Profile - Spencer Dorsey

Who Am I?

My name is Spencer Dorsey.

• Licensed CPA and founder of a financial services and business advisory firm currently in its building phase
• Systems thinker by instinct built a database architecture for his parish records management system on the side
• Here to close the gap between the vision and the execution
• Stays committed through prayer, community, and memes in that order

Professional Timeline

"Below is my bingo card of life it made sense until I left Portland, and it's been a mystery ever since.

Family Life

My family of origin is a subject I approach with honesty rather than performance. I was raised in a system that I experienced as organized around compliance rather than love; one in which relationship was conditional on conformity and the cost of disagreement was exclusion. I have chosen estrangement not out of anger or without grief, but out of a commitment to truth, love, and justice that the system itself could not accommodate. I want to be clear about something that took me a long time to understand: forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same transaction. I have forgiven the people who raised me. Forgiveness is something I extend because I believe in mercy and because carrying the weight of unforgiveness would cost me more than it would cost them. Reconciliation is something different; it requires safety, trust, and mutual honesty, none of which exist in that system. I do not owe anyone my presence. God himself respects that distinction.

At 29 years old I received a formal diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder and ADHD. The diagnosis arrived late because it was never sought; not by the people whose responsibility it was to seek it. For most of my life I operated without the right map, masking a neurodevelopmental profile that shaped everything about how I think, relate, work, and move through the world. The cost of that delay is something I am still accounting for. What I know now is that the identity I was allowed to perform within my family system and the identity I actually have are not the same thing. Recognizing that distinction; and choosing the real one; has been the most significant and most difficult work of my adult life.

From that experience I have developed what I call an agency-first philosophy. Agency — the genuine capacity to choose, to refuse, to define one's own life; is not a luxury or a rebellion. It is a theological and moral necessity. God respects human agency because love cannot exist without the freedom to choose otherwise. A system that removes that freedom, that offers only compliance or exile, is not love regardless of what it calls itself. I am building my life, my work, and my relationships on the foundation of genuine agency; freely chosen, honestly held, and extended to everyone I encounter. That is not a rejection of my past. It is the thing my past taught me was missing.

Parish Life

My life at my parish keeps's me busy, but it's ultimatly one of the greatest grounding aspects of being in the church as if you don't like something you can always join it to see if you are called to help make it better with your presense.

My roll at my time within the parish have included by not limited to:

• Altar server
• Choir member
• OCIA Team Member
• OCIA Student
• Sacristan
• Volunteer First Communion CCD Instructor
• Youth Group Leader
• Volunteer Post First Communion CCD Instructor
• Parishioner
• Greeter
• Garbage Man
• Extraordinary Minister
• Young Adult Group Leader

I would like to talk about two different stand out's of my parish life namely Altar Server and Young Adult Group Leader

Altar Server

Altar serving is exactly what it says on the tin you serve alongside the Priest at the altar while he celebrates Mass. But the role carries more weight than the job description suggests. The altar server wears a black cassock and white surplice for a reason. The black beneath represents our humanity fallen, imperfect, in need of grace. The white over it represents the purity we are called toward. It is a small but visible theology worn on the body every time you step onto the altar. And that altar is closer to the Lord than most laypeople ever stand. That proximity is an honor in itself not a call to priesthood necessarily, but a call into an intimate relationship with God. Being called to service and being called to the collar are two different things, which is precisely why discernment of vocation matters so much in a person's life. That discernment cannot happen without the sacraments. First Holy Communion food for the journey. And Reconciliation not a punishment, but a removing of obstacles. Like the father in the parable of the prodigal son who ran down the road before his son could finish his apology, Reconciliation bends the heart back into place so that grace has somewhere to go. The cycle continues. Always on the path. Always upright. Standing with those who cannot stand by themselves.

Below is a video taken duing the celebration of candlemass which is a feast of the Lords presentation and can be

The thing to notice is the person holding the Missal for the Priest. That is a Altar server in action doing what they do best which is offering hands to the Priest who would otherwise need to hold it himself this is just one example of where we support our Clergy not as lesser members but as serving in the role we perform best.

Young Adult Group Leader

Most people have probably heard the term "youth group" what most people don't know is that "youth group" has a definitive endpoint which is 18 years hold. Once you are an adult you are no longer considered "youth" and this created a specific vacuum of people who were 18+ that no longer had a place to go. Thus birthed the Young Adult Group (YAG). At Holy Family Catholic Church this was the brainchild of John Leadon which contained the founding members of John Leadon, Brandy Leadon and Lillian Berger. This provided an opportunity and a reoccurring space for those 18 to 30 to come without obligation and be part of something communal.

Below is a photo of my Team and a personal testimony regarding my direct experience.

Socks Cat

The Relationship Arc

Socks is what you might call a community kitty she doesn't belong to anyone in particular. She belongs to herself, spends her time where she chooses, and has a few safe areas in the neighborhood. By and large she is skittish, but discerning enough to know who is trustworthy and who is not. Socks and I did not exactly hit it off immediately. She watched me for a solid year before approaching me or making herself known. In that time something slow happened a bond formed. She gradually stopped scratching me. We learned together how to be with one another without invading each other's space, and we arrived at a mutual understanding that I wouldn't have found any other way. When I first met her she was every bit the ice queen. What followed was a full Tsundere to Deredere arc she is now completely shameless about actively pursuing not just company or food, but what I can only describe as scratchies and cuddles. When she doesn't get them, she lets you know.

The closing observation

The most meaningful thing about getting to know Socks was discovering the sweet and soft underside beneath the panicked exterior. Her early reactions were never malice she isn't capable of that. They were simply a nervous system looking for stability. Once she found it, the rest followed naturally.

• Tuxedo cat
• Soft
• Lots of personality
• Standoffish at first
• Sweet once trust is established
• Actively pursues scratchies and cuddles on her own terms