Today, with our Celtic Pilgrimage we have words with a few tangents of consideration related in the way of conrete side stories. One is a story told me by this compassionate man who contributes our "Anam Chara" reflections He is currently an important teacher for us in our RCWP Canada West and one with us in our Cloud of Witnesses initiative for you.
A former Oblate, he served in the far northern regions of British Columbia, in icy outposts
you could say and, if you examine your map of Canada, you should look for Fort St. James and Fort McMurray but I know that he was in further isolated places, "far from bishops" he has been known to repeat.. When he says that, he means that he had to invent and to do what was best in the situations with the People of God, mostly aboriginals. I atttribute his free spirit and forward looking vision of today as having first arisen from the way he engaged with people who especially required respect and adaptation to their cultures. He was that kind of pastor and it took him far ahead of his times and the times elsewhere even though to all appearances, certainly in urban areas, all would have seemed backwards.
He was just off in "the mssions" others might say. When we think of it, here in BC , just about everywhere except Vancouver and Victoria is still "the missions" in many respects because of distances, scattered resources, rural populations, but this does not mean backwardness in thought and practice, necessarily. Certainly less so in today's advancing technologically globally networked world.
I asked him what Sacrament of Penance was like for him prior to Vatican 2 and then how he experienced the shifts and changes and how he now understands Sacrament of Reconciliation?
"I sat on a sled in a snowbank," he replied. regarding the first part of my question. Then he told the story about how he sat there with his back to the building that was the Church. No pews. Nothing in it really and the people sat on the floor on cedar branches.
The people were very sensitive about respectful approach but they were not secretive. They liked to speak face to face so there was nothing about being in a shut box confessional that they would have appreciated or accepted.
So there Chris waited, in the snowbank, for the penitents to approach one by one without being seen but then they would come in front of him and they would have their conversastion of the Sacrament of Penance,
face to face.
I found this an incredible story that told me about the compassionate heart of this priest and his understanding of the necessity of respecting and honoring, of validating his congregants personally within their cultural context.I He also told me of the tenacity of the aboriginal people in expressing their needs and expecting that they would be honored.
As we know, often they were not, but that is not this story.
In other stories he tells, Chris describes his rush and dash in travel much as in the Acts of the Apostles. He traveled by boat or unlke Paul ,by plane as he moved amongst mission bases. His journeys were no less dangerous.--just in case we think St. Paul's acts in his time were only for the early Christian communities..
Today Chris says, just say I am Chris Diamond from Cobble Hill.. But signifigantly for our purposes he is Irish to the core .Now he lives in a sizeable home pressed against a mountain high enough to be eye level with the eagles of our Vancouver Island. Right now it is mating season and the eaglet eggs should be hatching around April 22nd. Chris and his spouse Naomi would see all fo this seasonal activity of nature. Across most of the front of their home they have panel windows stretched high and wide.
They are blessed by the eagles' flights right in front of them or from nearby, daily. and in all seasons..
What I am tellling you is signifigant for another reason. We are in the greening season as we have noted regarding Hidelgard of Bingen and Brigit of Kildaire and now Rose Mewhort recently completed a painting of the eagles in their nesting with their nestlings and we will be sending it to you soon as a jpeg.
Here is what Chris wrote me for Anam Cara (Chara) as I requested whether he would share his understanding with some reference to the recently deceased and well known and loved Irish priest John O'Donohue.
Chris writes:
The Anam chara has a long history, so long, in fact, that it has given rise to mystical,
mythical. romantic, and I'm sure spurious explanations of its origins. Literally,
it means Soul Friend and it indicates the
interconnectedness of life that played a major
role in the old pre-christian and christian Gaelic outlook on life. Today it is used by members of serious spiritual associations and by quacks as well; its use received a great impetus from Joh O'Donohue's book by that name.
(People often do no notice the dot over the C in the title indicated in modern spelling buy the 'h' after the C which softens the pronunciation
from the hard 'k' to the throaty 'ch' sound).
O'Donohue rightly explains "The Celtic mind was not burdened by dualism It did not separate what belongs together. The Celtic
imagination articulates the inner friendship that embraces Nature, diviniity, the underworld, and human world as one. The dualism that separates the visible from the invisible, time from eternity, the human from the divine, was totally foreign to them.
Their sense of ontological friendship yielded
a world of experience imbued with a rich texture of otherness, ambivalence, symbolism, and imagination. For our sore and tormented separation, the possibility of this imagination and unifying friendship is the
Celtic gift...(which finds its inspiration in the sublime notion of the anam c(h)ara."
A soul friend inspires creative love in the other and acknowledges the innate dignity of each person. There is no shame in its honour system; imagination and mystgery are other ways of knowing the previously unknown:
"Your forgotten or neglected inner wealth begins to reveal itself. You comne home to yourself and learn to rest within...(and ) bring
out the mystery of the inner landscape...Time is eternity living dangerously."
O'Donohue quotes from "The Bright Field" by Welsh poet R.S.Thomas" "Life is not hurrying/on to a receding future nor hankering after/an imagined past. It is the turning/aside like Moses to the miracle/ of the lit bush."
"Friendship is the naure of God. The christian conept of Gld as Trinnity is the most usblime articulateion of otherness and intimacy, an eternal interflow of freindship. Jesus is the secret anam chara of everuy indivicual."
With your anam chara you will go beyond religious experiences to the divinity of firiendship. to the koinonia that Paul and John speak of in their understanding of God, Jesus , and all of us,
together.
Prayer:
Today I ask our Godde that in RCWP international, we recognize each other for the valildity of our deep anam chara relationship with Jesus
Spirit Holy Wisdom Sophia your who infill us within the Divine in the Universe Divine in the universe bring us more deeply into the soul space of anam chara. Gift us with such blessings of soul mate friendship with each other as we build our community and prepare futher for how we will emerge with our communities we astor and serve.
Spirit Holy, light our imaginations and our trust of symbolism anew while integrating the gifts of our minds and our knowledge with our hearts.
We ask this in the name of our Loving Mother and Father God, of Jesus our Brother, and of
Holy Spirit Wisdom Sophia.
RCWP-Canada
Chris Diamond of Cobble Hill
Michele Birch-Conery of Parksville
Rose Mewhort of Galiano Island
and the Eagles of the West Coast
who know no borders
Living Gospel Inclusivity and Empowerment Now- https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2025/10/rev-dr-bridget-mary-meehan-arcwp-chat.html
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
Rome Catholic Church faces challenges in Africa -Roman Catholic Womenpriests offer hope for church renewal
In a report on the state of the Roman Catholic Church in Africa, men who have affairs and father children return to active ministry while nuns are thrown out of their orders. This is yet another example of the institutional Roman Catholic church's double standard, and hostility toward women. Priests receive a slap on the wrist and nuns are shown the door. Sounds like patriarchy's centuries old deeply-embedded hatred of women continues to reign in the Roman Catholic church . Shame on the hierarchy for unjust treatment of women! Jesus who called women and men to be disciples and partners, equals in proclaiming the good news of the Gospel, would be angry at such despicable treatment of women in our contemporary church. Like Jesus who cleansed the Temple and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, we, the community of believers, are called to rid the church of outdated clerical structures that foster sexism. Pope Benedict could begin by asking forgiveness from women who have been treated so shabbily by church leaders, and follow it up with a sincere repentance that restores Jesus' vision and the church's ancient tradition of partnership and equality for women, including ordination to a renewed priestly ministry.
The good news is that Roman Catholic Womenpriests is now a reality. We are following the example of Mary, Magdalene, Phoebe, Junia and the twelve hundred year tradition of women priests in the church. The people are calling forth women to serve in a renewed priestly ministry. Find our more about this vibrant new movement that is renewing the Catholic Church in grassroots communities in our book "Women Find a Way" and by visiting our website;
Bridget Mary Meehan
Roman Catholic Womenpriest
EXCERPT: "Priests having affairs is rampant in the church" in South Africa, said Velesiwe Mkwanazi, a former Catholic lay leader who co-founded Women Ordination South Africa and says she knows two priests with children."Parishioners blame women, say we seduce the priests, but we are brought up to respect and honor men, and women can't say no to a priest who is held up to us as a fount of knowledge in daily communication with God," she said.Co-founder Dina Cormick said priests who are caught having affairs are sent on retreats or moved to other parishes while nuns caught in sexual liaisons with priests are forced to leave their orders.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Pope Benedict, Listen to Women in Africa, Support Condom Use to Prevent AIDS
Press Release
March 18, 2009
Media Contact: Bridget Mary Meehan
703-505-0004
Roman Catholic Womenpriests call on Pope Benedict to reflect the compassion of Jesus in the Gospels, by supporting condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa.
The pope, like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, must listen to AIDS victims, especially innocent women. As we know, married women and their children are often the victims of this tragedy. These women did not have a choice, and could not have refused sexual relations.
While it is true that the Roman Catholic Church is actively ministering to AIDS victims in Africa and elsewhere, the institutional church 's prohibition against condoms puts lives needlessly at risk. If we ask ourselves, what would Christ do in this situation ? We might recall that in the Gospel, Jesus chastised religious authorities who made rules that put unfair burdens on God's people. Most contemporary Catholics reflect Christ's wisdom in their attitudes to church rules today. Recent worldwide polls report that Catholics support condoms to prevent AIDS. Now is the time for the Roman Catholic church to embrace the vision of fullness of life and justice at the heart of the Gospel by taking realistic steps to help prevent the spread of AIDS by reversing the ban on condom use.
March 18, 2009
Media Contact: Bridget Mary Meehan
703-505-0004
Roman Catholic Womenpriests call on Pope Benedict to reflect the compassion of Jesus in the Gospels, by supporting condom use to prevent the spread of AIDS in Africa.
The pope, like Jesus, the Good Shepherd, must listen to AIDS victims, especially innocent women. As we know, married women and their children are often the victims of this tragedy. These women did not have a choice, and could not have refused sexual relations.
While it is true that the Roman Catholic Church is actively ministering to AIDS victims in Africa and elsewhere, the institutional church 's prohibition against condoms puts lives needlessly at risk. If we ask ourselves, what would Christ do in this situation ? We might recall that in the Gospel, Jesus chastised religious authorities who made rules that put unfair burdens on God's people. Most contemporary Catholics reflect Christ's wisdom in their attitudes to church rules today. Recent worldwide polls report that Catholics support condoms to prevent AIDS. Now is the time for the Roman Catholic church to embrace the vision of fullness of life and justice at the heart of the Gospel by taking realistic steps to help prevent the spread of AIDS by reversing the ban on condom use.
The Pope is Wrong on Condoms/Media Release/Catholics for Choice
For Immediate ReleaseMarch 17, 2009
Media Contact:David Nolan+1 (202) 986-6093
www.catholicsforchoice.org
The Pope Is Wrong on Condoms
Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, issued a response to Pope Benedict's statement on condom use."As the pope traveled to Africa, he chose this moment to make what appears to be his first unequivocal statement opposing condom use. In an interview on the papal plane to Cameroon, the pope acknowledged the HIV/AIDS crisis but claimed that the distribution of condoms would not resolve the problem. In fact, he said, condom use "increases the problem.""The pope will find that few Catholics and even fewer medical personnel agree with his stance. Several bishops in Africa, including especially Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg in South Africa, have been outspoken in their support of the use of condoms. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that many people who work with Catholic relief agencies distribute condoms to those at risk of infection."While condoms are not a panacea for the problem, they are a critical part of the campaign to reduce the impact of the virus. Medical experts agree that the condom is a life-saving device: it is highly effective in preventing HIV transmission if used correctly and consistently, and is the best current method of HIV prevention for those who are sexually active and at risk."For the Catholic hierarchy to deny the role that condoms play in preventing the further spread of HIV is irresponsible and dangerous. Not only that, the Catholic hierarchy has lobbied governments in the global north against the inclusion of funding for condoms in development aid programs. The result is to deny the poorest of the poor in the global south the chance of protecting themselves by using condoms."According to a recent poll commissioned by Catholics for Choice, which interviewed Catholics in Ghana, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines and the United States, support for condom use among Catholics is overwhelming. When asked if "using condoms is prolife because it helps save lives by preventing the spread of AIDS," 90% of Catholics in Mexico, 86% in Ireland, 79% in the US, 77% in the Philippines and 59% in Ghana agreed. Unfortunately, the Catholic hierarchy's position holds the most sway in the countries least able to deal economically and medically with the disease."Catholics the world over unequivocally state that using condoms is prolife and disagree with the Vatican's ban on condoms. Now is not the time for the pope to be dismissing the importance of condom use. As he travels to Africa, he will face the realities of the epidemic. Let us hope and pray that he reconsiders and reverses his position, and in doing so, adopts the truly prolife position that ordinary Catholics have already embraced: using condoms saves lives."
Media Contact:David Nolan+1 (202) 986-6093
www.catholicsforchoice.org
The Pope Is Wrong on Condoms
Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice, issued a response to Pope Benedict's statement on condom use."As the pope traveled to Africa, he chose this moment to make what appears to be his first unequivocal statement opposing condom use. In an interview on the papal plane to Cameroon, the pope acknowledged the HIV/AIDS crisis but claimed that the distribution of condoms would not resolve the problem. In fact, he said, condom use "increases the problem.""The pope will find that few Catholics and even fewer medical personnel agree with his stance. Several bishops in Africa, including especially Bishop Kevin Dowling of Rustenburg in South Africa, have been outspoken in their support of the use of condoms. Anecdotal evidence also suggests that many people who work with Catholic relief agencies distribute condoms to those at risk of infection."While condoms are not a panacea for the problem, they are a critical part of the campaign to reduce the impact of the virus. Medical experts agree that the condom is a life-saving device: it is highly effective in preventing HIV transmission if used correctly and consistently, and is the best current method of HIV prevention for those who are sexually active and at risk."For the Catholic hierarchy to deny the role that condoms play in preventing the further spread of HIV is irresponsible and dangerous. Not only that, the Catholic hierarchy has lobbied governments in the global north against the inclusion of funding for condoms in development aid programs. The result is to deny the poorest of the poor in the global south the chance of protecting themselves by using condoms."According to a recent poll commissioned by Catholics for Choice, which interviewed Catholics in Ghana, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines and the United States, support for condom use among Catholics is overwhelming. When asked if "using condoms is prolife because it helps save lives by preventing the spread of AIDS," 90% of Catholics in Mexico, 86% in Ireland, 79% in the US, 77% in the Philippines and 59% in Ghana agreed. Unfortunately, the Catholic hierarchy's position holds the most sway in the countries least able to deal economically and medically with the disease."Catholics the world over unequivocally state that using condoms is prolife and disagree with the Vatican's ban on condoms. Now is not the time for the pope to be dismissing the importance of condom use. As he travels to Africa, he will face the realities of the epidemic. Let us hope and pray that he reconsiders and reverses his position, and in doing so, adopts the truly prolife position that ordinary Catholics have already embraced: using condoms saves lives."
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat/St. Brigit of Kildare
For winter's rains and ruins are over,
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover,Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
Atalanta in Calydon (1865)
Dear Friends of RCWP USA,
We are continuing to pray for all of you as the episcopal ordinations draw ever closer, and today we do so in the spirit of the Celts, on this feast day of St. Patrick. This feast of all things green also brings to mind our Wisdom Sister, St. Brigid of Kildare (whose feast day was Feb. 1), and indeed another Sister in Spirit/Sister of the Green, Hildegard, and the beautiful blessing from Patricia a couple of weeks ago.
We would also like to begin, this week, to pray for each of the bishops-elect individually, as well as collectively, so today I offer this "witness prayer" in particular honour and upholding of Bridget Mary, who shares the heritage as well as the courage and wisdom and industry of her namesake, St. Brigid of Kildare.
PRAYER TO ST. BRIGID OF KILDARE:
Brigidine Prayer for Peace Brigid,You were a woman of peace,You brought harmony where there was conflict.You brought light to the darkness.You brought hope to the downcast.May the mantle of your peaceCover those who are troubled and anxious,And may peace be firmly rooted in our heartsAnd in our world.Inspire us to act justly and to reverenceAll God has made.Brigid, you were a voice for the woundedAnd the weary,Strengthen what is weak within us,Calm us into a quietness that healsAnd listens.May we grow each day into greaterWholeness in mind, body and spirit.Amen. (Source: prayer card from the Brigidine nuns of Kildare.)
Green is often used to represent the fourth chakra, the chakra which hums around the human heart, and it is in the heart where, it is said, heaven and earth meet. In that coming together of matter and spirit, divine and human, Love is created and set free, to manifest inwardly and outwardly, in beauty, power and infinite possibilities. Green is also the colour of the power and delight of Nature, the natural world, a world of instinct and intuition, of creaturely kinship and interdependence. Green is the colour sunlight becomes once it has passed through plant matter with its gifts of warmth and light.
Bridget Mary, may the vigour and wisdom of St. Brigid pour through you with holy abandon! May you be strengthened and guided by the Spirit's movement within your being every step of the way, with every turn of the heel, as every new note in the dance comes to life; may the gifts of the holy ground upon which you are walking and dancing and praying grow up around you in abundance and offer themselves for your ministry.
Bridget Mary, Joan, Andrea and Regina, we bless you and claim you as leaders in our dreaming/visioning/caring/enacting community of God's renewing presence on Earth. As true community, we see ourselves in you, and you in us.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I offer now a scripture meditation, if you like -- on one of the following passages (or any other). A way of doing so would be to begin by lighting a candle and praying using Celtic author J. Philip Newell's language:
"I light a light
in the name of God who creates life,
in the name of the Saviour who loves life,
in the name of the Spirit who is the fire of life."
1. Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation. (Psalm 25:5)
or
2. Jesus said: 'Out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.' (John 7:38)
or
3. With my whole heart I seek you O God; I treasure your word in my heart. (Ps. 119:10-11)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In closing, let us celebrate the gifts of Green-ness and verdancy and Springtime, of Ireland, of St. Brigid and St. Patrick, and of Bridget Mary, and all the bishops-elect. May each of you, in your giftedness and uniqueness, be blessed with courage and confidence as you walk the path the Spirit of New Life is laying out before you. May you know how much you are valued by all whom you shall guide and all whose needs shall guide you in your pastoring. May the God of Audacious and Visionary Loving inspire your minds, encourage your hearts, and give you the energy of the surging Spring-time creeks, that you might take your new place, with alacrity and joy, in our growing community of Friends of God and Prophets. Amen.
Thank you, all, for your brave coming-forth!
I offer here, in honour and protection of all the current bishops and the bishops elect, an excerpt from the well-known
prayer, the St. Patrick's Breastplate:
[Note: Instead of "I bind to myself today..." some versions read, "I arise today through..."]
I bind to myself todayThe strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:I believe the Trinity in the UnityThe Creator of the Universe..I bind to myself todayThe power of Heaven,The light of the sun,The brightness of the moon,The splendour of fire,The flashing of lightning,The swiftness of wind,The depth of sea,The stability of earth,The compactness of rocks.I bind to myself todayGod's Power to guide me,God's Might to uphold me,God's Wisdom to teach me,God's Eye to watch over me,God's Ear to hear me,God's Word to give me speech,God's Hand to guide me,God's Way to lie before me,God's Shield to shelter me,God's Host to secure me...I invoke today all these virtuesAgainst every hostile merciless powerWhich may assail my body and my soul...Christ with me, Christ before me,Christ behind me, Christ within me,Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ at my right, Christ at my left...Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,Christ in every eye that sees me,Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
Amen.
Monica Kilburn, Calgary, Canada
And all the season of snows and sins;
The days dividing lover and lover,
The light that loses, the night that wins;
And time remembered is grief forgotten,
And frosts are slain and flowers begotten,
And in green underwood and cover,Blossom by blossom the spring begins.
Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837–1909)
Atalanta in Calydon (1865)
Dear Friends of RCWP USA,
We are continuing to pray for all of you as the episcopal ordinations draw ever closer, and today we do so in the spirit of the Celts, on this feast day of St. Patrick. This feast of all things green also brings to mind our Wisdom Sister, St. Brigid of Kildare (whose feast day was Feb. 1), and indeed another Sister in Spirit/Sister of the Green, Hildegard, and the beautiful blessing from Patricia a couple of weeks ago.
We would also like to begin, this week, to pray for each of the bishops-elect individually, as well as collectively, so today I offer this "witness prayer" in particular honour and upholding of Bridget Mary, who shares the heritage as well as the courage and wisdom and industry of her namesake, St. Brigid of Kildare.
PRAYER TO ST. BRIGID OF KILDARE:
Brigidine Prayer for Peace Brigid,You were a woman of peace,You brought harmony where there was conflict.You brought light to the darkness.You brought hope to the downcast.May the mantle of your peaceCover those who are troubled and anxious,And may peace be firmly rooted in our heartsAnd in our world.Inspire us to act justly and to reverenceAll God has made.Brigid, you were a voice for the woundedAnd the weary,Strengthen what is weak within us,Calm us into a quietness that healsAnd listens.May we grow each day into greaterWholeness in mind, body and spirit.Amen. (Source: prayer card from the Brigidine nuns of Kildare.)
Green is often used to represent the fourth chakra, the chakra which hums around the human heart, and it is in the heart where, it is said, heaven and earth meet. In that coming together of matter and spirit, divine and human, Love is created and set free, to manifest inwardly and outwardly, in beauty, power and infinite possibilities. Green is also the colour of the power and delight of Nature, the natural world, a world of instinct and intuition, of creaturely kinship and interdependence. Green is the colour sunlight becomes once it has passed through plant matter with its gifts of warmth and light.
Bridget Mary, may the vigour and wisdom of St. Brigid pour through you with holy abandon! May you be strengthened and guided by the Spirit's movement within your being every step of the way, with every turn of the heel, as every new note in the dance comes to life; may the gifts of the holy ground upon which you are walking and dancing and praying grow up around you in abundance and offer themselves for your ministry.
Bridget Mary, Joan, Andrea and Regina, we bless you and claim you as leaders in our dreaming/visioning/caring/enacting community of God's renewing presence on Earth. As true community, we see ourselves in you, and you in us.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
I offer now a scripture meditation, if you like -- on one of the following passages (or any other). A way of doing so would be to begin by lighting a candle and praying using Celtic author J. Philip Newell's language:
"I light a light
in the name of God who creates life,
in the name of the Saviour who loves life,
in the name of the Spirit who is the fire of life."
1. Lead me in your truth and teach me,
for you are the God of my salvation. (Psalm 25:5)
or
2. Jesus said: 'Out of your heart shall flow rivers of living water.' (John 7:38)
or
3. With my whole heart I seek you O God; I treasure your word in my heart. (Ps. 119:10-11)
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
In closing, let us celebrate the gifts of Green-ness and verdancy and Springtime, of Ireland, of St. Brigid and St. Patrick, and of Bridget Mary, and all the bishops-elect. May each of you, in your giftedness and uniqueness, be blessed with courage and confidence as you walk the path the Spirit of New Life is laying out before you. May you know how much you are valued by all whom you shall guide and all whose needs shall guide you in your pastoring. May the God of Audacious and Visionary Loving inspire your minds, encourage your hearts, and give you the energy of the surging Spring-time creeks, that you might take your new place, with alacrity and joy, in our growing community of Friends of God and Prophets. Amen.
Thank you, all, for your brave coming-forth!
I offer here, in honour and protection of all the current bishops and the bishops elect, an excerpt from the well-known
prayer, the St. Patrick's Breastplate:
[Note: Instead of "I bind to myself today..." some versions read, "I arise today through..."]
I bind to myself todayThe strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:I believe the Trinity in the UnityThe Creator of the Universe..I bind to myself todayThe power of Heaven,The light of the sun,The brightness of the moon,The splendour of fire,The flashing of lightning,The swiftness of wind,The depth of sea,The stability of earth,The compactness of rocks.I bind to myself todayGod's Power to guide me,God's Might to uphold me,God's Wisdom to teach me,God's Eye to watch over me,God's Ear to hear me,God's Word to give me speech,God's Hand to guide me,God's Way to lie before me,God's Shield to shelter me,God's Host to secure me...I invoke today all these virtuesAgainst every hostile merciless powerWhich may assail my body and my soul...Christ with me, Christ before me,Christ behind me, Christ within me,Christ beneath me, Christ above me,Christ at my right, Christ at my left...Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,Christ in every eye that sees me,Christ in every ear that hears me.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of Creation.
Amen.
Monica Kilburn, Calgary, Canada
Monday, March 16, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
Today we conclude considerations about St. Katherine Drexel racial justice worker and servant to the poor who also founded the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament.
As a foundress building a new community ,she had words to say that are very profound for us. In terms of her powers of discernment and visioning capacities she has been described as having a joyous spirit with an incisive intellect . She held these powers within the Light of the Holy Spirit and so found the way through or around difficulties such that her work and that of her community with her advanced.
She herself speaks about the difficulties that can come from the outside to thwart the progress or a new work and a founding organization. Here is a quote from THE PEOPLE'S COMPANION BREVIARY FOR March 3, HER FEAST DAY. Consuela Marie Duffy, SBS quotes from Katharine's
retreat notes as follows:
Resolve: Generously with no half -hearted
dread of the opinions of church and [men
or women] to manifest my mission.
To speak only and when it pleases God;
but to lose no opportunity of speaking
before priests and beareded men.
Manifest yourself. You have no time to
occupy your thoughts with that
complacency or consideration of what
others will think. Your business is simply
"What will God think?"(246)
In RCWP, we have many instances where we have to make bold decisions as though called in the moment over against obstacles that can thwart our progress. But we are also not just a single foundress or foundeer. We are already a community of persons in founding time so that much of our advancement is also dependant on communal discernment and understanding and action in solidarity as well as autonomously. What a happy mix in our new model even as we are exploring and just getting the hang of it for ourselves and with the people we serve.
Reference
PEOPLE'S COMPANION TO THE BREVIARY. Vol. 1. Carmelites of Indianapolis, 1997.
It was Judy Lee From RCWP Southern Region who recently drew attention to
St. Katherine Drexel's extraordinary boldness, vision and success in 'manifesting' (as Katherine hereself calls it) in her call and mission.
I asked Judy how it was that she had found herself within the influence of Katherine Drexel's spirit, her spirituality. and her bold accomlishments in social justice and service to the poor. Judy contirbutes to our Cloud of Witnesses knowledge from first hand experience of this woman so recently canonized in the year 2000. A.D.
RC woman priest Judy Lee's story:
I grew up in a multicultural mostly Black,
inner-city neighborhood in NYC. I was baptized, raised and confirmed, very active in and married in a Methodist Episcopal chruch in that neighborhood. It was an anchor fo youth and the community.
Along with traditional theology, our pastors, one black and one white, embraced social gospel imperatives. I learned early that following Jesus meant serving and working for justice. It was on the cusp of the Civil Rights era and MLK Jr. spoke in another
neighborhood church setting. We were all set on fire in the experience of a God who loves justice and the poor. I began to know the Jesus of Liberation Theology as the Jesus who changed and formed our lives in our community.
While a few of the church community were not working class or poor, most were and I was one of them. All of us were inspired to achieve academically and to give back to the community. Pastor Mel, our Black pastor,
explained to me that I was like the Torjan Horse in the Helen of Troy story. My white skin
could gain me entrance where my peers could not go becaue of their dark skins. But my
solidarity with those who are poor and Black would be something that would forever give me a different persepctive to bring to the dialogue, and I must be true to it. It was a wonderful beginning in my formation. Once reaching adulthood I had a hard time finding
a church that set me on fire like that one did.
I came into the RCchurch as an adult in a Black inner-city church in Hartford. CT. The church was on the grounds of a woman's shelter where I, now a Professor of Social Work and a social worker, provided consultation and intervention at the request of its Director, Judy Beaumont, then a Benedictine sister.
There was also a Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House across the street and those residents also worked at the shelter and attended the church. There was a wonderful worker/servant priest named Father Al. I felt
that I had come home. I studied with Father Al and when I made my first "official" Communion my Pastor Mel came from California. Fr. Al invited him to the inclusive Table of Jesus and sonehow I thought that was how the church was -open and inclusive of me, of Mel, of Protestants, and other faiths as well as Catholics. I was happy.
I served by counselling parishioners with and for Father Al in 'tough' situations and by teaching teen CCD. When the time came for my confirmation, we talked about a Saint's name. Father Al sugggested Katherine for Katherine Drexel and Catherine of Siena for his mother.I was moved to accept his suggestion and then studied the lives of the K/Catherines.
I found that Mother Drexel's spirit rested on our people: the black, poor and oppressed of the world and the church. I felt her spirit rested on me as well. Despite her birth in wealth and by my very different life, we were now connected spiritually, forever.
But little did I know then that I would aslo speak back to power within the Chruch as Saint Catherine of siena did. Yes, K/Catherine is a good name for me. I bless them both.
Lee,Judy. "What Would You Like to Hear?"
E-mail to Michele Birch-Conery.
4 Mar. 2009..
Let us today bless them as they bless us and ask tha Sts Katherine Drexel and Catherine of Siena accompany us deeply and powerfully on our RCWP path and that they dwell strongly within the hearts of our Bishops elect, Bridget Mary Meehan, Joan Houk, Andrea Johnson and Regina Nicolosi.
May they dwell in the hearts of our ordaining bishops Dana, Patricia, Ida and Christine.
May they strongly indwell in us all-- women and men internationally in RCWP. May the Jesus they knew as liberating social activist be with us all. May Spirit Holy Wisdom Sophia, who infused them intimately infuse and enlighten us just us intimately.
May the penetrating power of true discernement move us forward always.
From RCWP-Canada. Europe-West and from Judy Lee RCWP USA.
As a foundress building a new community ,she had words to say that are very profound for us. In terms of her powers of discernment and visioning capacities she has been described as having a joyous spirit with an incisive intellect . She held these powers within the Light of the Holy Spirit and so found the way through or around difficulties such that her work and that of her community with her advanced.
She herself speaks about the difficulties that can come from the outside to thwart the progress or a new work and a founding organization. Here is a quote from THE PEOPLE'S COMPANION BREVIARY FOR March 3, HER FEAST DAY. Consuela Marie Duffy, SBS quotes from Katharine's
retreat notes as follows:
Resolve: Generously with no half -hearted
dread of the opinions of church and [men
or women] to manifest my mission.
To speak only and when it pleases God;
but to lose no opportunity of speaking
before priests and beareded men.
Manifest yourself. You have no time to
occupy your thoughts with that
complacency or consideration of what
others will think. Your business is simply
"What will God think?"(246)
In RCWP, we have many instances where we have to make bold decisions as though called in the moment over against obstacles that can thwart our progress. But we are also not just a single foundress or foundeer. We are already a community of persons in founding time so that much of our advancement is also dependant on communal discernment and understanding and action in solidarity as well as autonomously. What a happy mix in our new model even as we are exploring and just getting the hang of it for ourselves and with the people we serve.
Reference
PEOPLE'S COMPANION TO THE BREVIARY. Vol. 1. Carmelites of Indianapolis, 1997.
It was Judy Lee From RCWP Southern Region who recently drew attention to
St. Katherine Drexel's extraordinary boldness, vision and success in 'manifesting' (as Katherine hereself calls it) in her call and mission.
I asked Judy how it was that she had found herself within the influence of Katherine Drexel's spirit, her spirituality. and her bold accomlishments in social justice and service to the poor. Judy contirbutes to our Cloud of Witnesses knowledge from first hand experience of this woman so recently canonized in the year 2000. A.D.
RC woman priest Judy Lee's story:
I grew up in a multicultural mostly Black,
inner-city neighborhood in NYC. I was baptized, raised and confirmed, very active in and married in a Methodist Episcopal chruch in that neighborhood. It was an anchor fo youth and the community.
Along with traditional theology, our pastors, one black and one white, embraced social gospel imperatives. I learned early that following Jesus meant serving and working for justice. It was on the cusp of the Civil Rights era and MLK Jr. spoke in another
neighborhood church setting. We were all set on fire in the experience of a God who loves justice and the poor. I began to know the Jesus of Liberation Theology as the Jesus who changed and formed our lives in our community.
While a few of the church community were not working class or poor, most were and I was one of them. All of us were inspired to achieve academically and to give back to the community. Pastor Mel, our Black pastor,
explained to me that I was like the Torjan Horse in the Helen of Troy story. My white skin
could gain me entrance where my peers could not go becaue of their dark skins. But my
solidarity with those who are poor and Black would be something that would forever give me a different persepctive to bring to the dialogue, and I must be true to it. It was a wonderful beginning in my formation. Once reaching adulthood I had a hard time finding
a church that set me on fire like that one did.
I came into the RCchurch as an adult in a Black inner-city church in Hartford. CT. The church was on the grounds of a woman's shelter where I, now a Professor of Social Work and a social worker, provided consultation and intervention at the request of its Director, Judy Beaumont, then a Benedictine sister.
There was also a Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House across the street and those residents also worked at the shelter and attended the church. There was a wonderful worker/servant priest named Father Al. I felt
that I had come home. I studied with Father Al and when I made my first "official" Communion my Pastor Mel came from California. Fr. Al invited him to the inclusive Table of Jesus and sonehow I thought that was how the church was -open and inclusive of me, of Mel, of Protestants, and other faiths as well as Catholics. I was happy.
I served by counselling parishioners with and for Father Al in 'tough' situations and by teaching teen CCD. When the time came for my confirmation, we talked about a Saint's name. Father Al sugggested Katherine for Katherine Drexel and Catherine of Siena for his mother.I was moved to accept his suggestion and then studied the lives of the K/Catherines.
I found that Mother Drexel's spirit rested on our people: the black, poor and oppressed of the world and the church. I felt her spirit rested on me as well. Despite her birth in wealth and by my very different life, we were now connected spiritually, forever.
But little did I know then that I would aslo speak back to power within the Chruch as Saint Catherine of siena did. Yes, K/Catherine is a good name for me. I bless them both.
Lee,Judy. "What Would You Like to Hear?"
E-mail to Michele Birch-Conery.
4 Mar. 2009..
Let us today bless them as they bless us and ask tha Sts Katherine Drexel and Catherine of Siena accompany us deeply and powerfully on our RCWP path and that they dwell strongly within the hearts of our Bishops elect, Bridget Mary Meehan, Joan Houk, Andrea Johnson and Regina Nicolosi.
May they dwell in the hearts of our ordaining bishops Dana, Patricia, Ida and Christine.
May they strongly indwell in us all-- women and men internationally in RCWP. May the Jesus they knew as liberating social activist be with us all. May Spirit Holy Wisdom Sophia, who infused them intimately infuse and enlighten us just us intimately.
May the penetrating power of true discernement move us forward always.
From RCWP-Canada. Europe-West and from Judy Lee RCWP USA.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community Moves to St. Andrew Church for Eucharistic Celebrations
Pastor Phil Garrison welcomed Mary,
Mother of Jesus Catholic Community
to St. Andrew United Church of Christ
in Sarasota, Florida. Married priest
Michael Rigdon and
Roman Catholic Womanpriest
Bridget Mary Meehan presided at this
historic liturgy.
Jack Meehan led the community songs of praise
on his saxophone and trumpet.
On March 14, 2009, Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community celebrated our first liturgy at 6pm at St. Andrew United Church of Christ in Sarasota, Florida. Pastor Phil Garrison warmly welcomed our community to this beautiful sanctuary. Forty-six people gathered for this historic first! Married Priest, Michael Rigdon and Roman Catholic Womanpriest, Bridget Mary Meehan presided. The community participated in a dialogue homily and recited the prayer of consecration during the Eucharistic Prayer. Jack Meehan, Bridget Mary's father, played the saxophone. We concluded our liturgy by praying for healing with two of our members who are ill.
MOVIES of Liturgy on YOUTUBE:
Links to youtube video clips of Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community
historic, inclusive Catholic Mass at St. Andrew United Church of Christ.
In this clip, Pastor Phil Garrison welcomes our community to this beautiful sanctuary.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFjIHI7ODKY
Preparation of the Gifts: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBVqy37hc-s
Eucharistic Prayer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G00LMtBVlwU
Communion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKr5FCrg7oo
Recessional: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zzq8VCmomE
Prayer and Anointing of the Sick: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OENGyGV7vcg
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: More links in major news papers on outrage over Vatican excommunication of Brazilian Mother and doctors
Excommunication of doctor and mother criticised
Irish Times - Dublin,Ireland
In a statement, the Roman Catholic Womenpriests group
called on the Vatican “to reflect the
compassion of Christ to this child, her mother and her doctors”. ...
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0316/1224242907606.html
Martha y Maria: Women's Lives, Women's Rights
Blog by Anne Eggebroten
http://marthaymaria.blogspot.com/
Whom Would Jesus Excommunicate?
Thank you to Bridget Mary Meehan for this letter and
statement from Roman Catholic Womenpriests
in regard to my commentary online today at
Women's eNews, http://www.womensenews.org/,
"Vatican Expulsion Should Start Outcast Honor Roll
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5375029/vatican-defends-brazil-excommunication/
Major News Outlet Links: Time, NY Times, Yahoo
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1883598,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/world/europe/08vatican.html?ref=world
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5375029/vatican-defends-brazil-excommunication/
Bridget Mary Meehan
RCWPMedia Contact
Press Release: March 12, 2009
Media Contact: Bridget Mary Meehan
sofiabmm@aol.com 703-505-0004
For Immediate Release
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Call the Vatican to Compassion
In response to the Vatican Excommunication of Brazilian Child’s Mother and Doctors
On March 7th, 2009, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho announced the excommunication of the mother and doctors who participated in an abortion that saved the life of a nine year old fourth grader.The 80 pound child was brutally and repeatedly raped and finally impregnated by her stepfather.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, affirmed the excommunications even though it was the doctor’s professional opinion that the pregnancy could kill the child.
Ironically, on the same day that Pope Benedict spoke about the dignity of women, these top church officials withdrew the sacraments from the child’s mother and doctors who, after all, were trying to save the child’s life while the man who violated the body and soul of a small child remains in good standing with the church.
The church had the opportunity to act in a pastoral compassionate manner. Instead, it perpetuated further violence in a family already torn apart by violence.One can only wonder how Jesus, who walked among us acquainted with grief and suffering would have acted.It was Jesus who told us to remove the beam from our eyes before we judge the actions of others. It was Jesus who directed us to forgive seventy times seven.
In the spirit of Luke 4:18 where Jesus announced his compassionate, justice-oriented ministry, Roman Catholic Womenpriests serve everyone including women and families traumatized by rape and sexual abuse with its life-long sentence of depression and anxiety.In inclusive grassroots communities we are breaking open the alabaster jars of sacramental grace united with those we serve.All are welcome always and no one is left out or sent away.There should be no such thing as excommunication in the house of God.
For many Catholics, the Eucharist is the heart of our faith.This decision made by the prelates contradicts the basic tenets of Catholic social justice teaching.This hypocrisy is the last straw. Roman Catholic Womenpriests call the Vatican to reflect the compassion of Christ to this child, her mother and her doctors.
http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Irish Times - Dublin,Ireland
In a statement, the Roman Catholic Womenpriests group
called on the Vatican “to reflect the
compassion of Christ to this child, her mother and her doctors”. ...
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0316/1224242907606.html
Martha y Maria: Women's Lives, Women's Rights
Blog by Anne Eggebroten
http://marthaymaria.blogspot.com/
Whom Would Jesus Excommunicate?
Thank you to Bridget Mary Meehan for this letter and
statement from Roman Catholic Womenpriests
in regard to my commentary online today at
Women's eNews, http://www.womensenews.org/,
"Vatican Expulsion Should Start Outcast Honor Roll
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5375029/vatican-defends-brazil-excommunication/
Major News Outlet Links: Time, NY Times, Yahoo
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1883598,00.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/world/europe/08vatican.html?ref=world
http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/5375029/vatican-defends-brazil-excommunication/
Bridget Mary Meehan
RCWPMedia Contact
Press Release: March 12, 2009
Media Contact: Bridget Mary Meehan
sofiabmm@aol.com 703-505-0004
For Immediate Release
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Call the Vatican to Compassion
In response to the Vatican Excommunication of Brazilian Child’s Mother and Doctors
On March 7th, 2009, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho announced the excommunication of the mother and doctors who participated in an abortion that saved the life of a nine year old fourth grader.The 80 pound child was brutally and repeatedly raped and finally impregnated by her stepfather.
Cardinal Giovanni Battista, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, affirmed the excommunications even though it was the doctor’s professional opinion that the pregnancy could kill the child.
Ironically, on the same day that Pope Benedict spoke about the dignity of women, these top church officials withdrew the sacraments from the child’s mother and doctors who, after all, were trying to save the child’s life while the man who violated the body and soul of a small child remains in good standing with the church.
The church had the opportunity to act in a pastoral compassionate manner. Instead, it perpetuated further violence in a family already torn apart by violence.One can only wonder how Jesus, who walked among us acquainted with grief and suffering would have acted.It was Jesus who told us to remove the beam from our eyes before we judge the actions of others. It was Jesus who directed us to forgive seventy times seven.
In the spirit of Luke 4:18 where Jesus announced his compassionate, justice-oriented ministry, Roman Catholic Womenpriests serve everyone including women and families traumatized by rape and sexual abuse with its life-long sentence of depression and anxiety.In inclusive grassroots communities we are breaking open the alabaster jars of sacramental grace united with those we serve.All are welcome always and no one is left out or sent away.There should be no such thing as excommunication in the house of God.
For many Catholics, the Eucharist is the heart of our faith.This decision made by the prelates contradicts the basic tenets of Catholic social justice teaching.This hypocrisy is the last straw. Roman Catholic Womenpriests call the Vatican to reflect the compassion of Christ to this child, her mother and her doctors.
http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Friday, March 13, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
Rose Mewhort
TO RCWP USA(March 13/09)
St. Katharine Drexel ( our meditation) Part 1:
Since March 3, we in Canada along with Judy Lee(USA) who first drew our attention to St Katharine Drexel , have had a few diverse conversations regarding this extraordinary American woman canonized Oct, 1, 2000 by John Paul 2.
Our 3 way conversation circled around Judy's own pastoral work and knowledge of Drexel but it was also energized by further considerations of Ruth Mewhort'sstained glasswork of the stand of trees she now calls (Paul's painting). I have kept coming back and back to it, and it has riveted me in ways I could not immeidately explain.
For me,(Michele), Ruth's stained glass artwork has strong aboriginal resonance and I feel a kinship between the omages and Katharine Drexel's pastoral work with Native American's and with the Black people. Perhaps, this resonance that has captivated me so is due to the fact that on our West Coast Islands, most of the land belongs to our first Nation's peoples and the spirits of their ancestors are everywhere in nature.
.As well, during the time of the underground railroad ,many black slaves escaped to these islands off the mainland of Canada. Indeed, I have an uncle on Saltspring Island whose ancestors were amongst these liberated people. I have 4 nieces who are black and my aunt, a Conery, who married Uncle Bob, did so when it was entirely unacceptable to marry interracially. I have another aunt who married a First Nation's man, both of them long since deceased. All of this took place out on these islands where Ruth now a painter on Galilano and a newcomer by the standards of the long living and deceased inhabitants, is picking up on what has long been here and lives in the waters, the rocks and the trees, the animal life; (nitice the whales in the stained glass working of the ocean).
So we will once again send this painting in recognition of the long journeys to freedom of our oppressed peoples Canadian and American, natives , blacks, hispanics and all those poor and dispossessed people of any race , ethnicity or gender--and worlwide, Let us remember Bishop Fresen and the justice understanding she has brought to us from Sout Afirica.
In her real life in the USA, and not imagined from Galiano Island, St. Katharine's young life prepared her for her later life's work. When I read that she was the second daughter of Francis Anthony DRexel and Hanna Langstroth, I find out only thatHannah died just over a month after Katharine's birth. This must have been signifigant in its impact on her father and the two girls who were then cared for by an aunt for 2 years.
Katharine's father re-married and so we now have the name of her step-mother Emma Bouvier Drexel who Katharine cared for in the last 3 years of mother's life until she died of cancer at the age of 21.
Katharine's father died in 1885 when Katharine was now herself 27 years old and a wealthy woman. It would seem that all family events had to transpire until she was free to follow her intensive and undeniable call to serve the aborignals she had already seen so destitute, and then later the blacks whose oppression she grieved and whose freedom she fought for.
She attended to needs , you could say, in Maslow's hierarchy. That is food and clothing came first, then schooling and all along she fought for human rights. She was a prophetic witness and justice worker well ahead of our times, and then dying herself, at the age of 97 but in retirement from her mid- 70;'s on due to debilitating heart illness.Imagine though, what she knew living from 1858 until 1955. Many of us were alive then and listening and dancing to The Platters who Rose says, also inspired her stained glass painting.
I liked the Platters version of "Trees"...
I changed the word "Poems" to paintings.
Paintings are maed by fools like me
But only god can make a tree.
Schmalze...but I like it.
(Rose)
Katharine was a benevolent woman who used her wealth to effect public change on a large scale. She started with the small country schools established on the reserves and pushed forward all the way to founding Xavier Collge, the first institute of highe learning for black people. She was a woman ahead of our later Civil Rights movement bought she fought against racial discrimation such that she could be held alongside the best(Matrin Luther King). Just a little ahead of her time we could say but such a life and what we have lived to see teaches us just who our people are in the Cloud of Witnesses. whether canonized or not
(and we question tne system of canonizastion justifiably)-. Neverhteless, they won by faith. By faith they went as far as they could go in their cirucmstances and time.
It will be the same for us in RCWP. and for other committed changemakers whatever their cause. We too take up a justice issue and stand against discrimination of all kinds but particularly for the ordination of women By this, I mean we stand for major discrimination and not just those little discriminations we feel in our personal rights when we are slighted unintentionally or forgotten by others sometimes.
We have something else in common with St. Katharine Drexel that we might recognize in RCWP .We are sometimes criticized as forgetting women of less privelege and are said to be women of privelege ourselves and here we go again, those uppity white upper class feminists now pushing for this particular change.
But what is benevolence? Few of us are wealthy women and probably none as wealthy as Katharine Drexel was in her time.But what we are doing in this foundational time is to give without holding back what we have of our money, our hospitality, our giftedness to bring forward this very difficult movement. This has no doubt led many of us to adopt a simpler lifestyle already. We are benevolent together in community and not as one alone.
We should resist being pressured to underestimate our empowerment from this nor led to overreach what can be done nor underestimate what we we may eventually accomplish.. We do this by the same faith liverd by St. Katharine Drexel and all in our Cloud of Witnesses and Communion of Saints. We do this..".Yes we can" as Obama would say.. And like him, we cannot do everything all at once. Nor can we address everyone's justice issue and solve their dilemna while at the same time remaining attentive to ours.
The prejudices we must yet come through ourselves will not disappear overnight but in living them through ,the mysteries of changing hearts will be revealed in the People of Godde's quality of faith life.So many of you are describing such experiences already in your communities
We have reason to celebrate and to be joyous and filled with hope and love for how far we have come and for where we are going, for what we can see and not see.
tbc in Part 2 which will include Judy Lee's personal story and knowledge of St.. Katharine Drexel..
Blessings on all,
RCWP/Canada and Europe West
rm
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
Image by Rose Mewhort
It is a glass work.I composed it at home on my return from the Mount. The glass pieceswere given to me by a stained glass artist who was a good friend. Hewas in a terrible head on collision and has since died. He lived on the edge all his life. He installed my floor, painted my living room,brought me firewood and helped me in many ways to set up my home on Galiano. I am always thankful for his generosity to me. So the spirit of gratefulness is in that work and gratefully I gave it away. If there is a title it would be "Tribute to Paul"
Rose
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Advise Vatican on Pastoral Approach to a Child's Abortion
Press Release
March 12, 2009
Media Contact: Bridget Mary Meehan
sofiabmm@aol.com 703-505-0004
For Immediate Release
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Call the Vatican to Compassion
In response to the Vatican Excommunication of Brazilian Child’s Mother and Doctor
On March 7th, 2009, Archbishop Jose Cardoso Sobrinho announced the excommunication of the mother and doctors who participated in an abortion that saved the life of a nine year old fourth grader. The 80 pound child was brutally and repeatedly raped and finally impregnated by her stepfather. Cardinal Giovanni Battista, prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America, affirmed the excommunications even though it was the doctor’s professional opinion that the pregnancy could kill the child.
Ironically on the same day that Pope Benedict spoke about the dignity of women, these top church officials withdrew the sacraments from the child’s mother and doctors who, after all, were trying to save the child’s life while the man who violated the body and soul of a small child remains in good standing with the church.
The church had the opportunity to act in a pastoral compassionate manner. Instead, it perpetuated further violence in a family already torn apart by violence. One can only wonder how Jesus, who walked among us acquainted with grief and suffering would have acted. It was Jesus who told us to remove the beam from our eyes before we judge the actions of others. It was Jesus who directed us to forgive seventy times seven.
In the spirit of Luke 4:18 where Jesus announced his compassionate, justice-oriented ministry, Roman Catholic Womenpriests serve everyone including women and families traumatized by rape and sexual abuse with its life-long sentence of depression and anxiety. In inclusive grassroots communities we are breaking open the alabaster jars of sacramental grace united with those we serve. All are welcome always and no one is left out or sent away. There should be no such thing as excommunication in the house of God.
For many Catholics, this is the heart of our faith. This decision made by the prelates contradicts the basic tenets of Catholic social justice teaching. This hypocrisy is the last straw. Roman Catholic Womenpriests call the Vatican to reflect the compassion of Christ to this child, her mother and her doctors.
http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/
Vatican Lipservice to Women in Women's History Month
Women's Ordination Conference Leaders
Aisha Taylor and Erin Saiz Hanna
"This is a prime example of the devastating impact that the hierarchy’s cultural influence often has on women. When it comes to women’s issues, this type of hypocrisy – on a less horrific scale – is the norm in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. "
http://ncronline.org/news/women/vatican-lipservice-women-womens-history-month
Aisha Taylor and Erin Saiz Hanna
"This is a prime example of the devastating impact that the hierarchy’s cultural influence often has on women. When it comes to women’s issues, this type of hypocrisy – on a less horrific scale – is the norm in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church. "
http://ncronline.org/news/women/vatican-lipservice-women-womens-history-month
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Roman Catholic Feminist Theologian Mary Hunt"s Article: "Excommunicating the Victims"
RDPulpit: Excommunicating the Victims
By Mary E. Hunt
Posted on March 10, 2009,
Printed on March 10, 2009
"The Roman Catholic Church stooped to a new low just in time for International Women’s Day. On Wednesday, March 4, 2009, at 10:00 a.m., a nine-year-old girl who was pregnant with twins had an abortion in Pernambuco, a state in the northeast of Brazil. The Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife was preparing to file a legal claim to stall or stop the abortion, but it was over before they were able to. The local arch bishop, Jose Carolos Sobrinho, told the media that God’s laws are superior to human laws in declaring that the girl’s mother, as well as the doctors involved in the abortion, were excommunicated"
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/humanrights/1206/
By Mary E. Hunt
Posted on March 10, 2009,
Printed on March 10, 2009
"The Roman Catholic Church stooped to a new low just in time for International Women’s Day. On Wednesday, March 4, 2009, at 10:00 a.m., a nine-year-old girl who was pregnant with twins had an abortion in Pernambuco, a state in the northeast of Brazil. The Archdiocese of Olinda and Recife was preparing to file a legal claim to stall or stop the abortion, but it was over before they were able to. The local arch bishop, Jose Carolos Sobrinho, told the media that God’s laws are superior to human laws in declaring that the girl’s mother, as well as the doctors involved in the abortion, were excommunicated"
http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/humanrights/1206/
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Press Release: The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church says: Shame!
Press Release: Immediately
March 8, 2009
Professor Leonard Swidler, S.T.L. Ph.D. LL.D., President,
Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
dialogue@temple.edu
The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church says: Shame!
When is the last time Cardinal Re of the Vatican, or any Vatican official, or indeed, any bishop, excommunicated a Mafioso responsible for deliberate murders?
But Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Brazil did excommunicate the mother who permitted an abortion to save the life of her nine-year old daughter who was rape-impregnated by her stepfather!
And this excommunication was defended by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for Bishops, as he told La Stampa, an Italian daily newspaper.
According to the report, the abortion was undertaken to save the life of the nine-year old mother. Why was Archbishop Sobrinho not at the side of the little raped child and her agonizing mother spiritually helping them - instead of publicly condemning them?
Perhaps the archbishop and the Vatican wonder why so many tens of millions of intelligent, sensitive Catholics are fleeing the Church? Here is another stunning reason!
Again, ARCC says to Archbishop Sobrinho and Cardinal Re: Shame!
Leonard Swidler, Ph.D., S.T.L., LL.D., LL.D.
Prof Catholic Thought & Interreligious Dialogue
215-204-7251 (Off.) 215-477-1080 (Home) 513-508-1935 (Mobile)
E-mail: http://www.blogger.com/ ; Web: http://www.blogger.com/
Editor, Journal Ecumenical Studies; Pres Dialogue Institute http://www.blogger.com/
Religion Dept Temple Univ Philadelphia, PA 19122 http://www.blogger.com/
Pres, Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church arcc-catholic-rights.net
March 8, 2009
Professor Leonard Swidler, S.T.L. Ph.D. LL.D., President,
Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church
dialogue@temple.edu
The Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church says: Shame!
When is the last time Cardinal Re of the Vatican, or any Vatican official, or indeed, any bishop, excommunicated a Mafioso responsible for deliberate murders?
But Archbishop José Cardoso Sobrinho of Brazil did excommunicate the mother who permitted an abortion to save the life of her nine-year old daughter who was rape-impregnated by her stepfather!
And this excommunication was defended by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, head of the Roman Catholic Church’s Congregation for Bishops, as he told La Stampa, an Italian daily newspaper.
According to the report, the abortion was undertaken to save the life of the nine-year old mother. Why was Archbishop Sobrinho not at the side of the little raped child and her agonizing mother spiritually helping them - instead of publicly condemning them?
Perhaps the archbishop and the Vatican wonder why so many tens of millions of intelligent, sensitive Catholics are fleeing the Church? Here is another stunning reason!
Again, ARCC says to Archbishop Sobrinho and Cardinal Re: Shame!
Leonard Swidler, Ph.D., S.T.L., LL.D., LL.D.
Prof Catholic Thought & Interreligious Dialogue
215-204-7251 (Off.) 215-477-1080 (Home) 513-508-1935 (Mobile)
E-mail: http://www.blogger.com/ ; Web: http://www.blogger.com/
Editor, Journal Ecumenical Studies; Pres Dialogue Institute http://www.blogger.com/
Religion Dept Temple Univ Philadelphia, PA 19122 http://www.blogger.com/
Pres, Association for the Rights of Catholics in the Church arcc-catholic-rights.net
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Report from Janice Sevre-Duszynska on 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women
Janice Sevre-Duszynska presiding at liturgy at
Dorothy Day House in Washington DC
What a place to be, here in New York at the UN for the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women!
With 5,000 registered NGO participants, mainly women from all over the world, I have met women from Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Argentina, and many other places. I have attended talks on HIV/AIDS; how it is spread, how to prevent it, and the care-giving involved. I have also learned much about disarmament, gun control, human trafficking, engaging men in sharing responsibility, religions and sexual reproductive rights, and about violence towards women. I will have much to share with you all....
Dorothy Irvin and I are staying with Anglican sisters at their Community of the Holy Spirit (on West 113th Street, just up a hill from the Hudson River). Every morning we take an hour-long bus ride to the UN. There we attend discussions of the 45 member states, and we also spend much time across the street at the Parallel Events in the Church Center. This is where organizations meet to give talks on their specialty issues.
I am still awaiting word on whether I will be able to give my 3-minute oral statement. After hearing the talks it is quite apparent that patriarchal religion is a root cause of violence in our world.
This afternoon Dorothy will be giving a talk to Gabriella's community on Staten Island. I must leave now.
Peace,
Janice=
Friday, March 6, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
Alexandra Caverely-Lowry dancer
Bishop Patricia Fresen in background
Ordination in Ottawa, Canada
But tonight, in our Cloud of Witnessing with you RCWP on the way to the episcopal ordinations in April, we acknowledge all of us in our sexualities but in particular our lesbian women and gay men. We acknowledge our heterosexual married couples and divorced women. We acknowledge our women
who are mothers with children and grandchildren from their unions straight or gay. We acknowledge you who are single mothers and we acknowldge the many single and single aging women amongst us in our full embodied physical selves and in our sexualities. We acknowledge our embodied selves in our pleasures and in our pain for it is true that in pain we are still embodied, no more nor less
than in all of our humanly embodied experiences..
Thus tonight we especially pray:
Loving Mother and Father God,
Jesus our brother,
Wisdom Sophia, You who are the Source of our being, fill us with new and fresh energy.
Let the fire of your Divine energy and our humanly embodied energy merge.
Help us to accept your Life within us
in every cell of our body.
We ask, knowing that we will receive all
that we need to appreciate our physical realities ,so that we may be wholly in relation with those we love.
In community, let us embrace one another
remembering the delicacy and value of
ourselves as sexual persons in all of our
differences. Let us value those differences
for the building up of your kindom for in
equitable love of women, of men and of children ,your kindom will become more whole
and holy.
Sustain all human rights workers especially those of the Courage Campaign . Keep them united in solidarity as they teach in their equality teams county by county in the state of California.
Sustain us in all that we do in standing in prophetic obedience for the ordination of women and for the full equality of all women and men in our RC Church and in all of the People of God in all Christian denominations, faith traditions and spiritualities.
Through our belief that you are all Love we ask You to raise your love amongst us by opening our love for each other. We ask you this in hope for the full human rights in equality for all people and especially in ending discrimination based on our sexuality.
Gracious Creator God, we love you. We worship You as the all One who knows how to love fully.and who fills the Universe with sustaining and everlasting Life.
Ideas from Monica Kilburn Smith
and Michele Birch-Conery
March 5, 2009
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
Painiting by Rose Mewhort,
RCWP candidate/British Columbia, Canada
We invite you to a time of prayer, reflection and silence.
Fundraiser for RCWP-Southern Region-Auction of Vacation home for a holiday in Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina
One of our generous donors has offered a holiday at his vacation home in North Carolina to raise funds for Roman Catholic Womenpriests in the Southern region.
Location: Mars Hill, Blue Ridge Mountains, North Carolina, USA
Accommodations: Cabin, 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths (Sleeps 8)
Located in beautiful Wolf Laural Gated Community. 1 mile from Appalachian Trail. 1000 square feet of deck over looking the Big Bald mountain. Sleeps 8 with 2 master suites and a loft that is a great hideaway for kids. Has a very cabin feel. Ski resort is part of Wolf Laurel. With tubing and skiing available. Can rent bikes in the Summer to ride on ski slopes. Our property is very secluded in the woods. Must see to appreciate. Minimum bid $500.
Many holidays are still available, but you will want to select and book early if the week/weekend you chose falls on a holiday. You must select dates within the next 12 months.
http://www.vrbo.com/55779
Accommodations: Cabin, 3 Bedrooms, 2 Baths (Sleeps 8)
Located in beautiful Wolf Laural Gated Community. 1 mile from Appalachian Trail. 1000 square feet of deck over looking the Big Bald mountain. Sleeps 8 with 2 master suites and a loft that is a great hideaway for kids. Has a very cabin feel. Ski resort is part of Wolf Laurel. With tubing and skiing available. Can rent bikes in the Summer to ride on ski slopes. Our property is very secluded in the woods. Must see to appreciate. Minimum bid $500.
Many holidays are still available, but you will want to select and book early if the week/weekend you chose falls on a holiday. You must select dates within the next 12 months.
http://www.vrbo.com/55779
Roman Catholic Womenpriests; "Vatican Justice" link to article in Ms. Magazine
Maryknoll priest, Ft. Roy Bourgeois co-celebrated with women priests at the Ordination liturgy of Janice Sevre-Duszynska in Lexington, Kentucky on Aug. 9, 2008.
Ms. Magazine article:
http://www.msmagazine.com/winter2009/VaticanJustice.asp
"Nearly 5,000 Catholic priests [in the U.S.] have sexually abused over 12,000 Catholic children…but they were not excommunicated,” says Father Roy Bourgeois, who faced the latter scenario after helping celebrate what the Vatican considers to be an illegitimate ordination mass in August 2008. "
Monday, March 2, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Cloud of Witnesses Retreat: Patricia Fresen- Bishop- Europe West
A Painting by Rose Mewhort
RCWP Candidate, British Columbia, Canada
to accompany
Bishop Patricia Fresen's Prayerful Reflection
inspired by HIldegard of Bingen's
"Viriditas--All Verdant
The Greening Power of God"
Viriditas - The Greening Power of God (Prayer inspired by Hildegard of Bingen)
(Hildegard made up the word viriditas, or “greening power” to express divine energy filling all of creation, including humanity,
with vitality and creativity. She speaks of God’s love as “greening love” and believes that Christ brings “lush greenness to
shriveled and wilted people and institutions. She speaks of the Divine Word (Dabhar) as “viriditas”: “ The Word is all verdant
greening, all creativity”, she says. Hildegard calls God “the purest spring”. (Matthew Fox)
We will celebrate the ordination of our four new bishops in Springtime, when the greening love of God is freshly evident after
the long winter. Viriditas, says Hildegard, is the power of springtime, a germinating force, a fruitfulness that comes from God
and permeates all creation.
Inspired by Hildegard, let this be our prayer:
Loving, lifegiving God, we pray that you will shower the earth, all of humanity and the church
with greening refreshment, the vitality to bear fruit.
May your Spirit bring to our shriveled and wilted church, lush greenness.
Bless abundantly Dana and the four bishops-elect: Bridget Mary, Joan, Regina and Andrea
with your greening love.
May they be filled with your compassion in their pastoral ministry.
May they bring fresh, creative solutions to old problems and new challenges.
May all of creation, including humanity, the church and all of us in RCWP,
be filled with your divine, greening energy
as you move us forward towards a “new heaven and a new earth”,
towards a human community which is more respectful, more compassionate, more loving.
Patricia Fresen -Bishop- Europe West
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Sacramental Theology from a Feminist Perspective: Extravagant Affections by Susan Ross
Image of women celebrating Eucharist in St. Priscilla's catacomb
Courtesy of Dorothy Irvin
Susan Ross in her book ,Extravagant Affections, sums up some of the challenges and connections we face as reflect on sacramental theology from a feminist perspective.
“the jars of ointment of the church, the sacraments, need to be broken open, by all people, but especially by women. The horror of Jesus’ disciples at his allowing a woman to anoint him with costly oil is echoed today by the refusal of magisterial Roman Catholicism to allow women to preside at the Eucharist and to act as sacramental ministers. Jesus praised the women as a model of true discipleship for the entire community.”
We are this kind of paradigm shift now when the people of God are claiming their rightful role as equals in the church. Catholic feminist ministries for 25 years have been forging connections and meeting the challenge to dismantle the dominator model that continues to divide and cause divisiveness. We are forming partnerships. We are birthing a new model of grassroots communities of justice-seekers. We are opening up and offering alternatives in worship.
The jars of ointment that Susan Ross refers to is God’s own extravagant affections for humankind. She advocates neither adaptation of the existing sacramental system nor wholesale exodus from it. “Rather I argue for ways of expressing this ambiguity, within and alongside the sacraments. … I am convinced that sacramental theology is in need of some kind of feminist response. .As gifts of God’s extravagant affections and our own for God and for others, the sacraments provide opportunities for Christian women and men to express, play celebrate and live out the “riotous plenty that is God.”
The mystery of the divine cannot be contained in symbol but glimpses of who God is and who God is not is revealed at the same time. God is always so much more than we can name or imagine!! Therefore, in our prayer and ritual we need a rich variety of names and symbols to reflect the mystery of God beyond all names and symbols.
Roman Catholic Theologian and archaeologist, Dorothy Irvin in a recent conversation pointed out that in St. John Chrysostom's liturgy, the priest represented the people in the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the Eucharist, the focus was on God’s action. Christ was represented by the poor, the hungry, the naked, the sick and the imprisoned.
For twenty-five years, Women-Church groups have created sacred space for women to gather to celebrate liturgy in open, creative, life-giving ways that affirm the fully equality of women. We shared our stories and celebrated that yes, we women are the body of Christ and our stories and lives are holy.
Mary Beben and I wrote a book, Walking the Prophetic Journey for small Eucharistic faith communities that put together some of the liturgies that we had designed in our communities as resources. It was such a joy to write Eucharistic prayers that used feminine imagery for God and listed women’s names in the tradition as witnesses to the Gospel in these creative works of the imagination. The books sold out and now I provide this resource in electronic form and on cds!
What I see happening as RCWP emerges and claims our charism of a renewed priestly ministry is a new energy in the community for creating together a community where all are welcome at the banquet table especially the most alienated, rejected and marginalized members of the church and indeed outside the church. There are no boundaries. Christians form other churches are warmly welcomed to the table too.
What I hear from members of my community that gives them hope is that the people of God are experiencing women as revelatory of the divine. RCWP are reminding the church that women are equal images of Godde. A number of women have told me that they watch the videos that I put up on youtube and google because they want the reality to sink into their souls, to feel it in the marrow of the bones!
In Fl. and N.VA. enthusiastic Catholics gather in Mary, Mother of Jesus House Church. So I feel that we have come fully circle! We feel much closer to Jesus and the women leaders of the early church. We can identify with Jesus' ministry which was inclusive, non-hierarchical, challenging rules and regulations, the stus quo, especially by including the lowest, most marginalized as the priviledged. They were the people of God so highly favored, a reversal of the dominator model. In our sacramental celebrations, we have people who have been in the heart of the church for years and people who have been alienated for a number of reasons.
Our challenge is how to transform the existing Eucharistic liturgy with its patriarchal bias reflected in its prayers, and co-create the new together to reflect the mutuality, justice seeking, life affirming discipleship of equals. We definitely need new Eucharistic prayers for starters!!
We are a community where all are welcome at the banquet of love to experience the extravagant affections o f God in community, in creation, in our work for justice and equality in our world.
As we affirm women’s co-equal leadership in the sacramental tradition, we are creating a healing, reconciling, transforming community of co-responsibility and mutuality.
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
March 1 09
This is the "Listening to the Hearbeat of God" painting. If you look carefully the image structure looks a lot like the human heart in open heart surgery.
Only a nurse or doctor would get it. I have to tell people. So many of nature's images are echoed in the structure and movement of the body.
Viridissima Virga
Hildegard Von Bingen
Greetings to you Verdant rod
burst forth in the rush of wind
burst forth from sacred prayers.
When your time had come
blossoms opened on all
your branches.
The WORD rang out.
Greetings to you
The suns' warmth streams
into you
like the penetrating sweetness
of balsam.
RM
and MBC
RCWP/Canada
This is the "Listening to the Hearbeat of God" painting. If you look carefully the image structure looks a lot like the human heart in open heart surgery.
Only a nurse or doctor would get it. I have to tell people. So many of nature's images are echoed in the structure and movement of the body.
Viridissima Virga
Hildegard Von Bingen
Greetings to you Verdant rod
burst forth in the rush of wind
burst forth from sacred prayers.
When your time had come
blossoms opened on all
your branches.
The WORD rang out.
Greetings to you
The suns' warmth streams
into you
like the penetrating sweetness
of balsam.
RM
and MBC
RCWP/Canada
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Jesuit blasts St. Paul, Catholic teaching on women's ordination
"In a recent article for The Washington Post and Newsweek’s On Faith site , Father Aloysius Howe, a Jesuit and international visiting fellow at Georgetown University’s Woodstock Theological Center, has blasted Catholic teaching on women’s ordination. "
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=2134
Father Howe argues:
"The Pauline analogy of husbands mirroring Christ and wives mirroring the church has within it the seeds of much in theology and church discipline that is sexist and misogynist. ...If Catholics are told that only men can be, for sacramental purposes, in persona Christi, standing in the place of Christ at the Eucharist, are we seriously meant to believe that this does not lay down the germ of an idea, namely that women are inferior to men, even in the order of God's grace? If all the discernment and decisions that affect women in the Church are made only by celibate men, are we to conclude that this has no effect at all on the attitudes of Catholic men towards women?...
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
Hi all in RCWP USA
Hope you have time to listen and even download St: Hildegard of Bingen's work:
"O Viridissima Viga "
and consider the greening of the world and of the Spirit.
Much love,
RCWP Canada and Europe West
I found this link on SpiralFrog.com and thought you might find it of interest: http://www.spiralfrog.com/pages/album.aspx?albumid=378216
Hope you have time to listen and even download St: Hildegard of Bingen's work:
"O Viridissima Viga "
and consider the greening of the world and of the Spirit.
Much love,
RCWP Canada and Europe West
I found this link on SpiralFrog.com and thought you might find it of interest: http://www.spiralfrog.com/pages/album.aspx?albumid=378216
Friday, February 27, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
From Canada and Europe West,
To our sisters and bishops elect in USA.
How about one song by Hildegard of Bingen today and over the weekend.
We surround ourselves in RCWP in a time of gradual opening to our as yet unknown visions and ways forward. WE feel our way in the Luminous Spirit Hildegard sings of today.
This song is called Hodie Aperuit: Today has Opened. ...It is the first in a series of luminous chants and instrumentaltions for her expressions of complete love for the Divine One and for her open heart waiting to receive each infilling of the Spirit in return.
Hey, I found this link on SpiralFrog.com and thought you might find it of interest: http://www.spiralfrog.com/pages/song.aspx?songID=3225321
To our sisters and bishops elect in USA.
How about one song by Hildegard of Bingen today and over the weekend.
We surround ourselves in RCWP in a time of gradual opening to our as yet unknown visions and ways forward. WE feel our way in the Luminous Spirit Hildegard sings of today.
This song is called Hodie Aperuit: Today has Opened. ...It is the first in a series of luminous chants and instrumentaltions for her expressions of complete love for the Divine One and for her open heart waiting to receive each infilling of the Spirit in return.
Hey, I found this link on SpiralFrog.com and thought you might find it of interest: http://www.spiralfrog.com/pages/song.aspx?songID=3225321
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat
Painting by Rose Mewhort who lives on Galiano Island, BC.
"Beside Still Waters" I am drawn into my recognition of the need to enter nature for a day and just stay and stay until am entirely penetrated by the beauty of silent nauture such as Rose has portrayed in in her painting.
I am moved to quote the final line of Denise Levertov's poem "Immersion" from her book
THIS GREAT UNKOWING: LAST POEMS.
New York:New Directions, 1999.
"The holy voice
utters its woe and glory in myriad musics, in signs and portents.
Our own words are for us to speak, a way to ask and answer (53).
Prayer
Loving Mother and Father God, we long to bathe in the light of your holiness and love.
We long to rest in your silence.
Be deeply with us and calm any fears we carry on our journey to the diaconate, to priesthood and to the episcopate.
Fill us with the courage of your holy prophets and help us to understand how prophetic witnessing and the creation of prophetic change happens.
Show us in your infinite gentleness and compassion how to co-create the building of your inclusive model of priesthood for a converted church and for the deep healing of the People of Godde, who also heal us.
We ask this in the your name, in the name of Jesus our Brother and in the name of Spirit Holy Wisdom Sophia
Rose Mewhort
and
Michele Birch-Conery
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat in preparation for Episcopal Ordinations
(Photo of Roman Catholic Womenpriests Ordinations
in Ottawa, Canada in 2007)
To all the women in RCWP USA,
Firstly, let me introduce to you those who, at this moment, are participating in holding your Sacred Space, in holding the rim of your space on the North American continent as you prepare for and journey towards and to the epicsopal ordinations .
We are:
Europe West
Marlene Wijdeveld
Bishop Patricia Fresen
We have the promise of more to come
from Europe when we begin our daily common prayer on March 29, through to and including Easter Sunday.
We are:
Canada
Priests:
Marie Bouclin -Canada East (Sudbury)
Canada West
Monica Kilburn Smith (Calgary)
Jim Lauder (Van Island)
Michele Birch-Conery (Van Island)
Our Elder Co-ordinator
of St. Francis Chapel Ministries
Patricia Fitzgerald (Mayne Island)
Our Western Region Administrator
located in Calgary
Shelagh Mikaluk
Our candidates on the path do diacionate ordination:
Kim Sylvester (Van Island)
Rose Mewhort(Galiano Island)
And there are others with us who hold our space from deep within the Catacomb realities.
They should not be forgotten as powerful Presences in RCWP.
We also expect wider participation from our support people as we evolve in our Cloud of Witness presence and prayer. for and with you.
I am attaching our reflection and prayer for today to your responses because we know that in a Discipleship of Equals, the dialogic impulse (pulse I should say), the heart beat of our communities is essential,. Thus our role in servant leadership to listen for and to the movement of the Spirit amongst us as we language our responses, our prayer conversation with our God ( who always has the first Word) and then with each other in our liturgies and in Sacrament.
So on this Ash Wednesday, where I awoke wondering what we would offer you next and when we would do it, I found your grateful and heart-felt responses to us on the RCWP/NA list.
They are so heart fully grateful that we have been calling and communicating with each other in a return of ecstasy and joy and wonder at the unfolding of such a simple call offered just last night, the Eve of Ash Wednesday.
A reading for today is re-languaged from PEOPLES COMPANION TO THE BREVIARY: FOR Ash Wednesday. It reads:
You are a people holy to our God; Our Godde has chosen you to be God's people, Godde's treasured possession. It was because our Mother and Father God loved you and kept the promise sworn to our ancestors that now you have been rescued from the house of slavery. Know , therefore, that God is faithful . Our God keeps Covenant loyalty with those who love her, with those who love him to a thousand, thousand generations.
Dt. 7:6, 8-9
We pray that we wil be filled with the Holy Spirit, that our hearts will be renewed and our vision clarified as we take this new turn in our RCWP path, in our community on the journey to the first
USA Episcopal ordinations.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Sarasota House Church Doubles in Size
Mary, Mother of Jesus House Church in Sarasota Praises God for Growth
Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community celebrated an inclusive Catholic liturgy on Saturdays in Sarasota, Florida. On Feb. 21 st, 2009 our community moved to a larger home because we had outgrown my home. Again the Holy Spirit suprised us and we doubled our numbers in two weeks. We give thanks that God is blessing our community with wondrous growth, not only in numbers, but in enthusiasm and joyful praise as we gather to celebrate the banquet of Jesus who invites all to the table of boundless love and forgiveness. On this wondrous occasion, Michael Rigdon, a married RC priest and Julia Fisher, an Episcopal woman priest co-presided at our Christ-centered worship. Indeed, as Jack Meehan, my Dad played our recessional, "When the saints go marching in," we truly experienced a cloud of witnesses on earth and in heaven leading us to a renewed, glorious celebration of our faith in Jesus's healing presence among us. We are called to be the reality that God is indeed doing something new in our midst and that we are challenged to think outside the box and bring our friends in need into Christ's healing embrace.
Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community celebrated an inclusive Catholic liturgy on Saturdays in Sarasota, Florida. On Feb. 21 st, 2009 our community moved to a larger home because we had outgrown my home. Again the Holy Spirit suprised us and we doubled our numbers in two weeks. We give thanks that God is blessing our community with wondrous growth, not only in numbers, but in enthusiasm and joyful praise as we gather to celebrate the banquet of Jesus who invites all to the table of boundless love and forgiveness. On this wondrous occasion, Michael Rigdon, a married RC priest and Julia Fisher, an Episcopal woman priest co-presided at our Christ-centered worship. Indeed, as Jack Meehan, my Dad played our recessional, "When the saints go marching in," we truly experienced a cloud of witnesses on earth and in heaven leading us to a renewed, glorious celebration of our faith in Jesus's healing presence among us. We are called to be the reality that God is indeed doing something new in our midst and that we are challenged to think outside the box and bring our friends in need into Christ's healing embrace.
Bridget Mary Meehan
Roman Catholic Womanpriest
Roman Catholic Womanpriest
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Call to Action on behalf of Justice for Women in the Roman Catholic Church
Fr. Roy Bourgeois, who has been threatened with excommunication, but who has not received any official word from the Vatican, is continuing to speak out about the issue of justice and equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church. He has received many invitations to speak all over the United States. In recent talks, he is encouraging Catholics to stand up for justice for women in our beloved Roman Catholic Church. Now is the time for grassroots action.
Here is the Postcard Campaign for Justice in our Church! Download the postcard (front and back) and make copies to share with your local communities.Or, if you want postcards to share with your community, write to RCWP Janice Sevre-Duszynska at rhythmsofthedance@msn.com and she will mail you copies of the postcard to share with friends. Make copies of the addresses below to hand out to your community with the postcards.
People to Write to
(You may add your local bishop)
Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: 202-333-7121Fax: 202-337-4036
Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Via de Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano, Europe
The Pope's email address
(for English correspondence) is
benedictxvi@vatican.va
Fax from USA: 011-39-06698-85378
Cardinal William Levada
Congregation for Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11,00193 Roma, Italy
Tel: 06-69-88-33-57; 06-69-88-34-13Fax: 06-69-88-34-09
Maryknoll Fathers Superior General, Edward Dougherty
at edougherty@maryknoll.org
and to the three-member Maryknoll Council at
mklcouncil@maryknoll.org and/or fax to 914-944-3600
Write to: Maryknoll Council, P.O. Box 303, Maryknoll, NY 10545
Here is the Postcard Campaign for Justice in our Church! Download the postcard (front and back) and make copies to share with your local communities.Or, if you want postcards to share with your community, write to RCWP Janice Sevre-Duszynska at rhythmsofthedance@msn.com and she will mail you copies of the postcard to share with friends. Make copies of the addresses below to hand out to your community with the postcards.
People to Write to
(You may add your local bishop)
Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: 202-333-7121Fax: 202-337-4036
Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Via de Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano, Europe
The Pope's email address
(for English correspondence) is
benedictxvi@vatican.va
Fax from USA: 011-39-06698-85378
Cardinal William Levada
Congregation for Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11,00193 Roma, Italy
Tel: 06-69-88-33-57; 06-69-88-34-13Fax: 06-69-88-34-09
Maryknoll Fathers Superior General, Edward Dougherty
at edougherty@maryknoll.org
and to the three-member Maryknoll Council at
mklcouncil@maryknoll.org and/or fax to 914-944-3600
Write to: Maryknoll Council, P.O. Box 303, Maryknoll, NY 10545
Postcard (back) for Promotion of Justice and Equality in RC Church
Please mail or place in collection basket.
TO CATHOLIC CHURCH LEADERS
People to Write to (You may add your local bishop)
Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20008
Tel: 202-333-7121Fax: 202-337-4036
Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Via de Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano,
Europe
The Pope's email address (for English correspondence) is
Fax from USA: 011-39-06698-85378
Cardinal William Levada
Congregation for Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11,00193 Roma, Italy
Tel: 06-69-88-33-57; 06-69-88-34-13Fax: 06-69-88-34-09
Maryknoll Fathers Superior General,
Edward Dougherty at edougherty@maryknoll.org
and to the three-member Maryknoll Council at
and/or fax to 914-944-3600
Write to: Maryknoll Council,
P.O. Box 303, Maryknoll, NY 10545
Roman Catholic Womenpriest Janice Sevre Duszynska will attend U N Session
Janice Sevre Duszynska at her ordination
on Aug. 9, 2008 in Lexington, Kentucky
My friend, archaeologist and theologian Dorothy Irvin of St. Paul, MN, has invited me to be a designated representative of St. Joan's International Alliance, the world's oldest Catholic feminist group and longstanding Non-governmental Organization (NGO). We will participate in the 53rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW53) to be held from 2 to 13 March 2009 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The session will be attended by 2,000 representatives of Member States, UN entities and of Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world.
Originally founded in 1911 in London as a Catholic Woman's Suffragist group, St. Joan's International Alliance expanded its objectives to secure legal and de facto equality between women and men in society. It has worked with the United Nations (and earlier with the League of Nations) for: the abolition of child and forced marriages and slavery traffic and traffic in persons; the political rights of women; equal access to education and vocational training and economic opportunities; family law; elimination of discrimination against women.
In the Roman Catholic church, the Alliance has petitioned for lay men and women observers and women auditors at the Second Vatican Council, for the revision of the nuptial liturgy, revision of those canons of the code that adversely affect women, and admission of women to the diaconate and priesthood on the same terms and under the same conditions as men.
In 1937, the Alliance presented a paper to the League of Nations on the Condition of Women in colonized countries of Africa and Asia. Since then, the Alliance has campaigned against the ritual sexual mutilatation of young girls and adolescents, the first organization to do so, according to historian Anne Marie Pelzer. In 1952, a representative of the Alliance presented the first official intervention on this issue to the UN Economic and Social Council. The Alliance has been represented as a Non-governmental Organization at all sessions of the United Nations Economic and Social Council in New York and Geneva since 1951.
The active participation of NGOs is a critical element in the work of the CSW. NGOs have been influential in shaping the current global policy framework on women's empowerment and gender equality - the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. They continue to play an important role in holding international and national leaders accountable for the commitments they made in the Platform for Action.
The themes that will be considered at the CSW53 are the following:
Priority theme:"The equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS."
Review theme:"Equal participation of women and men in decision-making processes at all levels" adopted at the 50th CSW.
Emerging Issue:"The gender perspectives of the financial crisis.
"The Commission on the Status of Women is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year for 10 days, representatives of Member States gather at UN Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.
The Commission consists of one representative from each of the 45 Member States elected by the Council on the basis of equitable geographical distribution: thirteen members from Africa; eleven from Asia; nine from Latin American and Caribbean; eight from Western Europe and other States and four from Eastern Europe. Members are elected for a period of four years.
The Commission was established in June 1946 with the aim to prepare recommendations and reports to the Council on promoting women's rights in political, economic, civil, social and educational fields. It also makes recommendations to the Council on urgent problems requiring immediate attention in the field of women's rights.
The principal output of the CSW is the so-called agreed conclusions on priority themes set for each year. Agreed conclusions, contain an anlysis of the priority theme of concern and a set of concrete recommendations for Goverments, intergovernmental bodies and other institutions, civil society actors and other relevant stakeholders, to be implemented at the international, national, regional and local level.
In addition to the agreed conclusions, the Commission also adopts a number of resolutions on a range of issues, including the situation of and assistance to Palestinian women; and women, the girl child and HIV/AIDS. The final report of the Commission is submitted to the Economic and Social Council for adoption.
Janice Sevre-Duszynska
Roman Catholic Womanpriest
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