Chris Kanowitz
After years of formation and ordained ministry, Chris Kanowitz found himself searching for a way to serve with greater integrity…
In 2026, over one hundred ordained members of RCWP-USA are living out our callings, in apostolic succession, through acts of prophetic obedience. In ministries throughout the United States South Africa, Colombia, and Taiwan, our deacons, priests, and bishops remain dedicated to reforming the Catholic Church and building a Eucharistic table where none are turned away.
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Today, more than one hundred active members of RCWP-USA stand in the lineage of our courageous foremothers and the bishops who ordained the first of them in apostolic succession.
We hold precious the sacramental life the Church gave us – from the waters of our baptism and sustenance in the Eucharist, to the laying on of hands and anointing with oil.
We know, as did our foremothers, that fidelity sometimes looks like disobedience.
Bishop Patricia Fresen learned this first in South Africa during apartheid, and equally applied it to the Roman Catholic Church: “sometimes the only possible way to change an unjust law is to break it.”
Dagmar Braun Celeste, member of RCWP-USA and the only U.S. citizen among the Danube Seven, knew this too. Born in Austria during World War II, sheltering from bomb raids and surviving traumas of post-war occupation, including starvation, she developed her understanding of prophetic obedience through faithful women who nurtured her. Dagmar has devoted her life to living out gospel values of caring for the oppressed and the poor. When asked why she would be willing to break canon law, she reflected on the work of Martin Luther King Jr. and Gandhi. Were their actions all legal? No. But they were valid.
In the lineage of these incredible women, we are transitional deacons, priests, bishops, and support members who are pastoring small communities, leading justice coalitions, chaplaining the Catholic faithful, and performing creative ministries across the United States, South Africa, Colombia, and Taiwan. We love our church, and we are here to stay – and guide the way – toward a renewed future where all are truly welcome at the Eucharistic table.
Join us.
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Dagmar Celeste tells her ordination story on “The Crisis Cast” episode “Dagmar Braun Celeste: Women and The Priesthood.” She published an autobiography of her life, leading up to 2002, before she was ordained: We can Do Together: Impressions of a Recovering Feminist First Lady.