There is an excellent reflection by Fr. Tom Doyle on the excommunication ("sort of")of Fr. Roy Bourgeois in the current issue of ARCC Light.
http://arcc-catholic-rights.net/tom_doyle_on_bourgeois.htm
Living Gospel Inclusivity and Empowerment Now
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Mary, Mother of Jesus Christmas Eve Liturgy/ Celebration
A Joyous Celebration of Christmas in Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic House Church in Sarasota, Florida
On Dec. 24, 2008 our community celebrated the birth of Christ with enthusiastic worship and full participation in a lively gathering which included two presiders: Michael Rigdon, a married priest and Bridget Mary Meehan, a Roman Catholic Womanpriest and serveral visitors including a family from Michigan. The teens in this family shared their gifts in technology, operating the digital camera and music systmes. Special thanks to Aubrey who took this footage, Colette , her sister, is responsible for the digital stills. (soon to follow)
Sheila Carey shared her gift of liturgical dance (in the inspiring act of worship in honor of Mary, Mother of Jesus, that you will see in the clip below.www.sheilacarey.com
Sheila hopes that viewing Sacred Dance will lift thiose watching to prayer with their God.
Jack Meehan, our minister of music, played carols on the sax and trumpet. In our dialogue homily we shared our journey to birth Christ in our world. All of us are called to be, like Mary, "mothers of God."
Like the women and men in the early Christian house churches, our liturgy was held in the context of a meal. After our eucharist, we continued to celebrate with a festive supper of Irish chowder, brown bread, korn bread, and tea.
Jack Meehan, our minister of music, played carols on the sax and trumpet. In our dialogue homily we shared our journey to birth Christ in our world. All of us are called to be, like Mary, "mothers of God."
Like the women and men in the early Christian house churches, our liturgy was held in the context of a meal. After our eucharist, we continued to celebrate with a festive supper of Irish chowder, brown bread, korn bread, and tea.
Clip of Liturgical Dance;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3KQz1LbxLQ&feature=channel_page
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3KQz1LbxLQ&feature=channel_page
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
O Emmanuel 23 Dec.
*(O) Emmanuel...our Guide and Source of All Law ,the One that ev'ry land is longing for,O Saving One once promised to the house of Israel,Come! and save us ! Be our Christ, our God!*/
My Dear Friends and Colleagues, Sisters and Brothers,Blessed peace...and rest...and quiet...be with you this day...and this night!Now our time of watching in the fertile, but sometimes frightening, darkness of night is drawing gently to a close. We slowly begin to taste and savor the continuing fulfillment of the promise in the person of the Promised One, Emmanuel, The Christ, who has been guiding our hearts and minds through the fecund wilderness of Advent.We have longed for the radiance of Emmanuel, who comes bearing gifts to the gift bearers, to shine upon us and within us. We have longed for the Source of All Law to hand us anew the light of the pure Law of Love. This sacred Law of Love flows from the heart of God into our hearts and seeks to fill us to overflowing, desiring beyond all desire to be our rule and our guide...so that in, with and through The Christ, in the unity of the Spirit, we become great lovers of God, of one another and of all creation.Emmanuel waits for us...and waits within us...for us to give the gift of receiving the gift, in surrender to Love's enfolding embrace. We follow now the star to all the places and hearts where Love waits to love and to be loved. There we will find Emmanuel; and there, as we adore The Christ, we will become mirrors of Emmanuel among our brothers and sisters.May it be so.Thank you for being both sign and presence of Emmanuel to me.
With love as Advent draws softly to a close,
Olivia of the Western Region - RCWP-USA
My Dear Friends and Colleagues, Sisters and Brothers,Blessed peace...and rest...and quiet...be with you this day...and this night!Now our time of watching in the fertile, but sometimes frightening, darkness of night is drawing gently to a close. We slowly begin to taste and savor the continuing fulfillment of the promise in the person of the Promised One, Emmanuel, The Christ, who has been guiding our hearts and minds through the fecund wilderness of Advent.We have longed for the radiance of Emmanuel, who comes bearing gifts to the gift bearers, to shine upon us and within us. We have longed for the Source of All Law to hand us anew the light of the pure Law of Love. This sacred Law of Love flows from the heart of God into our hearts and seeks to fill us to overflowing, desiring beyond all desire to be our rule and our guide...so that in, with and through The Christ, in the unity of the Spirit, we become great lovers of God, of one another and of all creation.Emmanuel waits for us...and waits within us...for us to give the gift of receiving the gift, in surrender to Love's enfolding embrace. We follow now the star to all the places and hearts where Love waits to love and to be loved. There we will find Emmanuel; and there, as we adore The Christ, we will become mirrors of Emmanuel among our brothers and sisters.May it be so.Thank you for being both sign and presence of Emmanuel to me.
With love as Advent draws softly to a close,
Olivia of the Western Region - RCWP-USA
Roman Catholic Womenpriests: More NCR articles on Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois and Quote from Bishop Gumbleton's homily
Ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska Fr. Roy co-celebrates liturgy, Bishop Dana Reynolds in red vestments, Janice on right, Bridget Mary Meehan, next to Roy on left. and Ree Hudson on far right)Bourgeois has long drawn inspiration from women
By LINDA COOPER AND JAMES HODGE
Published: December 23, 2008
By LINDA COOPER AND JAMES HODGE
Published: December 23, 2008
http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2945
Humbled by the torrent of support he’s received after refusing to disavow his belief that God calls women to the priesthood.
Humbled by the torrent of support he’s received after refusing to disavow his belief that God calls women to the priesthood.
(Quote from Bishop Gumbleton's homily at Jane Donovan Peace Center, Philadelphia, Pa.)
"We are aware that our church is lacking in ministers, those who can speak prophetically in our public liturgy, those who can be pastoral leaders in our communities. But they are available and Father Roy has made the plea and a public statement through his action by being present at the ordination of a woman, and has urged our church and proclaimed to our church, “Go back to the beginning” when house churches -- places like we are assembled here today in a home with a small community gathered -- were led, we learned from the letters of Paul, the Acts of the Apostles, by women.
We must open ourselves to this reality, take us back to the beginning, so that we flourish in the church with new ministers, ministers who can be that prophetic voice as these women were in the beginning..."
We must open ourselves to this reality, take us back to the beginning, so that we flourish in the church with new ministers, ministers who can be that prophetic voice as these women were in the beginning..."
Monday, December 22, 2008
Sixth O Antiphon
Sovereign of all the Nations...and Desired One of all,the Cornerstone that binds the two in one,you fashion us from out of clay, we live among the poor:Come! and save the ones who wait for you!*
/My Beloved Sisters and Brothers,Greetings of Peace!
Now, with this sixth O Antiphon, we increasingly are aware that our Light, The Christ, already present...also continues to come to save us.And so we wait with hope, trust and expectation...and as we wait, we keep watch in the night, the night fertile with promise, seeking that first and early glimpse of the breaking light that is sure to come...not a moment too soon, not a moment too late.We have been waiting together in the spacious union of our hearts this Advent Season...and may that be the space in which the Light shines most brightly. It is the space between us and among us that holds us and makes us one, binding us together in the Love of Christ, fashioning us into the image of The Christ, creating us into The Christas and The Christos, to walk among the poor and learn of God.The lessons taught us by the poor, whether poor in spirit or poor in earthly goods...yes, the poor themselves...light our pathways as we journey toward harmony and peace among the nations, beginning with peace in our own hearts.Blessed be the One whom we desire, the One whose heart we seek...Blessed be the Desired One of all...the One sought by seekers and by those who do not know they seek. Blessed be the Light that is breaking forth.With prayerful love,
Olivia of the Western Region - RCWP-USA
/My Beloved Sisters and Brothers,Greetings of Peace!
Now, with this sixth O Antiphon, we increasingly are aware that our Light, The Christ, already present...also continues to come to save us.And so we wait with hope, trust and expectation...and as we wait, we keep watch in the night, the night fertile with promise, seeking that first and early glimpse of the breaking light that is sure to come...not a moment too soon, not a moment too late.We have been waiting together in the spacious union of our hearts this Advent Season...and may that be the space in which the Light shines most brightly. It is the space between us and among us that holds us and makes us one, binding us together in the Love of Christ, fashioning us into the image of The Christ, creating us into The Christas and The Christos, to walk among the poor and learn of God.The lessons taught us by the poor, whether poor in spirit or poor in earthly goods...yes, the poor themselves...light our pathways as we journey toward harmony and peace among the nations, beginning with peace in our own hearts.Blessed be the One whom we desire, the One whose heart we seek...Blessed be the Desired One of all...the One sought by seekers and by those who do not know they seek. Blessed be the Light that is breaking forth.With prayerful love,
Olivia of the Western Region - RCWP-USA
Sunday, December 21, 2008
O Antiphon for Fourth Sunday of Advent
*O Rising Dawn...and radiance of the light that never ends,O Sun of Justice shining for the world,our days are filled with terror, we are frightened by the night:Come! and chase the shadows from the dark!*
/My Dear Brothers and Sisters on the Holy Road of Advent to Christmas,
Peace on this Winter Solstice Day, on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, on what was once known in ancient times as the First Day of Christmas!
Lighting my Advent wreath at 4:00 a.m. this day, I had a sense of the increasing presence of light, of the Rising Dawn and of the Sun of Justice, both of whom today's O Antiphon sings. I felt the warmth of Light shining in many darknesses...my own, the local corner of the world, RCWP, the Vatican, territories and nations, across the mountains and valleys and deserts of this earth...springing forth from and returning to the ever recreating cosmos found in the heart of God...in a never ending cycle.Light is victorious, accomplishing what it is created to do...yet it requires of us the courage to see through its eyes, to walk by its light. In our seeing, we are invited to walk by meeting the challenge to become light, to be the light we are, and to shine in the darkness of the terrors and fears of our brothers and sisters in, with, and through whom we serve.As vessels of Light, immersed and bathed in The Light, in The Christ, we dare to dream the dreams of God, even to invite God to dream through us, and by grace to live into the vision shining on our pathways. May it be so! Yes! Amen! We are ready!
With prayerful love,Olivia of the Western Region - RCWP-USA__._,_.___
/My Dear Brothers and Sisters on the Holy Road of Advent to Christmas,
Peace on this Winter Solstice Day, on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, on what was once known in ancient times as the First Day of Christmas!
Lighting my Advent wreath at 4:00 a.m. this day, I had a sense of the increasing presence of light, of the Rising Dawn and of the Sun of Justice, both of whom today's O Antiphon sings. I felt the warmth of Light shining in many darknesses...my own, the local corner of the world, RCWP, the Vatican, territories and nations, across the mountains and valleys and deserts of this earth...springing forth from and returning to the ever recreating cosmos found in the heart of God...in a never ending cycle.Light is victorious, accomplishing what it is created to do...yet it requires of us the courage to see through its eyes, to walk by its light. In our seeing, we are invited to walk by meeting the challenge to become light, to be the light we are, and to shine in the darkness of the terrors and fears of our brothers and sisters in, with, and through whom we serve.As vessels of Light, immersed and bathed in The Light, in The Christ, we dare to dream the dreams of God, even to invite God to dream through us, and by grace to live into the vision shining on our pathways. May it be so! Yes! Amen! We are ready!
With prayerful love,Olivia of the Western Region - RCWP-USA__._,_.___
Google News Alerts for Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Gloria Carpeneto in the middle, Judy Lee on left and Gabriella Velardi Ward on the right at Boston ordinations 2008
Andrea Johnson (second from right) Patricia Fresen in middle, Eleonora Marinaro, Bridget Mary Meehan at New York ordinations 2007From Google News Alerts
in Baltimore newspapers:
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Stained-glass ceiling
Stained-glass ceiling
Baltimore Sun - Baltimore,MD,USA
"In the United States, 33 women have been ordained as priests, six as deacons and one as a bishop, according to Roman Catholic Womenpriests"...
Baltimore Examiner - Baltimore,MD,USA
"There are Roman Catholic bishops in good standing with the Vatican in ... said she was ordained earlier this year in Boston by Roman Catholic Womenpriests, ...