When he was a 25-year-old novice in a Roman Catholic religious order, Lawman Chibundi was assigned to work in the remote Kalahari Desert in Botswana, Africa, where his novice master advised: “Before you get there, remember — God is already there.”A decade later, Chibundi says he has been repeating that message to himself as he undergoes another, very different journey.
In 2004, Chibundi, a native of Zambia, became the first African-born priest ordained in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Louisville.
But early this year, Chibundi left the Roman Catholic priesthood and started an independent parish known as Rabbouni Catholic Community, which uses liturgical services similar to those in Roman Catholic parishes, though it has no connection with the larger denomination.
“We understand the term Catholic as, ‘Here comes everybody,'” Chibundi said.
Rabbouni is the only Kentucky church affiliated with the Reformed Catholic Church, a loose global coalition of about 300 small parishes. The Columbus, Ohio-based denomination has bishops and preserves many traditional beliefs, such as that Jesus is present in the Communion bread and wine.
But unlike the Roman church, parishes govern themselves, Communion is available to all and the priesthood is open to married men, women and openly gay people. Other “independent” Catholic churches also operate in Louisville.
Chibundi, 35, said he wrestled for years with the Roman Catholic requirement that priests, with few exceptions, be celibate. He is now engaged.
He said he also grew disenchanted with the church's restrictions on Communion for those who remarry after divorcing and with the Vatican's teaching that homosexuality is “objectively disordered.”
“We are called to invite, no questions asked,” said Chibundi, whose plain-spoken sermons, lilting accent and warm smile have made him a popular preacher among his parishioners.
“Questions need to come later, if they need to arise,” he said. “It's not my place to sort. God will sort.”
By his actions, Chibundi has automatically excommunicated himself from the Roman Catholic Church, according to Brian Reynolds, chancellor and chief administrative officer of the Archdiocese of Louisville.
“We're saddened by it,” Reynolds said. Chibundi was “seen as a real gift to the Catholic community and a gifted preacher.”
Reynolds said no sanctions apply to Roman Catholics who attend Rabbouni, but he said doing so does not fulfill Catholics' obligations to attend Mass at a church in communion with Rome.
Chibundi said about 60 people meet each weekend for Rabbouni services, held Saturday and Sunday afternoons at Springdale Presbyterian Church on Brownsboro Road.
The church — which takes its name from an Aramaic biblical word for “teacher” — is able to cover its rent and other costs.
But it can't duplicate the full-time salary and benefits Chibundi earned as a Roman Catholic priest; he now works a day job as a life insurance agent.
Reynolds said that Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz had granted Chibundi's request for a leave of absence for personal reasons effective Jan. 1, leaving his assignments at St. Leonard and St. Frances of Rome parishes in Louisville. But the archdiocese never heard back from him, Reynolds said, learning indirectly of Chibundi's new parish.
Chibundi's departure is “not an easy thing for the church of Louisville or the priests,” said the Rev. Mark Spalding, judicial vicar of the archdiocese. “He's a person that I do pray for. I've understood him to be my brother in the presbyterate (priesthood), and I always will.”
The respect is mutual.
Chibundi described the archdiocese's priests as “wonderful guys” and said Archbishop Kurtz “has reached out pastorally” to him, but Chibundi hasn't responded to his letters.
“I've chosen another path,” he said.
“Me responding is to be called back into the celibate lifestyle, and I know I'm not going back there,” he added. “I was spending more time avoiding my sexuality rather than embracing it.”
Chibundi grew up in the small village of Chibombo, Zambia.
He was the third of seven children in a family that sometimes lived on one meal a day. But “when everybody's poor, you don't realize what you're missing,” he said.
Chibundi entered seminary at age 16. He later became a novice in the Passionist order but declined to take final vows. At the suggestion of a visiting priest from Louisville, he applied for the priesthood here, was accepted and flew to America, sight unseen.
He later graduated from St. Meinrad School of Theology in Southern Indiana — and still celebrates Mass in the patient, prayerful manner of the Benedictine monks there. After ordination, he worked at parishes in Louisville and Lebanon, Ky.
Chibundi said he knows he has disappointed family back home, former parishioners and other priests, although he said some priests have quietly sent encouraging words.
“The most painful thing for me is to disappoint Mama … but I've got to be honest with myself,” Chibundi said. “I was miserable. … and I don't want to live like that anymore. I love the church so much, but I also feel I would like to have a family someday. I don't see those as mutually exclusive.”
Chibundi met his fiancée, Louisville native Mary Ann Schaffer, at a salsa dancing class.
Schaffer said she's “excited” about her new role as pastor's wife and enjoys meeting people at the parish.
Among the regulars are Jane and Rex Loeffler. Rex said he is drawn by Chibundi's “inspiring” sermons.
“He doesn't speak from the altar,” he said. “It's like he's talking directly to you.”
Chibundi hopes the parish has its own location someday. “I don't know where Rabbouni will go,” he said, “but I know before I stepped there that God was already there.”
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