But members of religious organizations do not get to insist
that gay Americans should not have the same civil
right to marry as other Americans because of those members’ religious
beliefs. The Constitution does not allow any of us to impose our religious
beliefs on others. Catholics do not get to tell the rest of us that we can’t
practice birth control. Southern Baptists cannot tell other denominations that
they cannot ordain women. Christians cannot prohibit Jewish men from wearing
yarmulkes or Muslim women from wearing their head coverings. No American should
be able to prohibit gay Americans from marrying their choice of mate because of
her or his religious beliefs.

Religious liberty and civil rights are both protected by the
Constitution. However tricky the balance between the two might be, we should
celebrate such a balance in our rule of law.

“School was supposed to end on the 25th, but now it will end on the 24th,” Monsignor Peter Buchignani told students gathered in the sanctuary for Wednesday mass.

“That is my gift to you, an extra holiday,” he said. The students clapped and cheered.

The monsignor’s gift was a parting one. That was the bad news.

“I am retiring,” said Buchignani, the 72-year-old Memphis native who was ordained a priest in 1965 and who likes to spend a little time holding class before saying mass.

“What does that mean?”

Dozens of students raised their hands. He called on one. “It means you’re not going to work here anymore,” one youngster offered.

Buchignani laughed. “That’s about as blunt you you can make it,” he said.

That’s about as blunt as it feels to most St. Francis parishioners and parents. Peter Paul Buchignani (his twin brother is Paul Peter) has grounded their parish and school for the past 17 years, a time of phenomenal growth.

St. Francis parish was established with 100 families in 1985. A decade later, when Buchignani was appointed parish priest, there were 900 families. Today, there are more than 2,500 families, making it the largest Catholic parish in the area.

During his tenure, Buchignani oversaw construction of a new family life center and a $1-million sanctuary expansion. He also led expansion of St. Francis Elementary School and adjacent St. Benedict High School, which has more than 1,000 students.

“Monsignor is a wise and caring priest, a man of integrity and strength, who always seeks to affirm what is good and true,” said Dr. Mary McDonald, retiring as superintendent of Memphis Catholic Schools.

“He may be retiring from his assignment as Pastor of St. Francis, but his ministry, and his legacy live on in the work he has accomplished in the Diocese.”

Buchignani, who over the years has served eight parishes in the Memphis Diocese, won’t be working as a parish priest anymore, but he plans to continue his legal duties as the bishop’s vicar general.

“Monsignor Buchignani has served in every capacity imaginable for the Diocese,” said Monsignor John McArthur of St. Louis Catholic Church. “He has been a strong friend and adviser to all four of our Bishops. He has been a priest’s priest. He is very gifted at seeing a situation and quickly understanding all sides and giving wise advice as to a solution.

“As pastor, Vicar General, Chancellor and Head of the Marriage Tribunal he has been the constant face and name of the Catholic Church of Memphis. He is a dear friend and support to me and a model of the priesthood for all of us. His retirement will only be in name because he was meant to be a priest and nothing can change that.”

Buchignani grew up in Memphis and graduated from Christian Brothers High School. His mother Margaret died three years ago at age 98. He has a sister and three brothers, including Richard who is a retired priest.

“I have admired Monsignor Buchignani since my seminary days,” said Seattle Archbishop Peter Sartain, a former Memphis priest. “He has always been a priest I look up to – for his kindness and joy, his pastoral zeal and experience, his intelligence, his good advice, his faithfulness to the church, and his patience.

“Since his ordination for the Diocese of Nashville, he has been an important part of the Catholic church in Tennessee, and all the bishops and priests of Memphis have relied on him for help and support. He has always been eager to help in any way, and I for one benefited many times from his encouragement and assistance in many areas of priestly ministry. I hope he enjoys retirement and plays a lot of golf.”

The Reader won four awards:

A Gold Medal (First Place) for Theme Issue, Section, or Series: Magazine for Fall 2011 Dying Well Section.

Honorable Mention (Third Place) for Theological: Theological Reflection (Short Form) for “Sacred Meals” by Daniel Deffenbaugh.

Honorable Mention (Third Place) for Devotional/Inspirational: Short Format for “Last Place on Earth” by Susan Palwick.

Honorable Mention (Third Place) for Theological: Biblical Interpretation for “Setting a New Table” by Butch Odom.

The Church Health Reader’s editor is Sarah Ranson; its managing editor is Rachel Thompson.

Isasi-Diaz’s appearance in Memphis made news after Christian Brothers University withdrew its invitation to host a conference featuring her as a keynote speaker, due to her “divergence from a basic Catholic teaching.” The Drew University professor, who supported women’s ordination, also preached at a family member’s same-sex wedding in 2009.

Isasi-Diaz, founder of mujerisa theology, spoke at First Congregational Church, which agreed to host the Vanderhaar Symposium.

“After her lecture here, she was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer,” said Dr. Barbara Holmes, a former professor at Memphis Theological Seminary. “When she was made aware of the prognosis, she died as she lived with great dignity.”

Isasi-Diaz was born and raised in Cuba. She moved to the United States in 1960 with her family, and then entered the Ursuline novitiate in California. She was living in Madison, N.J. where she taught ethics and theology at Drew.

“She was a true prophetic woman of peace,” said Janice Vanderhaar. “It is hard to believe that Dr. Ada Maria passed this way less than two months ago to share with us her incredible message of Compassion and Solidarity at the Vanderhaar Symposium. We were indeed blessed by her powerful presence in our midst.”

This coming Mother’s Day, Mormons in churches around the globe will inevitably join each other in singing their cherished hymn, “O My Father”. Yes, it’s as ironic as it sounds. But, like most things religious, this is more complicated than it seems.

The Mormon habit of singing “O My Father” on Mother’s Day arises from a radical idea expressed by the hymn’s final verses. “In the heavens/Are parents single?/No, the thought makes reason stare!/Truth is reason; truth eternal/Tells me I’ve a mother there.” So go the lyrics that Eliza R. Snow wrote in 1845. The final verse begins, “When I leave this frail existence,/When I leave this mortal by,/Father, Mother, may I meet you/In your royal courts on high.”

The Mormon singing of “O My Father” on Mother’s Day is really an affirmation of a belief in a female deity, another one of the peculiarities that keeps Mormonism strange, and one that surely shows how Mormons don’t undervalue women.

But, like most things religious, this is more complicated than it seems.

Mormonism doesn’t give its divine Mother any identity, and it places her in a traditional partnership with a paternal god. Apart from the radical idea itself, Mormonism’s Mother in Heaven simply makes female subordination into a cosmic principle. The Mormon Father runs things, the Mormon Mother keeps out of the way.

But, like most things religious, this too is more complicated than it seems.

Many Mormonisms are trying very hard to be liked. Warren Jeffs and his crew, not so much. But the LDS church and the Community of Christ, the two largest Mormon denominations, want very much for the world to accept them, especially the Christian world. Since the Christian scriptures offer nothing in the way of a female deity, and since traditional Christian culture rejects the idea (the Virgin Mary, notwithstanding), Mormonism’s determination to make itself Christian prevents it from developing this pleasantly radical idea any further.

Mormonism may be a good model of the ambivalence about gender roles that we find in all religions. On the one hand, Mormonism reaches toward a parity it naturally intuits. On the other hand, it can’t bring itself to grab it. Religions do undervalue women. But they try very hard not to want to.

Tolstoy tried to simplify things. For the Count, emerging religions throughout history always started with the recognition of human equality. But, then, Tolstoy writes, “immediately those to whom inequality was advantageous endeavored to conceal this essential feature.” So, religions emerge with radical, progressive ideas, but inevitably give themselves over to the self-aggrandizement of the few to whom aggrandizement is important.

And, like most things religious and otherwise, Tolstoy’s insight is more complicated than it seems. Perhaps the Russian reads differently, but in at least one English translation, Tolstoy writes that new religions “always included the recognition of the equality of men…”

I don’t believe women are undervalued and especially Motherhood. Everyone born has had a mother, including Jesus. At this date sexual gender is more political than not. Anyway, Motherhood is an earthly status. Faith transcends it all.

First of all unquestionably man is the primary creation of humanity, but the woman was a necessary part in order for there to be procreation. So then woman was birthed out of mankind’s need for fulfillment and sustainment. God made Adam and Eve and respectfully gave them dominion over the earth.

All throughout scripture and history the need of womanhood or motherhood has been enormously substantiated. Even though Jesus was the Son of God, he had to be born of a Woman in order to properly atone for mans sins. It should also be noted that every human that we consider to have been a gift to the world, had to be first wrapped in the womb of a woman before his or her talent could be tested. That in itself is a great testimony to every mother, and that is to be given the opportunity to birth brand new Mercy to us every day. Who knows what the next mother will bring us as a gift from the Mind of God. Every birth though viewed as unexpected at times, was a part of the original Masters Plan. James 1:17 says “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father…” Therefore in my opinion if God chooses every gift he also chooses who brings it into the world! A package solidifies that the gift was intentional or on purpose; therefore, Gift-Wrapping is important to the gift and to the recipient.

Remember packages come in all shapes, sizes and colors but they are still considered Gifts….Happy Mother’s Day!

We honor our mothers this weekend, just as Jesus loved and honored His.

Jesus Christ and His apostles also radically included and empowered all women in their lives and ministries, so the Christian faith, wherever it has gone in the world, has served to reverse the sinful human tendency to undervalue and oppress women. One can see this reversal vividly in the early centuries of the New Testament Church (see, for example, Chapter 5, The Rise of Christianity, by Rodney Stark), and one can observe it on the Christian mission field today. The New Testament teaches both equality of genders and also distinctiveness of roles in both marriage and church leadership, so that when God reveals Himself to us as Father, we grasp both His tender, caring love and also His authority. This divinely given order has obviously been perverted on many occasions, by both men and women, to the detriment of many; but when the biblical pattern has been followed, it has yielded great blessing for mothers, fathers, and their children.

Yes, we undervalue the feminine side. This has changed slowly over the years. Perhaps a straightforward starting point for understanding would be to acknowledge the mysterious, unlimited nature of the Divine, beyond all narrowing down to human traits that we tend to impose, including gender stereotypes.