by Dennis Dalman
It was the culmination of a life of love of God, abiding faith, dedication and service to others when Ruth Lindstedt of Sartell was ordained a Roman Catholic Womanpriest in a two-hour ceremony April 10 at First United Methodist Church in Sartell.
Her ordination brought hearty applause from all those gathered in the church to witness the historic moment.
Why a Methodist church?
Because Lindstedt, by being ordained, has now been excommunicated by the Catholic Church, which does not allow the ordination of women as priests.
Lindstedt is the second Sartell woman to be ordained a womanpriest, as they’re known. The other, Bernadyne Sykora, was ordained three years ago at St. John’s Episcopal Church in St. Cloud. Sykora played a part in the April 10 ordination of Lindstedt. They are now two of five womenpriests ordained so far in Minnesota and among 220 womenpriests in the United States, Canada, South America and elsewhere.
Womenpriests are ordained through an international organization known as Roman Catholic Womenpriest. The bishop of that organization, Nancy Meyer of Indianapolis, was present at United Methodist and led the ordination of Lindstedt.
Canon 1024 of the Roman Catholic Church proclaims only baptized males can be ordained. Lindstedt and Sykora obviously disagree. They believe very strongly the Catholic Church, like all churches, should be totally inclusive, accepting with love and faith the innate spirituality and divine humanness within every church member, and that inclusiveness, they emphasize, should include women and women as priests.
The adherents of the Womenpriest movement believe the church’s refusal to ordain women is a sexist, patriarchal exclusion stemming back 2,000 years and based on a specious interpretation of the Bible – basing the exclusion of women only because all of Jesus’s disciples were male, even though one of Jesus’s most beloved friends and advocates was a woman, Mary Magdalene, who was the first human being Jesus appeared to after his resurrection from the tomb.
Because of their automatic excommunication for daring to become womenpriests, they cannot – obviously – say the Mass in Catholic churches, but they are invited as guests to give Masses in other, non-Catholic churches. For example, a Mass is celebrated at 1 p.m. every second Sunday of the month with St. John’s Episcopal Church serving as the venue.
She heard the calling
Lindstedt has been a member of “Mary Magdalene, First Apostle,” which is a St. Cloud-based womenpriest group formed in 2012 and pastored by womanpriest Mary Smith. Shortly after, she pursued her interest in theological studies via St. John’s University, At first Lindstedt thought such a degree could allow her to become a chaplain in a health-care field. But during her time of intensive studies, she kept hearing a call to the priesthood, and in 2014 she decided to pursue that goal in the RCWP movement. After graduating in 2015 with a master’s degree in Divinity, Lindstedt was ordained a deacon that August.
Throughout the formation process, Lindstedt was guided and supervised by womenpriests from the Midwest Region of RCWP. The region covers Minnesota, Iowa, Michigan Upper Peninsula, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Wyoming. It has 16 womenpriests, one deacon and three candidates.
“As women and as Catholics,” Lindstedt has written, “we take hope for a church in which the focus turns to the power of God’s love and mercy. And we applaud the steps Pope Francis has taken to move the church in this direction. One of my roles as a woman and a priest is not only to say ‘God loves and forgives you,’ but offer a place at the (sacramental) table to all who need and want to experience what it means to be a loved member of God’s family without any caveats about who is ‘allowed.’”
Ceremony
The ordination celebration/ceremony began in First United Methodist Church with a joyous burst of music as Lindstedt and other women in white entered the church led by a cross bearer.
A ceremony with Catholic rituals then followed, interspersed with prayers and lots of inspirational music performed under the direction of music director Stephanie Hart, leading 15 superb musicians and vocalists.
Bishop Meyer offered inspirational messages, speaking of how Lindstedt is yet another example of how “the Spirit is calling to all the people of God” and how Lindstedt’s contemplative prayers throughout her life is “an inspiration calling to all of us.
“We gather to ordain our sister Ruth a priest,” Meyer said, inviting others to come forward to give witness as to why she should become a priest.
Seykora spoke of Lindstedt’s strength, her friendship, her loyalty and her constant striving for equality and justice for all people in the world.
One of Lindstedt’s mentors, the Rev. Barbara West, noted Lindstedt had been a teacher and nursing professional, that she has two children (Anna and Nate) and a grandchild, Ava, and that she instilled a love of learning in all of them.
“Ruth thinks creatively and clearly,” West said.
Then West used a string of adjectives to describe her friend: Peaceful, loving, spiritual, honest, wise, comforting, determined, hopeful, humble and humorous too.
Lindstedt’s humor came through loud and clear after she was asked if she would like to thank anybody. Standing before the altar, she let loose a long scroll of white paper that uncoiled from her hands all the way down to the floor. The church erupted with delighted laughter. She then proceeded to thank many people in her life.
After which Lindstedt, in a ritual of questioning, repeated several times she is ready for ordination.
“I am ready,” she said. “With the help of God, I am ready.”
After prostrating herself face-down on the floor for several minutes as music was played and the singers sang, Lindstedt rose to her feet and was formally ordained, as fellow womenpriests and invited guests came forward for a “laying on of hands” on the newly ordained priest.
The movement grows
The Womenpriest movement began in 2002 when Roman Catholic male bishops dared to ordain seven women as priests during ceremonies on a barge in Germany’s Danube River.
That historic action was based on what is known as “Apostolic Succession,” meaning the line of ordained priests extends unbroken back to the original apostles of Jesus. RCWP believes both men and women are equally called to serve in the ministries of the Roman Catholic Church, including in the priesthood, to give substantive witness to living the inclusive message of the Gospel.
RCWP, since that day on the Danube, has grown and extended throughout the world.