Liturgy for Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Seventh Sunday of Easter May 27, 2017 Presiders: Kathryn Shea, ARCWP & Sally Brochu, ARCWP Music Minister: Linda Lee Miska; Cantor: Russ Banner

Left to right: Kathryn Shea ARCWP and Sally Brochu ARCWP: Co-Preside on 2nd Anniversary of Ordination as Priests in ARCWP
(www.arcwp.org)

   Theme: Be not afraid and know that I am God.

Welcome and Gathering Song:  “Gather Us In” #302 (verses 1,3,4)

Opening Prayer

ALL: God of life, wholeness and holiness, you who direct all creation to its fulfillment in Jesus, the Christ – open our hearts to the message of the Gospel so that your peace may rule in our hearts and your justice may guide our lives.  Loving God, bless all of us gathered here and all those of our community who are not with us today.  We ask this of you, our brother Jesus, and our sister Sophia.  Amen.

Penitential Rite and Community Forgiveness

PENITENTIAL RITE AND COMMUNITY FORGIVENESS

Pause briefly and reflect on the need to grow more in love with others and with creation

General Absolution by Community:

(All raise hands extended in prayer and recite together.)

God, our Mother and Father of compassion, through his living, dying and rising, Jesus has revealed that nothing can separate us from the infinite love of God. May God give us pardon and peace, and may we forgive each other our failures to care for one another and for our earth in the name of God our creator, and of Jesus our brother, and of the Holy Spirit our wisdom. Amen.

Glory to God

ALL:  Glory to God in the highest, and peace to all God’s people on earth.  Creator God, heart of the universe, we thank you for the breath of the Spirit sustaining everything that exists, everywhere in the cosmos.  Through the example and teachings of Jesus Christ, you gave us the grace to know that you are always among us – and that we can experience you in our brothers and sisters.  We give you glory and praise through Jesus Christ, our brother, and the Holy Spirit, our Wisdom.  Amen.

Liturgy of the Word

First reading:  Acts 1:12-14       All: Thanks be to God.

Psalm 104: Responsorial:  Send forth your Spirit, O God, and renew the face of the earth. #806

Second reading: 1 Peter 4:13-16    All: Glory and thanks to our Savior, Jesus the Christ.

Gospel Acclamation:  Celtic Alleluia

Gospel:  John 17:1-11

Homily Starter by Kathryn Shea ARCWP

Shared Homily/Community Reflection

Homily Starter for the Seventh Sunday of Easter

May 27. 2017

Kathryn Shea, ARCWP

So, quite honestly, I struggle with homily starters.  I do.  I’m not sure why.  I think it’s because I think I have this ginormous responsibility to “relay” the Word of God.  And, I’m not really sure I even fully understand “the Word of God”.  So, it’s Friday night at almost 9:00 pm and this is all I have for my “homily starter” tomorrow.  I’m so hoping the magnificent white owl of my dreams visits me tonight and gives me inspiration.  I believe the white owl is a communicator from the Holy One, from Wisdom Sophia.  I will wait for her, patiently.  And then I fear she’s been detained in an airport!  I only hope she did not fly out from a Muslim country!   I try to communicate with her and tell her if she flies out from Russia, she will be just fine.  And then she finally comes to me in the very wee hours of the morning and helps me find words I could never find on my own.  I’m so very grateful to her.  Her words are these:

“Why do you ever doubt?  Why do you ever fear? You have no reason to doubt or fear.  God has always been with you and gives to you eternal life.  Eternal life is now.  Not later after you’re dead.  Eternal life is now!  You chose your theme of “be not afraid and know that I am God.”  Why do you not trust in those words?  Let all worries go.  Trust in these words.  God loves and protects you always.”

And so I pondered, in the wee hours of the morning, asking how will we communicate Gods message to the world and what should we most communicate?  I read Pope Francis’ for the 51st World Day of Communications.  The theme is “Fear not, for I am with you” (Is 43-5T).  Communicating Hope and Trust in our Time.  He states, “Hope is the thread with which this sacred history is woven, and its weaver is none other than the Holy Spirit, the Comforter.  Hope is the humblest of virtues, for it remains hidden in the recesses of life; yet it is like the yeast the leavens all the dough. We nurture it by reading ever anew, the Gospel.”  We must also communicate Love to a world bedeviled with hatred, bitterness, and rancor.  We must communicate Peace just as Christ communicated it to his disciples.  We must communicate Justice to a world with and unprecedented and “scandalous gap between the opulence of the wealthy and the utter destitution of the poor.”  And we must communicate Eternal Life.

Our Readings today lead the way.  In our first Reading the disciples, including several women, gathered together in a room and “with one mind, they devoted themselves to constant prayer.” The phrase “with one mind” seems very important.  Calling upon the Spirit to bring them wisdom, bring them the collective words to communicate, bring them the courage to communicate God’s words to the world even though they might be insulted or even worse.  And then our Gospel reading, Jesus prayers to Abba God to protect us and says “And it is for them that I pray – not for the world, but for these you have given me…that they may be one, even as we are one.”  To know God and the one whom he sent, Jesus, is to have Eternal Life.  So we need to cultivate an intimate, personal relationship with God and with Jesus the Messiah whom God has sent to make this Eternal Life known to all humankind.

So my question is, in what ways can we individually and collectively cultivate a more intimate relationship with Jesus and with God, especially during these very dark times,, and how can we than spread the good news of Eternal Life in our world?

Profession of Faith

ALL: We believe in God, the Creator of the Universe, the fountain of life, flowing through every being. We believe in Jesus, the Christ, who reflects the face of God and the fullness of humanity. We believe in the Holy Spirit, the breath of God in the cosmos, who calls us to love and serve without counting the cost. We believe in our global communion with all in the circle of life. Amen to loving actions on behalf of justice, healing, compassion and equality for all in our world! We believe we are light to the world!

Prayers of the Community

Presider:  We are a people of faith, believing in the power of prayer. We are always mindful of God’s unconditional love and care for all of us.  And so, we bring the needs of people – throughout the world – to our merciful and gracious God.   After each intercession, respond: Compassionate God, hear our prayers.

Presider: Healing God, you faithfully listen to our prayers.  We ask you to strengthen us in our caring for one another and in our works for justice, equality, and peace in a world without violence.  As always, we make this prayer in the names of Jesus, the Christ, and the Holy Spirit, our Wisdom.  Amen.

Offertory Procession: Song: “Be Not Afraid” #430 (all verses)

Preparation of the Gifts

Presider:  Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this bread to offer, this grain that the earth has given and human hands have made. It will become for us the bread of life.

All:  Blessed be God forever.

Presider:  Blessed are you, God of all creation. Through your goodness we have this wine to offer, this fruit of the vine that human hands have made. It will become for us our spiritual drink.

All:  Blessed be God forever.

Gathering of the Gifted

Presider:  Jesus, who has sat at our tables, now invites us to be guests at his family table.  Everyone is welcome around our family table.

ALL:  Nurturing God, we are united in this sacrament by our common love of Jesus.  We are in communion with everyone, everywhere, who proclaims your mercy to all those who are marginalized and oppressed.  May we love tenderly, do justice, and walk humbly with you in solidarity with our brothers and sisters.  May we live as prophetic witnesses to the Gospel, supported by the vision of Jesus and the wisdom of the Spirit.  Amen.

Presider:  God dwells in each one of us.            All: Namaste!

Presider:  Let us give thanks to the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists.

ALL:  With hearts full of love, we give God thanks and praise.

Presider:  Holy Spirit, we realize your presence among us as we gather at our family table.

ALL: Fill us with reverence for you, for one another, and for all your creation.

Presider:  Let us lift up our hearts.

ALL:  We lift them up to the Holy One, living in us and loving through us.

Eucharistic Prayer

Voice 1:  Ever present and always caring God, we do well always and everywhere to give you thanks.  In you we live and move and have our very being.  Your Spirit dwelling in us gives us the hope of unending peace and joy with you. And so, we sing your praise…

ALL:  sing: We are holy, holy, holy X3….we are whole

Voice 2:  We thank you for the gift of Jesus in history and the gift of Jesus in faith. On earth, Jesus burned with the vision of his mission and truth. He revealed you to us through his compassionate life well lived. Jesus showed us not only how we should live, but also for what we might die.  Through him, you continue to breathe life into us.

Voice 3:  (Place your hand on the shoulder of the person to your right) Merciful God, let your Holy Spirit rest upon us, your people, converting us from the patterns of the world, until we conform to the shape of him whose food we now share.

ALL:  O God, let your Spirit of life, healing and wholeness come upon these gifts that we gathered from the fields and placed on our table — this simple wheat and wine.  May she have them become for us the Body and Blood of Jesus, our brother.

(With an outstretched arm as we pray the consecration together.  We remember the gift that Jesus gave us on the night before he died.  He gathered with his friends to share a final Passover meal.  And it was at that supper that Jesus took bread, said the blessing and shared it with them saying: take this, all of you, and eat it.  This bread is you; this bread is me.  We are one body, the presence of God in the world.  Do this in memory of me.  [Pause]

In the same way, Jesus took a cup of wine, said the blessing and gave it to his friends saying: take this, all of you, and drink it.  This wine is you; this wine is me.  We are one blood, the presence of God in the world.  Do this in memory of me.

Presider:  Jesus, who was with God “in the beginning of the creation of the heavens and the earth,” is with us now in this bread. The Spirit, of whom the prophets spoke in history, is with us now in this cup.  Let us proclaim this mystery of faith.

ALL:  Christ has died.  Christ is risen.  Christ lives in us and through us in the world today.

Voice 4:  In memory of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, we offer you, God, this life-giving bread and this saving cup.  May all who share this sacred meal be brought together in unity by the Holy Spirit.  And may that Spirit, that Wisdom, that moved in Jesus move freely in our lives as well.

Voice 5:  God, remember your church throughout the world, help us grow in love, together with Francis, our Pope, Bridget Mary, our Bishop, and all your people everywhere – especially those who live on the margins of church and society. Remember also all those, living and dead, who touched our lives and left their footprints on our hearts.  We remember especially….(mention names, if you would like to).

ALL:  Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all glory and honor is yours, Creator God, forever and ever.  Amen (sung).

ALL: Our Father and Mother ……..Amen.

ALL:  Lord God, we have prayed that your kindom may come among us.  Open our ears to hear it, our hands to serve it, and our hearts to hold it.    Amen.

The Sign of Peace

Presider: Jesus, you said to your disciples, “My peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you.”   Look on the faith of those gathered here and ….

ALL: … grant us your peace.  O God, following the example of Jesus and with the strength of the Spirit, help us spread that peace throughout the world, to everyone, everywhere, no exceptions. Amen.

Presider: May the peace of God be always with us, as we join hands and sing, Peace is flowing like a river….

Litany for the Breaking of Bread

Presider: Loving God…All: you call us to Spirit-filled service and to live the Gospel of non-violence for peace and justice.   We will live justly.

Presider: Loving God…All: you call us to be your presence in the world and to be bearers of forgiveness and understanding, healing and compassion everywhere in your name.  We will love tenderly.

Presider: Loving God…All: you call us to speak truth to power.  We will walk humbly with you.

Presider:  This is Jesus, who liberates, heals, and transforms us and our world.  All are invited to partake of this sacred banquet of love.  All:  We are the Body of Christ.

Pre-Communion Prayer

Presider: Lord God, as we come to share the richness of your table, we cannot forget the poverty of so many of our brothers and sisters.

Men:  We cannot eat this bread and forget those who are hungry.  O God, your world is one world and we are stewards of its nourishment for your people.

Women:  We cannot drink this wine and forget those who are thirsty.  O God, the very earth and its people cry out for environmental justice.

ALL:  We cannot listen to your words of peace and not grieve for the world at war.

Communion – Instrumental

After Communion Reflection Song: “Love Light” – sung by Seth WInners

Prayer of Thanksgiving After Communion

Presider:  Eternal God, may this Eucharist in which we always share Christ’s healing love deepen our oneness with you and our unity with one another.  We ask this in the name of Jesus, the Christ, and the Spirit, the Wisdom.   All:  Amen.

Introductions, Community Prayers of Gratitude, and  Announcements

Closing Community Blessing

Presider:  Creator God, Jesus showed us how to love one another and heal our hearts.  Through the power of your liberating Spirit at work within us, we will give and receive forgiveness, live joyously, and work for healing, justice and equality for our earth and for all your holy people.   Jesus asked you to look over us and protect us, and this is our prayer as well.  As Jesus gave to us his peace, may we spread his peace to all peoples of the earth.   ALL:  Amen

ALL: (with an outstretched arm in blessing)

May the blessing of God go before you.

May Her grace and peace abound.

May Her Spirit live within you.

May Her love wrap you ‘round.

May Her blessing remain with you always.

May you walk on holy ground.

May we continue to be the face of God to each other and may our name be a blessing in our time!  Amen.

Co-Presiders:   As we all go in the peace of Christ, let our service continue in all that we do!

ALL:   Thanks be to God. Let it be so!  Alleluia!

Sally Brochu ARCWP, Kathryn Shea ARCWP, and Seth Winners

Concluding Hymn: “We Are Called” #628 (all verses; using God for Lord)

FOLLOWING A CALL TO LEADERSHIP, Maria Annoni Ordained as a Priest in RCWP By Britta Arendt Herald-Review

http://www.grandrapidsmn.com/news/following-a-call-to-leadership/article_6ea2d6fa-4251-11e7-b222-7f05c20a82ff.html

"Cohasset woman is ordained priest"

“I always thought I was good enough to be a leader.”

Maria Annoni has also always believed in her devotion to Christianity and her Catholic foundation.

On May 7, the Grand Rapids woman was ordained to priesthood, through the organization Roman Catholic Women Priests (RCWP) in a ceremony before many friends and family members at First United Methodist Church in Sartell, Minn. Bishop Nancy Meyer of Indianapolis officiated.

With more than 200 female priests worldwide and now 12 in Minnesota, RCWP’s movement was inspired by the Danube Seven. In June of 2002, seven women boarded a ship that sailed on the Danube River, after lifetimes of prayer and discernment about their calling to the priesthood. These Danube Seven were ordained by Bishops in good standing with the Roman Catholic Church whom themselves had been ordained in the line of succession of Peter and who felt that denying ordination to women was unjust. However, in November 2016, Pope Francis proclaimed that the ordination of women will never happen, maintaining Canon Law 1024 that reserves the priestly vocation to males only. Subsequently, women who are ordained are automatically excommunicated by the Vatican.

It was another kind of church parting that prompted Annoni’s journey toward priesthood.

Since childhood, Annoni has been involved in ministry. She started playing the organ with her church choir at the young age of nine. Annoni would go on to become an accomplished guitarist and cantor, playing and singing in every church in the Duluth Diocese. She would eventually earn a Doctorate in Music Theory. And with limited career options, Annoni felt fortunate to acquire a position as Director of Liturgy and Music at St. Joseph’s Church in Grand Rapids.

For 21 years, Annoni was the heart of music liturgy at St. Joseph’s. She was proud to introduce the congregation to what she calls “cutting edge” repertoire - a style that even inspired the modern design of the new church building.

“It was a big job - training cantors, choir members, even priests; I would advise school groups, weddings, funerals on liturgies,” said Annoni with a sense of accomplishment. “I dove in with both feet and hands; put my whole heart in. At times, I wrote pieces that would fit the choir. I designed it to be interesting - to be smooth. If it’s full of mistakes, the music no longer becomes part of the liturgy - it becomes a distraction.”

Intent on furthering her education and enhancing her profession, Annoni enrolled at St. John’s University where she took a course on the Letters of St. Paul and “just fell in love with scripture even more so than ever.”

“There is so much in the word of God that goes far beyond what humans can say, what the church can say. It speaks to the heart - rather than just the mind,” she explained.

Annoni’s draw to church leadership became even stronger when she attended a Catholic symposium in Milwaukee, Wis., in 2013 put on by Call to Action, an organization with a mission “to education, inspire and activate Catholics to act for justice and build inclusive communities through a lens of anti-racism and anti-oppression principles.”

“I went to a breakout session sponsored by RCWP where they asked, ‘How many of you ever felt you’ve wanted to step into those shoes?’”

The idea of stepping in for the priest had obviously crossed the minds of many women at the session, as Annoni remembers “a whole mess of women stepped up - and I was one of them.’”

“And life has never been the same for us,” smiles Annoni’s partner of 29 years Kathleen Nuccio, adding, “You can’t put this genie back in the bottle.”

Shortly after the symposium, Annoni says things were different at St. Joseph’s. An anti-same-sex marriage amendment campaign was roiling Minnesotans and, as a gay woman, Annoni sensed hostility where she once found support. In frustration, she soon retired from her position, feeling forced to leave the program she built and the church she cherished.

At the same time, Annoni said others were uncomfortable with the new Roman Missal that had recently been introduced at mass. So she and Nuccio invited friends out to their house to discuss their confusion “freely,” she said. What started with a handful of email invitations grew to 40-50 and the group meeting at the women’s lake home became weekly.

Dubbing themselves, “Thinking Catholics,” this house church met for prayer, discussion and a potluck for five years. While Annoni worked to complete a Master’s in Theology from St. John’s, the group periodically invited women priests from the Twin Cities area to celebrate masses with them. The congregants renamed their community, “The Spirit of Christ the Healer.”

“They say when God closes a door, he or she opens a window - and that was especially the case for Maria,” explained Nuccio. “What was sad at the time became a source of great joy now.”

Nuccio and Annoni say the christening of “The Spirit of Christ the Healer,” speaks to those who have been left behind for whatever reason; to those deemed not worthy of coming to the table.

“Because that is what Christ was - the healer, with forgiveness and acceptance.”

The women say they feel most hurt by the message, “If you don’t like what the (Catholic) church is doing, just leave.” People ask them, “Why do you stay Roman Catholic?” And Annoni’s response is, “That is how I was born and raised; I’ve served that church all my life. They can excommunicate me, but they can’t excommunicate me from the church, my core beliefs.”

Annoni calls the policies dictating who can become priests, as “man-made,” and “not true,” based on the belief that the disciples at the Last Supper were all men.

“But there were women there too, behind the scenes,” she explained, also noting recent findings of mosaics in Roman catacombs depicting women priests and bishops.

Annoni has been invited to share music and liturgy at Christ Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids once a month.

“We share in our common Christianity instead of differences,” said Nuccio.

“We’re all looking to be accepted to the table,” added Annoni. “Reconciliation doesn’t happen in a box, it happens among fellow human beings in community. I firmly believe that’s where healing begins.”

Annoni will celebrate her first mass of thanksgiving on Saturday, June 3 at 2 p.m., at Christ Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids where she is prepared to provide poignant scripture relating to building community. A reception will follow at Timberlake Lodge."

"The Rebirthing of God" with John Philip Newell

https://youtu.be/aRGvPXlkRew

Visit Award-Winning Photo Journalist Giulia Bianchi's Women Priest Project

"The Roman Catholic Church have fought fiercely against feminism. The Vatican’s Holy See is one of the last governments in the world to be led exclusively by males. Thus, it came as a surprising historic opening when on the 12th of May 2016, Pope Francis promised in front of an audience of 900 nuns that he would open a commission to study the role of women deacons (the first step in being ordained) in the dawn of Christianity and the possibility to apply it today. This is a critical moment in history for Roman Catholicism. The Church increasingly feels like an obsolete model, far removed from the spiritual needs and realities of today. The fate of the Church seems to hinge between: the current establishment disappearing  into a cult of a few conservatives, or a deep renewal in its administrative and religious shape. At the center of these debates and these possibilities, is the battle for a renewed priesthood that would include women as well. "

WWW.WOMENPRIESTSPROJECT.ORG

http://www.giuliabianchi.com/virgin/

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/26/rome-poster-campaign-catholic-ban-female-priests

A Conversation with Jesus About Suffering , War and the Homeless

What is your answer? 

Olga Lucia, Alvarez Benjumea ARCWP: Hundreds of thousands in Teachers' Strike Across Colombia"Link to Update on Colombia's Public Witness for Justice

https://evangelizadorasdelosapostoles.wordpress.com/2017/05/25/colombia-a-16-dias-del-paro-la-fuerza-publica-del-esmad-atropella-al-pueblo/

https://america.cgtn.com/2017/05/23/hundreds-of-thousands-in-teachers-strike-across-colombia

"As a Mother Comforts her Child, so I will Comfort You"/Beautiful Song by Kathryn Christian, "Gather Me Under They Wings

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ss1sFqR2hx0&feature=youtu.be

COLOMBIA: "ARMS" FOUND IN THE STOP OF BUENAVENTURA AND CALI: MARIMBAS, CONUNOS, MARACAS, DRUMS, GUASA. Olga Lucia Álvarez Benjumea ARCWP *

2

https://evangelizadorasdelosapostoles.wordpress.com/2017/05/24/colombia-armas-encontradas-en-el-paro-de-buenaventura-y-cali-marimbas-conunos-maracas-tambores-guasa-olga-lucia-alvarez-benjumea-arcwp/

After having lived on the Island of Cascajal = Buenaventura, and having worked very closely with the Prophet of Non-violence, Gerardo Valencia Cano, I can only raise my voice, cry of pain, before what I see, hear, Happens and is happening in the main Colombian port on our Pacific Coast.

What's going on? Who are the dangerous ones? Those who maintain poverty and enjoy it?

With deep pain, which I can not conceal, I look at the news brought by our leaders and rulers, who are surely very "willing" to protect the looting and robbery that is done to our Mother Earth in this beautiful and rich area. See: ( http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/cali/mineria-ilegal-en-el-naya-cauca-y-valle-piden-reactivar-bases-militares-91374 .

Http://noticias.caracoltv.com/cali/masiva-movilizacion-en-jamundi-en-rechazo-asesinato-de-180-indigenas-tras-acuerdos-de-paz-con-farc

What is heard, in that long, deaf sound, the protection for our Afro people, and indigenous people? Cries of pain, terror and death!

Where are the Afro and Indigenous People responding and recognizing what they are asking for? Live with dignity! Drinking water, public services, health, housing education, employment?

What they have decided, in their meeting to "calm the unemployment" what pity, have to say: it is a huge patch, where there is pain (see: http://www.eltiempo.com/colombia/otras-ciudades/ Reunion-between-government-and-protestants-for-paro-in-buenaventura-91622

How embarrassing, that some of our Afro representatives, have learned corrupt ways, foreign to the Afro people! See: https://www.las2orillas.co/contrato-4-7-mil-millones-entrego-alcalde-buenaventura-festival-reinado/

And what about the true owners of Buenaventura? Which of them has slept without shelter, or bread, barefoot, in the jungle in the middle of a downpour, and the danger that this represents? Or sailed by the San Juan River, in the heat of the rain and the sun, which has generously dried the clothes attached to the body? Whether fishing or taking out wood.

In the Book of Genesis 1:28 we read that God has told women and men, "to give birth to many. Growing in number. Fill the earth and rule over it. Dominate the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and all the beasts that move on the earth. "But it seems that we have read wrongly, forgiven, misunderstood, this text. The "give birth and grow in number", nowhere says that it is to kill, until there are a few ... The "fill the earth and rule over it" Nor does it say that it is a job of a few this task: it is the responsibility of All and all! "Master the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the beasts that move on the earth." Our afro, indigenous, peasant people, women, children, are not fish, birds or beasts, to subdue them and less to end ellxs.

Do not forget History, so it is no longer a compulsory subject in the country's Educational Pensum.

Let us watch our actions and attitudes, we are not far from provoking, even with more violence, what our country lived in 48, and what we have seen in past "Peace Accords" more recent.

I leave you with the marimbas, conunos, guasa, drums and maracas.

Https://www.google.com.co/search?newwindow=1&site=webhp&source=hp&q=me+voy+pa'+vete+musica

Update: Two Roman Catholic Women Priests Report on Colombia

https://judyabl.blog/2017/05/21/what-is-really-happening-in-colombia-from-two-roman-catholic-women-priests-in-colombia/

Pope Francis Laughing, Enjoy different faces!

When Trump Meets Francis/ Insightful Commentary in Commonweal

https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/when-trump-meets-francis



..."Francis has described his worldview as “Magellan’s gaze”: “One thing is to observe reality from the center and another to see it from the last place where you arrived […] An example: Europe seen from Madrid in the 16th century was one thing; however, when Magellan arrives at the end of the American continent, he sees Europe from a new point reached and understands another thing.” In seeing the world as an explorer (not a settler or a conqueror), as the son of immigrants, and as the leader of a global faith community, he takes it in with his mind, his heart, and his hands. Contrast how Trump kicked off his first foreign trip—the largest arms sale in U.S. history—to how Francis began his, a trip to “the peripheries” of Lampedusa in July 2013 at which he said: “Immigrants dying at sea, in boats which were vehicles of hope and became vehicles of death. That is how the headlines put it. When I first heard of this tragedy a few weeks ago, and realized that it happens all too frequently, it has constantly come back to me like a painful thorn in my heart. So I felt that I had to come here today.”


Forget the populist qualities that Trump and Francis supposedly share: Francis has a view of the world that Trump does not

Francis’s emphasis on the peripheries of the world was further confirmed with the surprise announcement on May 21 of a new consistory for the appointment of five cardinals from Mali, Laos, Sweden, Barcelona, and San Salvador (there is no new cardinal for North America). His geopolitical view is characterized by deep insight and a lack of heavy-handed interventions with local churches when it comes to decoding and discerning the complexity of global Catholicism and the world in general. He sees parallel trajectories in the fundamental solidarity between the Church and the world, quietly rejecting notions (“the Benedict Option” and other, more theologically refined versions of it) about withdrawing from the public square. Francis sees the world as a city, not a world divided between the “city of God” and the secular; a cosmopolitan and multicultural city for the Church to live in, not as a frontier to be conquered and fenced. He does not see the Church as a monastery to which Christians must retreat, under siege from the world. Francis’s world is not for settlers, but for the re-settled: the migrants and refugees who represent the religious icons of the seeker and of the bearer of the theological virtue of hope in a world where sometimes the first who are incapable of giving hope are Christians.

It will be interesting to watch and analyze Trump’s audience with Francis, because the meeting must be read in light of three “signs of our times.” The first sign is the widening gap between the United States and Europe. There is an ecclesial component (the theological and political opposition to Francis centered in the U.S.) and a geopolitical one (the Trump administration’s skepticism toward Europe and the European project from a political, economic, demographic, and military standpoint). It’s worth noting, for instance, that as the European project entered a period of economic and political crisis, EU leaders made a point of meeting with Francis—three times between November 2014 and March 2017.

The second sign is the political exploitation of religion for a hypocritical “turn to values.” In very different ways and with admittedly different goals, Trump and Francis de-emphasize biopolitical issues: what dominates their discourse are relations between political power and the economy. Francis expressed his view in the encyclical Laudato Si’, an encyclical as much about the relations between political and economic power as about the care for creation.

The third sign are the roles Trump and Francis embody given new political fault lines: nationalism vs. globalism, ethno-tribalism vs. cosmopolitanism. A worldview emphasizing walls is first of all impractical, but also immoral. Both the pope and the president deal with this issue on behalf of communities and populations divided by it. This doesn’t say much about their radically different positions on migrants and refugees, on the universal right to health care, or on the new arms race (just to mention a few examples), but it’s illustrative of the world they’re working in...."

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ABC News "Foster parent shortage dire as heroin overdoses rise"

http://abcnews.go.com/US/foster-parent-shortage-dire-heroin-overdoses-rise/story?id=47274193h

Features Interview with Kathryn Shea ARCWP

"In a policy brief from July 2016 titled "Families in Crisis," the HRSA stated that the National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Health Services “is concerned that the opioid crisis could exacerbate child abuse and neglect given that we’re seeing a link nationally. State child welfare systems have reported that they are experiencing an increase in families coming to their attention with substance use problems impacting their ability to safely parent.”

One Florida community has been hit particularly hard by this phenomenon.

Kathryn Shea, a licensed clinical social worker and president of the Florida Center for Early Childhood, told ABC News the problem is especially acute in Florida’s Judicial Circuit 12, which includes Sarasota, Manatee and DeSoto counties.

“The little ones in foster care are coming in enormous rates right now because of their parents’ heroin addictions,” she said...."

Article About SISTERS FOR CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY, My Religious Community

https://www.sfccinternational.org/

http://www.catholicglobe.org/?p=5906

SISTERS FOR CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY BEGAN IN 1970

By JOANNE FOX
joannef@scdiocese.org

On Feb. 19, 2015, The Catholic Globe initiated its series of articles highlighting the Year of Consecrated Life, promoted by Pope Francis. The year concluded Feb. 2, as does our series of articles with this edition.

Responding to Vatican II’s call to include participatory models of organization, the Sisters For Christian Community (SFCC) emerged as a distinct community in 1970 – to give witness in the form of the traditional vows of obedience, chastity and poverty, expressed as listening, loving and serving.

Lillanna Kopp (Sister Audrey Kopp), a scholar of anthropology and sociology, in the years immediately following Vatican II, traversed the United States and Canada speaking at “Chapters of Renewal” and diocesan sisters’ councils about the options of structural renewal within women’s

Kopp

religious communities, as called for by the Second Vatican Council of 1962-65.

Kopp believed there were sisters and women who sought a structure and form of religious life outside of a traditional congregational organization, who still wished to serve to their fullest capacity according to the Gospel premise. She envisioned these women transcending geographical distances and brought into a network of communication and unity. Kopp created a profile that delineated a new type of community based on a common charism of unity in Christ.

In August 1971, almost 40 women, inspired by Kopp, gathered in Dunrovin, Minn., to chart their future together. They refined and affirmed an official document of identity and purpose, and stressed simplicity, community and solidarity as their hallmarks.

These women resolved first to explore a new structure of religious life – one that embodied the vision and challenge of Vatican II – solidarity and equality through self-determination and collegiality. Through this new structure, SFCC intended to give witness to the church as a community bed-rocked in their shared spirituality that found its source in the Christ prayer, “that all may be one.”

By 1995 SFCC defined itself as a “prophetic-ecclesial community” driven to “speak the truth of love and grow in the maturity of Christ” (Eph 4:15). SFCC described itself as a non-canonical community of consecrated women who are self-determining, self-regulating and self-governing.

Since its inception, SFCC have gathered every summer in general assembly to construct their network of communication, to affirm their unity and commitment and to explore ever widening parameters of ministry. In the 40 years that have passed since that first assembly, more than 1,000 women have embraced the order. As of 2015, there are 31 SFCC regions spread throughout 14 nations,

SFCC may live alone or with others. Community is maintained through personal contacts, regional and international gatherings and newsletters. SFCC is collegial in all decisions that affect the community. Each member is self-supporting and dedicates her energies and talents to the service of building Christian community. SFCC minister in parishes and the professional world.

In the Diocese of Sioux City, Sister Mary Ann Nacke represents the Sisters For Christian Community.

The daughter of Joseph and Maude (Barlow) Nacke grew up in Remsen and graduated from St. Mary’s High School. The religious life was no stranger to her as two of her aunts were Benedictine nuns.

She was a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque, serving in the Diocese of Sioux City in schools, parishes and as a mental health worker in the chaplain’s department at the Mental Health Institute in Cherokee, before embracing the Sisters For Christian Community about 35 years ago.

“I didn’t separate myself from my former community because I didn’t like religious life or because I became alienated from them,” she insisted. “I still have a great deal of love and affection for the sisters.”

In joining the Sisters For Christian Community, Sister Mary Ann pointed to the blessings associated with being a member of the order.

“I simply wanted a place in my ministry that was more in line with Vatican II,” she said. “If you believe that God works in all circumstances and situations, then you can understand why I praise and thank God for all the good that has come to me.”

Sister Mary Ann retired as a marriage and family therapist after teaching for 22 years at Siouxland Family Practice Resendency. Involved for decades with the Charismatic Renewal, she continues to work with events coordinated by the Blessed Sacrament Spirit-led Intercessory Prayer Group.

More information on the Sisters for Christian Community may be found at sfccinternational.org.