When was the last time you celebrated? I mean really celebrated? Sing out at the top of your lungs, dance in the streets celebrated?
During last weekend’s FutureChurch board retreat, Fr. Anne Tropeano joined us to offer a guided reflection on “celebration.” And she posed the question above - among others - for us to consider and reflect upon quietly on our own.
I searched my memory and came up with many causes for celebration both personally and professionally over the years: the first women deacons commission and the elevation of Mary Magdalene’s memorial to a feast day in 2016; my 15-year-dating, 10-year-married, and 5-year-legally-married anniversaries in 2020; getting my first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine in 2021; my 40th birthday and the publication of Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing the Church in 2022; and, of course, votes for Catholic women in 2023.
But I had to go back to June 26, 2015 to find the kind of all-out, make-a-joyful-noise kind of celebration Fr. Anne was talking about. That was the day the United States Supreme Court ruling on Obergefell v. Hodges legalized gay marriage throughout the country. On my way home from the FutureChurch office that Friday, I stopped at DairyQueen and picked up an ice-cream cake (my favorite!) and asked the decorator to add a rainbow on top and rainbow drizzle around the sides. My husband Daniel and I danced and cried tears of joy to (somewhat embarrassingly) Wynonna Judd’s rendition of “Testify to Love” on repeat. We watched the celebrations throughout the country on TV and eventually put on our rainbow shirts and joined our local celebrations. That September, Daniel and I realized a dream that had been deferred not only because of the legal issues but also because of my previous employment in Catholic parishes.
This month, the LGBTQIA+ community and our allies celebrate Pride. Emerging out of the 1969 Stonewall Uprising there are marches, parades, festivals, art installations, protests, celebrations, memorials, mom and dad hugs, liturgies, and all kinds of events all over the world. Pride is a recognition that – while there is still so much work to be done – there is also so much to celebrate. We celebrate - first and foremost - our inherent human dignity and goodness. We also celebrate our history, our heroes, the progress we’ve made, the community we’ve built, the future we are forging.
We are – all of us – people who are out to change the Church and the world. I don’t have to tell you that this is hard, sometimes downright demoralizing, work. Even when we do make a step in the right direction it can be easy to downplay it or to jump right into solving to the next problem, taking the next step. But as Fr. Anne reminded our board and as Pride reminds us, it is so very important to take time to celebrate: to rejoice in and for ourselves, our community, and our God.
As our time with Fr. Anne came to a close, each board member was invited to share one thing they were celebrating and to receive a brief celebration from the others. It was a blessing to share in those moments – big and small, silly and poignant – with one another.
So, this weekend, this week, what will you celebrate?
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