without the
laity. There is a dynamic dance of life
and hope when both clergy and laity
are strong and vitally engaged in the
Church and its mission. This is
celebrated in the dance of liturgy, and
explained in our ecclesiology –
working to create a Church where “all
are welcome,” where all bishops,
clergy and laity listen to the Spirit and
dialogue with one
another.
These last few years were a painful journey as some
members left Holy Family Parish, feeling that there was
something wrong and unchristian when a church had conflict.
Many were of the opinion that conflict should not take place
in a church, but inevitably it does. This was a time of sadness
for me and other members of our church.
In our human frailty, we are all in need of redemption, and have to look at
the shadow side of ourselves as well as that of the Church. It was sad when some
members left the parish; and others said that they dropped out of the parish years
before, and had not been part of the community for a long time. Cliques can
develop in all organizations, especially in churches. Pastors often find it difficult
to motivate their people to be creative – to assertively use their talents to build up
the Church, while also challenging them to carefully listen to one another. No
one has all the answers.
Chapter VI-American National Catholic Church
We began to realize that we needed a church home which more closely
reflected our understanding of our Catholic identity. Just as we had to make
some tough decisions locally we had to do the same nationally and in 2014 found
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a new home in the American National
Catholic Church.
The ANCC is a
contemporary expression of an ancient
faith. It has a firm commitment to the
Seven Sacraments, the Ancient Creeds, the
trifold Orders of Deacon, Priest and
Bishops, and it embraces the 2nd edition
translation of the mass of Vatican II (ie. The Lord be with you-And also with
you) that is revered by so many in the Americas. The ANCC also strives to live
up to the dream and vision of Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council,
building a more open church to all where all have a voice. We were finally home
Around the same time Fr. Louie Amezaga, whom I had known from the
IHM Cathedral and whom had been with us, helping on and off through the
years, joined the staff of the parish and began to help with pastoral duties. We
had grown to about 100 families.
The move to the ANCC and a more traditional liturgy was difficult for
some but all were willing to change and today we have about 140 families and
growing rapidly. We had moved into our new building with nothing and today
have totally remodeled the space. Our most recent investment was the raising of
$15,000 toward a $25,000 bill to replace the heaters and air-conditioners. This
last year we also were able to secure a 25 year mortgage, securing the future.
Due to the energies of Sr. Michele Gothro, FCM we developed a
Franciscan presence in the parish and joined with the other Franciscans in the
ANCC becoming part of the Franciscan Community of Mercy. Lastly, I would
like to give a special “thank you” to Br.
Charlie Harster, FCM who these last 20
years has enabled our community to
grow. He has been the Consultant,
Sacristan, Director of Hospitality,
Bookkeeper, and Jack of All Trades.
Thanks for your energy and friendship.
Chapter VII-The Present and the
Future
What I have learned through the struggles we have experienced at Holy
Family further demonstrated the need to have different and strong voices
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expressed and heard. This is a recapitulation of the best of our Catholic history. It
is the blossoming of our Catholic identity: unity in diversity. In this case, it is the
diversity of our roles in the Church. When we deny the distinct gifts of each role,
and allow our roles to be blurred and allow the boundaries to be blurred we are
left in chaos and anarchy. When we attack authority simply because it is
authority, we are really reacting to the pain of the past, and not the hope of the
future.
Through our struggles to clarify our identity, I, and the leaders of Holy
Family, have learned a great deal from this sometimes painful experience – and
have clarified our self-understanding. We are more fully committed to the vision
of ANCC, with its traditional liturgy which we all grew up with. Now the
different voices are heard and respected. The various members of the ANCC
share a more focused and united vision of who we are and where we are going.
We have come to know the various charisms in the Church – each having
different roles, different functions and different gifts. And we have learned that
these differences are mediated, blended and orchestrated by our common identity
as Catholics with a synodal polity.
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