There Still Is a Prayer for New Religious Order

In January, Joanna Clark, a transsexual who had undergone sex change surgery, announced plans to inaugurate a new religious order to serve the homeless and other outcasts from society.

At an unofficial service led by a San Clemente Episcopal priest, she took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as well as a new name: Sister Mary Elizabeth.

But officials of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, which includes Orange County, quickly denied that a new order had been formed or that Clark, 49, had become a nun. Bishop-elect Frederick Borsch, however, called the situation “unique” and did not rule out the possibility that the church might eventually sanction Clark’s order, the Community of St. Elizabeth.

Ten months later, the two have met and Borsch is overseeing her progress toward entering the monastic life and meeting the church’s requirements for a new order, a diocese spokesman said.

Clark still uses the name Sister Mary Elizabeth and sometimes wears her homemade blue habit when she chauffeurs the needy to hospitals and the welfare office through the Episcopal Service Alliance--South County, an ecumenical organization.

“I’m doing my thing, what the Lord’s called me to do,” Clark said. But neither she nor Borsch would talk about her future.

“We had a wonderful meeting on (September) the 28th,” Clark said. “That’s all I can say.”

Ruth Nicastro, communications director for the diocese, said the church is helping Clark toward achieving her goal, but it is a private process.

“There are many problems in starting an order. This woman has had many problems in her life. She’s getting help. If you’re going to have a pastoral relationship, it requires extreme confidentiality on both sides,” Nicastro said.

Clark was a chief petty officer, named Michael Clark, in the Navy from 1957 to 1969, when he was honorably discharged. In 1975, he had a sex change operation and re-enlisted as a woman in the U.S. Army Reserves as a sergeant first class. When the surgery was discovered, the Army dishonorably discharged Clark, who later collected $25,000 and an honorable discharge in a lawsuit settlement.

If Clark is to achieve her goal of forming a religious order, she must have at least five other members who “voluntarily commit themselves for life, or a term of years to holding their possessions in common or in trust; to a celibate life in community and obedience to their rule and constitution,” according to church rules.

Clark still needs five other members to begin the estimated 5-year process, Nicastro said. Then they must receive various levels of church approval.

“I have no reason to believe she is anything but extremely sincere. If it takes her years, so be it. I believe that to be her attitude from everyone who knows her,” Nicastro said.

No action has been taken against the Rev. Robert Boyer, rector of St. Clement’s By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, who officiated at Clark’s ceremony.

“What he told us was he blessed her intent to form an order in front of her friends at the church she was attending for a long time,” Nicastro said. He is well aware he has no authority to establish a religious order. It was merely recognizing that this woman has chosen this course for herself, to dedicate her life to God.”

Meanwhile, Clark no longer holds the paying job she had as a staff assistant at St. Clement’s. She lives with her parents in their San Juan Capistrano mobile home and earns some income from speaking engagements at college classes and consulting fees with the Gender Dysphoria Program of Orange County, a nonprofit organization that counsels transsexuals. Clark is a member of the program’s board of directors.

In addition, she volunteers once or twice a week at the Episcopal Service Alliance, where she is known as a dedicated and popular worker.

“The clients really do like her,” said Ellen Gilchrist, program manager for ESA. “Most of our clients are in great need. They see the habit and it brings them a calmness, I guess.”