Standing in the Light: a Parishioner's Story

In fall of 1998, Corpus Christi Church in Rochester, N. Y. underwent the loss of its priest, its female pastoral assistant and most of its staff over the issues of the role of women in leadership, the blessing of homosexual unions, and an invitation to "anyone who loves the Lord" to share in communion at Mass. That winter, about a third of the parish formed a new church, Spiritus Christi. In February of 1999 the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rochester announced that those who had joined the new parish had incurred automatic excommunication. Spiritus Christi is today a thriving community of about 1,500 people, renting space for services in three Protestant churches in downtown Rochester. The community runs a Prison Ministry, a Mental Health Outreach, and the Grace of God Recovery House. This is the story of a community that had to face profound spiritual questions about their relationship to the church and their responsibility as Christians to live the Gospel message: it's a story about the cost of discipleship. Proceeds from the sale of this book will be used to support the Spritus Christi Prison Ministry.