"You've Got Male: A Synod on the Family" by Mary Hunt/ Families Women's Voices Missing at Synod on the Family

http://religiondispatches.org/20221/
"The Synod on the Family (EXTRAORDINARY ASSEMBLY OF THE SYNOD OF BISHOPS 5-19 OCTOBER 2014) is in full swing in Rome. The official photos of the opening tell the story better than any comment an informed theologian might offer. The plethora of men in vestments, the dearth of women in any form (except the painting of the Blessed Virgin Mary), and the conspicuous absence of children (save little Jesus in his mother’s arms) speak volumes about the meeting. How could such an assembly presume to discuss family life with any authenticity or integrity?"
Bridget Mary's Response:
How can any meeting on the family exclude families including (gasp) women? Last time I checked women are half of humanity and integral to families!
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

"Pope's Child Abuse Commission Crawls, While His Family Synod Slips" by Jerry Slevin

http://christiancatholicism.com/popes-child-abuse-commission-crawls-while-his-family-synod-slips/

"Likely facing pressure from worldwide media observers assembled now at the Vatican to report on Family Synod issues, Cardinal Sean O'Malley's seemingly "do nothing advisory commission on minors" made its latest pitch at trying to appear serious. Now as "chief papal protector of children", Boston's O'Malley is supposedly addressing  the most important current Catholic family issue --- clerical child sexual abuse, that the Family Synod is obscenely ducking, it appears.

Predictably, this "abuse commission", after ten months (and 19 months of Francis' papacy"),  has not yet even finalized its membership or operating rules or even set up a permanent office. Indeed, its lone abuse survivor member, Marie Collins today (10/6) indicated to AP that she had been frustrated earlier in the year with the slow pace of work on the commission.

AP's forthright Rome reporter, Nicole Winfield, honestly observed today that, while "Francis' other expert commissions looking into Vatican finance and administration worked at a frenzied pace through 2014 and finished their projects in recent months, the sex abuse commission never seemed to get off the ground. It lacked organization, a clear mission statement, office space, funding and a full membership roster. ..." Would that some other Vatican reporters had some of Winfield's candor!

Winfield also noted that " ...O''Malley has pledged that the commission will develop "clear and effective protocols" to hold accountable bishops who covered up for abusive priests ..."  O'Malley seems to have made similar pledges before with little to show for it, it appears."

For the full AP report, please see:

http://tbo.com/ap/world/apnewsbreak-popes-sex-abuse-panel-makes-progress-ap_world7cec04cff28e4f81909de7a8aacd093a

"Pope Calls Synod to Speak Boldly, Cardinal Defends Current Teachings"/NCR

http://ncronline.org/news/vatican/pope-calls-synod-speak-boldly-cardinal-defends-current-teachings

VATICAN CITY

"

Pope Francis opened discussions at his worldwide meeting of Catholic bishops Monday by telling the prelates they should speak openly, without fear of upsetting him or limiting discussions to things he would want to hear.

Using the Greek term parrhesia -- meaning to speak candidly or boldly, and without fear -- the pontiff told the some 190 prelates gathered in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall they should "speak with parrhesia and listen with humility."

Working in a synod, the pontiff continued, does not mean prelates should say only what Francis wants to hear. "This is not good!" said the pope.

"A general condition is this," said the pope. "Speak clearly. Let no one say: 'This you cannot say.'"

"You need to say all that you feel with parrhesia," he continued. "And, at the same time, you should listen with humility and accept with an open heart what your brothers say."

"First Gay Catholic Congress to Press Pope for Change"

Lisbon (AFP) - Gay and lesbian Catholic groups are holding an international congress in Portugal this week as they seek to make their voices heard by the Vatican.

Opening on Monday in the southern resort of Portimao, the three-day event aims to formally federate some 30 associations representing homosexual Catholics from around the world.

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-first-gay-catholic-congress-to-press-pope-for-change-2014-10#ixzz3FPtgD4ot

Pope Francis Condemns Evil Pastors Who Force People Away From Church

http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Pope-Francis-condemns-evil-pastors-who-force-people-away-from-Church.html

Catholic Reform Groups Harassed at Vatican: Why? Carried Banner "Families Must Vote in Family Synods"

From Future Church email:

"As the crowds streamed into the Vatican Basilica for the opening mass for the Synod on the Family, members of Catholic Church Reform International were joined by International Movement of We Are Church, Women's Ordination Worldwide and other international reform groups to protest the lack of real decision making power for families at the Synod. They unfurled a sign that read, "Families must have vote in family synods."

The group was quickly surrounded by the police who challenged their right to be in the square. Leader Rene Reid, showed the officers the permit she had obtained for the event, but that was not sufficient. With more than a dozen officers surrounding the group, the police snapped photos of the group's signs, song sheets, and confiscated Reid's passport. Given the circumstances, the group rolled up the signs and waited. The police later returned with Reid's passport and agreed they could conduct."

Janice Sevre-Duszynska ARCWP in Rome for Pope Francis' election

Bridget Mary's Response:

It makes no sense to me that the bishops are talking to themselves about issues that related to Catholic families such as contraception, divorce and remarriage, gay marriage, etc. What personal experiences have the had with these issues in day to day life? It is time for the hierarchy to open up decision making in the church to the People of God who are living with these issues everyday!  The Vatican does not like demonstrations of any kind.

Janice Sevre-Duszynska in Rome witnesses for Women Priests during Conclave before Pope Francis was elected. 

 Janice Sevre-Duszynska has had several close encounters with the police at the Vatican over her prophetic witness for women priests.   When Janice came to witness for Roman Catholic Women Priests at the most recent conclave the police came with their sirens blaring to pick her up. She was in the middle of a press interview. The cameras were rolling as they interogated her. They asked for her ID as a woman priest even though she was dressed in alb and stole!   a year earlier, on another visit to Rome, Janice Duszynska, Donna Rougeux and Ree Hudson, all women priests,   and a group of reform leaders marched to the Vatican with Fr. Roy Bourgeois to deliver petitions in support of Fr. Roy who was threatened with dismissal from Maryknoll at the time. The police refused to allow them to cross into the Vatican. At this time, suprisingly, the police refused to detain the women priests, but took Fr. Roy and the leaders of the women's ordination movement, Erin Hanna and Miriam Dugan into custody. Later they were released.

 The Vatican is the gift that  keeps on giving. They keep on harassing church reformers but our refom agenda has the support of millions of Catholics.  The people are the church, not the hierarchy alone! Families should be represented at this synod. The Vatican police cannot turn back the clock or stop the faithful from living according to their consciences. 

The church teaches religious liberty, but the Vatican appears to be tone deaf when it comes to practicing what it preaches. I wonder what Jesus would say!

 Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

"Still in the Vineyard, God's Cherished Plant or Wild Grapes" by Rev. Judy Lee, RCWP

http://judyabl.wordpress.com/2014/10/04/still-in-the-vineyard-gods-cherished-plant-or-wild-grapes-rev-judys-homily-27-sun-ot/

"Loving Brother Cat - Our St. Francis Animal Rescue Ministry" by Judy Lee, RCWP

http://judyabl.wordpress.com/2014/10/05/loving-brother-cat-our-st-francis-animal-rescue-ministry/

"The Church's Gay Obsession"/New York Times

“Is it more important to believe in the church’s teaching on same-sex marriage than to believe in the Resurrection — or even that God exists?” asked the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and the author of the 2014 best seller “Jesus: A Pilgrimage.” “I don’t hear anyone calling for the firing of the agnostic parish business manager.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/opinion/sunday/frank-bruni-the-churchs-gay-obsession.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=c-column-top-span-region&region=c-column-top-span-region&WT.nav=c-column-top-span-region&_r=1

Memorial Liturgy for Carol Ann Breyer at St. Andrew UCC on Oct. 4th/Photos and Liturgy/Obit. Link

We are gathered here today to celebrate the life of Carol Ann, her passion for peace through justice in a world of non-violence, her compassion for the less fortunate, and her concern for the enviornment. All: May we share those values in ourselves. 
To view complete liturgy visit the link below:
http://www.marymotherofjesus.org/liturgy/

Lee Breyer, spouse of Carol Ann Breyer gives welcome

A large assembly gathered for Inclusive Catholic Liturgy in honor of Carol Ann Breyer at St. Andrew UCC

Carol Ann was a Mercy Sister who kept her ties with the Order. When she died she was on her way to a Mercy Reunion

a dinner was served after the liturgy. Judy Connelly coordinated the dinner and members of Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Community helped to serve

Obituary

Carol Ann Breyer

February 26, 1934 – September 12, 2014

On September 12, Carol Ann died in her sleep in Savannah, GA, at a motel stopover enroute to a retreat in West Virginia.   She was born in Rochester, NY, to Caroline Gleichauf and Charles Strobel.  She had two older sisters, Jean Kinzel (deceased) and Marilyn Murray. She is survived by Lee Breyer, her husband of 45 years, her sister Marilyn, three nephews and two nieces.

Carol Ann Breyer lighting candles at Easter Vigil at MMOJ Easter Vigil Liturgy

 After the family moved to Baltimore, MD, she attended Mount St. Agnes High School and, on graduation, she went to the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.  During her college years, she joined the Sisters of Mercy in Baltimore and continued her undergraduate education at Mount St. Agnes College She earned her graduate degree at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.  She continued post grad studies at the University of Maryland and received her doctorate from WaldenUniversity in Educational Administration.  Her religious assignments took her to Savannah, GA, Mobile, AL, and Washington, DC as well asBaltimore.

In 1969, Carol Ann and Lee settled in the Washington, DC area.  There she was very active in the civil rights movement, working in the national office of the US Catholic Bishops in its Peace and Justice Office, learning much from the then newly established Public Broadcasting Service, and was employed by Prince George’s Community College to help establish its continuing education program for adults.  The couple was heavily involved in developing a number of small intentional communities dedicated to a renewal in the Catholic Church. 

Carol Ann Breyer and MMOJ Community at Inclusive Liturgy

In 1979, she and Lee moved to Tallahassee, FL, where she worked at the Florida Department of Education, focusing on the establishment of the state’s community college system and also with Florida StateUniversity  as a program evaluator.  It was there that she became very familiar with the problems of people” living on the streets” (through the local homeless coalition) and with those behind bars (at the local state prison).

Carol Ann took her compassion for justice and her commitment to nonviolence with her to Ellenton, FL in 2000.  There she and Lee built Mercy-on-the- Manatee, a house that won awards for energy conservation (the FPL BuildSmart Gold Award) and environmental sensitivity (the Florida Native Plant Society’s Landscaping Award).  Her passion for care of the environment caused her to be a very active volunteer in the Florida Master Gardener Program and the Sierra Club in Manatee County.  Carol Ann was heavily involved in peace and justice issues her entire life and so she became the Florida State Coordinator of Pax Christi, the national Catholic Peace Movement, and was also instrumental in the creation and establishment of the Diocese of Venice Environmental Justice Commission.  Shortly afterwards, she was active in the Earth Charter; South West Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice; Pace e Bene, the movement for a nonviolent culture of peace; as well as a member of Call to Action, a progressive organization in the Catholic tradition.   Her interest in such groups involved both church and social reform issues and brought her to the Mary, Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community.

Among her proudest achievements was her role on The President’s Committee on the Employment of People with Disabilities and the subsequent federal legislation extending justice to a previously neglected population.  In all her activities, her signature quality was her advocacy for social justice for those living on the edges of church and society…with no exceptions.  

--  over --

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 4, 4:00 pm, at St. Andrew United Church of Christ, 6908 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL,34238. This will be followed by refreshments and storytelling in Stewart Hall

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to:

Mary, Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community, 6908 Beneva Road, Sarasota, FL  34238

Pax Christi-USA, 415 Michigan Avenue NE – Suite 240, Washington, DC 20017-4503

Mercy Sisters of the Americas (South Central Community),101 Mercy Drive, Belmont, NC 28012

Or a charity of your choosing.

Prayer for Healing: Adaptation of Prayer on the Feast of St. Francis by Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP

Killarney, Ireland

Christ Sophia,

We give thanks for  our mystical oneness with each other and with all in the cosmic community,

We give thanks for your  abundant blessings in our international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement. 

We give thanks for our diversity and different approaches.

May we always treat one another as the Beloved of God.

And in the words of this beautiful Prayer on the feast  of St. Francis

we pray with one mind and heart for healing of our communities,  church and world; 

Where there is injury, forgiveness

Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy.

May we rejoice that our international movement is painting a new portrait of God as we live Gospel equality now!

O Christ of the Cosmos, 

May we see your face in each other.
May we reflect your compassion and kindness in our thoughts, words and deed.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in affirming others that we are affirmed.
It is in forgiving that we are forgiven.
And it is in living in the light that our path is illuminated.

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org 

__._,_.___

"Will Francis Secretive Synod Sideshow Play in Obama's Puerto Rico?" by Jerry Slevin

http://christiancatholicism.com/will-francis-secretive-synod-sideshow-play-in-obamas-puerto-rico/

Homily for Holy Spirit Catholic Community 27OT on Oct. 5, 2014 by Rev. Beverly Bingle, RCWP

Matthew makes the story in today’s Gospel
into an allegory about Jesus,
using it to comment on the political and religious situation
of his community.
In earlier non-canonical writings, like the Gospel of Thomas,
Jesus tells it as a parable,
a parable about life and death.
Jesus tells of a landowner
who works hard to make the land productive
and leases it out.
Then the leaseholders want more than their fair share—
they are envious of what belongs to another,
they are greedy for more than they have earned,
and they lust for power and control—
so they kill to get what they want.
__________________________________________
This is truly a parable for our times.
We human beings have been blessed with a planet of good things
and the ability to thrive on it.
It’s our leasehold.
But, like the leaseholders in the parable,
we are killing the source that sustains our life.
We kill with our wars and our weapons.
We kill by denying the right of all others
to life, food, shelter, work, and a safe and healthy community.
We kill the land and water and air that sustains life.
Despite all our blessings as inhabitants of this great green planet,
we act as if it’s all ours to do with as we wish,
no matter who or how many have to die
to satisfy our greed.
__________________________________________
As a result, what does God find in our vineyard?
• Microcystin in Lake Erie water intake,
and too many of our politicians waiting for someone else
to take the first step to fix it.
• Lead poisoning damaging our children’s brains and nerves, and a city
council that won’t take action because they make money from renting
contaminated properties or want campaign contributions from the real
estate industry.
• Dangerous tar sands about to be transported through Toledo for
processing in Oregon, fracking in Findlay and Bowling Green, and a
slowed-down effort toward renewable energy.
• Injection wells in Clyde releasing cancer-causing chemicals into the
water and air, with no oversight required by our state government as
children continue to die of cancer.
• Toxic waste on fire in the north Toledo landfill, with an official
Health Department response telling the neighborhood people—many of
whom are too poor to afford air conditioners—to stay inside and not
breathe the air.
• Climate change around the globe, with increasingly devastating
floods, droughts, fires, typhoons, tornadoes—and an Ohio government
that puts a hold on reducing carbon dioxide emissions by power plants.
• The poorest workers getting less pay for more work and the
unemployed getting their benefits cut while the wealthiest people pile
up more deductions, exemptions, privilege, and power.
Isaiah puts it well:
Our God looks for justice,
but finds bloodshed;
for integrity,
but hears only a cry of distress.
____________________________________________
Will our grandchildren bless us for what we do now, or curse us for it?
It’s up to us.
But what are we to do?
Sometimes it seems overwhelming.
Many people and organizations are calling on public officials to take action,
and that’s good.
The 300,000 marchers in New York last month did a good thing.
The Great March for Climate Action that went through Toledo last weekend
on its way from California to Washington, DC, is doing a good thing.
But we are a part of the problem
• if we don’t vote,
• if we don’t speak out,
• if we waste,
• if we use more than our share.
So we have to change.
We have to do something.
We can become part of the solution.
____________________________________________
Jesus didn’t call his followers to recite rules or learn dogma
or study church law more carefully.
He called them to follow him on the Way.
He called them to walk the walk with him,
to bring about the reign of God by their own actions.
We have decided that we want to walk with Jesus along the Way,
so we have to do something
about the killing of our planet and the people on it.
It will require, as Paul put it to the Philippians,
that our thoughts be wholly directed to all that is true, all that
deserves respect,
all that is honest, pure, admirable, decent, virtuous, or worthy of praise.
_________________________________________
We can make a difference:
I’ve seen many of you taking steps—
not just one little baby step but lots of big steps,
like writing letters to public officials and circulating petitions
about issues of violence and injustice around the globe;
working with Pax Christi, TUSA, and NWOPC;
protesting at Fort Benning and BP and Monsanto;
joining GreenFaith and Amnesty International;
taking the Catholic Climate Covenant pledge;
reducing, reusing, and recycling… the list goes on.
It doesn’t have to be complicated.
I know people who don’t use drive-throughs any more;
people who plant home food gardens; people who take shorter showers.
Some of you are planning to do even more
by showing up at Sanger Library this coming Thursday
to talk about how we can have even more of an impact
as individuals and as citizens working together on the climate crisis.
Some of you are registering voters.
Several of you have told me
you’re not planning to turn the heat on in October.
And I expect that all of you are preparing to vote in November.
_________________________________________
The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.
Blessed are you who are doing something.
You are indeed on the Way.

--
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
at 3535 Executive Parkway (Unity of Toledo)
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
www.holyspirittoledo.org

Rev. Dr. Bev Bingle, Pastor
419-727-1774

__._,_.___

Moral Courage and the Story of Sister Megan Rice by Michael Edwards

 

http://www.dailygood.org/story/857/moral-courage-and-the-story-of-sister-megan-rice-michael-edwards/

 "...How does such exuberance survive in the face of injustice? For Rice this is a spiritual and religious matter. “By gift of birth through choices made”, she told me in a letter, “Religion is and has always been understood as those activities which enhance my awareness of being in union with God, understood as the source of my being. God cannot be seen or heard, but there is a way of feeling that God is near to me…and so the experience of spirit became real, as God is spirit, and I have a spirit part which is real in me and all other beings…I learned, from those who surround us also, that spirit manifests itself, or its presence in me, as conscience. We sense what is fair and just, true and genuine, loving and good for all of us…Genuine religious activity calls us to actively work for fairness, peace, and harmony in all our relationships...in all that fosters life on this planet Earth.”

   "Everything is connected from that spiritual center, she seems to be saying, but this time in reverse – all the way up the system from loving personal relationships to a foreign policy no longer based on fear and domination. Every act of resistance becomes an act of liberation from the need to exercise raw power over others; a contribution to breaking the cycle of violence and re-building relationships around the radically different rationalities of love, joy and justice."

__._,_.___

Female Priest, Mary Ryan, Defies Doctrine to Follow Faith/South Africa

http://mg.co.za/article/2014-10-02-female-priest-defies-doctrine-to-follow-faith

...."In South Africa, in particular,” the bishop asserted in the silent, packed chapel, “we know that the only way to change an unjust law is to break it. And that is what we are doing today.”

Last Sunday the Volmoed (“full of courage”) retreat centre in the Hemel-en-Aarde Valley outside Hermanus marked the site of an extraordinary act of religious disobedience: for the first time in South Africa, a woman was ordained a Roman Catholic priest.

Ryan is emphatic, however, that RCWP “is not solely preoccupied with women’s ordination. Women’s ordination is the vehicle for mission in our world,” she explains. “Women are equally called to mission and to leadership in that mission, and to celebrate the sacramentality of life. That’s really what this ordination is about … We believe we are gifted as equally as men to do that work...”

Teach the whole truth/Sarasota Herald Tribune

http://sarasotaheraldtribune.fl.newsmemory.com/publink.php?shareid=1ebc06529

..."People (and that includes students) need to know about the experiments at Tuskegee, the Trail of Tears, the interment camps, the bigotry toward every, single new immigrant group that arrived and continues to arrive in the USA, the intolerance of religion, homosexuality, ad nauseam. We are not a perfect nation; no nation is.

I was taught that we needed to learn history in order to keep us from repeating the same mistakes. The ideals we once had, and would like to see again, demand an honest look at how those aspirations came into being. We can do better by teaching the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."

Arlene J. Pearlman

Fathers of the Church Were Misogynists: Challenge to Pope Francis and Vatican

I appreciate this summary of quotes from the Fathers of the Church by John Chuchman.

Pope Francis and the Vatican could take a major step forward by renouncing this false teaching and affirming women as spiritual equals in every area of the Roman Catholic Church's ministry including an inclusive priesthood in a renewed community of spiritual equals!

Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

Against Women

Following Emperor Constantine's acceptance of Christianity,

 Hellenistic attempts to insulate women from the priesthood increased.

St. Gregory of Nazianzum, 389AD, wrote

Fierce is the dragon and cunning the asp;

but women have the malice of both.

St. Ambrose from Milan wrote:

Remember, God took the rib out of Adam's body,

not a part of his soul, to make her.

She was not made in the image of God, like man.

The Ministerial Office must be pure and unspoiled

and must not be defiled by coitus.

St. John Chrysostom, c.407AD, Bishop of Constantinople,

was classically misogynistic.

 It does not profit a man to marry.

For what is a woman but an enemy of friendship,

an inescapable punishment,

a necessary evil,

a natural temptation,

a domestic danger,

 delectable mischief,

a fault in nature,

painted with beautiful colors?

Today this man is considered both a Saint and Doctor of the Church.

 The whole of her body

is nothing less than phlegm, blood, bile, rheum and the fluid of digested food.

If you consider what is stored up behind those lovely eyes,

 the angle of the nose,

 the mouth and the cheeks

you will agree that the well-proportioned body

 is only a whitened sepulcher.

St. Jerome, 419AD, the most ardent advocate of celibacy

regarded St. Peter as a lesser saint than St. John

because Peter was married and John wasn't.

St. Jerome considered marriage an invention of Satan

and encouraged married couples who converted to Christianity

to renounce their marriage vows:

 How many there are who,

by consent between themselves,

cancel the debt of their marriage,

eunuchs of their own accord

through the desire of the kingdom of heaven.

"Connecting Sermons to Life"

http://www.cruxnow.com/faith/2014/09/30/connecting-sermons-to-life/
Jonathan Morris, a Roman Catholic Priest said:

“...I talked about their uncovering a terrorist plot to attack subways in New York and Paris. I talked about things that we cannot control and that we have to decide what we are going to do about them,” Morris said in a telephone interview.

“I can’t remember a time when I haven’t talked about or at least made mention of the big news stories of the day. I think we’re missing the mark if we’re not relating the gospel to what’s in people’s minds and what they’re confronting...”

"We Have a Dream" Good Shepherd Youth Travel to Washington DC

http://judyabl.wordpress.com/2014/09/30/we-have-a-dream-good-shepherd-youth-travel-to-washington-d-c/

The US Capitol

                      Waiting for the Plane

We follow Jesus and we follow LOVE. We want to learn the history of justice making in the United States and in the world. We are part of the legacy of Jesus the Christ as manifested in many persons throughout history, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Rosa Parks, Freedmen and women and slaves, and John F. Kennedy and the Kennedy brothers and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, to name just a few. So we wanted to go to Washington DC where so much of American history and herstory and our story was made and remembered.  For us, representing the teens and young adults and all members of our Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Church of Fort Myers,Florida this trip was a FIRST in so many ways. Four of us were born and raised in Fort Myers and we never saw another State, or flew in a plane, or took a subway, or even a bus. We wanted to see more of the world and we got to do all of this! This is a little of what we did and saw. We are Natasha Terrell, 18 and Felice Rismay, 21, the  working and College students. And we are Jolinda Terrell, and Keeron Jones, High School Students and Keeondra Terrell, an eighth grader. Our Pastors, Roman Catholic women priests Judy Beaumont and Judy Lee were our guides for this amazing trip. Our church and The Father’s Table Foundation and individual donors made this adventure into life and justice available to us and we are so thankful.

 At the Capitol Natasha Terrell stands beneath the statue of Rosa Parks sitting on the bus and sparking the Civil Rights Movement

OUR DREAM IS TO BUILD THE BELOVED COMMUNITY OF JESUS and  DR. KING

 

The Lincoln Memorial where Dr. King made his I Have A Dream speech             Abraham Lincoln (At the Capitol)

WE  WANT TO LEARN TO LIVE LOVE AND INCLUSION AND TO KNOW OUR HISTORY AS AMERICANS AND  AFRICAN_AMERICANS

At the Memorial for Dr. Martin Luther King ,Jr. 

WE WANT TO HONOR DR. KING AND ALL FREEDOM FIGHTERS

WE STAND AT HIS FEET AND ON HIS SHOULDERS and on the shoulders of ALL who gave their lives for freedom and justice for all. 

It was exciting to see and go to the top of the Washington Monument and understand how the United States of America came to be. 

It was very special to go inside of the White House. We hoped to see a glimpse of President Obama or his family but they were not home.  We learned that Malia and Sasha  can go into all of the rooms that we were able to see whenever they want to. They also have their own movie theater. 

Pastor Judy B and Felice are near the statues of a couple struggling with poverty and Felice is near the statue of one of her heroines, Eleanor Roosevelt .The group members are standing on the bread line that marked the great depression and homelessness and hunger today as well in the USA and world-wide.

                                                                                                                                We too want to fight for economic equality and for PEACE. 

Keeron Jones standing under FDR’s Pledge of the New Deal  that still helps people today.

The Arlington Cemetery was a hallowed place. We prayed before going there and as we saw a funeral in progress there. We prayed at the site of the eternal light at  President John F.Kennedy’s grave and at the graves of all the Kennedys.  We tried to understand how so many members of one family gave their lives for freedom and equality.

Jolinda is pleased that the light never goes out. 

We also went up the hill to the “impressive” house owned by the Washington-Custis-Lee family. We were truly impressed, however, as we visited the slave quarters in the back and learned that the Washington’s personal maid was able to buy freedom for her son by sharing the story of his death with a reporter as she was with him as he died. It was difficult to witness slave history but we learned of the courage and accomplishments of the slaves. We also learned that slaves were treated better by the Washington’s than by the Robert E. Lee family. We were able to feel the reasons for the Civil War and see the bravery of those enslaved.

It meant even more to understand who Frederick Douglas was after viewing this history.

Keeron at the foot of Frederick Douglas in the Capitol 

We also visited The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the largest Catholic Cathedral in the United States where we prayed and were amazed at the stories in the pictures.  It was overwhelming to some of the group but very beautiful. All of the paintings and the statues told the story of Christ and of God’s love for all people and for justice and equality. The paintings and statues of Mary, the Mother of Jesus with Jesus showed Mary and Jesus as Chinese, Czech, Native American, African and Mexican and dark and light and of many Nationalities.   Keeondra and Natasha were in awe while Jolinda said that she was happy that we have a much smaller church where we can all know and love one another. When we lit a candle to pray for a sick family member Keeron questioned why I put money in the box, did we have to pay to pray here? We explained that we never had to pay to pray but that was a love offering like we give in church on Sundays. Yet, his question was astute. He and Jolinda were not comfortable with all the gold and glitz, and I told him that he is in good company for neither is Pope Francis.  As we traveled in Washington we saw many homeless people. Our group members appropriately questioned why homelessness was everywhere, even in our Nation’s Capital. The Pastors were pleased to see that this moved our young people who dug in their pockets to be helpful. But once again they asked good questions. Indeed we pray that  their questions and answers may help bring the reign of God to all people here and now.

This trip was well worth every effort that it took and we are thankful to all who helped it to take place. We will post other aspects of this journey in a separate post. Thanks be to God for these young people who follow Christ!                       Rev. Dr. Judy Lee and Rev. Judy Beaumont, Roman Catholic Women Priests and Co-Pastors of The Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community in Fort Myers, Florida.

                                                                                                                     Below are the women at the Cross

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