Christmas
Friends,
Here’s what’s happened in the past week: One of my co-workers handed me $100 for paint and cleaning supplies. Another filled the chair in my office with three gallons of paint and a smoke detector. A couple promised $200 for eyeglasses. A committee at the Presbytery voted to give us whatever is left in their budget, close to $400. Someone else mailed me a gas card. We received a total of $540, plus the promises of close to $600 mentioned above. And a church voted to make a contribution to our bail fund. And that doesn’t include the wish list items people have told me they are buying. I am overwhelmed with gratitude and awe. You people are amazing.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, there is a noisy furnace in the central room that is so filthy the room gets full of dust particles every time it gets turned on, and the person who sleeps in that room is developing a cough. When I promised to bring a fire extinguisher the next time I came, the response, instead of the usual "you don’t have to do that," was a direct and urgent, "When?" I went and got it and returned that afternoon. But the mildew in the bathroom has been bleached and scrubbed, and there is now a toilet seat. (Can I tell you how angry all this makes me?) Soon we will have a painting day, and everybody will stay at my house overnight to get away from the fumes.
Speaking of my house, that’s where we will celebrate our Christmas Eve Mass. You are most welcome to join us at 4 pm for Mass, and to stay for dinner afterwards. Send me a note if you’re coming and I’ll send you my address and directions. We will also have Christmas morning Mass at St Joe’s at the usual time, 11 am (at Michael’s request!).
In the midst of all this giving and righteous anger and squalor, it is very important to note that, terrible as the situation of injustice is, there is love in that little house. There is togetherness galore (that’s the plus side of living so close together ... the downside is a painful lack of privacy). The more time I spend with these beloved friends, the more my respect grows. I am learning to slow down, and to let go of anxieties I didn’t realize I had. I am learning to recognize how much my own culture is in need of healing. I am one of the learners, here. Much more is being taught than English and literacy, and Spanish for me: the learning, the giving, goes both ways.
This coming week, we celebrate the coming of God, who came bursting into human history in a stable of all places. I think of that all the time: this little house is probably not so far from the kind of place where Jesus was born. The Spanish phrase for "to give birth" is "dar luz," to give LIGHT. Another thing I think about is how small that entrance of God into the world was -- just a few people, in a backwater country. May our little community in a house that ought to be a stable, not a home for human beings, be a light of love and healing and justice and life. May we be birthers of the presence of God, here and now. May we be whatever God is dreaming of us being.
And you, reading this -- you are a part of the dream, the work, the healing. Thank you for reading, praying, giving, loving. God bless you, and Merry Christmas!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"Yes," said Lucy. "In our world, too, a stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world."
C.S. Lewis "The Last Battle"
Various people have written to say that they wanted to get something from our amazon wish list but couldn’t find it. Here is a link (sorry I didn’t think of this last week!):
https://www.amazon.com/registry/wishlist/BNFWKHXXWOSF/ref=cm_wl_rlist_go_o
My neice, Jasmine Staff, is in Ghana for two years with the Peace Corps. I’m amazed at what she’s doing so far. Below is a link to her website about the work there. Jasmine writes, "Please take a moment to allow me to introduce to you the rural African village which has become my home and stolen my heart, and the exciting project I'm creating to help it:
http://empoweringasiri.wordpress.com/
_________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, December 18, 2011
4th Sunday in Advent
Friends,
Here’s a beautiful bit of Advent light! This Sunday we celebrated our first genuine, bona fide bilingual Mass, combining our English- and Spanish-speaking communities. The church that meets in the dining room at St Joe’s was joined by one of the men from our migrant community, who had a wonderful time, as did we all. After Mass we had breakfast, cooked by Linda Condon, and sat around talking until we were joined by Catie and Jared, our volunteer English teachers.
My daughter-in-law, Catie, and Jared who is a med student at the U of R, hadn’t had a chance to meet beforehand, so the three of them were strangers to each other. I was actually a bit worried as I left the three of them, (I work at St John’s Home on Sunday afternoons) and wondered if they would find enough to do. "Well, this is awkward!" I heard one of them say as I left. At the service at St John’s when we were taking prayer requests, I asked everybody to pray for the three people who hadn’t met before and who were stuck in a room together to work on English for two hours! But when it was time to get them, as I walked in the door I could hear voices, and found the three of them deep in their lesson, having had what sounded like a very enjoyable teaching and learning time. I was so proud of all of them for moving through the awkwardness and into something good. Learning is a wonderful thing!!!
After that we had some great community time back at my house, with folks from St Joe’s joining us for supper. I think this is going to be a wonderful way to spend winter Sundays!
The hardest part of the day, though, was facing the reality of the new living situation our friends are in. The house where they are staying for the winter is cramped and really pretty horrible. Not a fit place for humans to live – any humans – but so awfully much worse when it’s the home of friends, people I’ve grown to love. It’s dry and it will be warm, but that’s about all that can be said in its favor. It made me think of some of the terrible poverty I’ve seen in El Salvador…. It was just like that, only with snow. It made me angry.
I am dreaming of a house… a Catholic Worker house out in the country, where we could provide a safe, clean, loving, stable living situation. Anybody got a house to donate?
If your Advent giving extends to this community, here are some needs: a gallon of good, mildew-resistant paint, white or off-white, two gallons of heavy-duty wall paint, Cleaning supplies. ESL materials (check out our wishlist on Amazon.com under St Romero’s Church). Gas money. A better place to live! One of the men needs glasses. We can always use cookies or other food for get-togethers. There are things we could do with art supplies. A throw rug or two would be welcome. Big needs and small.
There is a wonderful booklet called "Engaging the Word," a series of sermons on migrant spirituality, complete with suggested questions for group discussion. If we were to have a study group this winter, we could read one sermon each week and talk about it. Reading them has helped me to better appreciate some things like the courage, strength and resiliency of our friends. Please let me know if you might be interested in that, and when you might be available if we were to form such a group. The sermons are available in Spanish, too. What might we do with this? We’ve got about a dozen of the books.
Our friend Chris Phillips has asked for prayers for his Mom, Barb, as she nears the end of her life. Please pray for Barb and for everyone who loves her.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Here’s something to share, a page from my journal last spring:
The world says, "How much money do you have in the bank?"
And God says, "Honey, I am your banker."
The world says, "How many people are coming to church?"
And God says, "I am here with you."
The world says, "Keep your shoes on!"
And God says, "Sweetheart, please do as I ask,"
The world says, "Where are you going?"
And God says, "Honey, just go with me."
The world says, "Do something important!"
And God says, "Come waste time with me."
The world says, "Make a difference."
And God says, "Just be, and be in me."
And God says, All is well
And
All is well
And
All is well
Amen!
___________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Here’s a beautiful bit of Advent light! This Sunday we celebrated our first genuine, bona fide bilingual Mass, combining our English- and Spanish-speaking communities. The church that meets in the dining room at St Joe’s was joined by one of the men from our migrant community, who had a wonderful time, as did we all. After Mass we had breakfast, cooked by Linda Condon, and sat around talking until we were joined by Catie and Jared, our volunteer English teachers.
My daughter-in-law, Catie, and Jared who is a med student at the U of R, hadn’t had a chance to meet beforehand, so the three of them were strangers to each other. I was actually a bit worried as I left the three of them, (I work at St John’s Home on Sunday afternoons) and wondered if they would find enough to do. "Well, this is awkward!" I heard one of them say as I left. At the service at St John’s when we were taking prayer requests, I asked everybody to pray for the three people who hadn’t met before and who were stuck in a room together to work on English for two hours! But when it was time to get them, as I walked in the door I could hear voices, and found the three of them deep in their lesson, having had what sounded like a very enjoyable teaching and learning time. I was so proud of all of them for moving through the awkwardness and into something good. Learning is a wonderful thing!!!
After that we had some great community time back at my house, with folks from St Joe’s joining us for supper. I think this is going to be a wonderful way to spend winter Sundays!
The hardest part of the day, though, was facing the reality of the new living situation our friends are in. The house where they are staying for the winter is cramped and really pretty horrible. Not a fit place for humans to live – any humans – but so awfully much worse when it’s the home of friends, people I’ve grown to love. It’s dry and it will be warm, but that’s about all that can be said in its favor. It made me think of some of the terrible poverty I’ve seen in El Salvador…. It was just like that, only with snow. It made me angry.
I am dreaming of a house… a Catholic Worker house out in the country, where we could provide a safe, clean, loving, stable living situation. Anybody got a house to donate?
If your Advent giving extends to this community, here are some needs: a gallon of good, mildew-resistant paint, white or off-white, two gallons of heavy-duty wall paint, Cleaning supplies. ESL materials (check out our wishlist on Amazon.com under St Romero’s Church). Gas money. A better place to live! One of the men needs glasses. We can always use cookies or other food for get-togethers. There are things we could do with art supplies. A throw rug or two would be welcome. Big needs and small.
There is a wonderful booklet called "Engaging the Word," a series of sermons on migrant spirituality, complete with suggested questions for group discussion. If we were to have a study group this winter, we could read one sermon each week and talk about it. Reading them has helped me to better appreciate some things like the courage, strength and resiliency of our friends. Please let me know if you might be interested in that, and when you might be available if we were to form such a group. The sermons are available in Spanish, too. What might we do with this? We’ve got about a dozen of the books.
Our friend Chris Phillips has asked for prayers for his Mom, Barb, as she nears the end of her life. Please pray for Barb and for everyone who loves her.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Here’s something to share, a page from my journal last spring:
The world says, "How much money do you have in the bank?"
And God says, "Honey, I am your banker."
The world says, "How many people are coming to church?"
And God says, "I am here with you."
The world says, "Keep your shoes on!"
And God says, "Sweetheart, please do as I ask,"
The world says, "Where are you going?"
And God says, "Honey, just go with me."
The world says, "Do something important!"
And God says, "Come waste time with me."
The world says, "Make a difference."
And God says, "Just be, and be in me."
And God says, All is well
And
All is well
And
All is well
Amen!
___________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Monday, December 12, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, December 11, 2011
3rd Sunday in Advent
Friends,
Thirty years ago this weekend, a horrific massacre began in a little town called El Mozote in El Salvador. Over the course of three days, more than 800 people were killed, half of them under the age of 12. A woman named Rufina Amaya was able to hide under some bushes, pretending to be dead. As she listened to the voices of her own children as they were killed, knowing that to try to rescue them would be death for her as well, she told God that if she survived, she would tell the world what happened.
She did survive, and eventually was able to tell her story to the UN. They sent a team to investigate, and found everything exactly as she said. The children had been herded into the rectory and killed there. Others were where she said they would be. Among the remains were bullet casings that were stamped "Made in Missouri." The leaders of that massacre were trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. Our tax dollars paid for the weapons. We need to know about El Mozote and all the evils that have been done in our name, with our money.
This past January I visited El Mozote with my friends Ruth, Yani, Fabiola, Bernhard and Eglantina (some of you might remember Ruth, Bernhard and Tina, as they were in Rochester for my ordination). We saw the memorial to the victims at El Mozote. Rufina Amaya is buried there (she died a few years ago after years of telling her story to the world). The memorial is beautiful. There's a statue of a family, and lots of flowers, and plaques with the names of the victims. Over by the church is a garden in memory of the children, with a beautiful mural of children playing. On the other side of the church there is a mural of the hopes and dreams of the people who live there, now. For many years it was a ghost town, but now the houses are lived in. The mural on the church shows a school, a hospital, children playing and learning and using computers. There's a surprising amount of hope, there. As we drove away, I noticed the name of the pupuseria in the center of town. Pupusas are wonderful stuffed tortillas, sort of the hamburger of El Salvador, and usually the little stores where they are sold are named after their owners. Not this one, though. The pupuseria in El Mozote is named "Pupuseria Fe y Esperanza." Faith and Hope.
This coming Monday, December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe, a group of us will hold a demonstration in front of the Federal Building at 4 pm. Please join us if you like. It's all tied together. Our Lady of Guadelupe appeared to a man named Juan Diego just ten years after the Aztec conquest. Note how beaten the native people were: Juan Diego is a Spanish name. He'd even lost his Nahuatl name. This feminine image of God spoke to him in his own language, using the religious symbols he had grown up with. She had dark skin, like him, and spoke to him with respect. The memory of her appearance (and it doesn't matter at all if there was a literal, factual appearance. God is present in the story) has been a source of strength and hope to people in Mexico and Central America ever since. There is a home altar in our little migrant community with a big picture of her.
Let's celebrate her feast day by speaking out for the people she came to visit - a people that has suffered, over and over and over again, and continues to suffer indignity, hatred, isolation and poverty, today.
Let's be a light! And may you be surrounded by light in this season of hope.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Our friend Gustavo Monzone is looking for funds to help him return to Mexico to work at the Catholic Worker house called Casa Calibri. He used up his savings traveling around the US talking about Casa Calibri and raising funds for a truck for them (Casa Calibri provides overnight shelter to people who come to their little town to visit the health clinic there, so that they don't have to walk back to their own villages that same day). If you'd like to send him some money, his address is 1323 North Ave. 56, Los Angeles. CA 90042
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Thirty years ago this weekend, a horrific massacre began in a little town called El Mozote in El Salvador. Over the course of three days, more than 800 people were killed, half of them under the age of 12. A woman named Rufina Amaya was able to hide under some bushes, pretending to be dead. As she listened to the voices of her own children as they were killed, knowing that to try to rescue them would be death for her as well, she told God that if she survived, she would tell the world what happened.
She did survive, and eventually was able to tell her story to the UN. They sent a team to investigate, and found everything exactly as she said. The children had been herded into the rectory and killed there. Others were where she said they would be. Among the remains were bullet casings that were stamped "Made in Missouri." The leaders of that massacre were trained at the School of the Americas in Fort Benning, Georgia. Our tax dollars paid for the weapons. We need to know about El Mozote and all the evils that have been done in our name, with our money.
This past January I visited El Mozote with my friends Ruth, Yani, Fabiola, Bernhard and Eglantina (some of you might remember Ruth, Bernhard and Tina, as they were in Rochester for my ordination). We saw the memorial to the victims at El Mozote. Rufina Amaya is buried there (she died a few years ago after years of telling her story to the world). The memorial is beautiful. There's a statue of a family, and lots of flowers, and plaques with the names of the victims. Over by the church is a garden in memory of the children, with a beautiful mural of children playing. On the other side of the church there is a mural of the hopes and dreams of the people who live there, now. For many years it was a ghost town, but now the houses are lived in. The mural on the church shows a school, a hospital, children playing and learning and using computers. There's a surprising amount of hope, there. As we drove away, I noticed the name of the pupuseria in the center of town. Pupusas are wonderful stuffed tortillas, sort of the hamburger of El Salvador, and usually the little stores where they are sold are named after their owners. Not this one, though. The pupuseria in El Mozote is named "Pupuseria Fe y Esperanza." Faith and Hope.
This coming Monday, December 12, the feast of Our Lady of Guadelupe, a group of us will hold a demonstration in front of the Federal Building at 4 pm. Please join us if you like. It's all tied together. Our Lady of Guadelupe appeared to a man named Juan Diego just ten years after the Aztec conquest. Note how beaten the native people were: Juan Diego is a Spanish name. He'd even lost his Nahuatl name. This feminine image of God spoke to him in his own language, using the religious symbols he had grown up with. She had dark skin, like him, and spoke to him with respect. The memory of her appearance (and it doesn't matter at all if there was a literal, factual appearance. God is present in the story) has been a source of strength and hope to people in Mexico and Central America ever since. There is a home altar in our little migrant community with a big picture of her.
Let's celebrate her feast day by speaking out for the people she came to visit - a people that has suffered, over and over and over again, and continues to suffer indignity, hatred, isolation and poverty, today.
Let's be a light! And may you be surrounded by light in this season of hope.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Our friend Gustavo Monzone is looking for funds to help him return to Mexico to work at the Catholic Worker house called Casa Calibri. He used up his savings traveling around the US talking about Casa Calibri and raising funds for a truck for them (Casa Calibri provides overnight shelter to people who come to their little town to visit the health clinic there, so that they don't have to walk back to their own villages that same day). If you'd like to send him some money, his address is 1323 North Ave. 56, Los Angeles. CA 90042
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, December 4, 2011
2nd Sunday in Advent
Friends,
Thirty-one years ago today (December 2, 1980), Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford and Maura Clark were killed in El Salvador. Last night at Iglesia de San Romero, I told their story, these women killed for the dangerous political act of walking with the poor and teaching them to read and write. They knew they were in danger and could have left. Like Rosa Parks, who on December 1, 1955 refused to give up her seat to a white man, being in the words of Martin Luther King, "anchored to that seat by the accumulated indignities of days gone and the boundless aspirations of generations yet unborn," they were rooted to the spot by love and justice. Especially love.
Well. I didn't expect anyone to have heard of Dorothy, Ita, Maura and Jean. I wasn't too surprised that they hadn't heard of Rosa Parks. But they hadn't heard of Martin Luther King, either. Or global warming, I learned earlier in the week during a conversation about weather. Seems I'm constantly learning a little more about what it means to be imprisoned by poverty and isolation and undocumented status. The phrase, "set the captives free" has been burning for me since that day in September when we did just that.
Here's the thing, though. All of us have things to learn. All of us have things to teach. One day it occurred to me that perhaps I'm one of the captives getting set free, here. So I started thinking about that, and about all the things I'm learning. These days I feel like the guys are my spiritual directors, as I learn from them about staying in the moment. Their lives change so fast and unexpectedly, it's hard to make plans. It's like Jesus said in the Gospel reading this past Sunday: Stay awake! Stay alert! You don't know the day or the hour. That's the reality they live with.
This past Sunday morning we were hoping they'd be with us in Rochester for Mass. Folks had to work, though, so it didn't happen. Those of us who were there decided to celebrate a bi-lingual Mass, anyway, for practice. Pretty wonderful, really, that on the first Sunday of Advent we were waiting, preparing, hoping. That's Advent, right? Getting our hearts ready for the advent of the kindom of God. This Sunday they'll be moving, so definitely not with us, then. After that, we'll see. I long for the day when "us" is truly all of us.
On Monday, December 12 at 4 pm, there will be a vigil (co-sponsored by St Romero's) in front of the Federal Building, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1981 massacre of nearly 1,000 people (half of them children) in El Mozote, El Salvador, by soldiers trained at the School of the Americas and using weapons from the USA. John Honeck, who organized the vigil, has been consistent in his efforts to close the SOA for years.
Another consistent voice for peace, St Joe's own Harry Murray, was found guilty yesterday, along with 30 others, for their Good Friday protest at Hancock Airforce Base in Syracuse, protesting the drones. Harry points out that since drones are deployed from Hancock, that means people are being killed from there, which makes upstate New York a war zone. More here: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/2/hancock_38_defendants_found_guilty_for
Thank you to all of the Hancock 38, for your strong, clear witness for peace.
Sending love to Olga Lucia Alvarez, the Columbian womanpriest who puts the Spanish version of this bulletin on her blog each week. Olga is fighting cancer and your prayers would be welcome.
Deepest sympathy to Myra Brown, whose husband, Derwin, died yesterday on their 10th wedding anniversary. Please hold the whole family in your prayers.
Come join us, any Sunday you like. We'd love to see you.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Thirty-one years ago today (December 2, 1980), Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan, Ita Ford and Maura Clark were killed in El Salvador. Last night at Iglesia de San Romero, I told their story, these women killed for the dangerous political act of walking with the poor and teaching them to read and write. They knew they were in danger and could have left. Like Rosa Parks, who on December 1, 1955 refused to give up her seat to a white man, being in the words of Martin Luther King, "anchored to that seat by the accumulated indignities of days gone and the boundless aspirations of generations yet unborn," they were rooted to the spot by love and justice. Especially love.
Well. I didn't expect anyone to have heard of Dorothy, Ita, Maura and Jean. I wasn't too surprised that they hadn't heard of Rosa Parks. But they hadn't heard of Martin Luther King, either. Or global warming, I learned earlier in the week during a conversation about weather. Seems I'm constantly learning a little more about what it means to be imprisoned by poverty and isolation and undocumented status. The phrase, "set the captives free" has been burning for me since that day in September when we did just that.
Here's the thing, though. All of us have things to learn. All of us have things to teach. One day it occurred to me that perhaps I'm one of the captives getting set free, here. So I started thinking about that, and about all the things I'm learning. These days I feel like the guys are my spiritual directors, as I learn from them about staying in the moment. Their lives change so fast and unexpectedly, it's hard to make plans. It's like Jesus said in the Gospel reading this past Sunday: Stay awake! Stay alert! You don't know the day or the hour. That's the reality they live with.
This past Sunday morning we were hoping they'd be with us in Rochester for Mass. Folks had to work, though, so it didn't happen. Those of us who were there decided to celebrate a bi-lingual Mass, anyway, for practice. Pretty wonderful, really, that on the first Sunday of Advent we were waiting, preparing, hoping. That's Advent, right? Getting our hearts ready for the advent of the kindom of God. This Sunday they'll be moving, so definitely not with us, then. After that, we'll see. I long for the day when "us" is truly all of us.
On Monday, December 12 at 4 pm, there will be a vigil (co-sponsored by St Romero's) in front of the Federal Building, to commemorate the anniversary of the 1981 massacre of nearly 1,000 people (half of them children) in El Mozote, El Salvador, by soldiers trained at the School of the Americas and using weapons from the USA. John Honeck, who organized the vigil, has been consistent in his efforts to close the SOA for years.
Another consistent voice for peace, St Joe's own Harry Murray, was found guilty yesterday, along with 30 others, for their Good Friday protest at Hancock Airforce Base in Syracuse, protesting the drones. Harry points out that since drones are deployed from Hancock, that means people are being killed from there, which makes upstate New York a war zone. More here: http://www.democracynow.org/2011/12/2/hancock_38_defendants_found_guilty_for
Thank you to all of the Hancock 38, for your strong, clear witness for peace.
Sending love to Olga Lucia Alvarez, the Columbian womanpriest who puts the Spanish version of this bulletin on her blog each week. Olga is fighting cancer and your prayers would be welcome.
Deepest sympathy to Myra Brown, whose husband, Derwin, died yesterday on their 10th wedding anniversary. Please hold the whole family in your prayers.
Come join us, any Sunday you like. We'd love to see you.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, November 27, 2011
First Sunday of Advent
Friends,
A delightful bit of news, tonight: the guys at Iglesia de San Romero don’t have to work on Thanksgiving, after all, so we will have Mass at their house at 2 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving Day. You are welcome to join us! – leaving the parking lot at St Joe’s at 1:15 pm.
Another good bit of news, and such a relief, is that those who have left the area for the winter have arrived at their destination safely. We’ve had some joyful phone conversations, with me occasionally saying “Lo siento! Entiendo solo un poco!” (I’m sorry! I’m only understanding a little!) and them talking away, anyway, and somehow the messages get conveyed, with a lot of laughter. The messages being, we’re here safe, I’m glad you’re safe, God is good, we’re working already, give everybody hugs from me. And a whole lot more that I hope some day to be able to understand!
We still don’t know what’s happening this winter, besides the bi-weekly drives to Buffalo. This Sunday, though, we will try a bi-lingual Sunday Mass. If you have been thinking about coming some Sunday, or come now and then – oh, please do join us this week. I would love to have a warm community to welcome them to St Romero’s.
This past week when we drove to Buffalo there was a lot of cloud cover and my gps wouldn’t work, and we got lost. Driving around and around and finally asking for directions, I told them how it’s a joke in my family that I always get lost. “Soy la reina de perdida,” I told them. “I’m the queen of lost.”
I think it’s good to be able to admit when you’re lost. How are you going to find your way without admitting that you’re lost, and asking for help? So right now, I feel like the queen of lost here at St Romero’s. The way forward is not clear. We’re in a muddle. I’m telling you this to ask for your prayers, that we will find a way that is life-giving and manageable. It was pretty simple in the summer, when we could celebrate Mass in the driveway if there wasn’t room in the house.
But in the midst of the muddle, there is joy, and hope, and community. Pretty lovely, really!
Two things to tell you. If you’d like to do something for St Romero’s this Christmas season, we have a wish list on Amazon.com under St Romero’s Church. Mostly it’s materials for teaching English as a Second Language. There are other needs that are less wrap-able. How about having the guys over for supper and a bit of community time, giving them a chance to work on their English – or making a supper to share at my house or somewhere else. Or driving – or teaching – or making cookies. Those are all things going on into the winter, once we get the logistics figured out (once we get out of our muddle!)
And finally, I had a call this week from someone from WXXI am1370 who wanted to interview me about all that’s happened at Iglesia de San Romero this fall. It will be part of the local news on Morning Edition this coming Monday, November 28, airing every half-hour from 5 am to 9:30 am.
Blessed Thanksgiving! I am grateful for you! Thanks for reading this and for caring, thanks for your prayers and your words of support.
And thanks be to God for this lovely little flower, blooming in the desert.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”
- Minnie Haskins
_____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
A delightful bit of news, tonight: the guys at Iglesia de San Romero don’t have to work on Thanksgiving, after all, so we will have Mass at their house at 2 in the afternoon on Thanksgiving Day. You are welcome to join us! – leaving the parking lot at St Joe’s at 1:15 pm.
Another good bit of news, and such a relief, is that those who have left the area for the winter have arrived at their destination safely. We’ve had some joyful phone conversations, with me occasionally saying “Lo siento! Entiendo solo un poco!” (I’m sorry! I’m only understanding a little!) and them talking away, anyway, and somehow the messages get conveyed, with a lot of laughter. The messages being, we’re here safe, I’m glad you’re safe, God is good, we’re working already, give everybody hugs from me. And a whole lot more that I hope some day to be able to understand!
We still don’t know what’s happening this winter, besides the bi-weekly drives to Buffalo. This Sunday, though, we will try a bi-lingual Sunday Mass. If you have been thinking about coming some Sunday, or come now and then – oh, please do join us this week. I would love to have a warm community to welcome them to St Romero’s.
This past week when we drove to Buffalo there was a lot of cloud cover and my gps wouldn’t work, and we got lost. Driving around and around and finally asking for directions, I told them how it’s a joke in my family that I always get lost. “Soy la reina de perdida,” I told them. “I’m the queen of lost.”
I think it’s good to be able to admit when you’re lost. How are you going to find your way without admitting that you’re lost, and asking for help? So right now, I feel like the queen of lost here at St Romero’s. The way forward is not clear. We’re in a muddle. I’m telling you this to ask for your prayers, that we will find a way that is life-giving and manageable. It was pretty simple in the summer, when we could celebrate Mass in the driveway if there wasn’t room in the house.
But in the midst of the muddle, there is joy, and hope, and community. Pretty lovely, really!
Two things to tell you. If you’d like to do something for St Romero’s this Christmas season, we have a wish list on Amazon.com under St Romero’s Church. Mostly it’s materials for teaching English as a Second Language. There are other needs that are less wrap-able. How about having the guys over for supper and a bit of community time, giving them a chance to work on their English – or making a supper to share at my house or somewhere else. Or driving – or teaching – or making cookies. Those are all things going on into the winter, once we get the logistics figured out (once we get out of our muddle!)
And finally, I had a call this week from someone from WXXI am1370 who wanted to interview me about all that’s happened at Iglesia de San Romero this fall. It will be part of the local news on Morning Edition this coming Monday, November 28, airing every half-hour from 5 am to 9:30 am.
Blessed Thanksgiving! I am grateful for you! Thanks for reading this and for caring, thanks for your prayers and your words of support.
And thanks be to God for this lovely little flower, blooming in the desert.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
“Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown."
And he replied, "Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the hand of God.
That shall be to you better than light, and safer than a known way.”
- Minnie Haskins
_____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, November 20, 2011
Feast of Christ the King
Friends,
Last month when I was at the National Catholic Worker Gathering in Las Vegas, a man said to me, "women priests, gay marriage – these things are just distractions. Discipleship is what we are really about." It wasn’t until the next day that it occurred to me that the person saying that was both male and straight! It can be pretty hard to hear the cries for justice of the people right around us, especially when we can’t see our own position of privilege.
This week holds three anniversaries. I’m writing this on November 16, the 22nd anniversary of the martyrdom of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter at the University of Central America in San Salvador, because they were speaking for the rights and dignity of the poor. Tomorrow, November 17, is the tenth anniversary of Mary Ramerman’s ordination at Spiritus Christi. Denise Donato, Patti La Rosa, Rachel McGuire and I will all concelebrate with Mary at Thursday Night Mass that evening at Spiritus. And finally, November 19 was the day we began celebrating a regular, once-a-week Sunday Mass at St Romero’s last year.
Clueless though he may have been, that man in Las Vegas had a point. Our strides for justice must not be for ourselves alone. This week of anniversaries might be a good moment to be aware of the movement that is happening around the world, this almost invisible movement of little churches, of women priests, of communities coming into being, springing up like the bits of green that sprout in early spring, almost imperceptibly, but bringing promise of the summer to come. What shall we be? Shall we be connected with each other, holding hands as we go forth into the world? Our joining the Federation of Christian Ministries was a step in that direction. How else can we be connected? Can we build strong bridges between the Roman Catholic Womenpriests, and the ECC, that Mary and Denise were ordained in? Can we love and support each other without recreating hierarchy? And then, what? My dream is that we will be a church – a larger, connected, interconnected church – that is aware of the great disparity between those like ourselves who have what we need for life, and those who struggle in extreme poverty and oppression --- that even as we free ourselves from our own chains of sexism and clericalism that we turn and extend our hands to those still oppressed by poverty and the inequities of a system that has so consistently put people of color last.
As we remember the great joy of November 17, 2001, let’s harness that energy and use it for good. Use it to transform the world. It is never, ever, a Christian attitude to say, "we got ours." Celebrating what we have and how far we have come, lets keep looking around and see who is being left out, and bring them on in to the party… the party of justice and freedom and life for all.
As we move into the beginning of our second year of weekly Masses, I am moved to remember all that has happened, and how many people have helped along the way. Eli Woodbeck was my "right-hand man" in his months at St Joe’s. and now Rachael Morlock is my "right-hand woman." Each of them has been such a blessing. I am so grateful to Librada Paz, without whose help Iglesia de San Romero could not have been. I am grateful to Joe and Caroline, whose early support of the Migrant Mass was like training wheels in our tottering early days, and to Peter Veitch whose later support has made it possible for us to offer Religious Ed to our one young church member. I am grateful to Michael for showing up no matter what, and to Leo whose leadership in the migrant community provided the welcome we needed to keep the Migrant Mass going. I am grateful to Jim Callan for all his encouragement and wisdom. And finally, I am grateful to those whose financial support has helped with gas, various necessary items and a land-line telephone for our guys in the Alternatives to Detention program. And, of course, to all the community of St Joseph’s House of Hospitality, who let us use the dining room for Mass each Sunday. We are so wonderfully, incredibly blessed. Thank you all!
And now we will start something new. On Sunday, November 27, we will welcome those from Iglesia de San Romero who are staying here for the winter, and celebrate our first bilingual Mass in the dining room at St Joe’s at 11 am. I hope you will consider coming that day, and possibly more, so that we can offer a loving, welcoming community on Sunday mornings this winter.
I do not know where we are going, but I know that God has done wonders already. A branch shall grow from the stump, a flower shall bloom in the desert, a light will shine in the darkness, living water will flow.
Come help pour it!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Bread for All, the job training program at St Joe’s, is offering Thanksgiving pies for $10. Call 775-9135 by this Sunday, November 20, if you’d like to order one.
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Last month when I was at the National Catholic Worker Gathering in Las Vegas, a man said to me, "women priests, gay marriage – these things are just distractions. Discipleship is what we are really about." It wasn’t until the next day that it occurred to me that the person saying that was both male and straight! It can be pretty hard to hear the cries for justice of the people right around us, especially when we can’t see our own position of privilege.
This week holds three anniversaries. I’m writing this on November 16, the 22nd anniversary of the martyrdom of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter at the University of Central America in San Salvador, because they were speaking for the rights and dignity of the poor. Tomorrow, November 17, is the tenth anniversary of Mary Ramerman’s ordination at Spiritus Christi. Denise Donato, Patti La Rosa, Rachel McGuire and I will all concelebrate with Mary at Thursday Night Mass that evening at Spiritus. And finally, November 19 was the day we began celebrating a regular, once-a-week Sunday Mass at St Romero’s last year.
Clueless though he may have been, that man in Las Vegas had a point. Our strides for justice must not be for ourselves alone. This week of anniversaries might be a good moment to be aware of the movement that is happening around the world, this almost invisible movement of little churches, of women priests, of communities coming into being, springing up like the bits of green that sprout in early spring, almost imperceptibly, but bringing promise of the summer to come. What shall we be? Shall we be connected with each other, holding hands as we go forth into the world? Our joining the Federation of Christian Ministries was a step in that direction. How else can we be connected? Can we build strong bridges between the Roman Catholic Womenpriests, and the ECC, that Mary and Denise were ordained in? Can we love and support each other without recreating hierarchy? And then, what? My dream is that we will be a church – a larger, connected, interconnected church – that is aware of the great disparity between those like ourselves who have what we need for life, and those who struggle in extreme poverty and oppression --- that even as we free ourselves from our own chains of sexism and clericalism that we turn and extend our hands to those still oppressed by poverty and the inequities of a system that has so consistently put people of color last.
As we remember the great joy of November 17, 2001, let’s harness that energy and use it for good. Use it to transform the world. It is never, ever, a Christian attitude to say, "we got ours." Celebrating what we have and how far we have come, lets keep looking around and see who is being left out, and bring them on in to the party… the party of justice and freedom and life for all.
As we move into the beginning of our second year of weekly Masses, I am moved to remember all that has happened, and how many people have helped along the way. Eli Woodbeck was my "right-hand man" in his months at St Joe’s. and now Rachael Morlock is my "right-hand woman." Each of them has been such a blessing. I am so grateful to Librada Paz, without whose help Iglesia de San Romero could not have been. I am grateful to Joe and Caroline, whose early support of the Migrant Mass was like training wheels in our tottering early days, and to Peter Veitch whose later support has made it possible for us to offer Religious Ed to our one young church member. I am grateful to Michael for showing up no matter what, and to Leo whose leadership in the migrant community provided the welcome we needed to keep the Migrant Mass going. I am grateful to Jim Callan for all his encouragement and wisdom. And finally, I am grateful to those whose financial support has helped with gas, various necessary items and a land-line telephone for our guys in the Alternatives to Detention program. And, of course, to all the community of St Joseph’s House of Hospitality, who let us use the dining room for Mass each Sunday. We are so wonderfully, incredibly blessed. Thank you all!
And now we will start something new. On Sunday, November 27, we will welcome those from Iglesia de San Romero who are staying here for the winter, and celebrate our first bilingual Mass in the dining room at St Joe’s at 11 am. I hope you will consider coming that day, and possibly more, so that we can offer a loving, welcoming community on Sunday mornings this winter.
I do not know where we are going, but I know that God has done wonders already. A branch shall grow from the stump, a flower shall bloom in the desert, a light will shine in the darkness, living water will flow.
Come help pour it!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Bread for All, the job training program at St Joe’s, is offering Thanksgiving pies for $10. Call 775-9135 by this Sunday, November 20, if you’d like to order one.
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, November 13, 2011
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
The times, they are a changing…
This weekend some of the guys from our little community will be heading south for the winter. On Thursday night we’ll have a special supper and give them a blessing. This is a moment of change, not only for them personally, but for the community, as those who stay behind will be moving to a new house, and we don’t yet know if there will be space there to celebrate Mass together. So please pray, as we enter this time of not knowing what comes next.
Oscar Romero said that it is the work of the church to stand with the poor, in order to denounce from the place of the poor the injustice that’s committed against them. He also said that when you do that, you will experience what they experience. And so it is with us. As they move, so shall we, and we’ll take what we get and make the best of it, and find a way to survive. We also share in the worry, watching people we care about make the precarious journey south, praying for them all the way.
Not that it’s not precarious, here. Our friends remind me of those birds that make their nests on cliffs, open to the elements, unprotected. Any wind can knock their whole house apart. You might have seen on the news that a woman was killed in Albion a week or two ago, and her assailant was a man here without documents. Ami Kadar is a migrant advocate who works out of Albion, and is herself an immigrant. Here is what she had to say about the effects of that event on the migrant community:
“… things have been crazy here in Albion. You may have heard: a Honduran immigrant stabbed and killed a woman in the parking lot of Walmart last week, and since then things have been frightening here. The rumours …are that they are going to "clean out" all the immigrants in the area. And they did a good job last week! Another rumour was that ICE was going to have undercover agents at Walmart over the weekend. All this despite the fact that they got the criminal the same day it happened, and he is now in jail!! It's like Mississippi in the 50's!
Can you imagine if a Swede came into Albion and killed someone, do you think they'd come after ME? Or, perhaps by association, my Finnish friend here in town who owns the coffeshop? We all know, of course, they wouldn't! It's infuriating! … there wasn't a Hispanic in sight in Albion, much less Walmart. The Mexican stores were dead.”
In the midst of this atmosphere of fear, we will have a celebration Thursday night. We will say “Adios por ahora” (Goodbye for now) and give our friends a blessing. And we will know that they, and those who stay behind, and all of us, are right where we need to be: in the hands of God.
Please let me know if you are planning to join us on Thursday, as we will be leaving early. Please keep our brothers and sisters in your prayers. May we together step into the light and together transform this crazy world and this filthy, rotten system.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Looking ahead to Advent: Lots of churches have a giving tree in the weeks before Christmas. That’s not practical for us, so instead we have a “St Romero’s Church” wish list on Amazon.com. Most of the items on it so far are tools for teaching English as a Second Language, and literacy, as we hope to offer those this winter. One thing that can’t go on the Amazon wish list, but that we will need, is people with some teaching skills who are willing to volunteer an afternoon a week during the winter. Might that be you?
Come join us, any Sunday you like!
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
The times, they are a changing…
This weekend some of the guys from our little community will be heading south for the winter. On Thursday night we’ll have a special supper and give them a blessing. This is a moment of change, not only for them personally, but for the community, as those who stay behind will be moving to a new house, and we don’t yet know if there will be space there to celebrate Mass together. So please pray, as we enter this time of not knowing what comes next.
Oscar Romero said that it is the work of the church to stand with the poor, in order to denounce from the place of the poor the injustice that’s committed against them. He also said that when you do that, you will experience what they experience. And so it is with us. As they move, so shall we, and we’ll take what we get and make the best of it, and find a way to survive. We also share in the worry, watching people we care about make the precarious journey south, praying for them all the way.
Not that it’s not precarious, here. Our friends remind me of those birds that make their nests on cliffs, open to the elements, unprotected. Any wind can knock their whole house apart. You might have seen on the news that a woman was killed in Albion a week or two ago, and her assailant was a man here without documents. Ami Kadar is a migrant advocate who works out of Albion, and is herself an immigrant. Here is what she had to say about the effects of that event on the migrant community:
“… things have been crazy here in Albion. You may have heard: a Honduran immigrant stabbed and killed a woman in the parking lot of Walmart last week, and since then things have been frightening here. The rumours …are that they are going to "clean out" all the immigrants in the area. And they did a good job last week! Another rumour was that ICE was going to have undercover agents at Walmart over the weekend. All this despite the fact that they got the criminal the same day it happened, and he is now in jail!! It's like Mississippi in the 50's!
Can you imagine if a Swede came into Albion and killed someone, do you think they'd come after ME? Or, perhaps by association, my Finnish friend here in town who owns the coffeshop? We all know, of course, they wouldn't! It's infuriating! … there wasn't a Hispanic in sight in Albion, much less Walmart. The Mexican stores were dead.”
In the midst of this atmosphere of fear, we will have a celebration Thursday night. We will say “Adios por ahora” (Goodbye for now) and give our friends a blessing. And we will know that they, and those who stay behind, and all of us, are right where we need to be: in the hands of God.
Please let me know if you are planning to join us on Thursday, as we will be leaving early. Please keep our brothers and sisters in your prayers. May we together step into the light and together transform this crazy world and this filthy, rotten system.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Looking ahead to Advent: Lots of churches have a giving tree in the weeks before Christmas. That’s not practical for us, so instead we have a “St Romero’s Church” wish list on Amazon.com. Most of the items on it so far are tools for teaching English as a Second Language, and literacy, as we hope to offer those this winter. One thing that can’t go on the Amazon wish list, but that we will need, is people with some teaching skills who are willing to volunteer an afternoon a week during the winter. Might that be you?
Come join us, any Sunday you like!
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, November 6, 2011
32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
As we were making our way out to the car after Mass this past Thursday night at the Spanish-speaking iteration of our church, everyone joining us with flashlights and gifts of acorn squash and a huge cabbage, the little boy in our community said, "I wish it could be every Monday and every Thursday." "What?" I asked. "This," he said. This moment, this time of community. It was probably the best compliment our little church ever received.
Of course, I suppose anyone might feel that way if Peter Veitch was their religious ed teacher! Peter, who is an art teacher in the city schools, has agreed to take on the responsibility of religious instruction. The two of them had just spent a happy hour talking about St Francis and the Lord’s Prayer. Sure feels like church, now that we’ve got religious ed!
What else might we do, in time, I wonder? How about help with literacy, or English? This past weekend I visited the Rural and Migrant Ministries house called "Liturgia" in Lyons with a group of Presbyterians. It’s a place for learning and advocacy, as well as a base for RMM folks. I wonder if we could do something like that, west of the city. Maybe a church! – but I suspect Masses will continue to need to be held in people’s homes. Maybe in partnership with RMM... maybe a storefront, or a house. How can we bring abundant life, hope, vision, joy where there is hiding and fear and long hard hours of work? Chris Phillips called what we’re doing "bringing friendship in a friendless world." How can we do that, more?
On Saturday we also went to visit a group of H-2A workers in Sodus. H-2A means the workers are here legally, on a work visa, and they get to go home for the winter (this Friday!). No worries about la migra, no years of separation from their families. I wish that was possible for everyone. Best moment of the day: one of the men from Presbytery, a minister who has a 9 year old and a 6 year old himself, asked, "Who’s looking forward to seeing their kids?" and every man there raised his hand.
Oh, life, liberty, home, family, work, education for all... all creation is groaning with it. May it be so, oh, may it be so.
One more happy story. The two men we liberated from detention share a house with a man who is already in the system, and has been wearing the gps ankle bracelet for some time. St. Romero’s is paying for a phone line in the house so the other men can use the phone reporting system, and today, hurray! the third man got his ankle bracelet taken off! One more captive with a bit more freedom. Thanks to those whose generosity makes this possible!
Please join us on Thursday at 4 pm to hear Gustavo Monzone talk about his Catholic Worker house in Mexico, in the dining room at St Joe’s. Also this week: panel on immigration at ROCLA, 7 pm Wednesday at Downtown United Presbyterian on Fitzhugh St, and another such on Friday at 6 at Friends Meetinghouse on Scio Street. Also the documentary, "After I Pick the Fruit" at St John Fisher, 6 pm Thursday. Wow, what a week!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"There are no borders on capital as it swirls around the world but people are branded "illegal" fleeing the destruction it wreaks."
- Catholic Worker Ciaorn O'Reilly, speaking on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral at Occupy London
Come join us, any Sunday you like!
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
As we were making our way out to the car after Mass this past Thursday night at the Spanish-speaking iteration of our church, everyone joining us with flashlights and gifts of acorn squash and a huge cabbage, the little boy in our community said, "I wish it could be every Monday and every Thursday." "What?" I asked. "This," he said. This moment, this time of community. It was probably the best compliment our little church ever received.
Of course, I suppose anyone might feel that way if Peter Veitch was their religious ed teacher! Peter, who is an art teacher in the city schools, has agreed to take on the responsibility of religious instruction. The two of them had just spent a happy hour talking about St Francis and the Lord’s Prayer. Sure feels like church, now that we’ve got religious ed!
What else might we do, in time, I wonder? How about help with literacy, or English? This past weekend I visited the Rural and Migrant Ministries house called "Liturgia" in Lyons with a group of Presbyterians. It’s a place for learning and advocacy, as well as a base for RMM folks. I wonder if we could do something like that, west of the city. Maybe a church! – but I suspect Masses will continue to need to be held in people’s homes. Maybe in partnership with RMM... maybe a storefront, or a house. How can we bring abundant life, hope, vision, joy where there is hiding and fear and long hard hours of work? Chris Phillips called what we’re doing "bringing friendship in a friendless world." How can we do that, more?
On Saturday we also went to visit a group of H-2A workers in Sodus. H-2A means the workers are here legally, on a work visa, and they get to go home for the winter (this Friday!). No worries about la migra, no years of separation from their families. I wish that was possible for everyone. Best moment of the day: one of the men from Presbytery, a minister who has a 9 year old and a 6 year old himself, asked, "Who’s looking forward to seeing their kids?" and every man there raised his hand.
Oh, life, liberty, home, family, work, education for all... all creation is groaning with it. May it be so, oh, may it be so.
One more happy story. The two men we liberated from detention share a house with a man who is already in the system, and has been wearing the gps ankle bracelet for some time. St. Romero’s is paying for a phone line in the house so the other men can use the phone reporting system, and today, hurray! the third man got his ankle bracelet taken off! One more captive with a bit more freedom. Thanks to those whose generosity makes this possible!
Please join us on Thursday at 4 pm to hear Gustavo Monzone talk about his Catholic Worker house in Mexico, in the dining room at St Joe’s. Also this week: panel on immigration at ROCLA, 7 pm Wednesday at Downtown United Presbyterian on Fitzhugh St, and another such on Friday at 6 at Friends Meetinghouse on Scio Street. Also the documentary, "After I Pick the Fruit" at St John Fisher, 6 pm Thursday. Wow, what a week!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"There are no borders on capital as it swirls around the world but people are branded "illegal" fleeing the destruction it wreaks."
- Catholic Worker Ciaorn O'Reilly, speaking on the steps of St Paul's Cathedral at Occupy London
Come join us, any Sunday you like!
____________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, October 30, 2011
31st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
Each Sunday morning at about five minutes to eleven, I have a moment of wondering if anyone will show up for Mass. So far, someone always does. The one person who is always there – Sundays and Thursdays, both – is Michael Swan. Mike will be 60 this Thursday! – and we will celebrate with a cake for him and two of the guys at Iglesia de San Romero who also have birthdays this week. Thanks for always being there, Michael!
When a suggestion was made this week for a radical change in the way we do things, I thought Michael should be the first person to run it by. …and he has given it an enthusiastic Yes! The idea we are considering is that in the Spring, we’ll move the Sunday morning Mass out west of the city, and have that be our Spanish Mass (or a bilingual Mass, if we were to decide to do it that way). We are a small enough community to make this decision by consensus – and there is no hurry. Spring is a long way away. So please pray. May we be the church God dreams of us being, and may we get there together.
This idea came about because I had lunch with Mimi Youngman this week. Mimi has often had a prophetic role in my life, and it was she who first suggested that we hold Mass in the dining room at St Joe’s. This week, after hearing the story of our Migrant Mass this past summer and how it has evolved, she said she had a concern for the people who told me back in June that they would like a Mass, but never came. It is very likely that they weren’t comfortable leaving their homes. We certainly have seen this fall that people’s fear of "la migra" is based in reality. I don’t know if a Sunday Mass would be any more comfortable, but perhaps we could change the location each week. Another thought is that we could have more than one…could go out multiple times each week and celebrate in different people’s homes. (realistically, I don’t see myself doing that while working three part time jobs… another thing to put in the hands of God).
Each week our bulletin is translated into Spanish (with a lot of help from Mary Wilkins) and then put on a blog in South America by Rev. Olga Alvirez, the first Columbian woman priest. Here is a link to an article about Olga:
http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-colombian-woman-priest.html
It took some courage for her to allow herself to be interviewed, but she says she’s had some surprising and lovely support since it came out.
Our friends in El Salvador, along with the rest of Central America, have been dealing with heavy rains and flooding. They would appreciate our prayers. Donations to Shekina Baptist Church in Santa Ana for flood relief can be made on line at
http://cieloazulfund.blogspot.com/2011/10/shekina-responds-to-national-emergency.html
We invite you to come to St Joe’s next Thursday, November 3, at 4 in the afternoon to hear Gustavo Monzone and Alicia Rouch speak about their Catholic Worker houses in Mexico.
Also next week, there will be two evening talks on immigration. I’ll be speaking as part of panels at both of them: Wednesday, November 2, 7 pm at Downtown United Presbyterian, and Friday, November 4, 6 pm at Friends Meetinghouse on Scio Street.
Hope you’re getting a chance to enjoy all the gorgeous fall colors. I saw a tree near my house today that was entirely bright, flaming red. Let the changing seasons be a reminder that God isn’t done with us, yet! There is always hope of change and new growth!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two quotes from facebook this week:
"Church isn't community in the Sanctuary but a sanctuary in the community"
Rev. Colin Pritchard
"Be wary of great leaders. Hope that there are many, many small leaders."
Pete Seeger at Occupy Wall Street
Come join us, any Sunday you like!
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Each Sunday morning at about five minutes to eleven, I have a moment of wondering if anyone will show up for Mass. So far, someone always does. The one person who is always there – Sundays and Thursdays, both – is Michael Swan. Mike will be 60 this Thursday! – and we will celebrate with a cake for him and two of the guys at Iglesia de San Romero who also have birthdays this week. Thanks for always being there, Michael!
When a suggestion was made this week for a radical change in the way we do things, I thought Michael should be the first person to run it by. …and he has given it an enthusiastic Yes! The idea we are considering is that in the Spring, we’ll move the Sunday morning Mass out west of the city, and have that be our Spanish Mass (or a bilingual Mass, if we were to decide to do it that way). We are a small enough community to make this decision by consensus – and there is no hurry. Spring is a long way away. So please pray. May we be the church God dreams of us being, and may we get there together.
This idea came about because I had lunch with Mimi Youngman this week. Mimi has often had a prophetic role in my life, and it was she who first suggested that we hold Mass in the dining room at St Joe’s. This week, after hearing the story of our Migrant Mass this past summer and how it has evolved, she said she had a concern for the people who told me back in June that they would like a Mass, but never came. It is very likely that they weren’t comfortable leaving their homes. We certainly have seen this fall that people’s fear of "la migra" is based in reality. I don’t know if a Sunday Mass would be any more comfortable, but perhaps we could change the location each week. Another thought is that we could have more than one…could go out multiple times each week and celebrate in different people’s homes. (realistically, I don’t see myself doing that while working three part time jobs… another thing to put in the hands of God).
Each week our bulletin is translated into Spanish (with a lot of help from Mary Wilkins) and then put on a blog in South America by Rev. Olga Alvirez, the first Columbian woman priest. Here is a link to an article about Olga:
http://iglesiadescalza.blogspot.com/2011/10/first-colombian-woman-priest.html
It took some courage for her to allow herself to be interviewed, but she says she’s had some surprising and lovely support since it came out.
Our friends in El Salvador, along with the rest of Central America, have been dealing with heavy rains and flooding. They would appreciate our prayers. Donations to Shekina Baptist Church in Santa Ana for flood relief can be made on line at
http://cieloazulfund.blogspot.com/2011/10/shekina-responds-to-national-emergency.html
We invite you to come to St Joe’s next Thursday, November 3, at 4 in the afternoon to hear Gustavo Monzone and Alicia Rouch speak about their Catholic Worker houses in Mexico.
Also next week, there will be two evening talks on immigration. I’ll be speaking as part of panels at both of them: Wednesday, November 2, 7 pm at Downtown United Presbyterian, and Friday, November 4, 6 pm at Friends Meetinghouse on Scio Street.
Hope you’re getting a chance to enjoy all the gorgeous fall colors. I saw a tree near my house today that was entirely bright, flaming red. Let the changing seasons be a reminder that God isn’t done with us, yet! There is always hope of change and new growth!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two quotes from facebook this week:
"Church isn't community in the Sanctuary but a sanctuary in the community"
Rev. Colin Pritchard
"Be wary of great leaders. Hope that there are many, many small leaders."
Pete Seeger at Occupy Wall Street
Come join us, any Sunday you like!
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, October 23, 2011
30th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
This week I did something I really hate to do. I had to be assertive! - in order to help our friends at Iglesia de San Romero get the telephone they need in order not to have to be plugged into a charger in the wall for three hours every day as part of their "Alternatives to Detention" monitoring system. I made the call, spoke to the person about freedom and dignity, and ultimately got a "yes." As I put down the phone, my eyes fell on the reading I was preparing for Morning Prayer at the nursing home next week. It was Matthew 10:16-22: "See, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So you must be as clever as snakes, but as innocent as doves...do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say... for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of our loving God speaking through you."
Let me tell you, the scriptures are on fire these days. Walking with some of the most powerless people in our nation, things look different. The words of the Gospel come alive! Here's one from Exodus 22, the first reading this Sunday: "Thus says the Lord: You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves." Or how about Exodus 3, God speaking to Moses at the burning bush: ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them" (That one made me cry).
Then there is the prodigal son, getting his dignity back. It's all about dignity! Yesterday I gave the men at Iglesia de San Romero a handout from the ACLU called "Conosca sus derechas" ("Know your rights.") One of the men looked at me with such a defeated depth of sadness. "Ilegales no tienen derechas," he said. ("Illegals don't have rights.") (Does that punch you in the gut, the way it does to me?) I said (choked out), "Nadie es ilegal en los ojos de Dios" (no one is illegal in the eyes of God). Unfortunately, he was almost right. People who are here without documents have very few legal rights – not even the right to an attorney. But they do have some. And everyone, everywhere, has basic human rights. And most importantly, there is no such thing as an illegal human being.
Saturday we met at the bakery for the first Visioning Day of St Romero's. We worked on a newspaper ad for the church, and people let me know how important it is to keep the word "inclusive" in our self-description. It's not actually a given, is it? We decided to become a member church of the Federation of Christian Ministries, a move which will eventually enable us to use FCM's 501 (3)( c). All decisions were made by consensus. The group agreed that I can use the title "pastor," when needed (as in, "I'm their pastor, and I'm here to bail them out.") We came up with a system of accountability around funds. I've been reluctant to reimburse myself for anything because there was no way of maintaining accountability. Rachael is going to be the person keeping an eye on that.
Finally, we had a proposal that we change the time of Sunday Mass to 10 or 10:30 am. There is one regular attendee who would strongly like an earlier time than 11, and another who would strongly like it to stay at 11... how do others feel? Many thanks to Bill, Caryl, Linda, Don and Rachael for giving up your Saturday morning to work on some of the nuts and bolts of being church together!!
We note with sadness the passing of Jesuit Fr. Dean Brackley in El Salvador. Dean was one of the priests who volunteered to take the place of the six Jesuits killed on November 16, 1989. When I first visited El Salvador in 2005, he said of people from the States: "They come here, they fall in love, they go back, ruined for life." He was right!
And lastly, Fr Roy Bourgeois is in Rome, where he and two women (Erin Hanna of WOC, and Miriam Duignan) were arrested at the Vatican for protesting without a permit. Three women priests were with them, and they were not arrested – because they were wearing vestments! Pretty wonderful, I think.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"I invite you to discover your vocation in downward mobility. It's a scary request... The world is obsessed with wealth and security and upward mobility and prestige. But let us teach solidarity, walking with the victims, serving and loving. I offer this for you to consider - downward mobility. And I would say in this enterprise there is a great deal of hope. Have the courage to... lose control. Have the courage to feel useless. Have the courage to listen. Have the courage to receive. Have the courage to let your heart be broken. Have the courage to feel. Have the courage to fall in love. Have the courage to get ruined for life. Have the courage to make a friend." Dean Brackley, S.J. (He was right!!)
Also of note:
Barrett Smith was one of the people that Eli and I met in El Salvador last April. His community, Carpenter's Church in Lubbock, Texas, is a church of and with the poor of that city. For some months they have had a Tent City which has been life-giving for many people, and they are petitioning City Hall to have it declared a shelter. If you'd like to sign a petition showing your support, go to http://signon.org/sign/lubbock-city-council?source=s.em.mt&r_by=1384353
It hasn't been in the news here, much, but Central America has been suffering from some extreme weather: El Salvador has had more than 4 feet of rain in just the past week. To learn about what our friends at Shekina Baptist in Santa Ana are doing to help, and to donate if you wish, go to http://cieloazulfund.blogspot.com/2011/10/shekina-responds-to-national-emergency.html
(St Romero's has given its first tithe to Shekina for this purpose)
Two talks and a movie, all on immigration, in the first week of November (all free):
Wednesday, Nov. 2 - "The Faces of Immigration - How our Unjust and Broken System Destroys Lives - and
What We Can Do About It." several speakers, including myself and a high school teacher who is trying to organize support for disappeared people, and a family member of someone who was detained. At 7:00 pm, Downtown Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh Street Rochester.
Thursday, Nov. 3 – documentary "After I Pick the Fruit" by Nancy Ghertner, St. John Fisher College Basil Auditorium, rm. 135, 6:00pm – follow the lives of five farmworker women over ten years.
Friday, Nov. 4 – Wally Ruehle, a teenager who has been working for immigration rights, and I will all speak at Friends Meetinghouse, 84 Scio St, 6:00 pm
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
This week I did something I really hate to do. I had to be assertive! - in order to help our friends at Iglesia de San Romero get the telephone they need in order not to have to be plugged into a charger in the wall for three hours every day as part of their "Alternatives to Detention" monitoring system. I made the call, spoke to the person about freedom and dignity, and ultimately got a "yes." As I put down the phone, my eyes fell on the reading I was preparing for Morning Prayer at the nursing home next week. It was Matthew 10:16-22: "See, I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. So you must be as clever as snakes, but as innocent as doves...do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say... for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of our loving God speaking through you."
Let me tell you, the scriptures are on fire these days. Walking with some of the most powerless people in our nation, things look different. The words of the Gospel come alive! Here's one from Exodus 22, the first reading this Sunday: "Thus says the Lord: You shall not molest or oppress an alien, for you were once aliens yourselves." Or how about Exodus 3, God speaking to Moses at the burning bush: ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them" (That one made me cry).
Then there is the prodigal son, getting his dignity back. It's all about dignity! Yesterday I gave the men at Iglesia de San Romero a handout from the ACLU called "Conosca sus derechas" ("Know your rights.") One of the men looked at me with such a defeated depth of sadness. "Ilegales no tienen derechas," he said. ("Illegals don't have rights.") (Does that punch you in the gut, the way it does to me?) I said (choked out), "Nadie es ilegal en los ojos de Dios" (no one is illegal in the eyes of God). Unfortunately, he was almost right. People who are here without documents have very few legal rights – not even the right to an attorney. But they do have some. And everyone, everywhere, has basic human rights. And most importantly, there is no such thing as an illegal human being.
Saturday we met at the bakery for the first Visioning Day of St Romero's. We worked on a newspaper ad for the church, and people let me know how important it is to keep the word "inclusive" in our self-description. It's not actually a given, is it? We decided to become a member church of the Federation of Christian Ministries, a move which will eventually enable us to use FCM's 501 (3)( c). All decisions were made by consensus. The group agreed that I can use the title "pastor," when needed (as in, "I'm their pastor, and I'm here to bail them out.") We came up with a system of accountability around funds. I've been reluctant to reimburse myself for anything because there was no way of maintaining accountability. Rachael is going to be the person keeping an eye on that.
Finally, we had a proposal that we change the time of Sunday Mass to 10 or 10:30 am. There is one regular attendee who would strongly like an earlier time than 11, and another who would strongly like it to stay at 11... how do others feel? Many thanks to Bill, Caryl, Linda, Don and Rachael for giving up your Saturday morning to work on some of the nuts and bolts of being church together!!
We note with sadness the passing of Jesuit Fr. Dean Brackley in El Salvador. Dean was one of the priests who volunteered to take the place of the six Jesuits killed on November 16, 1989. When I first visited El Salvador in 2005, he said of people from the States: "They come here, they fall in love, they go back, ruined for life." He was right!
And lastly, Fr Roy Bourgeois is in Rome, where he and two women (Erin Hanna of WOC, and Miriam Duignan) were arrested at the Vatican for protesting without a permit. Three women priests were with them, and they were not arrested – because they were wearing vestments! Pretty wonderful, I think.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"I invite you to discover your vocation in downward mobility. It's a scary request... The world is obsessed with wealth and security and upward mobility and prestige. But let us teach solidarity, walking with the victims, serving and loving. I offer this for you to consider - downward mobility. And I would say in this enterprise there is a great deal of hope. Have the courage to... lose control. Have the courage to feel useless. Have the courage to listen. Have the courage to receive. Have the courage to let your heart be broken. Have the courage to feel. Have the courage to fall in love. Have the courage to get ruined for life. Have the courage to make a friend." Dean Brackley, S.J. (He was right!!)
Also of note:
Barrett Smith was one of the people that Eli and I met in El Salvador last April. His community, Carpenter's Church in Lubbock, Texas, is a church of and with the poor of that city. For some months they have had a Tent City which has been life-giving for many people, and they are petitioning City Hall to have it declared a shelter. If you'd like to sign a petition showing your support, go to http://signon.org/sign/lubbock-city-council?source=s.em.mt&r_by=1384353
It hasn't been in the news here, much, but Central America has been suffering from some extreme weather: El Salvador has had more than 4 feet of rain in just the past week. To learn about what our friends at Shekina Baptist in Santa Ana are doing to help, and to donate if you wish, go to http://cieloazulfund.blogspot.com/2011/10/shekina-responds-to-national-emergency.html
(St Romero's has given its first tithe to Shekina for this purpose)
Two talks and a movie, all on immigration, in the first week of November (all free):
Wednesday, Nov. 2 - "The Faces of Immigration - How our Unjust and Broken System Destroys Lives - and
What We Can Do About It." several speakers, including myself and a high school teacher who is trying to organize support for disappeared people, and a family member of someone who was detained. At 7:00 pm, Downtown Presbyterian Church, 121 N. Fitzhugh Street Rochester.
Thursday, Nov. 3 – documentary "After I Pick the Fruit" by Nancy Ghertner, St. John Fisher College Basil Auditorium, rm. 135, 6:00pm – follow the lives of five farmworker women over ten years.
Friday, Nov. 4 – Wally Ruehle, a teenager who has been working for immigration rights, and I will all speak at Friends Meetinghouse, 84 Scio St, 6:00 pm
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friday, October 14, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, October 16, 2011
29th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
Hoo-boy, what a week!
First, the best news. Today I went with our two guys from Iglesia de San Romero to see their detention officer. We were afraid they were going to have to wear the gps ankle bracelets that help the powers that be keep track of where they are, but because I was able to tell them that the church could pay for a land line in their house, they don’t have to have the indignity and pain in the neck of that (the ankle bracelets involve having to be plugged in to the wall for three hours a day to recharge – every day, sitting by the wall for three hours) – now they have to stay home one night a week and wait for a phone call, a much better situation. Thanks very much to our (anonymous by choice) donor whose recent check will cover that completely. The other piece of good news is that the system is currently so slow that they are not likely to actually see a judge until 2013.
Okay, that was the good news. The bad news, and it’s not so bad, is that they also have to go to Buffalo every other Tuesday to check in, until they see the judge. If you’re interested in helping with the driving every now and then, kindly drop me a note.
We are also still looking for people who might be willing to put up at least $1,000 in a hurry, should more arrests happen. Another piece of good news is that if instead of being on that list you would like to make a donation to the bail fund, you can make a (tax deductible) check out to St. Joseph’s Hospitality with a note that it’s for the St. Romero’s bail fund, and mail it to St Joe’s at PO Box 31049, Rochester NY 14603.
The other bad news is simply that although we are able to accompany these friends in their walk through the system, the system still stinks! – not only the laws in our country, but the situation of poverty in Mexico that drove them to come here in the first place. But, not to lose heart – God is so much greater than our broken human systems. Get close to God, listen, say yes, and get busy healing the world. There’s a lot of work to do!
We met a whole bunch of wonderful workers for the healing of the world this weekend in Las Vegas, of all places! Five of us from St Joe’s were there at a National Catholic Worker Gathering. One of the people we met was Gustavo, a gay man from Mexico. He was in this country without documents for fifteen years until the church that was helping him get legal found out he was gay. They dropped him immediately and he ended up being deported. Currently he’s in the US on a religious worker visa and is traveling the country, speaking about his Catholic Worker house, Casa ColibrÃ, in Jalisco Mexico. HE WILL BE HERE NOVEMBER 2 – we don’t have a plan yet for a speaking time, but please save the date!
Oh, another bit of good news. Harry Murray, Tom Malthaner, Joe Lavoie and I were arrested, along with 55 other Catholic Workers and friends, for trespass at the Nevada Test Site on Sunday (right about the time people were gathering at St Romero’s!) Later in the day, 18 people were arrested for blocking traffic at the Creech Airforce base, protesting the drones that are deployed from there. Harry says that getting arrested at the test site is so easy and painless these days that it doesn’t count as civil disobedience! – but the 18 arrested at Creech face more serious consequences. Hooray for our sisters and brothers, putting their well-being on the line for the well-being of all.
We hope to see you this weekend at our Visioning Day, 10 am Sat Oct 15 (until 12 or so) – at the bakery, 220 Mt Hope Ave (the former Savory Thyme building). There is an exciting new possibility for us, of connecting with the Federation of Christian Ministries (of which I am a member) and being able to be covered by their 501 ( c) (3) without going through lawyers and all that. The FCM is the organization that certifies me and lots of other priests-on-the-margins so that we are legal to do weddings, etc... it is also a wonderful network of like-spirited people. We’ll talk about it on Saturday... hope you can come.
So, like I said...Hoo-boy, what a week! Thanks be to God.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
____________________________________________
Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice, and Joy
St. Joseph's House of Hospitality
402 South Avenue Rochester, NY 14620
Friends,
Hoo-boy, what a week!
First, the best news. Today I went with our two guys from Iglesia de San Romero to see their detention officer. We were afraid they were going to have to wear the gps ankle bracelets that help the powers that be keep track of where they are, but because I was able to tell them that the church could pay for a land line in their house, they don’t have to have the indignity and pain in the neck of that (the ankle bracelets involve having to be plugged in to the wall for three hours a day to recharge – every day, sitting by the wall for three hours) – now they have to stay home one night a week and wait for a phone call, a much better situation. Thanks very much to our (anonymous by choice) donor whose recent check will cover that completely. The other piece of good news is that the system is currently so slow that they are not likely to actually see a judge until 2013.
Okay, that was the good news. The bad news, and it’s not so bad, is that they also have to go to Buffalo every other Tuesday to check in, until they see the judge. If you’re interested in helping with the driving every now and then, kindly drop me a note.
We are also still looking for people who might be willing to put up at least $1,000 in a hurry, should more arrests happen. Another piece of good news is that if instead of being on that list you would like to make a donation to the bail fund, you can make a (tax deductible) check out to St. Joseph’s Hospitality with a note that it’s for the St. Romero’s bail fund, and mail it to St Joe’s at PO Box 31049, Rochester NY 14603.
The other bad news is simply that although we are able to accompany these friends in their walk through the system, the system still stinks! – not only the laws in our country, but the situation of poverty in Mexico that drove them to come here in the first place. But, not to lose heart – God is so much greater than our broken human systems. Get close to God, listen, say yes, and get busy healing the world. There’s a lot of work to do!
We met a whole bunch of wonderful workers for the healing of the world this weekend in Las Vegas, of all places! Five of us from St Joe’s were there at a National Catholic Worker Gathering. One of the people we met was Gustavo, a gay man from Mexico. He was in this country without documents for fifteen years until the church that was helping him get legal found out he was gay. They dropped him immediately and he ended up being deported. Currently he’s in the US on a religious worker visa and is traveling the country, speaking about his Catholic Worker house, Casa ColibrÃ, in Jalisco Mexico. HE WILL BE HERE NOVEMBER 2 – we don’t have a plan yet for a speaking time, but please save the date!
Oh, another bit of good news. Harry Murray, Tom Malthaner, Joe Lavoie and I were arrested, along with 55 other Catholic Workers and friends, for trespass at the Nevada Test Site on Sunday (right about the time people were gathering at St Romero’s!) Later in the day, 18 people were arrested for blocking traffic at the Creech Airforce base, protesting the drones that are deployed from there. Harry says that getting arrested at the test site is so easy and painless these days that it doesn’t count as civil disobedience! – but the 18 arrested at Creech face more serious consequences. Hooray for our sisters and brothers, putting their well-being on the line for the well-being of all.
We hope to see you this weekend at our Visioning Day, 10 am Sat Oct 15 (until 12 or so) – at the bakery, 220 Mt Hope Ave (the former Savory Thyme building). There is an exciting new possibility for us, of connecting with the Federation of Christian Ministries (of which I am a member) and being able to be covered by their 501 ( c) (3) without going through lawyers and all that. The FCM is the organization that certifies me and lots of other priests-on-the-margins so that we are legal to do weddings, etc... it is also a wonderful network of like-spirited people. We’ll talk about it on Saturday... hope you can come.
So, like I said...Hoo-boy, what a week! Thanks be to God.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
____________________________________________
Oscar Romero Inclusive Catholic Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice, and Joy
St. Joseph's House of Hospitality
402 South Avenue Rochester, NY 14620
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, October 9, 2011
28th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
We hope you will join us on Saturday, October 15 at 10 am for our Visioning Day (more accurately, Visioning Morning!) which will be held upstairs at the Bakery in the old Savory Thyme Building at 220 Mt Hope Ave. Help us dream what this community might be. Please let me know if you are coming!
I have loved our first year as a church. Our church seems to me a beautiful, tiny jewel. Being tiny seems at this time to be part of our charism. One of the questions for our visioning day is, do we leave it like that, or shall we try to grow? Another question is whether it is time to begin the process of becoming a 501 (c )3, which some folks would like to see us do as they believe it will bring in more donations. Others think it would be better to keep flying low to the ground, with small numbers and no money to speak of. (We do have some. Donations have come in for the Migrant Ministry, in particular, which are mostly going towards gas money and other small expenses.) Once about six months ago we tried to decide together how to use our tithing money – where to give 10% of what we have been given. We couldn’t come to an agreement. One person thought we should give everything we get away. Another thought we should wait to tithe until we had a substantial amount to give (at the time, it would have been $12). It became apparent that we had a number of different opinions around the table. It also became apparent that we can’t decide things like that over breakfast.
One thing that is clear to me is that these decisions are not for me to make, alone. They need to be shared by those who consider themselves a part of this community --- whether you come once a week or once a year, if you care about this community and want to be part of dreaming about its direction, you are welcome.
We will have another opportunity for empowerment of the community this Sunday, as I will be away at a Catholic Worker National Gathering, and there is no one to cover for me. So, those who come will share the readings, talk about them together, share the Our Father and any other prayers they care to offer, and celebrate communion with some already consecrated hosts… and then have breakfast, as always. You are welcome, as ever!
Please do keep the members of Iglesia de San Romero, our migrant ministry, in your prayers. We won’t be meeting this week because I will be away, but next week two of our number have to go to Buffalo to meet with their detention officers. We are praying that this meeting will not mean that they have to wear the ankle bracelet that people have to wear sometimes for tracking. Besides the indignity of it, it means being plugged into the wall for three hours a day for charging. Please pray for their detention officers, for open hearts and minds, for listening. I will go with them, and hope by doing so to send a message that these men are not alone.
Here’s a link to a piece in the NYTimes about what’s been going on in Alabama, which is trying to turn itself into the most hostile state in the union for undocumented people:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/opinion/alabamas-shame.html?_r=1
Sending you love and prayers, wherever you may be. Our church may be tiny, but our circle of support is huge!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
“The migrants have no lobby. Only an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion can do anything about the migrants. The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do.”
-Edward R. Murrow, “Harvest of Shame,” 1960
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm. This looks like an excellent talk!
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: “What do we do NOW?”
This bulletin is being written on the Feast of St Francis, October 4, and it is Jim Callan’s 37th anniversary of ordination. So if you see Fr Jim, wish him a happy anniversary!
And many thanks to Rev Denise Donato, who helped me figure out what to do when I realized there was no one to cover for me this week!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
We hope you will join us on Saturday, October 15 at 10 am for our Visioning Day (more accurately, Visioning Morning!) which will be held upstairs at the Bakery in the old Savory Thyme Building at 220 Mt Hope Ave. Help us dream what this community might be. Please let me know if you are coming!
I have loved our first year as a church. Our church seems to me a beautiful, tiny jewel. Being tiny seems at this time to be part of our charism. One of the questions for our visioning day is, do we leave it like that, or shall we try to grow? Another question is whether it is time to begin the process of becoming a 501 (c )3, which some folks would like to see us do as they believe it will bring in more donations. Others think it would be better to keep flying low to the ground, with small numbers and no money to speak of. (We do have some. Donations have come in for the Migrant Ministry, in particular, which are mostly going towards gas money and other small expenses.) Once about six months ago we tried to decide together how to use our tithing money – where to give 10% of what we have been given. We couldn’t come to an agreement. One person thought we should give everything we get away. Another thought we should wait to tithe until we had a substantial amount to give (at the time, it would have been $12). It became apparent that we had a number of different opinions around the table. It also became apparent that we can’t decide things like that over breakfast.
One thing that is clear to me is that these decisions are not for me to make, alone. They need to be shared by those who consider themselves a part of this community --- whether you come once a week or once a year, if you care about this community and want to be part of dreaming about its direction, you are welcome.
We will have another opportunity for empowerment of the community this Sunday, as I will be away at a Catholic Worker National Gathering, and there is no one to cover for me. So, those who come will share the readings, talk about them together, share the Our Father and any other prayers they care to offer, and celebrate communion with some already consecrated hosts… and then have breakfast, as always. You are welcome, as ever!
Please do keep the members of Iglesia de San Romero, our migrant ministry, in your prayers. We won’t be meeting this week because I will be away, but next week two of our number have to go to Buffalo to meet with their detention officers. We are praying that this meeting will not mean that they have to wear the ankle bracelet that people have to wear sometimes for tracking. Besides the indignity of it, it means being plugged into the wall for three hours a day for charging. Please pray for their detention officers, for open hearts and minds, for listening. I will go with them, and hope by doing so to send a message that these men are not alone.
Here’s a link to a piece in the NYTimes about what’s been going on in Alabama, which is trying to turn itself into the most hostile state in the union for undocumented people:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/opinion/alabamas-shame.html?_r=1
Sending you love and prayers, wherever you may be. Our church may be tiny, but our circle of support is huge!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
“The migrants have no lobby. Only an enlightened, aroused and perhaps angered public opinion can do anything about the migrants. The people you have seen have the strength to harvest your fruit and vegetables. They do not have the strength to influence legislation. Maybe we do.”
-Edward R. Murrow, “Harvest of Shame,” 1960
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm. This looks like an excellent talk!
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: “What do we do NOW?”
This bulletin is being written on the Feast of St Francis, October 4, and it is Jim Callan’s 37th anniversary of ordination. So if you see Fr Jim, wish him a happy anniversary!
And many thanks to Rev Denise Donato, who helped me figure out what to do when I realized there was no one to cover for me this week!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, October 2, 2011
27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
One of our guests at St Joe’s is a woman who has been homeless for many years. Recently she had a nice surprise: a relative in England had sent her a round trip ticket to come and visit. She was excited and happy, but there was just one problem: although she had a passport, she had lost it. We joined with her in her efforts to replace her passport quickly, and succeeded – hurray! She’s in England now. But we learned a little about the kind of things homeless people have to deal with, along the way. One poignant moment came when she mentioned that for something she needed to do, there was a thirty dollar fee: "And that’s my entire savings," she said. "I do like to keep some money saved for an emergency. Well… I guess this is an emergency."
When your entire income is redeemed cans and bottles, $30 is a lot of money. She told us about a conversation she had on the phone with a woman in the passport office, trying to determine what identification she needed in order to replace her passport. "Driver’s license?" the woman asked. "No." "Birth certificate?" "No." "Social Security card?" "No." "What, do you live in a box?!"
Well, no, she doesn’t – but she could. It seems that to be homeless is to be a non-person, as far as the "together" world sees it. Later someone else told her that she didn’t deserve to go to England, because she was homeless.
When you start spending time with people outside your normal orbit, people that typically you just read about in the paper or hear about on the news, when you walk with and become friends with people who are non-people to "together" society, things look different. People become people to you, instead of social problems to be solved. You begin to get a clue what they are up against.
In this morning’s paper there is an article entitled, "Fugitives in area arrested." It tells of a national sweep by immigration officials, picking up people with a criminal record that are here in the US illegally.
We at St Romero’s know that not everyone picked up in that sweep was a criminal. Some of them were people who, in the words of the farmer who employs them, "just want to pick cucumbers and show up for work." People who are here for years, separated from their families in order to send money home, because there is no work in Mexico. People who are doing work that people who are born here generally do not want to do. (The farmers say that when they do find a person born in the US who is willing to work on their farms, they typically last three hours). Our friends tell us that workers are leaving the area in fear, because of this recent sweep. Who do we think is going to pick our crops?
Stories about public issues like homelessness and immigration look very different when you know the people involved. There is a young man named Jared, a medical student who has spent time with an organization called "No More Deaths (No Mas Muertes)," that goes out into the Sonora desert looking for people that might need help, bringing them water and medical care. He sent me a report they recently produced about conditions in short term custody with the Border Patrol in the southwest, called "Culture of Cruelty." It’s a pretty horrifying read, all the more so when I read it realizing that this could have been the experience of our friends. Having a personal connection takes reading things like that to a new level. (Send me an email and I’ll send you a link to a pdf of the document. It’s a tad long, 72 pages, but I recommend taking a look at it. We need to know what is being done in our name, with our tax money).
Here at St Romero’s, we don’t have a long-term plan. So far we’re taking it one moment at a time, saying "yes" to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and seeing where they take us. Right now they’re taking us into deeper relationships with people on the outside in our society. What a gift, to be able to walk alongside these new friends. I don’t know what God is dreaming, but may it be. May we have the grace to keep saying yes.
In this most recent crisis, we were able to come up with the money to bail out two men. It would be good to know that that would be possible should it be necessary in the future. One way to do that would be to establish a bail fund, but I think what might be more practical right now would be to have a list of people who would be willing to put up large amounts of money, $1,000 or more, in a hurry should that be needed. If you might be willing to do that, please send me a note and we’ll talk about the details. It would be great if we knew we had the ability to raise twenty or thirty thousand dollars quickly, should there be another such raid. Getting and keeping people out of detention might not prevent them from being deported in the long run, but it gives them, first of all freedom – detention is pretty bad on the psyche – secondly, a chance to earn and save as much money as possible, to build a court case if they can, and to decide what they are going to do, especially when families are involved. One of the hardest things in this latest event was watching family members suffer, not knowing what would happen to their youngest family member. If you could have seen the faces of father and son when they were reunited, I think you would be willing to do whatever it took to bring about setting the captives free. Like the VISA commercial: toll to Batavia, $1.10; gas for 80 miles round trip: $12; bail for one 19-year-old: $10,000; proclaiming release to the captives: priceless.
So let me know if you might be willing to help in the future.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Join us on Saturday, Oct 15 at 10 am at the bakery on Mt Hope Ave for our Visioning Day. If you care about this community, you are welcome!
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: "What do we do NOW?"
Hope to see you on Sunday – please keep everybody at Iglesia de San Romero– and all those they work with – in your prayers.
______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
One of our guests at St Joe’s is a woman who has been homeless for many years. Recently she had a nice surprise: a relative in England had sent her a round trip ticket to come and visit. She was excited and happy, but there was just one problem: although she had a passport, she had lost it. We joined with her in her efforts to replace her passport quickly, and succeeded – hurray! She’s in England now. But we learned a little about the kind of things homeless people have to deal with, along the way. One poignant moment came when she mentioned that for something she needed to do, there was a thirty dollar fee: "And that’s my entire savings," she said. "I do like to keep some money saved for an emergency. Well… I guess this is an emergency."
When your entire income is redeemed cans and bottles, $30 is a lot of money. She told us about a conversation she had on the phone with a woman in the passport office, trying to determine what identification she needed in order to replace her passport. "Driver’s license?" the woman asked. "No." "Birth certificate?" "No." "Social Security card?" "No." "What, do you live in a box?!"
Well, no, she doesn’t – but she could. It seems that to be homeless is to be a non-person, as far as the "together" world sees it. Later someone else told her that she didn’t deserve to go to England, because she was homeless.
When you start spending time with people outside your normal orbit, people that typically you just read about in the paper or hear about on the news, when you walk with and become friends with people who are non-people to "together" society, things look different. People become people to you, instead of social problems to be solved. You begin to get a clue what they are up against.
In this morning’s paper there is an article entitled, "Fugitives in area arrested." It tells of a national sweep by immigration officials, picking up people with a criminal record that are here in the US illegally.
We at St Romero’s know that not everyone picked up in that sweep was a criminal. Some of them were people who, in the words of the farmer who employs them, "just want to pick cucumbers and show up for work." People who are here for years, separated from their families in order to send money home, because there is no work in Mexico. People who are doing work that people who are born here generally do not want to do. (The farmers say that when they do find a person born in the US who is willing to work on their farms, they typically last three hours). Our friends tell us that workers are leaving the area in fear, because of this recent sweep. Who do we think is going to pick our crops?
Stories about public issues like homelessness and immigration look very different when you know the people involved. There is a young man named Jared, a medical student who has spent time with an organization called "No More Deaths (No Mas Muertes)," that goes out into the Sonora desert looking for people that might need help, bringing them water and medical care. He sent me a report they recently produced about conditions in short term custody with the Border Patrol in the southwest, called "Culture of Cruelty." It’s a pretty horrifying read, all the more so when I read it realizing that this could have been the experience of our friends. Having a personal connection takes reading things like that to a new level. (Send me an email and I’ll send you a link to a pdf of the document. It’s a tad long, 72 pages, but I recommend taking a look at it. We need to know what is being done in our name, with our tax money).
Here at St Romero’s, we don’t have a long-term plan. So far we’re taking it one moment at a time, saying "yes" to the promptings of the Holy Spirit, and seeing where they take us. Right now they’re taking us into deeper relationships with people on the outside in our society. What a gift, to be able to walk alongside these new friends. I don’t know what God is dreaming, but may it be. May we have the grace to keep saying yes.
In this most recent crisis, we were able to come up with the money to bail out two men. It would be good to know that that would be possible should it be necessary in the future. One way to do that would be to establish a bail fund, but I think what might be more practical right now would be to have a list of people who would be willing to put up large amounts of money, $1,000 or more, in a hurry should that be needed. If you might be willing to do that, please send me a note and we’ll talk about the details. It would be great if we knew we had the ability to raise twenty or thirty thousand dollars quickly, should there be another such raid. Getting and keeping people out of detention might not prevent them from being deported in the long run, but it gives them, first of all freedom – detention is pretty bad on the psyche – secondly, a chance to earn and save as much money as possible, to build a court case if they can, and to decide what they are going to do, especially when families are involved. One of the hardest things in this latest event was watching family members suffer, not knowing what would happen to their youngest family member. If you could have seen the faces of father and son when they were reunited, I think you would be willing to do whatever it took to bring about setting the captives free. Like the VISA commercial: toll to Batavia, $1.10; gas for 80 miles round trip: $12; bail for one 19-year-old: $10,000; proclaiming release to the captives: priceless.
So let me know if you might be willing to help in the future.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Join us on Saturday, Oct 15 at 10 am at the bakery on Mt Hope Ave for our Visioning Day. If you care about this community, you are welcome!
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: "What do we do NOW?"
Hope to see you on Sunday – please keep everybody at Iglesia de San Romero– and all those they work with – in your prayers.
______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Bulletin for Sunday, September 25, 2011
26th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
If I didn’t believe in miracles before, now I surely do. Last week we went from getting the news that the entire community of la Iglesia de San Romero was in detention, to one by one hearing that individuals were safe, to finally bailing out the two who were in fact detained. The community is together again, and I think it is a miracle. On Sunday I went in to work at the nursing home and found my desk covered with cookies to use at the coffee hour after Mass on Thursday nights, gifts from folks at Churchville United Methodist. It felt like a blessing, and a sign of hope. All is well.
On Thursday, Peter Veitch and I drove out earlier than usual and brought supper to the community. When this first happened I asked God to use it for a blessing, and you know what – God can use anything for a blessing! Mexican Independence Day was the next day, so I made a cake and decorated it like the Mexican Flag, and we stood around eating supper and then cake, and talking. We had a serious talk about the terrible situation they are in, and then we celebrated the Mass.
The reading was the one about the guy who gets forgiven a huge debt, then turns around and threatens someone who owes him a little bit of money. When I preached about that on the weekend, I talked about how we are a nation of immigrants, mostly people who came here to find a better life --- and yet now, we turn around and deny hospitality and safety to people who need a better life as much as our own ancestors did. (And we harm ourselves with it, wasting gazillions of dollars on a wall that doesn’t work, only brings more harm and waste).
I told them, "you already know all that!" and they nodded. Then I gave them a different sermon, and talked about Oscar Romero. No one had heard of him, or of liberation theology. We will have a lot to talk about in the weeks to come. So that’s one blessing to come out of this!
Another thing that will happen in the weeks (or months) to come is court dates in Buffalo. And I think St. Romero’s needs a bail fund. But for now, we can breathe and be grateful. Thank you, God of Love, God of the Poor, for walking with us every step of the way. Amen!
We had a lovely, loving first anniversary Mass on Sunday. Boy do I love this little church. Do you realize what a gift it is, to be such a little church? No budget worries, no personnel issues. Just worship and love and service. What a gift.
Sending prayers for Wally Ruehle, who suffered a bit of a health crisis this week but is on the mend. Thank you for all you have done for our immigrant brothers and sisters over the years, Wally! All shall be well.
Mary Wilkins and I continue to have breakfast each week, conversing only in Spanish. You are always welcome to join us. Usually we meet at 8 am on Wednesdays at Pat’s Coffee Mug on Clinton Ave, but this week it will be Thursday at 8:30. Bienvenidas/os!
If you are thinking of joining us for the migrant Mass, kindly send me a note or call.
On Wednesday, Sept 21, we will have a table at the GRCC fair at Asbury United Methodist (5-7, with Jim Wallis speaking at 7).
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
This quote has been in my heart all week:
"The world is desperately in need of people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about." –
Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
If you are receiving this on Tuesday night, it is not too late to sign an on-line petition in defense of Troy Davis, who is scheduled to be executed tomorrow in Georgia:
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Stop_the_Execution_of_Troy_Davis.php
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: "What do we do NOW?"
Hope to see you on Sunday – please keep everybody at Iglesia de San Romero– and all those they work with – in your prayers.
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
If I didn’t believe in miracles before, now I surely do. Last week we went from getting the news that the entire community of la Iglesia de San Romero was in detention, to one by one hearing that individuals were safe, to finally bailing out the two who were in fact detained. The community is together again, and I think it is a miracle. On Sunday I went in to work at the nursing home and found my desk covered with cookies to use at the coffee hour after Mass on Thursday nights, gifts from folks at Churchville United Methodist. It felt like a blessing, and a sign of hope. All is well.
On Thursday, Peter Veitch and I drove out earlier than usual and brought supper to the community. When this first happened I asked God to use it for a blessing, and you know what – God can use anything for a blessing! Mexican Independence Day was the next day, so I made a cake and decorated it like the Mexican Flag, and we stood around eating supper and then cake, and talking. We had a serious talk about the terrible situation they are in, and then we celebrated the Mass.
The reading was the one about the guy who gets forgiven a huge debt, then turns around and threatens someone who owes him a little bit of money. When I preached about that on the weekend, I talked about how we are a nation of immigrants, mostly people who came here to find a better life --- and yet now, we turn around and deny hospitality and safety to people who need a better life as much as our own ancestors did. (And we harm ourselves with it, wasting gazillions of dollars on a wall that doesn’t work, only brings more harm and waste).
I told them, "you already know all that!" and they nodded. Then I gave them a different sermon, and talked about Oscar Romero. No one had heard of him, or of liberation theology. We will have a lot to talk about in the weeks to come. So that’s one blessing to come out of this!
Another thing that will happen in the weeks (or months) to come is court dates in Buffalo. And I think St. Romero’s needs a bail fund. But for now, we can breathe and be grateful. Thank you, God of Love, God of the Poor, for walking with us every step of the way. Amen!
We had a lovely, loving first anniversary Mass on Sunday. Boy do I love this little church. Do you realize what a gift it is, to be such a little church? No budget worries, no personnel issues. Just worship and love and service. What a gift.
Sending prayers for Wally Ruehle, who suffered a bit of a health crisis this week but is on the mend. Thank you for all you have done for our immigrant brothers and sisters over the years, Wally! All shall be well.
Mary Wilkins and I continue to have breakfast each week, conversing only in Spanish. You are always welcome to join us. Usually we meet at 8 am on Wednesdays at Pat’s Coffee Mug on Clinton Ave, but this week it will be Thursday at 8:30. Bienvenidas/os!
If you are thinking of joining us for the migrant Mass, kindly send me a note or call.
On Wednesday, Sept 21, we will have a table at the GRCC fair at Asbury United Methodist (5-7, with Jim Wallis speaking at 7).
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
This quote has been in my heart all week:
"The world is desperately in need of people who are building deep, genuine relationships with fellow strugglers along the way, and who actually know the faces of the people behind the issues they are concerned about." –
Shane Claiborne, The Irresistible Revolution
If you are receiving this on Tuesday night, it is not too late to sign an on-line petition in defense of Troy Davis, who is scheduled to be executed tomorrow in Georgia:
http://www.innocenceproject.org/Content/Stop_the_Execution_of_Troy_Davis.php
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: "What do we do NOW?"
Hope to see you on Sunday – please keep everybody at Iglesia de San Romero– and all those they work with – in your prayers.
_______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
A Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Bulletin for Sunday, September 18, 2011
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
This weekend we will celebrate our first anniversary with a pot-luck lunch following the 11 am Mass on Sunday. I hope you can come… bring a dish to pass if you like but don’t let that stop you from coming. We would love to see you.
I am very sorry to tell you that besides having something to celebrate this week, we have something to mourn.
Last Thursday night at Iglesia de San Romero, our Mass with migrant farm workers west of the city, we learned that one of our number, Santiago, had been taken by immigration – at four in the morning. Imagine being awakened at 4 am and taken to a detention center. We prayed for him at Mass, and Librada and I tried to see him (without luck) on Saturday.
Today we received the sad news that not only Santiago, but almost the entire community, have been taken. Leonardo, Pedro, Marconi and others, including the mother of young Rafael, (who is, I believe, in the care of the one adult member of the community who was not detained).
These are hard-working men and women, who have left their homes and families because they had no other way to support them, came at great risk to this country to work long, hard hours, live in constant fear of deportation --- they come to this place that we so proudly believe to be the land of the free, and get taken from their homes at night, separated from their children ----- my friends, this is not justice. It is not justice that there is such poverty in Mexico and Central America that people are driven to leave their loved ones – often for years, decades even– poverty that is abetted by the policies of the United States, such as NAFTA and CAFTA. It is not justice that people die in the desert, trying to get here. It is not justice that once here, they are doing work that people who are born here will not do – it is too hard, there is no status – work that we need done – and yet they are treated so badly, living fifteen people in one small house with one bathroom – living in fear – and finally, hounded down and put in detention – which is basically, jail. In fact, the women probably are in jail, as the detention center houses only men.
This is not the bulletin I wanted to write this week. I meant to write about the past year and the things we have done so far. Like our friends, I am not doing what I wanted to be doing right now. I think of them – bored, lonely, scared, sad, muscles sore from sudden disuse – their lives suddenly turned upside down. Pray for them, please.
And pray for our little church, in both its incarnations: the little church that prays in English on Sundays, and the little church that prays in Spanish on Thursdays. God has walked with us and cared for us in beautiful ways this year. I know that God is close, now, and is with our friends as they wait to see what the future holds.
Whatever the future holds, God will be there.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: "What do we do NOW?"
Hope to see you on Sunday -
______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
This weekend we will celebrate our first anniversary with a pot-luck lunch following the 11 am Mass on Sunday. I hope you can come… bring a dish to pass if you like but don’t let that stop you from coming. We would love to see you.
I am very sorry to tell you that besides having something to celebrate this week, we have something to mourn.
Last Thursday night at Iglesia de San Romero, our Mass with migrant farm workers west of the city, we learned that one of our number, Santiago, had been taken by immigration – at four in the morning. Imagine being awakened at 4 am and taken to a detention center. We prayed for him at Mass, and Librada and I tried to see him (without luck) on Saturday.
Today we received the sad news that not only Santiago, but almost the entire community, have been taken. Leonardo, Pedro, Marconi and others, including the mother of young Rafael, (who is, I believe, in the care of the one adult member of the community who was not detained).
These are hard-working men and women, who have left their homes and families because they had no other way to support them, came at great risk to this country to work long, hard hours, live in constant fear of deportation --- they come to this place that we so proudly believe to be the land of the free, and get taken from their homes at night, separated from their children ----- my friends, this is not justice. It is not justice that there is such poverty in Mexico and Central America that people are driven to leave their loved ones – often for years, decades even– poverty that is abetted by the policies of the United States, such as NAFTA and CAFTA. It is not justice that people die in the desert, trying to get here. It is not justice that once here, they are doing work that people who are born here will not do – it is too hard, there is no status – work that we need done – and yet they are treated so badly, living fifteen people in one small house with one bathroom – living in fear – and finally, hounded down and put in detention – which is basically, jail. In fact, the women probably are in jail, as the detention center houses only men.
This is not the bulletin I wanted to write this week. I meant to write about the past year and the things we have done so far. Like our friends, I am not doing what I wanted to be doing right now. I think of them – bored, lonely, scared, sad, muscles sore from sudden disuse – their lives suddenly turned upside down. Pray for them, please.
And pray for our little church, in both its incarnations: the little church that prays in English on Sundays, and the little church that prays in Spanish on Thursdays. God has walked with us and cared for us in beautiful ways this year. I know that God is close, now, and is with our friends as they wait to see what the future holds.
Whatever the future holds, God will be there.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: "What do we do NOW?"
Hope to see you on Sunday -
______________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, September 18, 2011
25th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
This weekend we will celebrate our first anniversary with a pot-luck lunch following the 11 am Mass on Sunday. I hope you can come… bring a dish to pass if you like but don’t let that stop you from coming. We would love to see you.
I am very sorry to tell you that besides having something to celebrate this week, we have something to mourn.
Last Thursday night at Iglesia de San Romero, our Mass with migrant farm workers west of the city, we learned that one of our number, Santiago, had been taken by immigration – at four in the morning. Imagine being awakened at 4 am and taken to a detention center. We prayed for him at Mass, and Librada and I tried to see him (without luck) on Saturday.
Today we received the sad news that not only Santiago, but almost the entire community, have been taken. Leonardo, Pedro, Marconi and others, including the mother of young Rafael, (who is, I believe, in the care of the one adult member of the community who was not detained).
These are hard-working men and women, who have left their homes and families because they had no other way to support them, came at great risk to this country to work long, hard hours, live in constant fear of deportation --- they come to this place that we so proudly believe to be the land of the free, and get taken from their homes at night, separated from their children ----- my friends, this is not justice. It is not justice that there is such poverty in Mexico and Central America that people are driven to leave their loved ones – often for years, decades even– poverty that is abetted by the policies of the United States, such as NAFTA and CAFTA. It is not justice that people die in the desert, trying to get here. It is not justice that once here, they are doing work that people who are born here will not do – it is too hard, there is no status – work that we need done – and yet they are treated so badly, living fifteen people in one small house with one bathroom – living in fear – and finally, hounded down and put in detention – which is basically, jail. In fact, the women probably are in jail, as the detention center houses only men.
This is not the bulletin I wanted to write this week. I meant to write about the past year and the things we have done so far. Like our friends, I am not doing what I wanted to be doing right now. I think of them – bored, lonely, scared, sad, muscles sore from sudden disuse – their lives suddenly turned upside down. Pray for them, please.
And pray for our little church, in both its incarnations: the little church that prays in English on Sundays, and the little church that prays in Spanish on Thursdays. God has walked with us and cared for us in beautiful ways this year. I know that God is close, now, and is with our friends as they wait to see what the future holds.
Whatever the future holds, God will be there.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: “What do we do NOW?”
Hope to see you on Sunday
__________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
This weekend we will celebrate our first anniversary with a pot-luck lunch following the 11 am Mass on Sunday. I hope you can come… bring a dish to pass if you like but don’t let that stop you from coming. We would love to see you.
I am very sorry to tell you that besides having something to celebrate this week, we have something to mourn.
Last Thursday night at Iglesia de San Romero, our Mass with migrant farm workers west of the city, we learned that one of our number, Santiago, had been taken by immigration – at four in the morning. Imagine being awakened at 4 am and taken to a detention center. We prayed for him at Mass, and Librada and I tried to see him (without luck) on Saturday.
Today we received the sad news that not only Santiago, but almost the entire community, have been taken. Leonardo, Pedro, Marconi and others, including the mother of young Rafael, (who is, I believe, in the care of the one adult member of the community who was not detained).
These are hard-working men and women, who have left their homes and families because they had no other way to support them, came at great risk to this country to work long, hard hours, live in constant fear of deportation --- they come to this place that we so proudly believe to be the land of the free, and get taken from their homes at night, separated from their children ----- my friends, this is not justice. It is not justice that there is such poverty in Mexico and Central America that people are driven to leave their loved ones – often for years, decades even– poverty that is abetted by the policies of the United States, such as NAFTA and CAFTA. It is not justice that people die in the desert, trying to get here. It is not justice that once here, they are doing work that people who are born here will not do – it is too hard, there is no status – work that we need done – and yet they are treated so badly, living fifteen people in one small house with one bathroom – living in fear – and finally, hounded down and put in detention – which is basically, jail. In fact, the women probably are in jail, as the detention center houses only men.
This is not the bulletin I wanted to write this week. I meant to write about the past year and the things we have done so far. Like our friends, I am not doing what I wanted to be doing right now. I think of them – bored, lonely, scared, sad, muscles sore from sudden disuse – their lives suddenly turned upside down. Pray for them, please.
And pray for our little church, in both its incarnations: the little church that prays in English on Sundays, and the little church that prays in Spanish on Thursdays. God has walked with us and cared for us in beautiful ways this year. I know that God is close, now, and is with our friends as they wait to see what the future holds.
Whatever the future holds, God will be there.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two upcoming events:
On October 6, Paul Finkelman will speak on Constitutional rights and immigration, first at St John Fisher at 3 pm, later at MCC at 7:30 pm.
On Wednesday, October 12, Fr Anthony Ruff will speak at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School at 7 pm, on the upcoming changes to the Roman Missal: “What do we do NOW?”
Hope to see you on Sunday
__________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friday, September 9, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, September 11, 2011
24th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
We're coming up on our one-year anniversary here at St Romero's! On Sunday, September 18, join us for Mass at 11 followed by a pot-luck lunch. Bring a dish to pass and come help us celebrate!
Seems to me that a first anniversary is an excellent time for a visioning day. Like a new-born infant, our first year has been mostly occupied with the business of existence... finding a place to worship, coming up with a name, beginning our first outreach program... establishing who we are, right from the start. What's next? Should we turn our focus toward trying to grow? What questions do we bring at one year? Even if you are only a member-in-spirit, receiving the bulletin each week, or only come now and then, if you care about this community you are welcome to join us on Saturday morning, October 15, over at the bakery on Mt Hope Ave, upstairs in the “Upper Room.” Come help us dream!
This past weekend, Joe Lavoie and Rachael Morlock were in Washington DC protesting the oil pipeline. Both were arrested, along with about a thousand other people, but they're both home and safe and well. What a beautiful witness, you two. Thank you for putting your own well-being on line in defense of our planet and the vulnerable indigenous people of Canada. Here is what Joe had to say about the experience:
“I went down to DC with the intention of getting arrested because of the integrity of those who gave the call to action. Wendell Berry and Bill McKibben were enough to encourage me to research this pipeline more. The more I read, the more I knew I had to be present at this action. What I didn't expect from reading the statistics and scientific analyses was the delegation of the Indigenous Environmental Network who were arrested next to us on Sept 2. This whole issue shifted for me when I met these men and women and heard them speak of how these tar sands were destroying their villages. These tar sands in Canada affects those living near and downstream when dug for oil. The process creates daily as much CO2 as one million cars.
"These indigenous persons described how the destruction of the forests near their villages through clear cutting and poisoning of the soil is destroying their culture, which is interdependent with those sacred grounds. They described the tar sands work as ethnocide and attempted genocide, as unprecedented occurrences of toxin related cancers are becoming the norm and as the animals they hunt are becoming sickly and covered in sores. The tears of this one woman describing the deaths of two of her companions hit by oil trucks on the road spoke to me more than any statistic could. I was proud to stand in solidarity with those threatened, marginalized people, against the key to expansion of the tar sands: the Keystone Pipeline Expansion, brought to us by TransCanada.
"I was charged with failure to obey a police officer, arrested, zip tied, driven to the station with 9 other rascals, processed, then was shown the door. It was essentially a very expensive van ride. We were placed under arrest around 11:30 and I was taken around 3:00 and released a little after four.” Thanks, Joe and Rachael!
Attached is a photo from the Labor Day Parade. The woman with me is Librada Paz, who has come almost every week to Iglesia de San Romero, our Migrant Mass, and served as interpreter. This ministry would not be possible without Librada's help. I would never have known how to find the people without her! Our friends have had to move, and this week we will be leaving early so that Librada can direct us to their new location. If you are joining us, please be ready to leave from the St Joe's parking lot at 6:45pm.
The parade was great, by the way! It was good to see a lot of great support for the farm workers – and to see a lot of old friends from Spiritus who were there to march with them, thanks to the organizing efforts of Marilu Aguilar!
This Sunday, September 11, a reporter from Inter Press Services News Agency in NY City will join us at Mass. Hope you can come, too!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Peace activist Kathy Kelly is coming to town, again. She and David Smith-Ferri will give a talk entitled “The Cost of War, the Price of Peace” at Downtown United Presbyterian Church, (same building as Spiritus), 121 N Fitzhugh St, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm.
This Sunday is the tenth anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks in New York and Washington, DC. Join people of many faiths for a service on the grounds of the Eastman House, 900 East Ave, at 4 pm. Bring a lawn chair if you're coming!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
We're coming up on our one-year anniversary here at St Romero's! On Sunday, September 18, join us for Mass at 11 followed by a pot-luck lunch. Bring a dish to pass and come help us celebrate!
Seems to me that a first anniversary is an excellent time for a visioning day. Like a new-born infant, our first year has been mostly occupied with the business of existence... finding a place to worship, coming up with a name, beginning our first outreach program... establishing who we are, right from the start. What's next? Should we turn our focus toward trying to grow? What questions do we bring at one year? Even if you are only a member-in-spirit, receiving the bulletin each week, or only come now and then, if you care about this community you are welcome to join us on Saturday morning, October 15, over at the bakery on Mt Hope Ave, upstairs in the “Upper Room.” Come help us dream!
This past weekend, Joe Lavoie and Rachael Morlock were in Washington DC protesting the oil pipeline. Both were arrested, along with about a thousand other people, but they're both home and safe and well. What a beautiful witness, you two. Thank you for putting your own well-being on line in defense of our planet and the vulnerable indigenous people of Canada. Here is what Joe had to say about the experience:
“I went down to DC with the intention of getting arrested because of the integrity of those who gave the call to action. Wendell Berry and Bill McKibben were enough to encourage me to research this pipeline more. The more I read, the more I knew I had to be present at this action. What I didn't expect from reading the statistics and scientific analyses was the delegation of the Indigenous Environmental Network who were arrested next to us on Sept 2. This whole issue shifted for me when I met these men and women and heard them speak of how these tar sands were destroying their villages. These tar sands in Canada affects those living near and downstream when dug for oil. The process creates daily as much CO2 as one million cars.
"These indigenous persons described how the destruction of the forests near their villages through clear cutting and poisoning of the soil is destroying their culture, which is interdependent with those sacred grounds. They described the tar sands work as ethnocide and attempted genocide, as unprecedented occurrences of toxin related cancers are becoming the norm and as the animals they hunt are becoming sickly and covered in sores. The tears of this one woman describing the deaths of two of her companions hit by oil trucks on the road spoke to me more than any statistic could. I was proud to stand in solidarity with those threatened, marginalized people, against the key to expansion of the tar sands: the Keystone Pipeline Expansion, brought to us by TransCanada.
"I was charged with failure to obey a police officer, arrested, zip tied, driven to the station with 9 other rascals, processed, then was shown the door. It was essentially a very expensive van ride. We were placed under arrest around 11:30 and I was taken around 3:00 and released a little after four.” Thanks, Joe and Rachael!
Attached is a photo from the Labor Day Parade. The woman with me is Librada Paz, who has come almost every week to Iglesia de San Romero, our Migrant Mass, and served as interpreter. This ministry would not be possible without Librada's help. I would never have known how to find the people without her! Our friends have had to move, and this week we will be leaving early so that Librada can direct us to their new location. If you are joining us, please be ready to leave from the St Joe's parking lot at 6:45pm.
The parade was great, by the way! It was good to see a lot of great support for the farm workers – and to see a lot of old friends from Spiritus who were there to march with them, thanks to the organizing efforts of Marilu Aguilar!
This Sunday, September 11, a reporter from Inter Press Services News Agency in NY City will join us at Mass. Hope you can come, too!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Peace activist Kathy Kelly is coming to town, again. She and David Smith-Ferri will give a talk entitled “The Cost of War, the Price of Peace” at Downtown United Presbyterian Church, (same building as Spiritus), 121 N Fitzhugh St, on Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm.
This Sunday is the tenth anniversary of the 9/11/01 attacks in New York and Washington, DC. Join people of many faiths for a service on the grounds of the Eastman House, 900 East Ave, at 4 pm. Bring a lawn chair if you're coming!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Bulletin for Sunday, September 4, 2011
23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
Each week when we go out west of the city to celebrate Mass with a group of
migrant farmworkers, we start the Mass at about 8 pm. I had thought that as
the days grew shorter we would start earlier, but I learned that their
workday stays the same even though it’s dark earlier. Folks get home at
6:30 and everyone needs to eat and shower before Mass – fifteen people
living in a house with only one shower – so we’ll keep starting Mass at 8.
These days, we open the door of the house to have light to see by. It’s
okay, we still have a lovely Mass!
There are several men who are there every week, and several other men and
women who are there now and then. One of the men who is always there is
Santiago, a man of about 60. One week I was surprised when he wasn’t there,
and asked why. The others explained that he was working late, planting
onions. About 9 pm he came in, just as the Mass was ending, covered with
dirt and sweat and not having had his supper. When we sing that hymn with
the line, “all who labor without rest,” I think of Santiago.
This coming Monday we will celebrate Labor Day. Some of us will march with
the farmworkers’ contingent in the parade, wearing red bandanas to show
solidarity with the farm workers. Meet at the corner of Sibley Place and
East Ave by 10:15 on Monday morning, September 5, if you would like to join
us.
Last week I went with a group from the Presbytery to visit some farms. One
of the questions people asked was, “Why do you hire people from other
countries to do this work?” The farmers explained that they can’t find
people from here that are willing to do the work – and when they do, they
usually last about three hours. (A man named Tom Rivers wrote a great
little book called “Farm Hands” about his experience trying to do the work
the migrants do. He stuck with it, lost 40 lbs, and by the end of the
summer was almost as fast as the slowest of the migrant farm workers. It is
hard work!) One of the farmers offered her opinion that besides being
difficult, farm work doesn’t have much status.
Without farm workers, there would be no food on our tables. Someone needs
to plant it, weed it, harvest it, package it. Let’s recognize the dignity
and worth of that work. Let’s work to change the laws, so that people don’t
get punished for coming here to do it! Thank you, farm workers, for all
that you do.
And thank you to all workers. Where would we be without the work you do?
The work that everyone one of us does, paid and unpaid. Work is love made
manifest – that positive energy that creates and maintains the things we
need for life. Thank you for the work you do.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two of our workers from St Joe’s, Rachael Morlock and Joe Lavoie, are in
Washington DC to protest the oil pipeline that is proposed to take oil from
the tar sands in Canada all the way to Texas. Blessings on your journey,
Rachael and Joe. May it bring a bit more light to the world.
Peace activist Kathy Kelly is coming to town, again. She and David
Smith-Ferri will give a talk entitled “The Cost of War, the Price of Peace”
at Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N Fitzhugh St, on Tuesday,
Sept. 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm.
St Romero’s is almost one year old! Our first Mass was held on September 19
of last year. Shall we celebrate? Come and join us for Mass on Sunday,
September 18 at 11, and bring a dish to pass if you like for lunch
afterwards. Maybe we could have a cake in the shape of a 1!
Lastly, a message for Theresa who offered to help with the Migrant Masses.
There was a problem with my email system and I lost all of my old messages,
including yours. Would you kindly write again?
Many thanks to Mike Reimringer who is sending out the bulletin this week,
while Rachael is in Washington protesting the pipeline.
Come and join us, any Sunday you like!
___________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Each week when we go out west of the city to celebrate Mass with a group of
migrant farmworkers, we start the Mass at about 8 pm. I had thought that as
the days grew shorter we would start earlier, but I learned that their
workday stays the same even though it’s dark earlier. Folks get home at
6:30 and everyone needs to eat and shower before Mass – fifteen people
living in a house with only one shower – so we’ll keep starting Mass at 8.
These days, we open the door of the house to have light to see by. It’s
okay, we still have a lovely Mass!
There are several men who are there every week, and several other men and
women who are there now and then. One of the men who is always there is
Santiago, a man of about 60. One week I was surprised when he wasn’t there,
and asked why. The others explained that he was working late, planting
onions. About 9 pm he came in, just as the Mass was ending, covered with
dirt and sweat and not having had his supper. When we sing that hymn with
the line, “all who labor without rest,” I think of Santiago.
This coming Monday we will celebrate Labor Day. Some of us will march with
the farmworkers’ contingent in the parade, wearing red bandanas to show
solidarity with the farm workers. Meet at the corner of Sibley Place and
East Ave by 10:15 on Monday morning, September 5, if you would like to join
us.
Last week I went with a group from the Presbytery to visit some farms. One
of the questions people asked was, “Why do you hire people from other
countries to do this work?” The farmers explained that they can’t find
people from here that are willing to do the work – and when they do, they
usually last about three hours. (A man named Tom Rivers wrote a great
little book called “Farm Hands” about his experience trying to do the work
the migrants do. He stuck with it, lost 40 lbs, and by the end of the
summer was almost as fast as the slowest of the migrant farm workers. It is
hard work!) One of the farmers offered her opinion that besides being
difficult, farm work doesn’t have much status.
Without farm workers, there would be no food on our tables. Someone needs
to plant it, weed it, harvest it, package it. Let’s recognize the dignity
and worth of that work. Let’s work to change the laws, so that people don’t
get punished for coming here to do it! Thank you, farm workers, for all
that you do.
And thank you to all workers. Where would we be without the work you do?
The work that everyone one of us does, paid and unpaid. Work is love made
manifest – that positive energy that creates and maintains the things we
need for life. Thank you for the work you do.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
Two of our workers from St Joe’s, Rachael Morlock and Joe Lavoie, are in
Washington DC to protest the oil pipeline that is proposed to take oil from
the tar sands in Canada all the way to Texas. Blessings on your journey,
Rachael and Joe. May it bring a bit more light to the world.
Peace activist Kathy Kelly is coming to town, again. She and David
Smith-Ferri will give a talk entitled “The Cost of War, the Price of Peace”
at Downtown United Presbyterian Church, 121 N Fitzhugh St, on Tuesday,
Sept. 13, 2011 at 7:00 pm.
St Romero’s is almost one year old! Our first Mass was held on September 19
of last year. Shall we celebrate? Come and join us for Mass on Sunday,
September 18 at 11, and bring a dish to pass if you like for lunch
afterwards. Maybe we could have a cake in the shape of a 1!
Lastly, a message for Theresa who offered to help with the Migrant Masses.
There was a problem with my email system and I lost all of my old messages,
including yours. Would you kindly write again?
Many thanks to Mike Reimringer who is sending out the bulletin this week,
while Rachael is in Washington protesting the pipeline.
Come and join us, any Sunday you like!
___________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Bulletin for Sunday, August 28, 2011
22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
This weekend I had the peculiar blessing of an experience of powerlessness. A blessing because it was an opportunity to see the goodness of God in action –
Sunday morning I woke up with a debilitating migraine. It was Sunday morning – Mass to get ready for, stuff to do, service at the nursing home in the afternoon – and I couldn’t do any of it. All I could do was sit and look out the window and hope the pain would pass. I remembered to be grateful that they’re not usually like that. Normally I take a couple of pills and the pain recedes, but not this time.
Look how good God is. This day when I could not preach or lead a service or even drive to church, was also the day that Rev. Patti LaRosa came to preside and preach for us in celebration of her recent ordination. (and she led us in a lovely Mass! The church has another terrific priest!) I was reminded of the story about the morning a priest in ordinary clothes knocked on the door at Mother Teresa’s convent, and the nun who opened the door said, “Come in, Father!” “How did you know I was a priest?” he asked. “The priest who was supposed to say Mass for us had to cancel, and Mother Teresa said not to worry, God would send us another one!” So you see, God does that for St Romero’s, too!
The other blessing in the experience was that it got me thinking about powerlessness. I’m a pretty busy person, always with a list of things to do. And here I was, unable to do a thing. One of the questions chaplains are taught to ask is, “Where is God in this for you?” Well, we who are Christian believe in a God who enters into our experience of powerlessness, who chose to become one of us, to suffer, to experience rejection and loss and all the pain of being human.
There is a woman at the nursing home where I work who also teaches me about powerlessness. She has lived her whole life with a brain injury and now has dementia on top of that. She doesn’t own anything, doesn’t produce anything, doesn’t accomplish anything, and as far as I know, she never has. But she loves God. One of the things that seems to mean a lot to her is receiving ashes, like we do on Ash Wednesday. I keep a little packet of ashes in my pocket so I can give her ashes whenever she asks for them. It’s a little ritual that moves me so much: I make a little cross on her forehead, and say, “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return…and know that you are God’s own beloved.” And then she sings. Maybe she sings an Alleluia. Maybe “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know,” or “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” Whatever it is, it comes straight from her heart. She has never crossed an item off a “to-do” list in her life… but she gives God joy. I know she does. All of us give God joy just by being.
I hope your summer has included some time to just be! You are God’s own delight, just as you are.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
St Joe’s carwash was rained out, two Sundays in a row. Stop by and get your car washed some sunny weekend day! Suggested donation $5 or $10 for an outside wash, $20 for inside vacuuming as well.
Our migrant masses continue… join us some Thursday night, leaving the St Joe’s parking lot at 7, best to let me know if you’re coming. Always looking for people to bake some cookies! …Which we promise to protect from the raccoons.
And many thanks to Rev. Patti for leading us in such a lovely Mass this past Sunday.
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
This weekend I had the peculiar blessing of an experience of powerlessness. A blessing because it was an opportunity to see the goodness of God in action –
Sunday morning I woke up with a debilitating migraine. It was Sunday morning – Mass to get ready for, stuff to do, service at the nursing home in the afternoon – and I couldn’t do any of it. All I could do was sit and look out the window and hope the pain would pass. I remembered to be grateful that they’re not usually like that. Normally I take a couple of pills and the pain recedes, but not this time.
Look how good God is. This day when I could not preach or lead a service or even drive to church, was also the day that Rev. Patti LaRosa came to preside and preach for us in celebration of her recent ordination. (and she led us in a lovely Mass! The church has another terrific priest!) I was reminded of the story about the morning a priest in ordinary clothes knocked on the door at Mother Teresa’s convent, and the nun who opened the door said, “Come in, Father!” “How did you know I was a priest?” he asked. “The priest who was supposed to say Mass for us had to cancel, and Mother Teresa said not to worry, God would send us another one!” So you see, God does that for St Romero’s, too!
The other blessing in the experience was that it got me thinking about powerlessness. I’m a pretty busy person, always with a list of things to do. And here I was, unable to do a thing. One of the questions chaplains are taught to ask is, “Where is God in this for you?” Well, we who are Christian believe in a God who enters into our experience of powerlessness, who chose to become one of us, to suffer, to experience rejection and loss and all the pain of being human.
There is a woman at the nursing home where I work who also teaches me about powerlessness. She has lived her whole life with a brain injury and now has dementia on top of that. She doesn’t own anything, doesn’t produce anything, doesn’t accomplish anything, and as far as I know, she never has. But she loves God. One of the things that seems to mean a lot to her is receiving ashes, like we do on Ash Wednesday. I keep a little packet of ashes in my pocket so I can give her ashes whenever she asks for them. It’s a little ritual that moves me so much: I make a little cross on her forehead, and say, “remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return…and know that you are God’s own beloved.” And then she sings. Maybe she sings an Alleluia. Maybe “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know,” or “Just a Closer Walk with Thee.” Whatever it is, it comes straight from her heart. She has never crossed an item off a “to-do” list in her life… but she gives God joy. I know she does. All of us give God joy just by being.
I hope your summer has included some time to just be! You are God’s own delight, just as you are.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
St Joe’s carwash was rained out, two Sundays in a row. Stop by and get your car washed some sunny weekend day! Suggested donation $5 or $10 for an outside wash, $20 for inside vacuuming as well.
Our migrant masses continue… join us some Thursday night, leaving the St Joe’s parking lot at 7, best to let me know if you’re coming. Always looking for people to bake some cookies! …Which we promise to protect from the raccoons.
And many thanks to Rev. Patti for leading us in such a lovely Mass this past Sunday.
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, August 21, 2011
21st Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
This Sunday we will welcome newly ordained Rev Patti La Rosa, who will preach and preside at the 11 am Mass. Hooray! The world gained four great new priests on June 4, when she, Caryl Johnson, Ann Penick and Marellen Mayers were ordained in Baltimore. More and more women are answering God's call. It was great to be with so many of them, including Ann and Marellen, in Chicago earlier this month.
Seems to me that with all these new priests around – over a hundred of us women priests world-wide in the past ten years or so – seems to me we need to be thinking hard about the role of a priest. The question I carried with me all through Divinity School was, “what is the role of a priest in a community of equals?” I believe this so strongly – that the church must be a place where we recognize the worth and dignity of each person, not only with our words, but with our structures. The church must be a place where each person can begin to see the possibilities in themselves and to recognize them in others, as well.
When I first encountered the Roman Catholic Womenpriests in 2007, I was overjoyed to discover an entire movement of women asking the same question! One of the ways we have wrestled with that question is in determining the role of our bishops. We decided that bishops have a liturgical role (in ordinations, particularly) and are “pastors to the pastors” - but they do not have a decision-making role. There's no council of bishops making decisions for everyone else.
One of the measures of any organization is if it lives up to its own standards, if it “walks the walk, not just talks the talk.” Something I have noticed, at the retreat this month and at other retreats, is that although the women present are priests, deacons, bishops and women discerning their call, if you were to sit in a circle with us I don't think you would know who was who. Everybody's voice counts. Everyone is valued. We are clearly not a movement about personalities.
There's a lot more to say on all this, probably a book or so's worth of things to say. But for now I just wanted to share that with you – how happy I am with this group of women who really are walking their talk.
Come worship with us on Sunday, if you will – and pray for Patti, that her priesthood may be a blessing to many.
What a wonderful age we are living in.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
All summer long, there is a car wash in the St Joe's parking lot on Saturdays and Sundays from 9-5 as part of the St Joe's Employment Training Program. Come get your car washed! Recommended donations are $5-10 for outside cleanings, $20 for inside and out. Give your car some TLC, and help our guys earn some cash and learn some job skills!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
This Sunday we will welcome newly ordained Rev Patti La Rosa, who will preach and preside at the 11 am Mass. Hooray! The world gained four great new priests on June 4, when she, Caryl Johnson, Ann Penick and Marellen Mayers were ordained in Baltimore. More and more women are answering God's call. It was great to be with so many of them, including Ann and Marellen, in Chicago earlier this month.
Seems to me that with all these new priests around – over a hundred of us women priests world-wide in the past ten years or so – seems to me we need to be thinking hard about the role of a priest. The question I carried with me all through Divinity School was, “what is the role of a priest in a community of equals?” I believe this so strongly – that the church must be a place where we recognize the worth and dignity of each person, not only with our words, but with our structures. The church must be a place where each person can begin to see the possibilities in themselves and to recognize them in others, as well.
When I first encountered the Roman Catholic Womenpriests in 2007, I was overjoyed to discover an entire movement of women asking the same question! One of the ways we have wrestled with that question is in determining the role of our bishops. We decided that bishops have a liturgical role (in ordinations, particularly) and are “pastors to the pastors” - but they do not have a decision-making role. There's no council of bishops making decisions for everyone else.
One of the measures of any organization is if it lives up to its own standards, if it “walks the walk, not just talks the talk.” Something I have noticed, at the retreat this month and at other retreats, is that although the women present are priests, deacons, bishops and women discerning their call, if you were to sit in a circle with us I don't think you would know who was who. Everybody's voice counts. Everyone is valued. We are clearly not a movement about personalities.
There's a lot more to say on all this, probably a book or so's worth of things to say. But for now I just wanted to share that with you – how happy I am with this group of women who really are walking their talk.
Come worship with us on Sunday, if you will – and pray for Patti, that her priesthood may be a blessing to many.
What a wonderful age we are living in.
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
All summer long, there is a car wash in the St Joe's parking lot on Saturdays and Sundays from 9-5 as part of the St Joe's Employment Training Program. Come get your car washed! Recommended donations are $5-10 for outside cleanings, $20 for inside and out. Give your car some TLC, and help our guys earn some cash and learn some job skills!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, August 14, 2011
20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
What a week this has been for women priests. Thirty-five women from around the country gathered in Chicago for an RCWP-USA national retreat. Then we came home to find that Fr. Roy Bourgeois is at the point of being ousted from the Maryknoll order and from his priesthood for supporting us. (He’s already been excommunicated for it, and this next step has been looming for a while). Roy has been such a strong and prophetic voice for justice, founding the SOA-watch and keeping us aware of what our country is doing in Central and South America. He’s an exemplary priest! How can such a thing be?
We who lived through the crisis at Corpus Christi in 1998 know this --- when you stand with the people who have been excluded, you end up excluded, yourself. Thank you, Roy, for standing with us, your sister priests.
When I was in Chicago I heard this story from Alta Jacko, a priest from the mid-West region. We were talking about Howard Thurman, the great African-American prophet and mystic who was a big influence on Martin Luther King, Jr. Once Rev. Thurman was traveling in the South with his family during the time of the Jim Crow laws there. His two little girls had never encountered legalized discrimination like that before, and didn’t understand why they weren’t allowed to play on a certain playground. He explained it to them this way: “It takes the whole police force, the mayor, the national guard and the entire legislature of this state to keep you from playing on this playground. That’s how powerful you are!!”
Something powerful is happening in the church right now, so powerful that the powers-that-be are trying to keep people from even speaking of it! And as is so typical of the way God works in the world, it is a small, fragile, hidden power --- like mustard seeds. Like yeast. Like dandelions. The powers that be can’t keep it down, no matter how hard they try. Look at the people God has used in history to change the world. Stuttering Moses. Little David, the shepherd boy. An unwed teenage mother. And here we are, a bunch of middle-aged women with our little communities meeting in living rooms and other people’s churches, or in an old bank like Mary Magdalene church or the dining room of a soup kitchen, like us at St Romero’s. A bunch of women all saying YES to God and following where the Spirit leads. And God is going to use us to turn the church upside down, just like in 1998 when the Spirit blew into Corpus Christi – and look what came of that. LIFE. I am so grateful for all these yes-giving, life-giving women. What a great adventure we get to be part of!
If you would like to speak up on behalf of Fr Roy, you could write a letter to Fr. Ed Dougherty, the Superior General of Maryknoll, and ask him not to expel Fr. Roy Bourgeois for advocating for women priests. Here is the address:
Fr. Edward Dougherty
Maryknoll Fathers
PO Box 303
Maryknoll, NY 10545-0303
Email: mklcouncil@maryknoll.org
If you write to him, Fr Roy’s attorney is requesting copies of letters sent to Maryknoll:
Bill Quigley, Attorney for Fr. Roy Bourgeois,
7214 St. Charles Avenue, Campus Box 902,
New Orleans, LA 70118
Quigley@loyno.edu
Another way to support Fr Roy is to sign an on-line petition from the Women’s Ordination Conference: http://www.womensordination.
And finally, here is an article from the National Catholic Reporter if you’d like to know more: http://ncronline.org/blogs/
On Thursday some friends from the Presbytery of Genesee Valley will be joining us as we travel west of the city for our Migrant Mass. You are welcome to join us, too! We leave at 7 pm from the St Joe’s parking lot.
On Sunday, August 21, we will welcome newly-ordained Rev. Patti LaRosa, who will preach and preside at the 11 am Mass at St Romero’s. Come celebrate Patti! Yay!
I hope you are enjoying these beautiful summer days. As I write by the open window I can hear the crickets chirping all over my neighborhood. What a peaceful and happy sound that is!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"The culture of bullying within the Catholic Church cannot be tolerated any longer," said, Erin Hanna, Executive Director of the Women's Ordination Conference. "It is contrary to the gospel itself to bully and dismiss faithful priests who dare to break the silence in support of women's rightful role in the Church." --- WOC statement in support of Fr Roy
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
What a week this has been for women priests. Thirty-five women from around the country gathered in Chicago for an RCWP-USA national retreat. Then we came home to find that Fr. Roy Bourgeois is at the point of being ousted from the Maryknoll order and from his priesthood for supporting us. (He’s already been excommunicated for it, and this next step has been looming for a while). Roy has been such a strong and prophetic voice for justice, founding the SOA-watch and keeping us aware of what our country is doing in Central and South America. He’s an exemplary priest! How can such a thing be?
We who lived through the crisis at Corpus Christi in 1998 know this --- when you stand with the people who have been excluded, you end up excluded, yourself. Thank you, Roy, for standing with us, your sister priests.
When I was in Chicago I heard this story from Alta Jacko, a priest from the mid-West region. We were talking about Howard Thurman, the great African-American prophet and mystic who was a big influence on Martin Luther King, Jr. Once Rev. Thurman was traveling in the South with his family during the time of the Jim Crow laws there. His two little girls had never encountered legalized discrimination like that before, and didn’t understand why they weren’t allowed to play on a certain playground. He explained it to them this way: “It takes the whole police force, the mayor, the national guard and the entire legislature of this state to keep you from playing on this playground. That’s how powerful you are!!”
Something powerful is happening in the church right now, so powerful that the powers-that-be are trying to keep people from even speaking of it! And as is so typical of the way God works in the world, it is a small, fragile, hidden power --- like mustard seeds. Like yeast. Like dandelions. The powers that be can’t keep it down, no matter how hard they try. Look at the people God has used in history to change the world. Stuttering Moses. Little David, the shepherd boy. An unwed teenage mother. And here we are, a bunch of middle-aged women with our little communities meeting in living rooms and other people’s churches, or in an old bank like Mary Magdalene church or the dining room of a soup kitchen, like us at St Romero’s. A bunch of women all saying YES to God and following where the Spirit leads. And God is going to use us to turn the church upside down, just like in 1998 when the Spirit blew into Corpus Christi – and look what came of that. LIFE. I am so grateful for all these yes-giving, life-giving women. What a great adventure we get to be part of!
If you would like to speak up on behalf of Fr Roy, you could write a letter to Fr. Ed Dougherty, the Superior General of Maryknoll, and ask him not to expel Fr. Roy Bourgeois for advocating for women priests. Here is the address:
Fr. Edward Dougherty
Maryknoll Fathers
PO Box 303
Maryknoll, NY 10545-0303
Email: mklcouncil@maryknoll.org
If you write to him, Fr Roy’s attorney is requesting copies of letters sent to Maryknoll:
Bill Quigley, Attorney for Fr. Roy Bourgeois,
7214 St. Charles Avenue, Campus Box 902,
New Orleans, LA 70118
Quigley@loyno.edu
Another way to support Fr Roy is to sign an on-line petition from the Women’s Ordination Conference: http://www.womensordination.
And finally, here is an article from the National Catholic Reporter if you’d like to know more: http://ncronline.org/blogs/
On Thursday some friends from the Presbytery of Genesee Valley will be joining us as we travel west of the city for our Migrant Mass. You are welcome to join us, too! We leave at 7 pm from the St Joe’s parking lot.
On Sunday, August 21, we will welcome newly-ordained Rev. Patti LaRosa, who will preach and preside at the 11 am Mass at St Romero’s. Come celebrate Patti! Yay!
I hope you are enjoying these beautiful summer days. As I write by the open window I can hear the crickets chirping all over my neighborhood. What a peaceful and happy sound that is!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"The culture of bullying within the Catholic Church cannot be tolerated any longer," said, Erin Hanna, Executive Director of the Women's Ordination Conference. "It is contrary to the gospel itself to bully and dismiss faithful priests who dare to break the silence in support of women's rightful role in the Church." --- WOC statement in support of Fr Roy
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, July 31, 2011
18th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
In the Gospel this past Sunday we heard Jesus talking about his favorite subject, the kingdom of God... As some of us like to call it, the kindom of God, taking away the patriarchal/hierarchical kingship imagery and replacing it with the connectedness that permeates that world God dreams of. Joseph Moore once said, "The kingdom of God is what happens between you and me."
At the Migrant Mass this past Thursday, at the end of that dreadfully hot day, we stood outside the house of our friends who had worked all day in the heat and celebrated the Mass. Just as we sang the Alleluia before the Gospel, a sweet breeze blew all around us and cooled us off. I offered the sermon that Mary Wilkins had helped me translate. We used the Mass guides that Caryl Marchand laminated for us so everyone could say the responses. After Mass we shared the cookies that Rachael Morlock had baked. Pedro went in the house and brought out sodas for everyone, and we stood or sat and chatted about how the day had been. Librada Paz helped Caroline and Joe and I understand that some of the men had been picking cabbage all day, and that one of them had felt weak from the heat but still could only take a five-minutes rest every few hours. Pedro went back in the house and this time brought out a cabbage, one of those they had picked. It was a present for us. We laughed about the raccoons and tried to figure out why the chalice was leaking. And in that back and forth, the giving that went both ways, the sharing of hard times and of laughter, I believe we experienced something of the Kingdom of God. The Kindom of God.
We're such a little church, St. Romero's. Every Sunday as I get ready for Mass, with no one there yet at five to 11, I think, "uh-oh, this is going to be the week that nobody shows up." But week after week, people do show up, and it's never happened yet that no one came at all. Somehow, we are church, our little rag-tag church that meets in a soup kitchen. Something beautiful is happening, just like Jesus said. Like a grain of yeast, like a mustard seed... Did you know that mustard was a weed in Jesus's time? He was saying that the Kindom of God is like dandelions, like kudzu -- you can't get rid of it! it keeps on growing in places where you least expect it. Shane Claiborne speaks of the "frightening smallness and hiddenness" as well as the "unstoppable growth of the reign of God." He says it "starts small, grows silently, faces setbacks but nevertheless permeates the world with love."
Let's permeate the world with love. You've heard of SBD, "silent but deadly"-- let's be SBL, "Silent but life-giving." I so believe in community -- Scott Peck said, "In community lies the healing of the world." And the rule of community is, Show Up! Hang in there! Forgive! Keep on Going! Don't worry about money, don't worry about numbers - just get in there and love.
Thank you to all of you who are making this tiny and nearly invisible seed of the Kindom of God be the loving, persistent presence that it is. I am so grateful for every one of you reading this bulletin. Do you know that every week the bulletin gets translated into Spanish - with help from Mary Wilkins and from Olga Lucia in Columbia - and then put on Olga's blog where it is read by people in Columbia and Peru and El Salvador -- and here in the states, in Florida and Boston and Utah and many points in between? - as well as Rochester. A beautiful web of connection. And there are hundreds of little communities like this one, all these little seeds of the kindom, permeating the world with love. It gives me joy.
Next week I will be in Chicago for a retreat with other Roman Catholic Womenpriests, connecting with others who have little communities like ours. Please pray for us! There won't be a bulletin next week, or a Migrant Mass on Thursday August 4, because I'll be in Chicago. Sunday, however, will go on as usual.
Come and join us, if you like!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"...any renewal of Church that is not a return to some kind of community, loyal relationships, family, isn't renewal. We do not think ourselves into a new way of living; we live our way into a new way of thinking."
---Richard Rohr, Radical Grace
Joe Lavoie is organizing a poetry night, Saturday August 13 starting at 4pm. If it's sunny out, we'll be at the Bakery, which is the former Savory Thyme building at 220 Mt Hope Ave; if it's raining, at St Joe's.
All summer long, there is a car wash in the St Joe's parking lot on Saturdays and Sundays from 9-5 as part of the St Joe's Employment Training Program. Come get your car washed! Recommended donations are $5-10 for outside cleanings, $20 for inside and out. Give your car some TLC, and help our guys earn some cash and learn some job skills!
Thanks very much to Karen and Mike Reimringer, Lynne Hamilton and Caryl Marchand, all of whom have dropped off camp chairs for use at the Migrant Masses. It will be good to be able to sit!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
In the Gospel this past Sunday we heard Jesus talking about his favorite subject, the kingdom of God... As some of us like to call it, the kindom of God, taking away the patriarchal/hierarchical kingship imagery and replacing it with the connectedness that permeates that world God dreams of. Joseph Moore once said, "The kingdom of God is what happens between you and me."
At the Migrant Mass this past Thursday, at the end of that dreadfully hot day, we stood outside the house of our friends who had worked all day in the heat and celebrated the Mass. Just as we sang the Alleluia before the Gospel, a sweet breeze blew all around us and cooled us off. I offered the sermon that Mary Wilkins had helped me translate. We used the Mass guides that Caryl Marchand laminated for us so everyone could say the responses. After Mass we shared the cookies that Rachael Morlock had baked. Pedro went in the house and brought out sodas for everyone, and we stood or sat and chatted about how the day had been. Librada Paz helped Caroline and Joe and I understand that some of the men had been picking cabbage all day, and that one of them had felt weak from the heat but still could only take a five-minutes rest every few hours. Pedro went back in the house and this time brought out a cabbage, one of those they had picked. It was a present for us. We laughed about the raccoons and tried to figure out why the chalice was leaking. And in that back and forth, the giving that went both ways, the sharing of hard times and of laughter, I believe we experienced something of the Kingdom of God. The Kindom of God.
We're such a little church, St. Romero's. Every Sunday as I get ready for Mass, with no one there yet at five to 11, I think, "uh-oh, this is going to be the week that nobody shows up." But week after week, people do show up, and it's never happened yet that no one came at all. Somehow, we are church, our little rag-tag church that meets in a soup kitchen. Something beautiful is happening, just like Jesus said. Like a grain of yeast, like a mustard seed... Did you know that mustard was a weed in Jesus's time? He was saying that the Kindom of God is like dandelions, like kudzu -- you can't get rid of it! it keeps on growing in places where you least expect it. Shane Claiborne speaks of the "frightening smallness and hiddenness" as well as the "unstoppable growth of the reign of God." He says it "starts small, grows silently, faces setbacks but nevertheless permeates the world with love."
Let's permeate the world with love. You've heard of SBD, "silent but deadly"-- let's be SBL, "Silent but life-giving." I so believe in community -- Scott Peck said, "In community lies the healing of the world." And the rule of community is, Show Up! Hang in there! Forgive! Keep on Going! Don't worry about money, don't worry about numbers - just get in there and love.
Thank you to all of you who are making this tiny and nearly invisible seed of the Kindom of God be the loving, persistent presence that it is. I am so grateful for every one of you reading this bulletin. Do you know that every week the bulletin gets translated into Spanish - with help from Mary Wilkins and from Olga Lucia in Columbia - and then put on Olga's blog where it is read by people in Columbia and Peru and El Salvador -- and here in the states, in Florida and Boston and Utah and many points in between? - as well as Rochester. A beautiful web of connection. And there are hundreds of little communities like this one, all these little seeds of the kindom, permeating the world with love. It gives me joy.
Next week I will be in Chicago for a retreat with other Roman Catholic Womenpriests, connecting with others who have little communities like ours. Please pray for us! There won't be a bulletin next week, or a Migrant Mass on Thursday August 4, because I'll be in Chicago. Sunday, however, will go on as usual.
Come and join us, if you like!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"...any renewal of Church that is not a return to some kind of community, loyal relationships, family, isn't renewal. We do not think ourselves into a new way of living; we live our way into a new way of thinking."
---Richard Rohr, Radical Grace
Joe Lavoie is organizing a poetry night, Saturday August 13 starting at 4pm. If it's sunny out, we'll be at the Bakery, which is the former Savory Thyme building at 220 Mt Hope Ave; if it's raining, at St Joe's.
All summer long, there is a car wash in the St Joe's parking lot on Saturdays and Sundays from 9-5 as part of the St Joe's Employment Training Program. Come get your car washed! Recommended donations are $5-10 for outside cleanings, $20 for inside and out. Give your car some TLC, and help our guys earn some cash and learn some job skills!
Thanks very much to Karen and Mike Reimringer, Lynne Hamilton and Caryl Marchand, all of whom have dropped off camp chairs for use at the Migrant Masses. It will be good to be able to sit!
________________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Church in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11 am
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
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