May 22, 2008

Interim letter from my first committee

Dear Heather,

First, we want to thank you again for sharing your story and call with
us.  It is an honor to be able to hear the ways God is and has worked
in your life.  As a discernment group we are very new.  We are new to
each other and some of us are new to the process of discernment as
well.  After each session with you we meet as a committee to talk
about our process and each time we are learning more about how to
better understand and serve you in this process of listening to the
Spirit's call.

We wanted to share with you some of the thoughts we had following
last week's meeting regarding our group process.  First, we wanted a
slight shift from "deciding whether or not you are called to the
priesthood" to a more open space where we can help you question and
listen to the Spirit's call in a more open way.  This is not in any
way to say that we do not think you are called to the priesthood, it
only means that we wanted to back track and allow you to more openly
approach this sense of call with us.

Second, we felt that we were all feeling hesitant to talk about areas
that may be a challenge for you.  We want to create a space such that
when those issues arise (and as we are all human and have challenges
they will arise) that we could lovingly help you examine those
areas.   Again, we want to stress that these thoughts are not in
question of your call but are rather our feelings about how the group
process could better serve you to hear the voice and direction of God.

We are sending you this letter to be transparent about the time we
spend together after you have left our meeting and to give you some
understanding of what drives our questions or comments in the group.
We also are interested in hearing from you about what would be most
helpful in the meetings we have remaining to better hear or understand
God's call for you.

Thank you for your patience with our "newness" and for sharing your
beautiful soul with us!

The Discernment Committee