Tony Flannery

I had a very interesting second evening in St. Louis.  The woman with whom I was staying, who has a long association with the Womens Ordination Conference, invited some people in to meet me.

We ended up with a fascinating group.  There were three Oblate priests, from their novitiate, twp diocesan priests, two Roman Catholic Women Priests, an Episcopalian minister, and a few others. It developed into a really interesting discussion on staying with the institution or breaking away, and on how to manage a new group, like the Catholic Women Priests, and keep them to some degree with a shared vision and strategy.  

These two stops came on two consecutive days, with about five hours of travelling in between. So it was all fairly hectic.

San Antonio was probably the smallest group I have had, – maybe about fifty people in an annex off a bookshop.  But they were a varied and interesting group. Dignity, the Catholic organisation for LGBT people, were the main sponsors. So there were a good few of those attending.

Last evening, here in Sarasota, I spoke at the twelfth stop on my tour.  I was back in a protestant church, this time a really nice, modern church where communication was easy and relaxed.

Two interesting features about this stop:

Three former Redemptorist priests attended. It was good to have them there, and I had a great chat with them.  They were of the American provinces, and were generally about my own age.