"The time will come

when, with elation,

you will greet yourself arriving

at your own door, in your own mirror,

and each will smile at the other's welcome,

and say, sit here.  Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.

Give wine.  Give bread.  Give back your heart

to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored

for another, who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,

peel your own image from the mirror.

Sit.  Feast on your life."

--Derek Wolcott, "Love After Love"

Fr. Michel in his private chapel

I was raised a staunch Roman Catholic and attended Catholic school under the tender care of the Sisters of St. Agnes.  Thanks to their gracious solicitude and passion for social justice, I have always been mindful of my vocation as a Catholic Christian. For more than 30 years, I wrestled with the inconsistency of what I found in the institutional church: the hypocrisy, the rejection of those deemed unworthy, the judging.  I grew up in the era of Vatican II, and when I first read the offical documents as a young man, my soul burned with excitement at the thought of what the Church could be if it just released its stranglehold on the People of God.  Through many years of study and attempts to find a church in which I could be fully in agreement with the doctrinal and moral teachings therein, I finally heard the voice of God, in a spiritual experience in my home parish of St. Mary's, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.  To that point in my life, I had dragged my feet, choosing my own path for many years, and nothing had brought me the peace I sought.  In that moment of grace, I decided to follow that call, and left the Roman Church in 2006, founding Holy Redeemer Catholic Community in 2007.  The journey has been rocky at times, and I have been rejected by my former priest friends, criticized by some family members, ridiculed by former colleagues--all of which is a small price to pay for following Jesus with a clear conscience.  As Holy Redeemer enters its third year of operation, we focus now on purchasing our own building and continuing to serve the people rejected and unwanted by the institutional church: divorced and remarried persons, lesbian and gay persons, people who take the teachings of Vatican II seriously and are dismayed at the present direction of the Church they love.  As a parish, we have decided not to follow our Roman brothers as they retranslate the Mass into a form more in keeping to the old Latin Mass.  We will continue celebrating the Novus Ordo Missae, the same English version of the Mass most of us grew up on, the Mass we know and love.  I am humbled and blessed to walk in the footsteps of the Master, who never promised me an easy time of it, only that I would be able to walk beside him, with my head up, knowing that doing the right thing is its own reward.  God is awesome!

I am often asked about how I am different from the local Roman Catholic clergy, and there are only a few substantive points that separate us.  First, I am not in any way attached to the Roman Church, although my Orders are valid and recognized as such by them.  I stand in a long line of priests who have chosen the path of those who used to be known as "Old Catholics", those who were troubled by the monarchical structure of Rome and the personal claims of power by the Pope.  In an era where the Roman Church seems determined to undo all the progress made by Vatican II, I insist that the People of God are the ones in charge, not the clergy, much less the hierarchy.  Second, unlike my Roman brothers, I do not take any money from my parish in the way of salary or benefits.  I do not believe that a paid, career priesthood is a credible one, therefore I support myself as a teacher and musician.  Like the French worker-priests of the 1940s, I find my ministry extends far beyond the church walls, and I am constantly amazed at the power of Spirit as people from various backgrounds are brought into my life.