Two women to be ordained at Saint Francis Liberal Catholic Church of Minneapolis

Jodi Christenson will be ordained to Subdeacon on Saturday, April 25, beginning at 10 a.m., at Saint Francis Liberal Catholic Church of Minneapolis. The progressive church opened Holy Orders to women in 2003. Jodi has been a dedicated server at Saint Francis for a number of years, and she will be welcomed to her new office as a minister for the High Eucharist. In addition, Rev. Judie Cilcain will be raised to the priesthood on Sunday, April 26, beginning at 10 a.m. Judie has served Saint Francis for many years.

“It is with joy and appreciation that we welcome her to this important new role,” the church announced. “Judie will be the first woman from Minnesota ordained as a priest in the Liberal Catholic Church.”

Both services will to be followed with brunch in the church parlors.

Jodi Christenson said she “feels grateful to have discovered Sunday services at the Liberal Catholic Church of St. Francis.” She was received as a church member on Oct. 8, 2000, and admitted to the minor order of Cleric on June 5, 2004. “It is a unique and special privilege to participate with the Liberal Catholic community,” she said.

Rev. Judie Cilcain has been a member of the Church of Saint Francis for nearly 40 years and has served on the Altar for the last 20 years. Judie views herself, in the words of her former Rector, Bishop Newton Dahi, as a “karma yogi,” doing whatever job needs doing. When she was first asked to deliver a sermon in 1989, she stepped up to the pulpit. Judie has long believed that no church should refuse any help that it is offered, and that a woman may serve as faithfully and in as dedicated a manner as a man.

Bishop James A. Zinzow will officiate at these two ordinations and is pleased to be able to raise both of these women to their new offices. He assumed the role as Bishop for the Midwest Diocese of the Liberal Catholic Church in the United States of America on March 29, 2008, and resides in Waukesha, WI.

Saint Francis Liberal Catholic Church, an open communion church, is located at 3201 Pleasant Ave. S., Minneapolis. For more information, call 612.823.4276 or visit www.StFrancisLiberalCatholicChurch.org. Information on the global Liberal Catholic Church can be found at www.TheLiberalCatholicChurch.org