Wine Tasting
Amici Gathering at St. Charles Center, 2013
Amici – A Post Mortem
by Dennis Keller, Precious Blood Amicus
The Amici movement was initiated in 1989 by
Frs. McCabe, Kunish, and Dorenkemper in a meet-
ing with Joe Hanish. It resulted in an association
with the community of ordained former members. It
was successful in several ways. Primary among them
were reconciliation and the development of systems
of reunion of those who left with those who stayed.
What wonderful outcomes those efforts brought! As
connections were re-established and gained strength,
there remained one looming question: “What did the
Amici mean to the community and the community
to the Amici?”
Joe Hanish published a series of articles in the
“Amici, c.pp.s.” newsletter, published quarterly from
2009 through 2013. There were biennial gather-
ings, mostly at St. Charles Center. The first gather-
ings ended with a cook-out in the grove with many
retired priests and priests from the surrounding
area attending. For many reasons the barbeque was
discontinued. At the final two gatherings speakers
10 • The New Wine Press • May 2018
were brought in to encourage participation by local
clergy. The Amici began including persons who had
been in c.pp.s. formation—even for just a few years.
It became more a reunion than reconnection with
the Precious Blood Community. As a result, efforts at
collaboration were stymied.
Several ordained members of Amici stopped com-
ing to gatherings because efforts toward a greater
association of the Amici with Precious Blood’s minis-
try lacked energy. That was the stumbling block that
brings us to this post-mortem. The development of
the progress of reconnection of Amici and commu-
nity is described in the following paragraphs by
Joe Hanish.
The initial attempt at forming a reconnection with
Members and those who left was a meeting held in
Celina with Frs. James McCabe, Dennis Kinderman
and Paul White, together with [Amici] Jerry Ritzel,
Nick Winner, Jim Wichtman and Joe Hanish on