History in the Making!

Wow!  I never thought I'd see this day in my own lifetime.  Yesterday's paper carried an article about the first married priest, who was ordained in Mobile.  His wife and six-month-old baby were present for the ordination. Matthew Venuti was an atheist growing up, became an Episcopalian in his early 20's, was ordained an Episcopal priest in 2011, and a year later, was ordained in the Catholic church.

Venuti was born in New Orleans to Catholic parents who had rejected the faith.  As hippies, they raised their children to be ardently atheist.  But they did take their children to museums, where Matthew was always drawn to religious art.  He studied music in New York, and became a heavy metal guitarist; rock and roll was his passion.  While in college, he met students that he called "happy Christians," and then, while reading the Bible for one of his classes, he suddenly one night thought, "I think this is true!"  Scared, he put away the Bible and for the next six months tried to immerse himself in other faith traditions --Buddhism, Hinduism -- whatever he could find -- but something kept pulling him back to Christianity.  He became a secret Christian through talking to other people on the Internet.

One day, he wandered into an Episcopal church, where the usher seated him next to a young woman who handed him a prayer book.  Later, he was to say, "The first time I walked into that church, I knew two things: this woman was going to be my wife, and I'm going to be a priest."

He married first, but the day he was ordained in the Episcopal church was the worst day of his life.  The moment he was ordained, he knew he had made a great mistake.  In tears, he told his wife, "I think I need to be a Catholic."  Eighteen months later, he was ordained by Bishop Rodi for the Catholic Ordinate of the Chair of St. Peter.  Pope Benedict XVI had created this U.S. Ordinate to welcome Anglican groups and clergy seeking to become Catholic while retaining elements of the Anglican heritage. 

Venuti will say Mass at the Cathedral, but his main responsibility is to minister to others following a path similar to his -- former Anglicans who are becoming Catholic.  There are 29 more Episcopal priests who will become Catholic clergy this summer.  Sixty more are studying now for ordination as Catholic priests. 

His story, and the fact that so many other Episcopalian groups are migrating towards the Catholic church, tells me that God is doing "a new thing" in our lifetimes.  There was clearly a kind of guidance going on in Matthew Venuti that he could not have seen ahead of time.  No one could have foreseen or predicted the Charismatic movement in the Catholic church in the 1970's, but that movement of the Holy Spirit renewed the church from within.  Far from being a separte sect, it has now infiltrated every aspect of the Church, and breathed new life into old ways.  I see Matthew Venuti's ordination as the beginning of a similar sea-change that will ultimately affect the entire church.  The Spirit of God is always full of surprises!