Monday, 15th May, 2000

Officially back at work today. My director came around this morning, and I talked matters over with him. Basically, I just laid it all out for him. He acknowledged that this was coming from a centre of deep integrity for me. He raised the question of why this issue should raise itself just now. He offered to be with me on the journey. We talked about authority for some time. Especially: how does the principle that the true authority is the Verbum Dei operate in practice? He said that in terms of the cross, I may have to ask myself the question whether God is asking me to bear that cross on the fringes of the Catholic Church, or to bear that cross in service of the Lutheran Church, even though I know that the Lutheran Church will never be the Catholic church. In doing this he pointed out that there are many and various ways that I can and do serve the cause of the church catholic in the LCA.

After he left, I emailed Fr D. to ask him to set the wheels of the tribunal in motion for an annulment. He answered back that he would do this immediately. He also said he “admired my faith and courage”. I asked him to pray for me that my faith may not fail.