Evidence of Woman Bishop in Early Church

Unpublished letter to Irish Times:

In answer to the letter penned by C.D.C Armstrong (letters 25 March ) against Ursula Halligan's excellent article I refer him to  a fresco unearthed in an Italian catacomb that proves that women were acting as Bishops in the early Christian church.

The 5th century image of a woman named Cerula, found in the catacomb of San Gennaro, Naples, in 1971 shows her surrounded by open, flaming Gospel books, which are  symbolic of the role of a bishop.

Academics said the discovery was “incredibly significant”, evidence that women held senior roles in the early Christian church and could mean that millions will have to rethink the origins of their faith.  Further his fresco is significant as it preceded a letter written by Pope Gelasius to southern Italian bishops in the late 5th century to complain that women were ministering at holy altars.

At some point thereafter, the pope’s demands for such women to stop their work were obeyed and the memory of these ministering women were suppressed.

However this fresco remains as historical evidence of the important role played by women in the early church.

Sincerely,

Brendan Butler, 45 The Moorings Malahide, Co. Dublin.

Women in Amazon take more prominent role in environmental protection by Rhina Guidos • Catholic News Service • Posted March 25, 2019

Patricia Gualinga, a member of the Kichwa indigenous community of Sarayaku, Ecuador, is seen during a press conference at the Integral Ecology summit at Georgetown University in Washington March 20, 2019. (CNS photo/Tyler Orsburn)

WASHINGTON (CNS) — In indigenous Kichwa communities, women like Patricia Gualinga have traditionally taken on the role of wife, mother and cultivator of the crops that families use to survive in Ecuador’s Amazonian region of Sarayaku.

http://catholicphilly.com/2019/03/news/national-news/women-in-amazon-take-more-prominent-role-in-environmental-protectio

In recent years, however, as corporations and other entities looking to extract precious minerals and resources have entered indigenous communities’ ancestral lands in the Amazon, that role has expanded to include community leader and defender of the environment for women like 49-year-old Gualinga.


Women have increasingly participated as leaders at the national and international level in the Amazon’s environmental activist circles, she said, in part because women — in addition to experiencing firsthand environmental degradation and its impact on the family — also experience abuse, exploitation and greater marginalization that has skyrocketed with the exploitation of the environment.


Others were not discussing those abuses, that’s why women stepped up, Gualinga said in a March 22 interview with Catholic News Service, during an international “Integral Ecology” conference at Georgetown University in Washington. The conference was held in anticipation of an October Synod of Bishops on the Amazon at the Vatican.





Though the laity will not be able to vote at the synod, that does not mean women such as Gualinga, members of indigenous communities, and others won’t have a voice or an impact at the Vatican gathering, said Cardinal Claudio Hummes. The Brazilian cardinal is president of the Pan-Amazonian Church Network (REPAM for its acronym in Spanish), one of the main players for the Vatican meeting that plans to raise awareness and an action plan to fight environmental degradation and its consequences, such as global warming and displacement of indigenous communities in the Amazon region.


Women, including many from indigenous communities, have been invited to participate, including as auditors at the synod, allowing them to voice their growing concerns, said Cardinal Hummes.


“We recognize that when we speak about the church in the Amazon, women play a special part in it, a great part in it,” Cardinal Hummes said during a March 20 news conference at Georgetown. “Many are at the forefront of their (church) communities in the absence of priests.”


And increasingly, many are at the forefront of physical attacks against activists as conflicts over lands and resources grow. Last year, Gualinga’s home was attacked with rocks and she was physically threatened following years of her objections and activism against extractive industries that threaten Kichwa communities and lands in Ecuador.


Though Gualinga filed a complaint about the attack, the perpetrator was never brought to justice.





To church leaders such as Cardinal Hummes, women play an important part in the “new paths” the church can pursue in greater cooperation with indigenous communities whose existence is at peril given environmental and other threats in their midst in places such as the Amazon.


Many women, along with indigenous communities, participated in the initial phase of consultations that took place in November to prepare for the synod, Cardinal Hummes said. The question of women’s role in the church in the Amazon was “explicitly considered,” with some discussion about ministries for them, Cardinal Hummes said, adding that it was hard to say at this point what those may look like, since the discussion is ongoing.


Because of the role laywomen, as well as of women religious in the Amazon, have played in the defense of the environment and in indigenous communities, the church “must open spaces” for them, said Gualinga.


“Many (women) are the ones who have paved the way,” she said. “We are the ones who have confronted a lot of these trespasses … in the Amazon.”

'Sins of the Cardinal & His Church' full documentary CNN

25 minutes long Pell, families, survives are interviewed.

Cardinal George Pell, a member of the Pope's Council of nine advisers, was convicted of child abuse in Australia and sentenced to six years in prison in March 2019. CNN's Anna Coren meets the people vowing to bring the Catholic church and its abusers to justice. Read the full story

"Taking stock of the clergy sexual abuse crisis: protecting children" by Thomas Reese, National Catholic Reporter

https://www.ncronline.org/news/accountability/signs-times/taking-stock-clergy-sexual-abuse-crisis-protecting-children

Last month's summit in Rome on child sex abuse did not break new ground for those, like myself, who have been following this crisis for more than 30 years, but it did made clear — again — that the sex abuse crisis in the Catholic Church has been devastating for the victims of abuse and for the church as a whole.

There are three parts to the crisis, which I plan to deal with in three successive columns.

First, there is the failure to protect children; second, the failure to hold bishops accountable; and third, the lack of transparency in dealing with the crisis.

Protecting children is a fundamental obligation of any adult, even of those who are not parents. Children are vulnerable and abuse is criminal. It is impossible not to be moved when listening to the horrible stories of survivors of abuse, who can be permanently scarred by the experience.

Abuse occurs in other settings, of course, including schools and in families' homes, but that fact is no excuse for the church's poor handling of abuse.

The mistake many bishops made in the last century was to treat abuse as a sin rather than a crime. If the priest repented and promised not to do it again, the bishop would give him another chance, as if child abuse were comparable to failing in celibacy with a consenting adult. Often, incompetent therapists and psychologist supported this return to ministry.

Bishops were tempted to save these priests, especially those who had only one accusation against them. Before 2002, bishops sometimes simply kept these priests out of parishes and restricted them to administrative work or ministering to adults.

It is true some of these priests never offended again. An alcoholic priest might wake up in bed with a teenage prostitute and be so shocked by the experience that he got into AA, stopped drinking and turned his life around.

But no one can guarantee that an abuser will not re-offend, and too many priests, after being moved to another parish, did just that.

A few were serial offenders of the worst sort.

The 2004 report on clergy abuse by scholars from the John Jay School of Criminal Justice found that just 3.5 percent of the abusers (149 priests) were responsible for abusing 2,960 children, 27 percent of the victims known at that time. Each of these priests had more than 10 allegations against him. On the other hand, 56 percent of the priests had only one accusation against them.

Psychologists explain that there are different types of abusers. There are preferential abusers who prey on children. And there are opportunistic abusers who prey on whoever is available, either children or adults.

It was not till 2002 that the bishops accepted that the best policy was not to allow any child abuser to continue acting as a priest. The Dallas Charter, established by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 2002, and the norms approved by the Vatican established zero tolerance of abuse by priests. No one who abused a child could be returned to ministry.

In implementing the new policy, dioceses also established lay review boards to assist bishops in examining allegations against priests. No longer is it just clerics policing clerics. Any bishop who disregards the recommendation of his review board to remove a priest from ministry does so at his peril because the public and the media will find out.

Most people want abusive priests not only removed from ministry but also dismissed from the clerical state (laicized) and want them to lose any financial support from the diocese. Others fear that, if an abuser is kicked out on the street without any supervision, he will continue to be a danger to children. They would argue that it is safer to have the church continue to support him in a setting where he would not have access to children. The threat of losing such support might keep him in line.

Another important change in the Dallas Charter was making it mandatory to report to civil authorities the abuse of a child. Child abuse is a crime and should be dealt with by the criminal justice system. In the last 20 years, many states have made clergy mandatory reporters of abuse. Dioceses that did not report priests are now being investigated by state attorneys general and other prosecutors across the nation.

There is some disagreement about what to do if the abused child is now an adult. All agree that the survivor of abuse should be encouraged to report the crime, but if the victim does not want it reported, what should the diocese do if the state does not require such reporting? Some dioceses will report it anyway; others will respect the views of the victim who is now an adult.

If the statute of limitations has expired, the priest will not be prosecuted, but the church would need to remove the priest from ministry in any case.

Protecting children is not just about getting rid of bad priests. We must also develop better screening of candidates for the priesthood.

webRNS-Thomas-Plante3-031419.jpg

Thomas Plante participates on a clergy abuse panel on May 30, 2003, at Santa Clara University. (Charles Barry/Santa Clara University)

Unfortunately, there is no test that will accurately predict abuse. There are, however, identifiable risk factors, explains Thomas Plante of Santa Clara University: "Impulse control problems, brain injury, poor peer relationships, antisocial personality, a lack of nonsexual intimate connections with others, alcohol and substance abuse, and a history of sexual victimization."

These factors would make for a bad priest, even if he did not abuse after ordination.

Plante notes that homosexuality is not a risk factor, despite the slanders of right-wing Catholics who want to blame gays for the abuse crisis.

Since 2002, the church has also instituted police background checks for seminarians, priests, teachers, church employees and volunteers who work with children. In addition, there are training programs to help prevent abuse by educating people on boundaries and how to spot abuse.

Reading the constant barrage of news stories about abuse in the Catholic Church makes one wonder if any of this is doing any good.

In truth, there is evidence that these measures are helping. Last year's Pennsylvania grand jury reportlisted 300 priests who had been accused of abuse, but only two had been involved in abuse in the last 20 years. All the priests were either dead or out of ministry. The stories in the report were horrendous, but it also showed that the new system is working, not perfectly, but certainly better than in the past.

Too often stories in the media about abuse do not note these timelines. It often appears that nothing has been done. The John Jay report, in fact, found that the number of alleged abuses increased in the 1960s, peaked in the '70s, declined in the '80s and by the '90s had returned to the levels of the 1950s.

Long before the Boston Globe exposé in 2002, the amount of abuse had dramatically declined in the church. What did increase after the Globe's coverage was the number of survivors who came forward, but they were, for the most part, people who had been abused much earlier.

I would argue that the church in the United States is doing a much better job protecting children from abuse than it did in the past — a better job, in fact, than most other American institutions. But we must continue to be vigilant. We must insist that bishops do their job protecting children, and if they don’t, they should be held accountable. We must also insist that the church around the world act aggressively to protect children.

While the U.S. church is doing a good job protecting children, it is not doing well in holding church leaders accountable when they don’t protect children. Nor is it forthcoming on the history of abuse and cover-up in the church. That is material for later columns.

[Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese is a columnist for Religion News Service and author of Inside the Vatican: The Politics and Organization of the Catholic Church.]

The OnBeing Project Newsletter- An Invitation

In his poem “The Northern of Ireland” (read in this interview), Pádraig Ó Tuama asks:

“Who are we to be with one another? And how are we to be with one another?”

The are many ways we can begin to explore these questions — and yet I never thought I’d find an answer to any of them in mysticism, a concept I’ve long associated exclusively with religious experiences of God. While it’s true that mysticism is part of many major religious traditions, the term can also encapsulate spiritual experiences of unity more generally.

Benedictine monk David Steindl-Rast, for example, defines mysticism as “the experience of limitless belonging” that can be felt by everyone, whether in nature or in parenthood, in community or in love. 

I think his conception of mysticism pairs well with Rabbi Lawrence Kushner’s. A scholar of the Jewish mystical tradition of Kabbalah, Kushner defines a mystic as “anyone who has the gnawing suspicion that the apparent discord, brokenness, contradictions, and discontinuities that assault us every day might conceal a hidden unity.”

These definitions, borne from different religious traditions, help deepen the questions that Pádraig asks: How might an experience of limitless belonging change how we are to be with one another — or even our duty to one another? How then might we be moved to show up for one another? And when we’re accompanied by the conviction that we belong and are one with the world, how might we be moved to act?

Perhaps mysticism is simply the foundation, the beginning, from which we can continue to explore these questions. As writer Pico Iyer says, mysticism “is a way of cutting through the cacophony of the moment and reminding us of what is real — and then reminding us of how to respond to the real and to do justice to it.”

Yours,
Kristin Lin
Editor, The On Being Project

This Week at The On Being Project

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Our Latest Episode

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On Being with Krista Tippett
Lawrence Kushner
“Kabbalah and Everyday Mysticism”

The rabbi, long-time student, and articulator of the mysteries and messages of Kabbalah, the Jewish mystical tradition.

Listen on:

• Apple Podcasts
• Google Podcasts
• Our Website

Maribai Starr, Teresa of Avila - Contemplative Revolutionary ,Juliana Cesano, The Way of the Mystic: St. Teresa of Avila's Life and Teaching

https://youtu.be/1aPyx5daW50

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypCNf9prGB0&feature=youtu.be

Mystics, like Teresa of Avila,  are people with real struggles and share their oneness with God and spiritual advice with spiritual seekers. 

Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Participates in SURE -Sarasota United for Responsibility and Equity- Nehemiah Action Assembly at Sarasota Municipal Auditorium on Monday March 25, 2019

Sarasota United for Responsibility and Equity (SURE) was founded in 1998 when clergy from diverse congregations throughout Sarasota recognized the need to unite with one another for form a powerful voice to press for necessary change in the community.

Here are some accomplishments:
Education:
SURE got commitments from the Superintendent to implement the Direct Instruction (DI)reading comprehension program in elementary schools where less than 50% of students were reading at grade level beginning in 2003. By 2004, because of DI, Sarasota schools saw huge gains in the number  of children reading proficiently.

Crime and Drugs
SURE got the Sheriff to implement a comprehensive substance abuse rehabilitation program in the county jail in 2010. To date, this program has cut recidivism among drug  and alcohol addicted offenders from 75% to 13%.

Mental Health:
In 2016 SURE pressed local officials to secure 2.4 million over the course of three years for a Comprehensive Treatment Court. This court helps homeless people with mental illness get into 6 months of housing and wrap around services. This program currently serves 120 people per year.

Civil Citation:
This year, over 70% of eligible youth received a Civil Citation instead of arrest.

School Suspension:
This year SURE asked Superintendent Todd Bowden to establish Restorative Practice pilot schools and training to reduce suspensions in elementary and secondary schools. Mr. Bowden agreed to implement these practices and training in the Sarasota Schools.

Affordable Housing Opportunity Fund:
Commissioner Hagen Brody agreed to champion SURE's Housing Opportunity Fund to make a motion at the city commission meeting on 4/15/19 to authorized staff to identify funding to reach the goal of  $5 million in annual and dedicated funding for Housing Opportunity Fund and to receive a report back from staff by July 1st so that this funding can be included in the 2020 budget.

German Catholic women call for strike The call is also aimed at all those who have suffered at the hands of the Church and have left by Anne-Bénédicte Hoffner Germany

https://international.la-croix.com/news/german-catholic-women-call-for-strike/9740?fbclid=IwAR1LM9lai79MUTDdpFAglzA7Mr6m3YUw0KXESJuygwXi1lhc63EeGnnrjxM#

From May 11 to 18, German Catholics are invited to "not set foot in a church," to dress in "white" and to stop "any voluntary service." (Photo by Katharina Ebel/KNA-Bild/CIRIC)

What would become of the Catholic Church without its women? To make "the Church's other half heard," parishioners of Münster in Germany, are calling for a strike.

"We women want to see genuine change in our Church. We want to contribute and have our say. We want women and men, on equal footing, to follow their calling in harmony and move forward in the same direction:...

Celebrate World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination 2019

The World Day of Prayer is a concerted global action held annually on the feast of the Annunciation, to draw attention to women’s ordination into an inclusive and accountable Catholic Church.

Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Liturgy,Third Sunday of Lent, March 23, 2019, Presiders: Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP and Anna Davis, Music Minister: Mindy Lou Simmons

Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP and Anna Davis co-preside at Liturgy

Theme: Being Transformed- Set Ablaze with Divine Love

Welcome and Greeting

Presider: Welcome to Mary Mother of Jesus, an inclusive Catholic Community where all are welcome to share Eucharist at the Banquet Table. We use inclusive language in our scripture readings and prayers. We invite sharing at the homily that is related to our readings and respectful, as well as the prayers of the community Everyone prays the words of Consecration in the Eucharistic Prayer. We welcome our newcomers at the announcement time after Communion.  All are invited to join us for supper after liturgy.

Opening Song: We Are Called by David Haas #628

https://youtu.be/CDljPsRIryo

Opening Prayer

Presider: Holy One, you revealed your presence as the One Who Causes All to Be to Moses. You send him to the Israelites with the message You are the God of the Ancestors: Sarah and Abraham, Rebecca and Isaac, Leah and Rachel and Jacob. Today you reveal your divinity in each of us as we are transformed into sparks of love bearing fruit that will last.

Communal Reconciliation Rite

Presider: We pause now to remember the times we have not born fruit in our lives and our service to others. Recall one missed opportunity, one broken or damaged relationship. Now imagine this person or situation in the light of healing love as we ask for forgiveness.

(Pause briefly. Then Extend arm over community)

All: Please forgive me, I am sorry, I love you, I thank you.

LITURGY OF THE WORD

First Reading: Exodus: 3:1-8, 13-15

Kevin Connelly

These are the inspired words of Moses, leader and liberator of our ancestors, the Israelites, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.

Anna Davis proclaims homily

Responsorial Psalm: 103 Adapted from Nan Merrill

Response: Amen. Truly I say to you, gather in my name, I am with you. (X2)

https://youtu.be/2mTVGj0jVRY

Bless the Beloved, O my soul

And all that is within me;

I bless your Holy Name!

Bless the Beloved, O my soul,

And remember the goodness of Love.

Refrain: Amen, Truly I say to you, gather in my name I am with you. (2x)

You are patient with our stubbornness

You heal our disease,

You free us from our fears,

You crown us with steadfast

Love and Compassion.

Refrain: Amen, Truly I say to you, gather in my name I am with you. (2x)

You satisfy our every need

You renew our spirit like the eagle’s

Through You comes peace and justice for all the oppressed.

You make known the pathway of truth and guide us on the Way of Love.

Refrain: Amen, Truly I say to you, gather in my name I am with you. (2x)

Mary Al Gagnon

Second Reading:  A Reading from Preaching the New Lectionary

One would think that a God as magnificent and powerful as ours would not need intermediaries. Or if they were used, they would be of greater value than bushes in a mountainous wilderness or hired hands in orchards. Yet that is just the way God seems to work. God uses whatever or whoever is at hand.  This is true whether it is an element of the natural world that is normally indifferent toward human beings or an uncomplicated person whose only concern is to do her or his job well, or an individual who has been thrust by circumstances  into the limelight. In every life there are those who speak for or act in the place of God. Lent is a time given us to discern who these people or things are. Who communicates God to us? Who intercedes for us before the Holy One? On the other hands, in whose life do we act as emissary? How do we reveal to others the message of God we have received? How do we intercede on behalf of them? The challenge here is to listen to the messengers who bring us the name of God, even if it is not clearly defined.
These are the inspired words of Dianne Bergant, professor of biblical studies at Catholic Theological Union, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.

Gospel Acclamation: Spirit of the Living God by Michael Crawford

https://youtu.be/G0_B0DpTbUI

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us.

Melt us, mold us

Fill us, use us

Spirit of the Living God

Fall afresh on us.

Jesus Cursing the Fig Tree, Mark 11:12-14 (different story from today's Gospel) Walters Museum, MS.W.592, folio 58a

Gospel: Luke 13:1-9

These are the inspired words of Luke, disciple of Jesus, and we affirm them by saying, Amen.

Gospel Acclamation: Spirit of the Living God by Michael Crawford (repeat)

Homily: Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

3^rd Sunday of Lent HOMILY- Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

Bridget Mary Meehan, homilist

3^rd Sunday of Lent HOMILY- Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP

While no words or images are adequate to describe God, the story of Moses and the burning bush remind us of our relationship with Sacred Mystery as a journey of healing, liberation and transformation in the power of divine love.

Elizabeth Johnson, in her award winning theological masterpiece, She Who Is, describes a vision of the Holy One beyond all imagination and yet who can be spoken through the lens of women’s experiences and journey to equality.

Referring to the burning bush she writes:

“Symbolized by fire that does not destroy this one will be known by the words and deeds of liberation and covenant that follows. She Who Is, the one whose very nature is sheer aliveness…In the strength of her love she gives her name as the faithful promise always to be there amidst oppression to resist and bring forth.” (p. 243)

In the Gospel, Jesus does not give an answer to why bad things happen to good people.  He does not connect tragedy or loss with sin or guilt. Rather, the message seems to be that since our time is limited on this earth, we must be prepared because the end could come unexpectedly. 

Last week, Jack Duffy reminded his 44 children, grandchildren and great grandchildren that they were called to continue their mother and grandmother Helen’s legacy of joy, deep faith, and generous service. “This is the day God has made,” he said, a day to rejoice because Helen was freed from her body and was ready to be with Jesus singing and dancing forever.

Scholars tell us that one interpretation of the parable of the fig tree is about Jesus challenge to imperial domination by the Roman empire and the misuse of power by religious leaders.

Biblical people understood, as Alice Camille notes in her Lenten reflection booklet, that cursing brought hidden forces into action.  

Our words have power to harm or to bless. There are many article about the impact of negative words to harm and hurt, and positive affirming messages to heal and transform. Ms. Camille recommends we scatter blessings in a world of cursing, negative, hurtful, hateful speech. 

So, I thought I’d try out this on as a new sacred practice on my recent flight to Wisconsin, when a young family took almost 15 minutes to put all their baby stuff in the bins to go through security at the airport, I had an opportunity to scatter blessing prayers for the loving care of the 2 small children and gratitude that neither child was screaming in the long wait!

After our Celebration of Life liturgy for Helen Duffy and a wonderful reception at Holy Wisdom Monastery,  as we prepared to leave for the gravesite ceremony, a snowstorm and gusty wind started blowing. I bundled in a thick, borrowed windbreaker, armed with holy water from Knock in one hand and the prayer service in the other. The words: OMG came out of my mouth more than once as we drove in the blinding snowstorm.

At the request of the family members whom I was riding with, I shortened the service to 1 committal prayer. When I got out of the car on the wrong side into 2 feet of snow, a bad word almost came out of my mouth, but I made it on a slippery path with help of  a strong arm to the burial site.

 My brief prayer was followed by the prayer of Jesus, and a powerful rendition of Amazing Grace on the bagpipe by a gifted piper. Then I handed the Holy Water to Jack to sprinkle on the Urn as the seven children lowered Helen’s ashes into the earth. It was an unforgettable moment of loving letting go as the tears flowed.

In the end, life is short, no matter how long it may be. Our soul work is a process of each day letting go of negative, damaging behaviors and living the LOVE that will save us and our world!  

Questions for Sharing:

1   If the end of your earthly life was near, would you be ready?

2.  Share any Lenten practice/s that are setting your heart ablaze with divine love and helping you grow?

3.  Who are the messengers of God in your life? How do you reveal the message of God you have received?

Statement of Faith

Presider: Let us pray together our Statement of Faith

We believe in the Holy One, a divine mystery
beyond all definition and rational understanding,
the heart of all that has ever existed,
that exists now, or that ever will exist.

We believe in Jesus, messenger of the Divine Word,
bringer of healing, heart of Divine compassion,
bright star in the firmament of the Holy One's
prophets, mystics, and saints.

We believe that We are called to follow Jesus
as a vehicle of divine love,
a source of wisdom and truth,
and an instrument of peace in the world.

We believe in the Spirit of the Holy One,
the life that is our innermost life,
the breath moving in our being,
the depth living in each of us.

We believe that the Divine kin-dom is here and now,
stretched out all around us for those
with eyes to see it, hearts to receive it,
and hands to make it happen.

Prayers of The Community

Presider: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we bring to this table our blessings, cares and concerns. 

Our response is: Holy One, You hear us.

At the end of prayers:

Presider: We pray for these and all unspoken concerns. Amen.

Procession of Gifts and Song

Blest are They by David Haas #631

https://youtu.be/FV8nrwJG1-w

(Presiders lift up the bread and wine)

Presider: Blessed are you, God of all life, through your goodness we have bread, wine, all creation, and our own lives to offer. Through this sacred meal may we become your new creation as we respond to your call to use our gifts in loving service to our sisters and brothers.

All: Blessed be God forever.

Presider: All are welcome to join us around the table.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

Presider: God is within you, blessing the world through you.

All: And also within you. 

Presider: Lift up your hearts.

All: We lift them up in the Holy One. 

Presider: O Holy One, the first passion of Jesus was his passion for you and his passion for justice, namely, to incarnate your justice by demanding for all, a fair share of a world belonging to and ruled by your covenant with Israel. In solidarity with the unnamed woman who anointed Jesus, the first to recognize the cost of his fidelity to you, and with all believers who have gone before us, we lift up our hearts and sing:

All: We are holy, holy, holy by Karen Drucker 

https://youtu.be/J3r-3TFB6wI

Voice 1: Holy One, we celebrate the life of your son and our brother, Jesus. He lived his life and walked forward to his death knowing that you were leading him. We walk forward in his pathway and follow his teaching.

Voice 2: We pray for the grace to let go of money, possessions, pride and privilege, to become vulnerable and open to you, to accept poverty of spirit and reliance on you.

Voice 3: We pray for compassion for all human beings, to feel empathy and love for everyone, especially the poor, oppressed, and mournful. We remember all those who suffer and die each year from war, poverty and unjust disease. We mourn for them, and for all creatures we destroy, and for the earth itself.

Voice 4: We pray to be gentle, nonviolent, courageous and humble, like your saints. We pray to grow in awareness of our unity with all of creation and co-create with You our earth as a sanctuary of peace.

Voice 5: We pray for a heart that hungers and thirsts for justice for all people who live in poverty, imprisonment and war.  We pray for the courage to carry on your struggle for justice for the world’s oppressed as we challenge the world’s domination systems.

Voice 6: We pray to be merciful, especially toward those whom the culture deems unworthy of your mercy and care. We embrace everyone with compassion and respect.

Voice 7: We pray for a pure heart, inner peace and holiness so that everything that comes from within us might be loving and holy. Opening ourselves up to your Spirit, may we see You everywhere, especially in every human being.

Voice 8: We pray to be Your peacemakers, to renounce violence and to serve your movement for the abolition of war and all oppression. We pray to make peace everywhere.

Voice 9: We thank you for your presence within, around and among us. We arise and walk forward even when rejected and persecuted while working for justice and peace. With you we will not retaliate but respond with love and compassion.

Voice 10: We rejoice, O Holy One, and we are glad as we join the lineage of Your prophets of justice and peace. We, Your daughters and sons, continue to work with your grace as we arise and walk forward in the footsteps of our brother, the nonviolent Jesus.

All: On the night before he died, Jesus gathered for the Seder supper with the people closest to him. Like the least of household servants, he washed their feet, so that they would re-member him.

Presider: (lifts bread as community prays the following:)

All: When he returned to his place at the table, he lifted the Passover bread, spoke the blessing, broke the bread and offered it to them saying: 

Take and eat of the Bread of Life 

Given to strengthen you  

Whenever you remember me like this  

I am among you. (pause) 

Presider: (lifts the cup as community prays the following:)

All: Jesus then raised a cup of blessing, spoke the grace saying: 

Take and drink of the covenant 

Made new again through my life in you. 

Whenever you remember me like this, 

I am among you.  (pause)

All: Let us share this bread and cup, 

and welcome everyone to the Banquet as we live the gospel of justice and peace in our world.

Voice 11: We are called to do everything Jesus did, to be the living presence of a love that does justice, of a compassion that heals and liberates, of a joy that generates laughter, of a light that illumines right choices and confronts the darkness of every injustice and inequity.

All: So, we trust you, O Holy One, to continue to share with us your Spirit, the Spirit that filled Jesus, for it is through his life and teaching, his loving and healing all honor and glory is yours forever and ever. 

All sing: Amen.

Presider: Let us pray as Jesus taught us:

All: Our Father and Mother ….

Sign of Peace

Presider: Let us hold hands and sing “Peace is flowing like a River” as we pray for peace and justice to spread through our world.

Prayer for the Breaking of Bread

Presider:  Please join in the prayer for the breaking of the bread:

(Presiders break the bread)

All: O God of Courage, You call us to live the Gospel of peace and justice.  We will live justly.

O God of Compassion, You call us to be Your presence in the world.  We will love tenderly.
O God of Truth, You call us to speak truth to power.  We will walk with integrity in your presence.

(Presiders hold up bread and wine)

Presider: This is the bread of life and the cup of blessing. Through it we are nourished and we nourish each other. All are welcome to the Feast.

All: What we have heard with our ears, we will live with our lives; as we share communion, we will become communion, both Love’s nourishment and Love’s challenge.

Communion Song: Instrumental- 

Communion Meditation: Mindy Lou Simmons

Presider: Prayers of Gratitude, Introductions and Announcements

Blessing

Presider:  Let us raise our hands and bless each other.

All: May you be blessed with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships.

May you seek truth boldly and love deeply within your heart.

May you continue to be the face of the Holy One to all you meet. 

May your name be a blessing in our time.

Closing Song: #413 Sing a New Church by Michelle Sherliza and Delores Dufner

https://youtu.be/ETV1DXQk_Gk

(Liturgy written by Bridget Mary Meehan and Mary Theresa Streck.The Eucharistic Prayer was adapted from Beatitudes for Peace by John Dear.)

MMOJ Members Book Discussion on The Last Week by Dominic Crossan

led by Janet Blakeley ARCWP

Janet, Sally and Elena sharing a meal and laughter after Liturgy

Enjoying the evening after dinner,Bridget Mary, Mary Theresa and Joan

Bridget Mary Meehan ARCWP