Being Brave and Making History with Rick Romero

In this episode, I had the honor of interviewing the Reverend Rick Romero, OSFoc.

Father Rick is a priest with the Old Catholic Churches International.  Father Rick is also a Friar with the Order of St. Francis Old Catholic and is Vicar of Latino Affairs.  Since the age of nine, Father Rick has been a student of the Bible and has actively been in service of the church. 

Born and raised as a Seventh-day Adventist, Father Rick attended Adventist schools until his sophomore year of college studies.  At the age of 17 Father Rick began directing church choirs and eventually became Professor of Music and Director of Choirs at an Adventist university in Mexico.  Father Rick conducted two concerts of Handel's "Messiah" in Spanish at the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City with the Mexico City Chamber Orchestra and the University Choir.  This was the first-ever performance of "Messiah" in the Spanish language at the Palacio. While in Mexico City, the choir also gave a live performance of the cantata "Jesus is Coming" on national television.  After returning to the United States, Father Rick continued to direct choirs at several churches of various denominations, ranging from Catholic and Protestant to Unitarian Universalist. 

After 30 years of service as a church musician, in 2008 Father Rick enrolled at Sophia Divinity School, a seminary with the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.  In 2011 and 2012, Father Rick was ordained into the Diaconate and Priesthood by Bishop William Gameson of the Catholic Church of Jerusalem.  In 2012 Father Rick began a chartered ministry with the Catholic Apostolic Church of Antioch.  He began a parish ministry, "Our Lady of the Roses," which focused on social justice issues including prison ministries at Sheriff Joe Arpaio's "Tent City" and advocacy for universal health care. 

Father Rick founded Universal Spirit Broadcasting Network in 2010, and he is the Executive Producer.  Universal Spirit Broadcasting Network, Incorporated is an educational, non-profit Colorado corporation that is a telecommunications organization dedicated to ecumenical ministries that celebrate all faiths based on the Universal Spirit of peace and love.  USBN features programs that are spiritual, educational, promote fine art, and highlight social justice issues.  USBN is currently producing "End Game," a program of political and spiritual commentary.  USBN and "Convergent Streams" magazine are co-producing "The Unidos Voice" as an outreach to the spiritual community on social media.  Father Rick is a contributing editor of "Convergent Streams."

In this episode,

We talked primarily about his social justice work,

We talked about Universal Spirit Broadcasting, The Unidos Voice, and the Unidos Manifesto, along with the struggles of producing audio-visual content for the Independent Sacramental community.

Links:

Unidos Voice with Rev. Fr. Rick Romero.

Unidos Voice with Rt. Rev. David Oliver Kling.

Convergent Streams: The Premier ISM Magazine.

This podcast is produced by The Community of Saint George (The Young Rite).