2nd Sunday of Easter
Friends,
On Good Friday, thirty-seven people were arrested at Hancock Air Force Base, near Syracuse, after lying in the road wrapped in red-spattered sheets to protest the drones that are deployed from there. Harry Murray said, explaining his participation, that "the war is now being waged right here in upstate New York not just across the seas." On our end it is bloodless, but on the other end it is deadly.
People sometimes think that when we call for non-violence, it means being passive in the face of evil. It doesn't mean that, at all. Non-violence means absorbing suffering, instead of inflicting it. In their act of "obstruction of governmental process," which carries the possibility of up to a year in jail, these 37 friends are participating in the death and resurrection of Jesus. Remember how Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to God except by me"? I believe that means that the only way to life is through the cross, through our own participation in the way that Jesus demonstrated. Whether that is in big ways, like actually laying down your life for others like Monseñor Romero did, or by facing time in jail like these 37, or facing expulsion from your community like Fr Roy or in small ways, as simple as accepting the pain of looking at our own behavior and saying "I'm sorry" when we've hurt someone, rather than telling them it's really their own fault. In big ways and in small, we participate in the healing work of God by walking through the pain. That's the way to life!!! We don't get to healing by inflicting pain or denying it or running away from it but by going through it, letting go of ego and power and control, dying to ourselves in big ways and in small.
With a mixture of sadness and joy, we are saying goodbye to one of the founding members of our little community, Eli Woodbeck. He is returning to Michigan after seven months at St Joe's. I am so grateful for his time here! Eli has been my "right-hand man" here at St Romero's. From making our Advent wreath to advertising our Masses to cooking eggs for our coffee hour, Eli has been part of the fabric of our little church. God bless you, brother we don't need to tell you that you've always got a home here!
On Sunday morning, May 1, some folks will be gathering in front of Sacred Heart Cathedral on Flower City Park to show their support for Fr Roy Bourgeois, who faces expulsion from the Maryknoll order and being stripped of his priesthood, because of his support for the ordination of women. May 1 is also the first anniversary of my own ordination, and I plan to mark it by joining Marilu Aguilar and others in front of the cathedral, then coming back to St Romero's to pray for life and healing in the church. It is not enough to pray for the ordination of women: we must also pray for transformation, for a church that stands with the poor, that reaches across boundaries of nation and denomination to stand together with all those who love God, a church that can acknowledge its own shadow side and admit when it is wrong, and a church where all are empowered to be the people God dreams of them being. Come celebrate with us --- we have the added joy of music, this week, as Bill Welch is going to come and play for us!!
So if you've been saying, "one of these days I'm going to visit St Romero's"... this is a great Sunday to do it!!
It gives me a lot of joy when I meet people who are dreaming of a transformed church (there are many, and that is one of the things that makes right now a very exciting time to be alive). One such person is Matthew Fox, who has just written a book called "The Pope's War: Why Ratzinger's Secret Crusade Has Imperiled the Church and How It Can Be Saved" he has a chapter
called "The Inquisitor's Enemies: Casaldaliga, Javorova, and Callan" and he tells the story of Corpus and Spiritus Christi. What I find moving is that he links our story with the squashing of Liberation Theology by the Vatican, a connection that is plain to anyone who lived those events, but it's lovely to see someone else recognize it. The book can be found at:
http://www.amazon.com/Popes-War-Ratzingers-Crusade-Imperiled/dp/1402786298/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303764280&sr=8-1
Come walk with Myra Brown and the Spiritus Anti-Racism Coalition on Friday, April 29 in support of the YWCA Stand Against Racism initiative. Meet in front of the Downtown United Presbyterian Church at 121 N. Fitzhugh St. at 5:15pm for this hour-long walk through downtown.
I hope you are enjoying the Spring! Daffodils, tulips, hyacinths and lots more to come!!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"God challenges us through Jesus never to accept as-it-is as much as what-God's-love-can-make-it."
Richard Rohr
_________________________________________________________________________
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, April 28, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, April 24, 2011
Easter Sunday
Friends,
This Thursday we remember the night that Jesus gave the church some last-minute instructions about how we were to go on. He gave us a precious ritual that we've been celebrating ever since, remembering him with bread and wine with lots of variations on the ritual and with different understandings of what's happening in it, but all of us Christians united, nonetheless, by this simple act of sharing bread and wine in memory of the One who loves us.
Jesus also gave us an example of how we are to treat each other, by washing the feet of his disciples. That one we haven't imitated quite so consistently. Sometimes it's easier to love and serve people we've got a little distance from: the poor, people in other countries. Really loving the person who sits across from us at the dinner table or the person at work that drives us crazy takes actually more humility. In church, especially, we often hold each other to impossible standards instead of being in awe and wonder at the gift each person... each flawed, annoying, aggravating, wonderful person.
I believe the work of the church is two-fold: to nurture the spiritual growth of the people of God, and to build the world God dreams of, the world where everyone has what they need for fullness of life. How do we nurture each other's growth? Well, I firmly believe that one way to do that is by treating each other as equals. The church has a long way to go on this, but one small way to start is if on Holy Thursday, all of us wash each other's feet, and get our own feet washed, as well.
So this Thursday if you care to join us, we'll be up on the second floor at the bakery, 220 Mt Hope Avenue, at 7 pm for Holy Thursday Mass and a foot-washing free-for-all. Try to get there a little early, or be prepared to bang on the door so we can hear you! It's the former Savory Thyme building, with a parking lot in back that is entered from Hamilton Street. If you want to bring a basin, pitcher or towel, great! Hope to see you there.
We will not have a service on Good Friday, but some of us will be doing the Stations of the Cross through downtown. This is a Good Friday tradition of St Joe's, House of Mercy and Pax Christi. Meet in front of Kodak Office at 11am for the two-hour walk.
We will celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at 11 am in the dining room at St Joe's. It was so much fun having a shared homily a few weeks ago when we talked about the woman at the well, that I think we'll do it again. Come with a story about where you've seen an example of resurrection, lately! We will celebrate life together and remember that love wins.
The very last thing Jesus told the church before they dragged him away to be put on trial was, "Put down your sword." Among the horrendous "swords" human beings have invented lately are drones, instruments of destruction that can be deployed from thousands of miles away. This week people are walking towards Syracuse from all over New York State, to converge on Hamilton Air Force Base on Good Friday to protest the drones deployed from there. Peg Gefell and Paul Frazier have been walking with them, and Linda Condon and I will join them for a while on Tuesday, walking between Seneca Falls and Auburn. If you'd like to join them, they'll be walking along route 20 to Syracuse. Please pray for all our walkers, and for peace.
Here's another walk that's coming up: on April 29 there will be a Walk for Racial Justice through downtown. Meet in front of the Downtown United Presbyterian Church at 121 Fitzhugh Street North at 5:15pm for this hour-long walk with the Spiritus Christi Anti-Racism Coalition.
Our fish fries for Joe are done! Thanks so much to all who participated, especially to Peg Gefell for her wonderful cooking. We thank Bill and Fred Welch for singing this past week, too. It was such a lovely time, people talking and eating, just being together and supporting our Joseph as he tries to stay in the country that has become his home. We raised about two thousand dollars with the fish fries, which is a good start towards paying for his lawyer (although there's still quite a ways to go).
Have a blessed Holy Week and a joyful Easter!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"The church is the heart in a world without a heart
a rose amidst the thorns the sigh of the poor."
- Alex Orantes , Santa Ana, El Salvador
_________________________________________________________________
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 14603
Friends,
This Thursday we remember the night that Jesus gave the church some last-minute instructions about how we were to go on. He gave us a precious ritual that we've been celebrating ever since, remembering him with bread and wine with lots of variations on the ritual and with different understandings of what's happening in it, but all of us Christians united, nonetheless, by this simple act of sharing bread and wine in memory of the One who loves us.
Jesus also gave us an example of how we are to treat each other, by washing the feet of his disciples. That one we haven't imitated quite so consistently. Sometimes it's easier to love and serve people we've got a little distance from: the poor, people in other countries. Really loving the person who sits across from us at the dinner table or the person at work that drives us crazy takes actually more humility. In church, especially, we often hold each other to impossible standards instead of being in awe and wonder at the gift each person... each flawed, annoying, aggravating, wonderful person.
I believe the work of the church is two-fold: to nurture the spiritual growth of the people of God, and to build the world God dreams of, the world where everyone has what they need for fullness of life. How do we nurture each other's growth? Well, I firmly believe that one way to do that is by treating each other as equals. The church has a long way to go on this, but one small way to start is if on Holy Thursday, all of us wash each other's feet, and get our own feet washed, as well.
So this Thursday if you care to join us, we'll be up on the second floor at the bakery, 220 Mt Hope Avenue, at 7 pm for Holy Thursday Mass and a foot-washing free-for-all. Try to get there a little early, or be prepared to bang on the door so we can hear you! It's the former Savory Thyme building, with a parking lot in back that is entered from Hamilton Street. If you want to bring a basin, pitcher or towel, great! Hope to see you there.
We will not have a service on Good Friday, but some of us will be doing the Stations of the Cross through downtown. This is a Good Friday tradition of St Joe's, House of Mercy and Pax Christi. Meet in front of Kodak Office at 11am for the two-hour walk.
We will celebrate Easter Sunday Mass at 11 am in the dining room at St Joe's. It was so much fun having a shared homily a few weeks ago when we talked about the woman at the well, that I think we'll do it again. Come with a story about where you've seen an example of resurrection, lately! We will celebrate life together and remember that love wins.
The very last thing Jesus told the church before they dragged him away to be put on trial was, "Put down your sword." Among the horrendous "swords" human beings have invented lately are drones, instruments of destruction that can be deployed from thousands of miles away. This week people are walking towards Syracuse from all over New York State, to converge on Hamilton Air Force Base on Good Friday to protest the drones deployed from there. Peg Gefell and Paul Frazier have been walking with them, and Linda Condon and I will join them for a while on Tuesday, walking between Seneca Falls and Auburn. If you'd like to join them, they'll be walking along route 20 to Syracuse. Please pray for all our walkers, and for peace.
Here's another walk that's coming up: on April 29 there will be a Walk for Racial Justice through downtown. Meet in front of the Downtown United Presbyterian Church at 121 Fitzhugh Street North at 5:15pm for this hour-long walk with the Spiritus Christi Anti-Racism Coalition.
Our fish fries for Joe are done! Thanks so much to all who participated, especially to Peg Gefell for her wonderful cooking. We thank Bill and Fred Welch for singing this past week, too. It was such a lovely time, people talking and eating, just being together and supporting our Joseph as he tries to stay in the country that has become his home. We raised about two thousand dollars with the fish fries, which is a good start towards paying for his lawyer (although there's still quite a ways to go).
Have a blessed Holy Week and a joyful Easter!
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
"The church is the heart in a world without a heart
a rose amidst the thorns the sigh of the poor."
- Alex Orantes , Santa Ana, El Salvador
_________________________________________________________________
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 14603
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Bulletin for Sunday, April 17, 2011
Palm Sunday
Friends,
This past week, Eli Woodbeck and I were in El Salvador with a group of people from around the country. Many thanks to Deacon Patti LaRosa, who filled in for me, and to Rachael Morlock who assisted her.
The most exciting thing for me on this trip was the encounter with others who are building alternative communities both here in the States, and in El Salvador. There are many common threads: empowerment of women, working with the poor, ecumenism, inclusivity, equality. Over and over we heard about living like the early Christians, about going back to our roots as church. The vision that binds us is so much stronger than our denominational differences. I believe God is doing something new in the world. A new church is being born: one where we focus on building the world God dreams of without worrying so much about our different theologies. Together we are loving God and working for justice and peace and life for all.
The Kindom of God is among us! It is already here. It is in every place where the poor are loved and empowered, where all are encouraged to be the people they were meant to be without telling anyone they're the wrong race or gender or age or sexual orientation. We're living it! Imperfectly, with our shadow sides always there but it's here, it's now, don't miss it!!!
There were seven North Americans in our group: us two radical Catholics, two American Baptists, two from Evangelical communities, and our interpreter, plus several members of the Shekina community in Santa Ana. It would have been exciting to be with this group of people even if we weren't on such an interesting journey together. The main focus of our trip was on community, and we visited several. I'd like to share some of what we gleaned from those encounters.
Our hosts were members of Shekina Baptist Church. Shekina broke away from the larger Baptist community in Santa Ana in the 1990s, because they wanted to empower women in leadership and to be able to focus more on justice, as well as including the youth more. Sound familiar? They met in living rooms for years before hiring a female pastor, Ruth de Orantes, and building a church. They have dreams of a community center that would serve the neighborhood, and on Sunday we sat in the backyard, in the space that will one day be that center, and heard from them about what it was like starting the church. Listening to my friend Yani as she described the pain of leaving their original community, I was both sad and comforted. Hearing their experience normalized my own sadness at leaving Spiritus Christi. You can't create a new reality and stay in your old one at the same time. Shekina is today a joyful and vibrant community, where women are strong and youth are integral to the governance of the church.
On Monday morning we went to the University of Central America, where the six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were all killed on November 16, 1989. We met with theologian Soyapa Perez, and wow! we had a great discussion. We talked about how the church should be if it wants to be founded in Jesus. Is our focus on the Kindom of God, or on the institution of the church? She spoke of Ignatio Ellacuria's dream of "a poor church, focused on service, that includes everyone." Soyapa said, "You need to believe in the people. You need to believe in the poor."
In the afternoon we visited the parish of Maria Madre de los Pobres in San Salvador, where people are living the theology we had discussed at the UCA. Imagine Spiritus Christi with all its outreaches but without the budget. They have responded to the needs around them with child care, elder care, a primary school, a library, community banks for women, all on a shoestring. We heard about ecumenism, working with other churches in the area, and saw their efforts at empowering women by using inclusive language.
Tuesday we traveled to the west of the country to visit "La Pequeña Comunidad," a non-canonical community of nuns who walk with the poor, there. Here, too, we met people whose desire to live the Gospel could not be met within existing institutions, and had branched out on their own. They had shared the risks taken by the people around them, the terrible suffering during the war, and are now experiencing life and hope as they send the young people to college, and collectively farm the land and share what is needed for the good of all.
I could talk for a week about all that we experienced and learned! On our last day, Friday, we held worship on the steps at Cuscatlán Park, where there is a memorial to the 75,000 martyrs of the civil war. We are used to the combined Catholic/Baptist Masses that Spiritus celebrates at Immanuel Baptist on Tuesdays: I think this might have been the first Catholic/Evangelical joint celebration! Barrett Smith of Carpenter's Church in Lubbock, Texas, preached, and I presided as we shared communion with a tortilla and some tamarind juice. We felt the presence of God and broke down barriers between north and south, rich and poor, Protestant and Catholic, liberal and conservative, male and female. We are called to love and serve our God and each other, together. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. The Kindom of God is among us.
There will be another such group going in November... are you interested? It would be great to send a group from here. Keep our vision growing!
On Holy Thursday, April 21, we will meet at 7 pm upstairs in the bakery (the former Savory Thyme building) on Mt. Hope Ave, for a foot-washing free-for-all and Holy Thursday Mass. You are most welcome to join us.
This Sunday we will talk about our plans for Easter: whether to have an Easter vigil service, a sunrise service, or meet at 11 as usual. Think about it, and come on Sunday with your opinion!
Please join us this Friday night, April 15, for the last of our Lenten Fish Fries for Joe. This week we will have music by Bill Welch, and afterwards Eli and I will talk about our trip to El Salvador. The fish fry is from 6 to 7:30 pm. $8 per dinner, no one turned away. Talk starts at 7:30 hope you can join us for either or both!
It is not too late to join the people walking to Syracuse during Holy Week to protest the drones that are deployed from Hancock Air Force Base. Call Peg if you are interested: 313-6674.
Fr. Roy Bourgeois faces expulsion from the Maryknoll order after 38 years of priesthood because of his support of women's ordination. I and so many other women priests are grateful for his solidarity and willingness to suffer this indignity in order to stand with us. Thank God they're not burning people at the stake any more. Thank you, Fr. Roy.
You might have noticed that this bulletin is now being sent by Rachael Morlock, who offered to take over the mailing each week. Many thanks to Rachael, and know that if you send a reply note to her, she will forward it on to me.
Blessings and love to all, Chava
"I hope they'll do what is just as a Christian community. But I see this with such clarity that rather than recant, I'd rather eat at a soup kitchen and live under a bridge, and do that with deep inner peace and a clear conscience."
- Fr. Roy Bourgeois
_______________________________________________________
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 14603
Friends,
This past week, Eli Woodbeck and I were in El Salvador with a group of people from around the country. Many thanks to Deacon Patti LaRosa, who filled in for me, and to Rachael Morlock who assisted her.
The most exciting thing for me on this trip was the encounter with others who are building alternative communities both here in the States, and in El Salvador. There are many common threads: empowerment of women, working with the poor, ecumenism, inclusivity, equality. Over and over we heard about living like the early Christians, about going back to our roots as church. The vision that binds us is so much stronger than our denominational differences. I believe God is doing something new in the world. A new church is being born: one where we focus on building the world God dreams of without worrying so much about our different theologies. Together we are loving God and working for justice and peace and life for all.
The Kindom of God is among us! It is already here. It is in every place where the poor are loved and empowered, where all are encouraged to be the people they were meant to be without telling anyone they're the wrong race or gender or age or sexual orientation. We're living it! Imperfectly, with our shadow sides always there but it's here, it's now, don't miss it!!!
There were seven North Americans in our group: us two radical Catholics, two American Baptists, two from Evangelical communities, and our interpreter, plus several members of the Shekina community in Santa Ana. It would have been exciting to be with this group of people even if we weren't on such an interesting journey together. The main focus of our trip was on community, and we visited several. I'd like to share some of what we gleaned from those encounters.
Our hosts were members of Shekina Baptist Church. Shekina broke away from the larger Baptist community in Santa Ana in the 1990s, because they wanted to empower women in leadership and to be able to focus more on justice, as well as including the youth more. Sound familiar? They met in living rooms for years before hiring a female pastor, Ruth de Orantes, and building a church. They have dreams of a community center that would serve the neighborhood, and on Sunday we sat in the backyard, in the space that will one day be that center, and heard from them about what it was like starting the church. Listening to my friend Yani as she described the pain of leaving their original community, I was both sad and comforted. Hearing their experience normalized my own sadness at leaving Spiritus Christi. You can't create a new reality and stay in your old one at the same time. Shekina is today a joyful and vibrant community, where women are strong and youth are integral to the governance of the church.
On Monday morning we went to the University of Central America, where the six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were all killed on November 16, 1989. We met with theologian Soyapa Perez, and wow! we had a great discussion. We talked about how the church should be if it wants to be founded in Jesus. Is our focus on the Kindom of God, or on the institution of the church? She spoke of Ignatio Ellacuria's dream of "a poor church, focused on service, that includes everyone." Soyapa said, "You need to believe in the people. You need to believe in the poor."
In the afternoon we visited the parish of Maria Madre de los Pobres in San Salvador, where people are living the theology we had discussed at the UCA. Imagine Spiritus Christi with all its outreaches but without the budget. They have responded to the needs around them with child care, elder care, a primary school, a library, community banks for women, all on a shoestring. We heard about ecumenism, working with other churches in the area, and saw their efforts at empowering women by using inclusive language.
Tuesday we traveled to the west of the country to visit "La Pequeña Comunidad," a non-canonical community of nuns who walk with the poor, there. Here, too, we met people whose desire to live the Gospel could not be met within existing institutions, and had branched out on their own. They had shared the risks taken by the people around them, the terrible suffering during the war, and are now experiencing life and hope as they send the young people to college, and collectively farm the land and share what is needed for the good of all.
I could talk for a week about all that we experienced and learned! On our last day, Friday, we held worship on the steps at Cuscatlán Park, where there is a memorial to the 75,000 martyrs of the civil war. We are used to the combined Catholic/Baptist Masses that Spiritus celebrates at Immanuel Baptist on Tuesdays: I think this might have been the first Catholic/Evangelical joint celebration! Barrett Smith of Carpenter's Church in Lubbock, Texas, preached, and I presided as we shared communion with a tortilla and some tamarind juice. We felt the presence of God and broke down barriers between north and south, rich and poor, Protestant and Catholic, liberal and conservative, male and female. We are called to love and serve our God and each other, together. It's a beautiful, beautiful thing. The Kindom of God is among us.
There will be another such group going in November... are you interested? It would be great to send a group from here. Keep our vision growing!
On Holy Thursday, April 21, we will meet at 7 pm upstairs in the bakery (the former Savory Thyme building) on Mt. Hope Ave, for a foot-washing free-for-all and Holy Thursday Mass. You are most welcome to join us.
This Sunday we will talk about our plans for Easter: whether to have an Easter vigil service, a sunrise service, or meet at 11 as usual. Think about it, and come on Sunday with your opinion!
Please join us this Friday night, April 15, for the last of our Lenten Fish Fries for Joe. This week we will have music by Bill Welch, and afterwards Eli and I will talk about our trip to El Salvador. The fish fry is from 6 to 7:30 pm. $8 per dinner, no one turned away. Talk starts at 7:30 hope you can join us for either or both!
It is not too late to join the people walking to Syracuse during Holy Week to protest the drones that are deployed from Hancock Air Force Base. Call Peg if you are interested: 313-6674.
Fr. Roy Bourgeois faces expulsion from the Maryknoll order after 38 years of priesthood because of his support of women's ordination. I and so many other women priests are grateful for his solidarity and willingness to suffer this indignity in order to stand with us. Thank God they're not burning people at the stake any more. Thank you, Fr. Roy.
You might have noticed that this bulletin is now being sent by Rachael Morlock, who offered to take over the mailing each week. Many thanks to Rachael, and know that if you send a reply note to her, she will forward it on to me.
Blessings and love to all, Chava
"I hope they'll do what is just as a Christian community. But I see this with such clarity that rather than recant, I'd rather eat at a soup kitchen and live under a bridge, and do that with deep inner peace and a clear conscience."
- Fr. Roy Bourgeois
_______________________________________________________
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 14603
Bulletin for Sunday, April 3, 2011
4th Sunday in Lent
Friends,
How is your Lent going? We're about halfway through so it's a good moment to take stock. I hope you have found life-giving ways to pray, fast and give alms, because Lent can be such a rich time for spiritual growth. With three weeks left to go, it's not too late to start doing something if you haven't...spending more time with God in prayer, giving more, letting go of some things... may this time be a blessing to you!
This Lent I've been reading Richard Rohr's book, "Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent," which has a reading tied to the lectionary for each day. Sometimes it amazes me how the readings fit with whatever I'm thinking about at the time. Today was one of those days, because I'm thinking about smallness and tha's what he was writing about.
We experienced the gift of smallness this past Sunday, celebrating Mass up on the third floor at St Joe's because of the pancake breakfast for Haiti that was happening downstairs. We were such a small group that I decided to do a shared homily. We read through the story of the woman at the well, bit by bit, and shared our thoughts on each part. I'm so glad we did that, because Linda Condon had an insight I liked a lot, about how vulnerable Jesus was at the beginning of the story; hot and tired, needing to rest and
ask for water. Lately I've been thinking a lot about love's humility, and there was a lovely incidence of it: think of God asking you for a drink of water!
This coming week we've got another example of that in the story of the court official who comes to Jesus to ask for healing for his son. What did it take for a big shot member of the royal court to come to this simple carpenter and beg for healing? It took the love of a parent for a sick child. God is like that. Love is not proud; in fact, I believe in a God who has no pride at all, who will do whatever it takes to reach us, to offer healing and life.
Love is patient and kind, never proud or rude; blessed are the meek and the poor in spirit and the lovers who just want healing and life. We say these things over and over because we need to, because they stand in complete opposition to the wisdom of the world that says, be successful, be on top, be significant, be powerful. That's not how God operates in the world, not our God who shows up as a helpless baby in an oppressed backwater country and grows up to die the shameful death of a criminal. Our God turns the world upside down.
Jesus also said, "blessed are you when you are persecuted for my sake." One of the friends of the women's ordination movement is experiencing that now. Maryknoll priest Fr Roy Bourgeois has been given 15 days to recant his support of women's ordination or be expelled from his order. It's a long time now since our crisis at Corpus Christi, when we watched person after person lose their jobs, standing for justice in the church. It ought to be a red flag to the powerful when they're losing their most creative and spirit-filled people, a big red sign that says, "Wrong way!!" But to Fr Roy we say what Ched Myers said when all of us were ousted back in 1999: "Welcome to the outer darkness, and the church of the great renewal!"
On Saturday, Eli and I will fly to El Salvador. Please pray for us and the others in our group may God's dreams come true, may we grow and learn and get set on fire for healing and life and love for all God's people. Deacon Patti LaRosa will fill in for me while I'm gone Patti's ordination to priesthood will be Saturday, June 4 in Baltimore, so please pray for her and the other deacons, Marellen, Caryl and Ann, as well!
No bulletin next week as I'll be in El Salvador -
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
This link is to an article about Fr Roy in the National Catholic Reporter:
http://ncronline.org/news/women/maryknoll-gives-bourgeois-notice-removal-order
And this is the email address for the Maryknoll Order, if you'd care to write them a letter:
mklcouncil@maryknoll.org
Friday night our Lenten Fish Fries for Joe continue, from 6 to 7:30 pm. $8 per dinner, no one turned away. We've been having a lot of fun at these and hope you will join us.
"Great Contents must be held by smaller holding tanks."
Richard Rohr
Have a blessed week, and come visit us some 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 14603
Friends,
How is your Lent going? We're about halfway through so it's a good moment to take stock. I hope you have found life-giving ways to pray, fast and give alms, because Lent can be such a rich time for spiritual growth. With three weeks left to go, it's not too late to start doing something if you haven't...spending more time with God in prayer, giving more, letting go of some things... may this time be a blessing to you!
This Lent I've been reading Richard Rohr's book, "Wondrous Encounters: Scripture for Lent," which has a reading tied to the lectionary for each day. Sometimes it amazes me how the readings fit with whatever I'm thinking about at the time. Today was one of those days, because I'm thinking about smallness and tha's what he was writing about.
We experienced the gift of smallness this past Sunday, celebrating Mass up on the third floor at St Joe's because of the pancake breakfast for Haiti that was happening downstairs. We were such a small group that I decided to do a shared homily. We read through the story of the woman at the well, bit by bit, and shared our thoughts on each part. I'm so glad we did that, because Linda Condon had an insight I liked a lot, about how vulnerable Jesus was at the beginning of the story; hot and tired, needing to rest and
ask for water. Lately I've been thinking a lot about love's humility, and there was a lovely incidence of it: think of God asking you for a drink of water!
This coming week we've got another example of that in the story of the court official who comes to Jesus to ask for healing for his son. What did it take for a big shot member of the royal court to come to this simple carpenter and beg for healing? It took the love of a parent for a sick child. God is like that. Love is not proud; in fact, I believe in a God who has no pride at all, who will do whatever it takes to reach us, to offer healing and life.
Love is patient and kind, never proud or rude; blessed are the meek and the poor in spirit and the lovers who just want healing and life. We say these things over and over because we need to, because they stand in complete opposition to the wisdom of the world that says, be successful, be on top, be significant, be powerful. That's not how God operates in the world, not our God who shows up as a helpless baby in an oppressed backwater country and grows up to die the shameful death of a criminal. Our God turns the world upside down.
Jesus also said, "blessed are you when you are persecuted for my sake." One of the friends of the women's ordination movement is experiencing that now. Maryknoll priest Fr Roy Bourgeois has been given 15 days to recant his support of women's ordination or be expelled from his order. It's a long time now since our crisis at Corpus Christi, when we watched person after person lose their jobs, standing for justice in the church. It ought to be a red flag to the powerful when they're losing their most creative and spirit-filled people, a big red sign that says, "Wrong way!!" But to Fr Roy we say what Ched Myers said when all of us were ousted back in 1999: "Welcome to the outer darkness, and the church of the great renewal!"
On Saturday, Eli and I will fly to El Salvador. Please pray for us and the others in our group may God's dreams come true, may we grow and learn and get set on fire for healing and life and love for all God's people. Deacon Patti LaRosa will fill in for me while I'm gone Patti's ordination to priesthood will be Saturday, June 4 in Baltimore, so please pray for her and the other deacons, Marellen, Caryl and Ann, as well!
No bulletin next week as I'll be in El Salvador -
Blessings and love to all,
Chava
This link is to an article about Fr Roy in the National Catholic Reporter:
http://ncronline.org/news/women/maryknoll-gives-bourgeois-notice-removal-order
And this is the email address for the Maryknoll Order, if you'd care to write them a letter:
mklcouncil@maryknoll.org
Friday night our Lenten Fish Fries for Joe continue, from 6 to 7:30 pm. $8 per dinner, no one turned away. We've been having a lot of fun at these and hope you will join us.
"Great Contents must be held by smaller holding tanks."
Richard Rohr
Have a blessed week, and come visit us some Sunday!
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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 14603
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