Vestments for women may be growth industry

National Catholic Reporter, Jan 19, 1996 by Sharon Abercrombie

When Pope John Paul II reiterated his stance against women priests in 1994, Mary Busby of Oakland, Calif., turned her anger to creativity. She started designing vestments for women - lush purples, deep blues, brilliant emeralds - each decorated with a hand-quilted mandala depicting various sacred indigenous traditions.

So now that the Vatican has attached a "Do not remove under penalty of law" label (read "infallible pronouncement") to the women's ordination issue, is Mary Busby going to meekly shut down the sewing machine and quit Chiara Creations, her modest but thriving business?

No way. In fact, the day after the Vatican pronouncement became public in November, Busby Was putting finishing touches to a rush order commissioned by a female Episcopal priest in Salt Lake City. "And I'm going to keep on sewing," she vowed.

Mary Busby is no longer angry. "In the past I would get worked up, but now it makes me smile when I compare the Vatican statement to the incredible ministry women are already doing," she said. "There are women serving as associate pastors right here in this diocese, and the people call them their priests."

The Salt Lake City commission is her 25th vestment. She made the first one eight years ago for herself to wear as a ceremonial garb when she presided at communion services.

Busby was director of music and worship at Berkeley's Holy Spirit Parish and Newman Center before she married the former pastor, Paulist Fr. Carlo Busby, in 1994.

Busby didn't envision her project as a future business. At first, she said, she just wanted to fill a gap. "I was just missing my ministry," she said. "Then when the pope said what he said" needed to respond with creativity to overcome my frustration."

She sold her first design to a friend at the Newman Center who often presided at communion services.

Several Catholic women in the Oakland diocese wear Chiara creations for communion services, but most of the vestments and accompanying stoles (with names like "Mary Magdalene's Garden") have been sold to Episcopal, United Methodist, Lutheran and Presbyterian clergywomen," Busby said.

They are one-of-a-kind and are designed to fit women, said Busby. "There are no floppy sleeves, no polyester." Her creations and fabrics are richly textured, featuring handmade piecework and appliques. "They feel like a woman would want to wear them," she said.

Chiara creations are reasonably priced - $150, compared with to "official" vestments, priced around $500, she said.

Busby chose St. Clare as her project mentor. A few weeks before the pope's 1994 pronouncement, the Busbys had traveled to Italy in search of religious arts and crafts for a gift shop they planned to open.

"At the entrance to St. Clare's Basilica in Assisi, there is a painting," Busby relates. It is titled "Chiara (Clare) Blessing the Bread While the Pope Watches." And sure enough, Clare is standing at a table laden with loaves of bread. The pontiff is standing off to the side, an observer. Creative sparks flew after Busby encountered the painting and gained new information about St. Clare - that she sewed altar cloths and is considered the patroness of embroidery.

Busby often shares her Assisi story with her customers. "They're fascinated with Clare, especially the Protestant women," she said. For Busby, a whole new world is unfolding.

"I'm meeting people from all different traditions," she said. "This is tying me into the bigger picture. I am honoring the call of all women who bless bread."

In recent weeks, Busby has had a fantasy, "Cardinal Ratzinger goes to heaven. When he gets there, a female bishop from the third century welcomes him in."