ISM Movement Interviews

Hello,

First, I want to thank you for coming and visiting this site.  Recently, a couple of people (Emmanuel Williams and deebigsby) joined the site and are actively commenting and posting responses to my blog.  Your comments are so very kind.  I am still so very new to the moment and am continually learning.  I would love to hear more about your own experiences and journey.  You can always share it here if you like or you can always email me if you want to share anything in private.  I want to respond to your comments but this is the busiest time in my professional career with April 15th (tax day) rapidly approaching. 

Some of you may be aware that one of my most active ministries is on YouTube - a channel focused on faith formation.  One could question at the level I present as my videos are likely too advanced and too long for the casual observer.  I mostly keep ISM information out of the videos as it is not generally relevant to the topic at hand.  Readers of this site have already seen in electronic form most of what I said in my presentation on Old Catholicism on YouTube Exploring Old Catholicism  The reason I am speaking about my YouTube ministry is because of something I want to start later this year.  I would love to have feedback.

While I want to continue focusing on general Christian theological topics, I also want to incorporate a bit more Independent Sacramental Movement theology.  Sadly, I think the more extreme fringe aspects of the movement get a lot of publicity.  I would like to show another side to the ISM movement by interviewing clergy and laity who are active in the movement.

I first want to begin within my own jurisdiction as I think we could use some good publicity.  One of the members of our clergy impresses me with his calm disposition, sense of humor, sincere piety, and Christlike outreach to the most marginalized.  In fact, his altar is constructed of bricks he picked up over the years visiting homeless camps.  I look forward to having him share his own experiences. 

As I am thinking through this project, I am coming up with a list of interview questions. I hope to interview my new presiding bishop.  This video would be about our jurisdiction diocese itself.  The questions and prompts I am contemplating include:

1)       A brief history of Old Catholicism and how our diocese originated

2)       The role we can play in living out the Christian message in the modern world.

3)       What it means for us to be a community of refuge finding balance in the midst of polarizations

4)       What we can offer particularly to people who people alienated from their own churches

5)       Our approach to sensitive issues

6)       Explain our faith communities and what we as a church offer.  What would you say to someone considering joining our community?

7)       An invitation to learn more about us

Then for our clergy, I am thinking of asking the following:

1)     Please tell me a bit about your background

2)     What led you to the priesthood and what sustains you in your ministry?

3)     What brought you to the American Catholic Communities?

4)     Could you explain what kinds of ministry you are involved in?

5)     What are some of the blessings and challenges you experience in your ministry?

6)     What would you say to someone who is considering incardinating with the American Catholic Communities?

Are there other topics that you would like to see covered?  I am open to suggestions.  I think there is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding the ISM movement and I would like to dispel some of those misunderstandings.

Before I go, I did want to take a moment to address something Dee mentioned in her comment.  Many mainline churches actively dismiss the ISM movement.  As I was looking at a few ISM parish websites, I noticed many Roman Catholic dioceses issue letters denouncing these as “so called Catholic masses” which is problematic for so many reasons.  My former ISM bishop was actually authorized to offer sacraments to Roman Catholics during COVID as the archdiocese recognized his orders as valid.  The fact that they publish such letters denouncing our work shows that we are seen as a threat.

Are we really a threat?  My fear is what could the ISM movement offer to counter the rise of a totalitarian state?  Likely, some of the major churches could even gain power as some clergy would capitulate to state ideology whether it be leftist or rightist.  Could the ISM movement even offer a pocket of resistance?  I fear that we are too small, too insignificant, and disorganized to counter a pervasive ideology.  Would we simply retreat to our islands and stick our heads in the sand?  At the same time, David conquered Goliath.  God sometimes sends prophets who were too weak on their own but gave them strength to rise above their foes.  God, please use the ISM movement and the people that seek you to be one with your Spirit and renew the face of the earth.

Peace,

Ben