Holy Rebels In Rochester

Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
Frederick Douglass

I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.
Susan B. Anthony

When Frederick Douglass ran away from slavery, dressed up as a sailor and boarded a train for freedom with fake papers (undocumented!!!) exactly 145 years before my birthday (September 3), it took him 24 hours to get from Baltimore to home base in Rochester. That's a radical road trip. We got to Rochester by car, just a 3-hour trip from Toronto (actually about 3 hours and 15 minutes after stopping for slurpees). Not so radical.

Douglass was the only African-American to speak at the women's rights conference at Seneca Falls in 1948, calling for an absolutely revolutionary proposal: full voting rights for all American women. As always, he spoke passionately and clearly:

In this denial of the right to participate in government, not merely the degradation of woman and the perpetuation of a great injustice happens, but the maiming and repudiation of one-half of the moral and intellectual power of the government of the world.

He saved his most radical words, however, for a speech delivered to--get this(!)--the Rochester Anti-Slavery Sewing Society on July 5, 1852:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer; a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States, at this very hour.

Douglass lived in Rochester on and off until 1872 when his house was scorched by arson. He left for D.C.

When Susan B. Anthony turned 29, she moved her family to Rochester in 1849. She focused on the women's and temperance movements and in 1872, she and some of her fellow female troublemakers voted illegally. Today the 1872 Cafe serves up fresh, fair-trade brew at this very spot in downtown Rochester.

The 1872 Cafe is actually a non-profit ministry of Spiritus Christi Church, a Roman Catholic Church which has been pushing the "dangerous" limits of full inclusion for the past few decades. In the Spirit of Douglass and Anthony, these radicals have ordained women, preached in advocacy and solidarity to bring full dignity and equality for sexual minorities (LGBTQTTI) and have committed themselves to serving the eucharist to everyone, regardless of religious affiliation.

We got the opportunity to sit down with their priest Mary Rammerman, who moved to Rochester from California with her husband and children in the early 1980s to join the beautifully rebellious Fr. Jim Callan and the Corpus Christi Church, which created ministries based on Matthew 25's call to care for the least of these (the hungry, naked, imprisoned, etc). Mary's journey to priesthood has hit numerous snags and roadblocks along the way, including a Vatican takeover of Corpus, eventually leading to the creation of Spiritus in the late 90s.

We were severely blessed by the hospitality of Mike and Lynne Boucher, a couple who moved to Rochester after meeting at Fairfield University and getting married in 1991.

They were compelled by the mission of Corpus Christi and were right in the thick of the drama of the Vatican's power moves just a few years later. As a result, Mike (a 5 on the enneagram) started working as a therapist and supervisor at the St. Joseph's Neighborhood Center, a non-profit organization providing medical, dental and mental health services to those who lack health insurance. In addition, Mike is still deeply involved in the ministry of Spiritus Christi. In fact, he just got done leading a 2-day retreat based on Walter Brueggemann's classic The Prophetic Imagination and then preaching three services on Sunday.

In addition to his work at the clinic, at church and at home, Mike is the Chairman of the Board for Word & World, "an experiment in alternative theological education, bridging the gap between the seminary, the sanctuary and the streets." Over the past dozen years, W&W has organized week-long retreats focused on specific issues like immigration, ecological justice, sexuality and racial reconciliation. They seek to gather legends of biblical scholarship and social activism (ie, folks actually doing the work) and bring them together with younger leaders in cities like Detroit, Greensboro, Tucson and Rochester.

Lynne (a 3 on the enneagram) is the spiritual director at Nazareth College. She is absolutely perfect for her job. She is a fully-trained yoga instructor and leads all sorts of classes on campus, ranging from the general student population to specific sessions for many of the athletic teams. She has a tremendous heart for her students and seeks to honor the faith tradition of each student she counsels and mentors, not to mention the fact that she possesses more energy in 3 minutes than I do for a whole day. On Tuesday, she led Lindsay through an hour-long yoga session in the Boucher living room.

And the grand finale:

The Bouchers have two children (twins!), Jonah and Kateri, who just graduated from high school and are on their way to Hamilton University in upstate NY. Mike and Lynne look far too young to be empty-nesters.

We hit the road for Lancaster County, PA:

And got to Tom Longenecker's family farm just before dinner:

We spent the night talking with Tom, a therapist and pastor at New Hope Community Mennonite Church in Harrisburg, his mom Peggy and Valentina Satvedi, a coordinator for the Mennonite Central Committee doing compelling work in regards to postcolonial faith and action.