It was a year ago when a first glimpse came through in the United States of America. From there an intense search started. A tortuous route indeed to search what the Future Church might hold for women in a greater role at the altar. After this first vision, the next break-through came in Naarden, the international Church centre in the Netherlands, where Rev Prof van der Stok made some startling clairvoyant discoveries as to what might be the New Church. He described it as a round temple with an altar in the East where the Priest performs his act of consecration. He will be facing East as he does now, leading the people in their participation while facing the Angel Hosts behind the altar. In the West there is the altar of the Priestess. She will also be facing East, thereby facing the people. Typical feminine of being all-inclusive.

The Immaculate Conception
In Denmark, a new message came through, which confirmed the position of the two altars. However, there will be a third altar in the centre, where towards the end of the service the Priest and Priestess come together. For what? This remained an open question until in New Zealand a quotation from the Old Testament came to mind "Corn shall make the young men cheerful, and new wine the maids" (Zechariah 9:17). This elusive statement of the New Wine coming up again! Research has found that among the Jews, ‘new wine’ is tirosh, meaning the freshly pressed juice of the grape. In the Liberal Catholic Church, the Priest and Bishop use the "new wine", grape juice, as the offering of the Lord’s blood, not the "old wine" which is fermented wine.

It led to further thought. The chalice, which holds the new wine and water, is symbolic of the womb, containing the water and the blood. At a certain point during the celebration of Holy Eucharist, a fragment of the consecrated host is dropped into the chalice, symbolic of the conception. The host is masculine, the wine and water are feminine. The bringing together of these two Elements is therefore essential to bring about the birth of New Life. It is the act of Immaculate Conception. Neither can the host by itself be consecrated as the Body of the Lord, nor the wine and water as the Blood of the Lord, until the two Elements are brought together in the chalice! It kept ringing in the mind "Corn shall make the young men cheerful…" —yes, in the new dispensation, the Priest shall again consecrate the bread — "and new wine the maids…" — the Priestess, will she consecrate the chalice containing the new wine and water?

If this is so, the third altar at the centre makes sense. There, the Priest and Priestess come together to join the host with the water and blood, in order to make the Lord’s Sacrifice complete. There, on the central altar, the Immaculate Conception, the creation of New Life, takes place. Then, as is now, this act of dropping a fragment of the consecrated wafer into the Chalice makes Holy Communion valid. When Communion is administered in one kind, that is the host only, it is valid, because the Immaculate Conception took place at the altar. It should be realised that Holy Communion in one kind is the rule, rather than the exception. In some churches it has become customary to administer Holy Communion in two kinds, that is with the Host dipped into the Wine. The latter is perhaps emotionally more acceptable, but it is no more complete than when administered in one kind.

The downfall
With such exciting visions, it could not be helped that the mind became obsessed by thoughts in what manner one might perhaps prepare women for Holy Orders. It was a year later that a shattering answer came through. It appeared to be a definite "NO" to any such intentions. Suddenly, the shells fell from the eyes. It was a sudden realisation of how wrong the intention had been. How can anyone anticipate what the future dispensation might hold?

World-wide there are many who believe that the Master will come again as He did 2000 years ago. Many Liberal Catholics share this idea. In terms of Liberal Catholic philosophy, it would be to give mankind a new dispensation. Two thousand years ago He brought the new dispensation of the Piscean Age, the New Age of that time, an Age that was as exhilarating as is today’s expectation of the Aquarian Age. This time, the Master might come in the body of a woman, who knows? In the same way as He did two thousand years ago when He brought mankind a new liturgy of divine service, so He, or She, might come this time again to lead mankind in a new way of divine service. A new Liturgy which must lead mankind for another 2000 years or so until the end of the Aquarian Age.

The path forward
The Liberal Catholic philosophy is that we labour without attachment. Clergy is not paid for services; all donations received go to the Church. On a wider scale, we do not labour for glory, for success, and least of all for being smart in preparing what might be thought to be a New Liturgy. It is our duty to do the Lord’s work in accordance with our magnificent Liturgy in a perfect state of desirelessness. It is not up to us mortals to initiate experimentation. The message received was loud and clear in that Holy Orders are not yet appropriate for women to receive them as they are suited to male Clergy only. Let those who demand, those who cry for justice, for gender equality in the Orders of the Church, realise that by so doing they demonstrate that they do not understand what it means to serve without desire for advancement or justice. Those well-meaning men and women who are making demands, sometimes with threats, must realise that by so doing they might lose their birthright when the Master seeks His or Her Disciples to work in the New Church.