By Philip RosenbaumNew York (CNN) – It’s a busy Sunday morning in August for Gabriella Velardi Ward in her modest home in the New York City borough of Staten Island.
Velardi Ward lights candles, gingerly lays out prayer sheets and looks at herself in the mirror, mindfully putting on her white robe and vestments.
A short woman with a behemoth sense of spiritual self, Velardi Ward also attends to earthly matters.
While she makes sure the table is full of healthy vegetarian dips and finger foods, umbrella-carrying worshipers trickle through the door before the heavens unload. She hugs new arrivals who take seats in a rough circle in the humble but welcoming suburban living room.
To any stranger, this would be a scene to behold: a demonstration of belief, perhaps similar in passion to 1960s war protests whose organizers loved their country but felt deep pain over some of its most troublesome acts.
Velardi Ward leads this sing-a-long and prayer-filled sit-in of devotion and rebellion on behalf of God, his creatures great and small and her half of humankind.
She says this is a Catholic Mass.
She says she is the priest.
PHILIP ROSENBAUM 