Roman Catholic Womenpriests: A Good Friday Prayer

Jesus, today we come to the cross
with Mary, your mother,
Mary of Magdala,
and all the holy women
who stood by you in the final hours of
your suffering and agony.

Like these faithful disciples,
we accompany you,
Heart of Love ,
as you pour forth
forgiveness
healing
peace
compassion
justice
over all.

Jesus, we are your broken vessels and wounded healers.
By your abundant, overflowing grace,
forgive, heal and transform us
so that we may embody your
Christ-presence in our church and world.
Fill our hearts with your compassion so that our hearts may reflect
your Heart of Love.

We pray for mercy and compassion on
all who are ill,
all who grieve,
all who despair,
all who are lonely,
all who are dying,
all who have transitioned into eternal life,
all who need the basic necessities of life,
all who are out of work, who need employment,
for peace within and between nations
all who need prayer and all who have no one to pray for them.
May we hold one another always in Your Heart of Love where we are forever one.
Amen.
Bridget Mary Meehan
Roman Catholic Womanpriest
Good Friday, April 10, 2009

Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Cloud of Witnesses Retreat

Left to Right Bishop Gisela Forster, Bishop Dana Reynolds,
Bishop Ida Raming and Priest Suzanne Thiel in Germany
April 2008/Dana's Episcopal Ordination


Ordinations in Canada


Dear Community,
Today, as we are poised to begin Holy Week, we prepare to celebrate the mysteries at the heart of our faith, where trial and triumph, joy and sorrow, chaos and hope, become real at the same time, intertwined in the lives and hearts of Jesus and his followers. At this time, in our community life, we are coming ever-closer to the ordination of our new bishops, a time of joy. However, at this very same time, our Bishop Dana has come into a time of need for bodily rest and renewal. Acknowledging the limitations of our very human bodies and offering care and respite to our physical selves, even though the timing is difficult, is itself an encounter with the Sacred -- a spiritual discipline, in fact. We are human, and our bodies cannot always quite keep up with our energetic spirits and minds and outer events. This can be an exacting time of meeting the Holy Spirit.
We also acknowledge that we are one body in Christ. We are all part of one another. Every time we come into this awareness, it, too, is an encounter with the Sacred. Dana's vulnerability is our vulnerability; out strength is her strength. May the great winds of Ruah swirl amongst our RCWP community, gathering together all our resources of health and wholeness and joy, carrying them to Dana with our love and the love of our God, for her deep healing and renewal.
As a prayer ritual for Dana, I invite you to cup your hands and hold Dana and her needs in your hands. Imagine yourself, with your hands gently holding Dana, being held in the cupped hands of our loving God/de. Breathe......
"In the fragrance of our yearned-for wholeness, we sense you, we hear you, we know your presence, O loving God.
We hear the echoes of your healing throughout our lives.
We remember all of the times you have heard our needs, and healed us and made us well, in body and mind and heart and spirit,
and we give thanks.
We know your nearness,
We know your love,
We know you as the source of strength that is greater than our own strength,
and we give thanks.
Held in your hands, in your love, we trust in your wisdom and grace.
Holy One, we know you as the author of our lives, the One in whom all our desires reside.
Remind us, as we hold Dana at our centre, in our hands and minds and hearts, that we are yours.
We thank you for the Wisdom we are all learning at this time -- that it is good to honour our needs and our limitations.
We give thanks for the courage to say yes to our ourselves and no to the demands of outer life when we have to --
for the greater good, the greater health --
even when we would rather not have to choose between them.
Anoint Dana with your Spirit of love and wholeness,
and let her never doubt her place of honour in your kin-dom and our community.
In Your love, we are one.
In our oneness with you, we are healed.
Power and truth to these statements,
Amen."
Today, and in the days to come, may we hold at our centre in a special way our very special Bishop Dana, as she attends to her health, to her being, to her well-being. Dana, we send our prayers for healing and peace.
With love,
Monica (Kilburn-Smith, Calgary)

Roman Catholic Womenpriests: Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community celebrates Palm Sunday at St. Andrew Church in Sarasota, Fl.

Married priest Michael Rigdon co-presides
with married priest Lee Breyer and Roman Catholic Womanpriest,
Bridget Mary Meehan at Palm Sunday liturgy
with Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community in Sarasota, Florida.



Community prays over Bridget Mary





Sheila Carey/Liturgical Dance

On April4, 2009, Mary, Mother of Jesus Catholic Community gathered at St. Andrew Church in Sarasota, Florida to celebrate Palm Sunday.

Here are several clips that give glimpses into our beautiful liturgy.

Blessing of Palm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnDY7cTpvgc

Liturgical Dance- Communion Meditation

In this clip, Sheila Carey performed this stunning sacred dance to "you raise me up."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6h0FcBlPHA

Prayer of Blessing for Bridget Mary by Congregation.
In this clip Jack Duffy leads the community in a prayer of blessing for the outpouring of the Spirit on bishop-elect Bridget Mary Meehan.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0_2MbRZ0VQ

After Recessional: "When the saints go marching in".

Jack Meehan plays a rousing version of this classic spiritual as the community bids each other farewell for the season.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjem1Qlk284