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Saturday, March 15, 2014

MMOJ/St.Andrew UCC Homeless Ministry at Sanctuary of Sarasota, Florida/March 15th, 2014/P

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20140314/ARTICLE/140319800/2416/NEWS?Title=Police-action-undermines-homeless-plans-consultant-says

On March 15, a dozen volunteers from Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community and St. Andrew United Church of Christ  gathered to express prayerful solidarity and to share food with the homeless that are serviced by Sanctuary Sarasota, led by Vallerie Guillory, from Trinity Without Borders. We shared over 70 sandwiches, fruit, drinks and cookies.
When we arrived, Vallerie shared the schedule for the day which was divided into classes, painting and prizes for the children and a later adult sing along. 
Earlier, there had been a disturbance in the camp between several occupants. 
Our ministry team joined other individuals and volunteers: a local Girls Scout Troop, Jorde, an gifted artist, who was there to provide  paint adventures showcasing rocks and the oneness of nature. See the murals on his decorated bus in the photos below.  
We began with a prayer circle. I asked everyone to join hands end express solidarity with all those in the camp by sending loving energy to help bring about justice for those in need and homes for the homeless. "Amen" everyone affirmed!
Before I left, a woman from the homeless camp asked me to pray with her.
We joined hands and I prayed that God would send angels to protect, guide, and embrace her during the coming days and weeks.
Gini C. Hyman, wrote: on her facebook page:"The most touching thing I observed was the Bishop praying with a woman who had just lost everything, including whatever meager belongings she had at the Camp. She was drug free and seriously depressed, without hope. Then I saw Bishop Bridget Mary with her. at Sanctuary of Sarasota."
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org
MMOJ: www.marymotherofjesus.org
St. Andrew UCC, http://uccstandrew.org/
Homeless Ministry Team from MMOJ and St. Andrew UCC at Sanctuary of Sarasota, Florida 
































Friday, March 14, 2014

Irish Mystic, Lorna Byrne, Shares Her Encounters with Angels

Powerful Video with Lorna Byrne, author of Angels in My hair

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYTFHy4I1P0

In this  inspiring interview, Lorna  Byrne says that she sees angels and  that  each of us has an angel to comfort and  to accompany us through life.


Article: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYTFHy4I1P0"

..."The alleged mystic, Lorna Byrne, a practicing Catholic born in the Old Kilmanham part of Dublin, gives no date but asserts in a book called Angels in My Hairdistributed by Random House since 2008, that "I have been shown different paths for the world. At times, I have watched and been terrified.""Some of the possible futures I have been shown have been truly atrocious, and if one of those come to pass I don't want to be alive to see it."But I have also been shown many wonderful paths, where there is room for everyone to live in harmony and at peace. I believe the world in the future can be a wonderful place, but every single person has to play their part."
Encounter with Mary, Mother of Jesus;"...Her face was radiant with life. She was perfect; her eyes were blue and shone like the sun, but a billion times more radiant. How can words describe that? All I can say is, when I looked into her eyes there was such gentleness, compassion, peace, and such love radiating from them."I know this superb angel standing in front of me could see everything. It was as if she recognized and knew every particle within the universe -- something completely beyond our human comprehension."When Lorna pleaded with her that the world needs a miracle -- for Mary to "appear for the whole world to see," in order to rectify its transgressions -- the Blessed Mother, claims this Irish mystic, smiled with love radiating from her eyes and radiance surrounding her like fiery flames and said, "I will reach into people's hearts and, one day, I will appear and the whole world will see me as you can now."Adds the mystic: "I believe that, some day, the Queen of Angels will appear for all to see, not just some, and will appear, not just for a fleeting moment, but will remain for some time, for the world to see and acknowledge. She will come to provide the evidence that mankind, in its weakness, requires -- and this will be the beginning of a major change for the human race."


Bridget Mary's Response:

Matthew Fox observed that the angels must be bored at Catholic liturgies today. One would more likely to encounter an angel in a book store, he quipped!He mentioned that he was impressed by  Lorna Byrne, whom some have called "the angel lady from Ireland,"So, I decided to read about her and share her mystical encounters with you, the readers of my blog. I believe that our angels remind us of our reality and that is:God loves each of us totally, passionately, completely in this life, no matter what happens, and that we are never alone. We are embraced in the light and surrounded by boundless love! Our challenge is to become more aware each day of our deepest reality and call to live life fully in love, kindness and compassion. May you be blessed by your encounters with angels!Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwpwww.arcwp.orgmarymotherofjesus.orgArticle :
http://www.spiritdaily.net/lorna2.htm


Morning Briefing; Hot Stories on National Catholic Reporter About Pope Francis, aBankrupt Diocese, and much more

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/morning-briefing-1106

...."The Vatican’s bank has faced a slew of allegations, from corruption in contracting to money-laundering. Roman authorities have investigated several suspicious Vatican Bank dealings in the past. But little has come of the queries.
Pope Francis, on the other hand, has taken a hard line to the investigations and has pushed forward with several reforms, starting with the naming of a trusted aide to oversee the bank and the firing of the bank’s director and deputy. Just a couple months ago, he also got rid of four of the five cardinals who were supposed to oversee the bank, NBCreported.
“The pope is the only stockholder for the bank, and he fired the board of directors,” one official told NBC."

Interfaith Prayer Vigil for Homeless in Sarasota, Fl. on March 15th Response to City Closure of Homeless Camp

Press Release: Standing in Solidarity with the Homeless for Homes in Sarasota
March 14, 2014
Contact: Vallerie Guillory, Trinity Without Borders
941-350-9250, www.trinitywithoutborders.org,
vg@trinitywithoutborders.org
Bridget Mary Meehan, 703-505-0004,  941-955-2313sofiabmm@aol.com,
At this time of crisis, leaders of churches, faith communities, and advocates for homes for the homeless will gather to pray and share food at a “Spring Fest” at Sanctuary of Sarasota at 1005 North Washington Blvd, behind Dealer’s Choice at noon on Saturday, March 15th.  
The City of Sarasota has issued a notice to vacate the homeless camp which Trinity Without Borders provides support services. Vallerie Guillory, from Trinity without Borders, said: “ It’s a given that the camp has to be closed, we need funding released so people can have homes not a place on the floor.”
At noon, representatives from Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community, St. Andrew United Church of Christ , Trinity Baptist Church of Newton, Vision House, Cares Outreach and other supporters will form a prayer circle to pray for a just and compassionate resolution to the homeless camp closures in which the homeless will be provided adequate food, housing, and  other necessary services.


Thursday, March 13, 2014

"A Nostalgic Trip Down Memory Lane "- Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community Youtube Movies of our early days at St. Andrew UCC , Sarasota, Florida

Sheila Carey shares a liturgical dance at our MMOJ liturgy

Today I took a trip down memory lane and recalled how God has blessed  our Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Community. I watched some of movies from our early days at St. Andrew's (links below)  and thought it was time to share a brief history.

On Christmas 2006, Dick and Pat Fisher, Jack Meehan, (Dad) and I celebrated our first liturgy around my dining room table. In January Jack and Helen Duffy and Margaret Smith joined our small circle. We put an announcement in the Sarasota Herald Tribune and  over the next several  months ,others came including married priest couples Michael and Imogene Rigdon, and Lee and Carol Ann Breyer .

In 2008, after several articles in the media in response to Bishop Frank Dewane's condemnation of our house church, we grew so large that we could no longer fit in my small mobile home.  A  generous couple opened their home to us so we moved to a larger home, but  within a month, we could no longer fit there either. 

So, in 2009, we went on a search for a church that could host a group on the margins and outside the power grid of the church hierarchy!!

One day, I was blessed to meet Pastor Phil  Garrison. who consulted with the leadership of St. Andrew United Church of Christ. Like Christ, they welcomed us, and gave permission to share sanctuary on Saturday evenings.  
So now, we have worshiped in  this  beautiful, sacred space for five years. 
As you will see we started in March 2009.

With a grateful heart, I give thanks to God, who does infinitely more than we can hope for or imagine and to our brothers and sisters at St. Andrew UCC for their kind hearts and warm hospitality. 
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP,
www.marymotherofjesus.org
Join us at 4 PM on Sat. at 6908 Beneva Rd. Sarasota, Florida for an inclusive Catholic Mass where all are welcome to join us at the Eucharistic Table. 

During this time, I recorded 771 GodTalk movie clips on YouTube 
with total views of  248,709!

YouTube Highlights from our beginning days at St. Andrew UCC/March 2009

Pastor Phil Garrison welcomes MMOJ to St. Andrew UCC/March 2009
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFjIHI7ODKY
Offertory

Communion:Jesus, remember me"

Community Prays for Healing/Anointing of the Sick
MMOJ Celebrates Saint Patrick's Day ( Jack Meehan plays a tune you will recognize!)
Jack Meehan playing recessional "When saints go marching in "
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i58jsmlK3wU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjem1Qlk284

Easter 2011
Community Prays Eucharistc Prayer at Easter Liturgy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQy-IQma7iI

Liturgical Dance at Easter , April 2011 with Sheila Carey "And I will raise you up"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYjJAiEobHY





Homily for Holy Spirit Catholic Community- Second Sunday of Lent by Rev. Beverly Bingle, RCWP


It's more and more a challenge for me to read Paul's letters and try
to separate the faith message from his Greco-Roman mindset and the two
millennia of literal interpretation and atonement theology that also
sprang out of his conversion experience. A lot of that has to be set
aside before I can hear the Good News that rings out in today's second
reading, that God calls us to a holy life. That's the call that Paul
himself heard on the way to Damascus. It was an epiphany for him, an
insight into reality that sat him down on the ground, a vision that
spoke to his innermost being and blinded him to all that he had ever
envisioned before that moment.

The same thing happens to Abram. He and Sarah had left Ur with his
father and settled in Haran. He's 75 years old, successful but
childless. Then he hears the voice of Yahweh, the first call that's
recorded in all of our scripture, clearly instructing him: Leave your
country, your people, your home. Leave security and safety! Move!
Change! Imagine him running into the tent, Yahweh's voice ringing in
his ears, calling to Sarah, "Pack up! We're moving!" What did Sarah
say to that! She'd already moved from Ur to Haran, and now another
trek! "Where?" she would have asked. And Abram would have told her
that he didn't know, but God would show them. And so they went. No
wonder we call them our ancestors in faith. Their lives are filled
with these moments of revelation, angels predicting Isaac's birth,
Yahweh stopping the hand that would sacrifice their first-born, more
moves and changes, chats with Yahweh and Yahweh's messengers.

In the same way our Gospel tells us of the moment when Peter, James,
and John see, in Jesus--their inspiring Galilean friend--a powerful
expression of the Divine Presence. Jesus is glowing--his divine nature
appears luminous; what was dimly perceived before becomes transparent
to them. They now understand that he is solidly grounded in, in
intimate relationship with, the Law and the Prophets that form the
basis of their Jewish beliefs. Then they see the Law and the Prophets
fade away, with only Jesus remaining. They have an epiphany moment, a
transfiguration of their understanding: they get a glimpse of what
Jesus has been talking about; they grasp a new insight into the reign
of God. They don't know how to respond to this grace, so they suggest
putting up the festival tents.

We all have these moments: epiphanies, Abraham moments,
transfigurations. We may call them awarenesses, discoveries,
revelations, exaltations, spiritual experiences. They are moments of
insight where God seems to be drawing aside a curtain and showing the
real nature and meaning of things. The experience is so different--and
so important--that we have to struggle to find words to talk about it,
just as the apostles did, just as the scripture writers did.

This past Thursday as I stood on a sidewalk in the snow talking with a
friend, he pointed out the bright sunlight and the snow on the
branches of a spruce tree across the street. I know that moment was
important, and I know that I'll remember it for a long time; I also
know I cannot yet come close to articulating its meaning. Those
unpredictable, unforgettable times of sudden vision: they give us
hope; they make it clear; they comfort us. We return to them again
and again as time goes on, gaining each time a deeper understanding of
God and the world and ourselves.

It's impossible to describe, though we try. And it's impossible not
to communicate it: it shows in our lives. Like the apostles, we come
to these insights through others--in our parents, teachers, spouses,
friends, and co-workers.

Lent gives us time to reflect on these Abraham moments, these
epiphanies, these transfigurations in our lives. Lent gives us space
to see the Divine Presence glowing with brilliant light in people, in
our world, in ourselves.

God speaks, as Gerard Manley Hopkins wrote, in ten thousand places.
We listen.

--
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Mass at 2086 Brookdale (Interfaith Chapel):
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 9 a.m.
Mass at 3535 Executive Parkway (Unity of Toledo)
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
www.holyspirittoledo.org

Rev. Bev Bingle, Pastor
419-727-1774

Eucharistic Prayers by Diarmuid Murchu/Theology

"Surveys in the Dumpster" by Ken Briggs/U.S. Bishops Response to Pope Francis' Call for Consultation with Catholics Worldwide on Birth Control, Divorce/other hot button issues

NCR's admirable reporting startlingly concludes that roughly two-thirds of U.S. bishops haven't broadly sought opinions from lay Catholics on family-related issues prior to the Synod on that subject later this year. The Vatican had promoted the idea by preparing a survey for that purpose, but, as NCR found, most didn't follow through
Why not if it had Rome's endorsement?
Reasons vary, of course, but the question might as well be, why should they?...http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/surveys-dumpster

Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community responded, did you or your parish? www.marymotherofjesus.org


Monday, March 10, 2014

Kathy Kelly Talks About Effects of War on Afghanistan

http://www.focusonalbany.com/radio-interviews/item/120-kathy-kelly-talks-about-the-effects-of-war-on-afghanistan

"he Dwindling Number of Irish Catholic Priests by Mary McFadden

http://thecircular.org/the-dwindling-number-of-irish-catholic-priests/"...A survey by the Association of Catholic Priests found that almost 90% of Irish Catholics would support the introducion of married priests and 77% want women to be ordained. The survey gathered opinions from 1,005 Catholics. It also found that more than 60% of Catholics disagreed with the statement, ‘any sexual expression of love between gay couples is immoral’, and three-quarters of respondents didn’t see Catholic Church teachings on sexuality as relevant to their family or themselves. This survey shows that there is a great disparity between how the Church conducts things and what Catholics actually want. This indicates a need for the Church to make big changes if it wants to stop the increasing dissatisfaction of more and more parishioners before it is too late...


Caracol TV Follows Roman Catholic Woman Priest Olga Lucia Alvarez in Colombia with Priests Martha Aida and Marina Teresa Included

-http://judyabl.wordpress.com/2014/03/10/caracol-tv-follows-roman-catholic-woman-priest-olga-lucia-alvarez-in-colombia-with-priests-martha-aida-and-marina-teresa-included/

eaa1e-img_0106One does not have to speak Spanish to understand the scope and importance of this excellent TV coverage of the activities of ARCWP  priest Olga Lucia Alvarez Benjumea in Colombia, South America. Also included as she ministers to her people, is woman priest Martha Aida Soto Bernal.The Ordination of priest Marina Teresa Sanchez Mejia in Sarasota Florida is included. All three are from Colombia- from Medellin, Bogota and Cali. We are blessed to have these women of deep faith and courage as our sisters in the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests.
Olga Lucia shares that there are over 180 in the women priest movement and this is growing daily.  She says that from her baptism she was called to be a a priest and man-made rules cannot change this calling. She says that “excommunication” which is a form of “self-excommunication” means nothing as she has not broken herself off from the church or from the people of God whom she serves. She  shares her ministry and we see her baptizing a baby, serving the Eucharist , preaching, relating warmly to children and families and doing the things that all priests do with love and joy.
Let us remember that Pope Francis, from Argentina, speaks Spanish fluently and may be watching this video right now. If so, he will see the love and affirmation Olga Lucia gives him as a Pope of the poor. If he reflects and searches his heart and conscience this Lenten season he may also find the mandate from the people and from his own heart, and the courage to ask for change in  the rules made by men in the 12th century. This is not expected or needed but it would be a great surprise to the people of God.
Olga Lucia was ordained in Florida in December of 2010. Martha Aida Soto Bernal was ordained in Colombia in March of 2011. And Marina Teresa was ordained in Florida in January of 2014. There are other candidates from South America who will likely be ordained this year. We are so thankful for our South American sisters who are leading the way in Latin America.
Please click on this link to see the video:
con esperanza y gracias y bendiciones,
Rev. Dr. Judy Lee, ARCWP
Co-Coordinator with Olga Lucia Alvarez for Hispano Parlantes

South America Television Special on Roman Catholic Women Priests/Links to TV Story

In the world there are 180 priests acerca against the will of the Colombian Catholic Church and I this was the first Latin American to be sorted.