Charles E. Bermingham
I believe it was the New Year of 1972, and that is when I met Ann, my future wife. We both have an interest in psychic phenomena and spiritual growth. Shortly after we met, her friend Jim White offered to take us to the Church of St. Francis in Chicago (The Liberal Catholic Church.) He suggested that it would be “different from any church I had attended.” Since I had only attended Catholic church and a Methodist and Baptist service or two before then, I couldn't say much. But I was familiar with the Vatican II and the way it had changed the Mass.
Well, my first experience was the service. It seemed “old” to me – the priest was facing “the wrong way”, and the people didn't “pass the peace.” And so on. I couldn't figure out what was “different”, except this service was in English instead of Latin. It seemed at the time that they were “half-way there.”
It wasn't until the social activities after service that it hit me. Practically the first thing that happened when I went downstairs was that someone showed me an Egyptian Ankh. I had never seen one before, but when I picked it up and held it, I felt some strange things happening. Ann asked “Do you know what this is?” I said “Some kind of antenna?”
And it went on from there – Alice Bailey, the Theosophical Society, Annie Bessant, Madam Blavatsky, and on and on. Then I found out about the Angels and their relationship with the service.
I must say, for the first few years, I had all the different movements confused with one another—not that it would be hard to do, considering how interrelated they all are—but over time, I got to know the LCC for the interesting and progressive church that it is.
Deacon James Ascareggi
Charles E. Bermingham
Rabecca Collin
Julie Hamilton
Rev. Terrence Metz
