All images and text © Kevin Moloney


Fr. Brian Satterlee sweeps a monstrance containing a consecrated wafer of unleavened bread before the congregation of The Liberal Catholic Church of St. Albertus Magnus in Greeley, Colo. during a traditional Benediction mass. In the popular mass, the "blessed sacrament," in the form of the unleavened wafer, is venerated by the congregation for its power of salvation. The benediction is a rite with origins in the 13th century.

The "Lib Cats," as they call themselves, are an outgrowth of the Dutch Old Catholics who broke with Rome in the 1850s. The traditionalist church conducts the medieval Tridentine Mass abandoned by the Roman Catholic church after the Second Vatican Council in 1962. The Liberal Catholics argue the sacraments offered by the Roman church are no longer valid due to Vatican II reforms — a view shared by other Catholic splinter churches.



Fr. Brian Satterlee is vested with a sash during celebration of the Benediction mass by Deacon Ian Carman, as parishioners sing an english translation of the medieval Latin hymns associated with the mass. Satterlee, unlike his counterparts in the Roman Catholic Church, is married. His father-in-law is the Vicar General of the Liberal Catholic Church in the United States.



Parishioner Barbara Colgan, a reference librarian and recent convert to the Liberal Catholic Church, receives communion from Fr. Brian Satterlee. Members examine where their church shares ideas found in Buddhism, Hinduism and other non-Christian religions. The two priests at the church are proud of their mystic services where ancient rites long abandoned by Rome are celebrated.



Fr. Brian Satterlee sings a Benediction mass at The Liberal Catholic Church of St. Albertus Magnus in Greeley, Colo., as smoke from incense hangs among the congregation at the small store-front church. When he is not attending to his small flock, Satterlee works at a local Walmart store and manages an apartment complex.


All images and text © Kevin Moloney

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