Front page from Winter issue - RC WomanPriest

SEQUOIA • FALL/WINTER 2005/06

PROFILE IN FAITH

Interview with Rev. Victoria Rue, Ph.D.— by Diana Wear

Valid but Illicit...Why I am a Roman Catholic Womanpriest


Tell us a little about your choice to be
ordained and your background.

The choice to be ordained was not
an easy one for me. I am an activist in
the Roman Catholic Chlurch, working
for women's ordination, and the rights
of all marginalized peoples including
lesbian and gay people. Some women
I have worked with, upon hearing of
my ordination, say to me, “why are you
joining a hierarchy, a club? Why are you
setting yourself apart from everyone
else—we are all priests by our baptism.
Why do you .buy into' biologistic theology—
believing in the .magic hands”' of
a bishop? Why don't you just leave the
RCC and start your own church?” These
are all good critiques of women joining
the RC institution of priesthood.

In my life, I kept hearing the call.
I believe that the priesthood and the
church as I have known it needs reformation,
needs re-imagining from
within. The patriarchy is very much
in place. And so my ordination has a
“shadow” side, in which it appears I join
the patriarchal institution as it is. That
is so. But I will work from the margins
to create my priesthood, working
sometimes with other Catholics on the
margin, other Christians, other faiths, but
always committed to spreading God's
incarnate love.

I also know that we are a small
band of womenpriests—some excommunicated
and some about to be—whose
example and voices are prophetic. We
are voices crying out in the wilderness….
and yet we are heard, not by the RC institution,
but by the people—because the
people know the church needs reform.
All of it. Hierarchy, priests, theology,
rituals--all of it. The winds of the Spirit
are blowing.

As womenpriests we are “valid—
and illicit.” Valid in that we have been
ordained by bishops who are validly
ordained. Illicit (not allowed by Canon
Law) in that several documents by the
Vatican state that women may not be
ordained. We are also “contra legem,”
against the law. These ordinations of
women break open church laws in order
to revision what it means to be priest. No
wonder the Vatican is so concerned about
the issue of women's ordination! They
understand that women's ordination will
change a patriarchal priesthood and by
implication, a patriarchal church.

How do you see priesthood in your own
life?

For many years I have felt myself
to be living and working as a priest in
my theatre work, teaching and church
activism. My ordination by Bishops
Christine, Gisela, and Patricia formalizes
and affirms the call to priesthood
that I have been living for years. In many
ways, my priesthood is a return to living
a consecrated life. In the late 60's
I entered the religious life to consecrate
my life to God in a teaching order. I left
the order a year later knowing that was
not my call. Priesthood is my call.

we are a small band of womenpriests—
some excommunicated
and some about
to be—whose example and
voices are prophetic. We
are voices crying out in the
wilderness….

When I left the convent, I left the
church. The theatre became my church
and the women's movement became
my congregation. For 25 years I have
written and directed theatre in New
York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
I have conducted workshops in Seoul,
Manila, Beijing, Frankfurt, and Florence.
Theatre is transformation. It is an
arena for inspiration and combustion.
Like the sacraments, the theatre can be
an occasion for “the infusion of grace.”
While theatre is not a sacrament and
sacraments are not theatre, theatre can
be a rehearsal (and performance) for
living life. In theatre we can witness
how to live a life infused with God's
grace and challenges.

Tell us how you see theatre as ministry

When I traveled to Nicaragua in the
early eighties, I witnessed the power
of base communities. Congregations
understood prayer as action—creating
clean drinking water was prayer, getting
street lights working in a village was
prayer. I saw for the first time in my
life, the Catholic Church involved in
the work of social justice. That vision
led me to return to studies in l985. I
studied feminist and liberation theologies
at Union Theological Seminary in
NYC with Dorothee Soelle, Beverly
Harrison, and James Cone. Just before
receiving my M.Div. in l988 I was asked
to con-celebrate the Eucharist with an
“out” gay priest on the sidewalk, across
from St. Patrick's Cathedral in Manhattan,.
As lesbian and gay people, we did
this for 9 months to say “we are church.”
It was there, on the sidewalks of New
York, that I first understood my call to
priesthood.

In l990 my partner Kathryn Poethig
and I celebrated a ceremony of commitment
with our families and friends. We
met one another at Union Theological
Seminary. She is a university professor
in global studies, the daughter of
two ordained Presbyterian ministers.
Through the years we have worked for
a more body positive theology, as well
as the inclusion and ordination of lesbian
and gay people in both the Protestant
and Catholic churches.

During the early .90's, I received
my doctorate from the Graduate Theological
Union in Berkeley. My work
focused on how feminist theatre enacts
feminist theology. In this doctoral work,
I claimed my theatremaking as the work
of Christian feminist theology.

Tell us about A Critical Mass: Women
Celebrating Eucharist.

In l997 I co-founded and con-celebrated
a feminist, inclusive Eucharist
with twelve other women and hundreds
of witnesses on the former site of the
Oakland Cathedral. With this act, we
claimed that we are all priests. The site
of our Eucharist has been an inner city
park, exactly where the cathedral collapsed
in the Loma Prieta earthquake
of l989. The park is peopled by the
homeless of Oakland. We celebrated
“A Critical Mass” for six years. Before
each mass, we cleaned the park and
fed the homeless. We called ourselves,
“A Critical Mass: Women Celebrating
Eucharist.” The Mass as we celebrated
it, used gesture, silence, and the arts,
keeping elements of the tradition and
balancing it with “something new.” This
community was part of my ministry,
working for change in the RCC.

But if all are priests, why bother to be
a womanpriest?

While I believe in the “priesthood
of all believers,” at the same time, I
feel myself called to be priest. Priesthood
to me is spiritual leadership. It is
about building community and creating
meaningful liturgy with the sacraments.
It is about spiritual guidance. With
ordination, I consecrate every aspect of
my life to God.

How do you see your subsequent ministry
of teaching as ministry?

Ordination to priesthood formalizes
and affirms my ministry to others in
and through the arts. The arts not only
communicate in the global arena, they
are also models for cooperation, community
building, and somatic learning.
This makes theatre an ethical and social
enterprise.

I write and direct plays that celebrate
the range of human experience—HIV
positive persons, women with cancer,
Vietnamese and Latinos working in
the computer industry, homeless youth.
These plays nourish actors and audiences
with stories that challenge our
daily lives. Plays can teach us God's
presence within us and our world. Just
as important as the performance of
these plays, the rehearsal process with
actors enfleshes the story and creates
community.

My passion is embodied learning.
Through twenty-five years of teaching
at the university level, I've learned
that students engage with material best
when their bodies are active participants
in the learning process. I have found
this to be particularly true in teaching
religious studies and theology. When
the arts become part of the education
journey, students learn on both cognitive
and experiential levels. I am currently
lecturing at San Jose State University,
Women's Studies Department.