"Progressive?" Hardly! (The "Reformed Catholic Church")

A Jesuit priest who said he wants to reach out to people who feel disenfranchised by the Roman Catholic Church is starting a new Toledo parish under the auspices of the Reformed Catholic Church.

The small denomination, incorporated in 2000, is not affiliated with the Vatican and is self-described as offering “a progressive interpretation of the Roman Catholic tradition.”

"We're just like real Catholics...sorta"

Father Heckman said the Reformed Catholic Church’s liturgy is “very much like” that of a Roman Catholic Mass, although there are numerous doctrinal differences between the two denominations.

For example, the Reformed Catholic Church will ordain women, which the Roman Catholic Church forbids. It also acknowledges same-sex marriage and second marriages for the divorced, Father Heckman said.

“Our official statement on that is basically that a marriage is limited to a union of two people, regardless of gender,” he said.

Also unlike the Roman Catholic Church, Holy Communion is open to everyone who is a “baptized Christian, no matter what denomination they belong to.

The table is open to everyone,” Father Heckman said.

Please ask Our Lady, Mother of the Church, to pray for these folks. And pray for me, too, because the phrase "disenfranchised by the Roman Catholic Church" tends to make my blood boil and I don't want it to.