Dagmar Braun Celeste
Encyclopedia
Dagmar Ingrid Braun Celeste (born in 1941, Krems, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

), is a counselor, clergywoman, and author. The former first lady of Ohio
Ohio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

, she was married to former Ohio governor (1983–1991) and U.S. ambassador Richard F. Celeste
Dick Celeste
Richard Frank "Dick" Celeste is an American politician from Ohio, and a member of the Democratic Party. He served as the 64th Governor of Ohio from 1983-1991.-Early life and career:...

, whom she met while attending Oxford University
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...

 in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

.
Dagmar and Richard Celeste, who have six grown children, were divorced in 1995.

Degrees and licenses

Celeste holds a B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 in Women's Studies
Women's studies
Women's studies, also known as feminist studies, is an interdisciplinary academic field which explores politics, society and history from an intersectional, multicultural women's perspective...

, a Public Policy
Public policy (law)
In private international law, the public policy doctrine or ordre public concerns the body of principles that underpin the operation of legal systems in each state. This addresses the social, moral and economic values that tie a society together: values that vary in different cultures and change...

 law degree from Capital University
Capital University
Capital University is a private liberal arts university of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Bexley, Ohio, founded in 1830. In addition to its rigorous liberal arts program, the university also offers a reputable adult degree program in Columbus, Ohio. It is one of the oldest...

, and a Master's Degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Ministry from the Methodist Theological School in Ohio
Methodist Theological School in Ohio
The Methodist Theological School in Ohio, commonly known as "Methesco", is one of the 13 official seminaries of The United Methodist Church.MTSO is a partner in the Theological Consortium of Greater Columbus, along with Trinity Lutheran Seminary and the Pontifical College Josephinum...

. She is also a licensed Polarity
Polarity therapy
Polarity therapy is an alternative energy medicine system developed in the 1940s by Doctor Randolph Stone. It proposes that health benefits can be achieved through manipulation of complementary forces, a form of energy currently unknown to science...

 practitioner.

Politics and social issues

Achievements of special note as first lady of Ohio included chairing the Ohio Recovery Council, spearheading the drive to establish the first state-sponsored on-site child care center and Employee Assistance Program
Employee assistance programs
Employee Assistance Programs are employee benefit programs offered by many employers, typically in conjunction with a health insurance plan. EAPs are intended to help employees deal with personal problems that might adversely impact their work performance, health, and well-being...

 in Ohio, initiating the Task Force on Family Violence, co-chairing the Governor's Commission on Volunteerism, and serving as Co-Chair of the Council on Holocaust Education. She was an Ohio delegate to the Democratic Convention
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 national convention...

 in 1980. Since 1992, she has continued to remain politically active through such organizations as the National Peace Institute
United States Institute of Peace
The United States Institute of Peace was created by Congress as a non-partisan, federal institution that works to prevent or end violent conflict around the world...

, Women's Action for Nuclear Disarmament
Women's Action for New Directions
Women's Action for New Directions or WAND is a progressive women's organization that seeks to decrease militarism, work toward the elimination of weapons of mass destruction stockpiles, redirect unnecessary military spending toward social programs, and to increase women's involvement in the...

, the Council for Ethics in Economics, and the Women's Community Fund in Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...

.

Catholic priesthood

In 2002, Celeste announced that she had secretly been ordained a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...

 of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...

 Angela White. She was one of seven women (Danube Seven
Danube Seven
The Danube Seven are a group of seven women from Germany, Austria and the United States who were ordained on a ship on the Danube on 29 June 2002 by Rómulo Antonio Braschi, an Independent Catholic bishop whose own episcopal ordination was considered 'valid but...

) ordained by Argentinian Independent Catholic
Independent Catholic Churches
Independent Catholic churches are Catholic congregations that are not in communion with the Roman Catholic Church or any other churches whose sacraments are recognized by the Roman Catholic Church...

 Bishop Rómulo Antonio Braschi
Rómulo Antonio Braschi
Rómulo Antonio Braschi is an Argentine Independent Catholic bishop, not in communion with the Vatican.Born in Buenos Aires, and ordained a Roman Catholic priest in August 1966, he was associated with members of the worker-priest movement in Argentina and the Movimiento de Sacerdotes para el Tercer...

 on a boat in the Danube River
Danube
The Danube is a river in the Central Europe and the Europe's second longest river after the Volga. It is classified as an international waterway....

, making her the first female American Roman Catholic to call herself a priest. Celeste was subsequently excommunicated
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...

 by the Roman Catholic Church, which does not recognize the validity of the ordination
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...

 of a woman.

Other activities

Celeste serves as the executive director of the Tyrian network, "an intentional learning community founded in the year 2000 on Kelleys Island, Ohio
Kelleys Island, Ohio
Kelleys Island is both a village in Erie County, Ohio, United States, and the island which it fully occupies in Lake Erie. Originally known as Island Number 6 and later Cunningham Island, it was renamed in 1840 for brothers Datus and Irad Kelley, who were largely responsible for cultivatating the...

 and dedicated to Brigid
Brigid
In Irish mythology, Brigit or Brighid was the daughter of the Dagda and one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. She was the wife of Bres of the Fomorians, with whom she had a son, Ruadán....

, both the Goddess and the Saint". She is the author of the auto-biographical book We Can Do Together: Impressions of a Recovering Feminist First Lady. She has also participated in productions of The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues
The Vagina Monologues is an episodic play written by Eve Ensler which ran at the Off Broadway Westside Theatre after a limited run at AFRICA in 1996. Ensler originally starred in the production which was produced by David Stone, Nina Essman, Dan Markley, The Araca Group, Willa Shalit, Mike Skipper...

. She is a long standing professional Life Balance Coach who developed an individualized three-month coaching process designed to empower one to discover a life worth living by embracing the life one is truly called to.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK