Sister, her order clash over Spiritus Christi
role
By ED GRIFFIN-NOLAN
Special to the National Catholic Reporter Rochester,
N.Y.
Sr. Margie Henninger said she has no intention of changing her
ways in order to comply with new directives from her religious order, the
Sisters of St. Joseph of Rochester. Two weeks ago, the leadership of the
religious congregation that Henninger joined while a teenager met with her and
told her to stop calling herself Sister. Further, they told her to
cease identifying herself with the Sisters of St. Joseph in any public role
affiliated with Spiritus Christi Church.
The communitys leaders cut off the stipend to the
soon-to-be-60 Henninger and announced that they would no longer collect her
salary from Grace of God House of Recovery, the halfway house where Henninger
lives and works.
Members of religious orders usually have their salaries directed
to their orders, which in turn provide their members with stipends to cover
living expenses.
The halfway house is affiliated with Spiritus Christi, and the
ministry housed there was once part of Corpus Christi Parish. The Rochester
diocese declared last year that parish leaders were in schism. The community
will continue to provide Henninger with a car, pay her health insurance and
contribute to her pension.
More than 20 years ago, Sr. Margie Henninger embarked, along with
Fr. Jim Callan and others, on a ministry that transformed Corpus Christi from
just one more moribund urban parish awaiting closure into a dynamic church
community where thousands flocked to vibrant and inclusive worship, and
hundreds of volunteers sustained a river of outreach ministries to the
surrounding community.
Over the decades, Corpus Christi evolved into Rochesters
most visible parish home for progressive Catholics, eventually taking positions
on the role of women in worship, the blessing of gay love, and open Communion
that brought them into conflict with the diocese. Turmoil erupted in 1998 when
Bishop Matthew Clark transferred Callan and demanded that the parish toe the
line on these issues. Diocesan officials maintained that, by his actions,
Callan had excommunicated himself.
Most of the Corpus Christi staff, including Henninger, were fired
or moved on to the new faith community, which later took the name Spiritus
Christi.
Henningers community, the Sisters of St. Joseph of
Rochester, is a 350-year-old pontifical order that reports directly to Rome.
Until now they had remained relatively quiet about Henningers visible
role in a schismatic church, a situation that some members quietly supported
and others found increasingly uncomfortable. Sr. Janice Morgan, president of
the community, was among the leadership team that has been meeting with Margie
Henninger.
This isnt a dismissal, she said, in a telephone
interview. Marjorie is still a member of the congregation. She is part of
our family. We love her and will continue to embrace her as long as we can.
This step was taken prayerfully and with great sadness.
We came to the conclusion, continued Morgan,
that by our silence we were giving approval of what she was doing. We had
to do something. At some point you have to adhere to the vows you
take.
Henninger contends that at its core this is a question of
obedience versus justice. For me this is a justice issue, said
Henninger. Our mission as an order is to serve everyone without
distinction. I am standing with people that they feel comfortable
abandoning. She asserts, and Morgan denies, that Rome is forcing the
sisters hand.
It isnt about justice, said Morgan.
Justice is in the work she does. We are not stopping her work. She is
still serving the people. We do the same work that she does. There isnt
one of us who doesnt struggle with some things in the church, but we work
for systemic change within the church. Our hope is that Marjorie would work
within the realm of the Roman Catholic church, as Sisters of St. Joseph
do.
Henninger dismissed that approach as too safe. Vows of
obedience are being used to control and manipulate, she said. I
feel that I am being obedient to Jesus Christ. Its a matter of
conscience. The church is wrong to say that we should not be able to talk about
womens ordination. I cant do it that way anymore. Im not
going to say to the poor, Just wait, wait until the church gets its act
together.
Morgan said she hoped that further steps, perhaps including
dismissal, would be avoided, that Henninger might yet have a change of heart.
The door is always open, Morgan repeated frequently. We are
asking her to reconsider her relationship with Spiritus Christi. We have
offered to support the ministry she is doing, to support a recovery house that
would be part of the Sisters of St. Joseph, not part of Spiritus Christi. We
cannot in good conscience lend support to a church that is in schism.
Nothing in Henningers words or demeanor suggests that she is
likely to walk through that open door any time soon. Im clear on
who I am. And I do belong to the Sisters of St. Joseph. Im called there.
Ive been there 40 years.
Meanwhile, Spiritus Christi thrives. The group now describes
itself as a Christ-centered Catholic community reaching beyond the
institutional church to be inclusive of all. Sixteen staff members are
listed on the churchs Web site, beneath the name of the pastor --
Jesus Christ. The worship community has three music groups. It
sponsors outreach ministries in prisons, among the poor and people addicted to
drugs as well as overseas missions in Haiti and Mexico. More than 1,000 people
attend eucharistic celebrations each week, leaving more than $10,000 behind in
the collection plate. The community has been housed at a local Congregational
church and recently formed a committee to look into acquiring or building a
church of its own.
National Catholic Reporter, November 24,
2000
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