Feast of John the Baptist
Friends,
Did you ever see “Lilies of the Field”? That’s the Sidney Poitier movie from the early sixties, about a man who stops to ask some nuns for water for his car and ends up building them a church. (It’s the movie that gave us the great song, “Amen”). The community served by the nuns is mostly Mexican. Until they get that church, their altar is the back of a truck, with a priest in full pre-Vatican II vestments celebrating, and everyone standing around.
I thought of that movie last week at our first Migrant Mass of the year, because our altar was a board resting on the back of a truck! Last year we used a big crate resting on some upended buckets, but we couldn’t find any buckets last Thursday. A couple of the guys are rebuilding a truck, and we decided that was the best surface to use (another option being the trunk of my car). Flat surface, white tablecloth: tada! It’s an altar.
There was time before Mass began to hang out and talk to people while others were finishing supper. The boy in the community showed me how he’s learned to ride a bike. I met a couple of new young men and had a chance to look at the garden. Not everyone could be there. Librada had another commitment, I couldn’t reach Michael who usually comes in from the city with me, and Santiago was working (until dusk, most evenings lately). So, it was just me and the guys, a chance to be church again after the long winter.
Like last year, we all stood through the Mass, right by the garden with its tomato and chili pepper plants. Birds were singing, and there was a bit of a breeze. The cards with the Mass parts that Caryl Marchand laminated for us last year still serve. Our chalice is a wooden ciborium with a lid, to keep the bugs out. We sang two new songs, and everyone picked them up pretty quickly. At the end, everybody clapped, and then we had brownies. It was lovely.
Tonight we will leave again from St Joe’s at 6:30, as we intend to do every Thursday. You are always welcome to join us. Tonight we’ll have the cookies that Karen and Mike Reimringer dropped off at my house yesterday. Last week the guys said we might move to the storage barn near the house, so I guess for now that’s where we will worship.
We come together to remember who we are: beloved children of God. We come together to remember that God is always with us. We come together to support each other in the hard times, and laugh together in the good times. Laughter – always lots of laughter. I pray that it will be life-giving for all who come.
And one of these days, maybe Sidney Poitier will show up and build us a church! Amen!
Love and light to all
Chava
PS I was asked to join a planning committee for the Rural and Migrant Ministries annual “Harvesting Justice” dinner, to be held at Temple B’rith Kodesh in November (date TBA). I’m wondering if some of the folks who are so skilled at putting on events like ordinations might like to help out that day. It’s a one afternoon and evening commitment, setting tables, decorating, helping in the kitchen, and clean-up. Likely a weekday in mid-November. Is that something you might like to do? Let me know and I’ll start gathering names to contact when we have more full details.
People have asked if the DREAM act is good news for our folks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any of them will fit the requirements of being under 30, having been brought here before age 16, and being a high-school graduate. But congratulations to the daring young people who risked their own well-being to bring about this change.
You are always welcome at St Romero’s: Sunday Mass at 11 am at St Joe’s, Migrant Mass leaving St Joe’s at 6:30 on Thursday nights.
“The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world’s problems.” – Mahatma Gandhi
__________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Saturday, June 30, 2012
Bulletin for Sunday, June 17, 2012
11th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Friends,
Here are some things that Jesus never said. “The kingdom of God is like an army.” or, “The reign of God is like a government.” Nope. Jesus used images of surprise – the kingdom of God is like a treasure found in a field! – and persistence. The kingdom of God is like the most annoying weed you can think of! In Jesus’ time, that was mustard. Perhaps now he would say it’s like dandelions, or even poison ivy. Just when you think it’s all gone, poof! It’s back again. The reign of God is like little seeds, scattered in a field. Or like yeast, hidden in some dough. Littleness, hiddenness, persistence.
Those are great images for us to carry at St Romero’s, as we begin our second season of Masses with our migrant community. We began at this point last year, too: June 16, 2011. We celebrated the Mass together, standing in a parking lot, all summer long. In September, two things happened at once: the community moved to a bigger house where we could worship inside, and two of our guys got taken by immigration. In the fall we worshiped, standing around a picnic table in the new house, and our community went deeper as we dealt together with the realities of undocumented people and began our ministry of accompaniment, walking with the guys who were now in the system. In November, about half of the community went to Florida, and most of the others moved to a tiny house. We stopped having Mass, but continued Religious Education. Since April, everyone has been back, but working long hours because it’s planting season. They are now scattered over two houses.
This Thursday night, June 14, we’ll start celebrating Mass together again, back at the original location. I begin this year with a lot more knowledge of the reality of their lives: the monotony, the incredibly hard work, the fear of la migra, the conditions that they live in. I give them a lot of credit for showing up week after week last year, to worship with this gringa priest who knew so little. I’m still a pretty frustrating pastor, I think: my Spanish has improved a lot, but listening comprehension is another story. Luckily, there’s usually someone around who can translate. Please pray for us as we begin anew.
…and if you like, join us! Let me know if you’re coming and we’ll meet at St Joe’s to carpool. What, driving an hour each way to stand through a Mass with people you don’t know in a language you can’t understand, while swatting mosquitoes, doesn’t appeal to you? If you’d like to participate in a different way, we could also use cookies each week for our social time after Mass!
This past year, you who read this bulletin have been wonderful. You have been the extended community, the yeast hidden in the dough. Your prayers and encouragement mean a great deal. You have given practical help – I think of Martin and Linda, driving everybody in to my house for our Christmas Eve Mass – or those who helped with things, like Caryl, Linda, Lynne & Marianne, Karen & Mike, Kevin, Deb and others, who gave paint, beds, shelves, a crock pot - or the folks from the Methodist Church in Churchville who made cookies last year – and all the people who have given money, that pays for the phone our guys use to report in each month, and for gas and religious ed materials. Most of all, Librada, who patiently translated conversation after conversation last year. I’m sure I haven’t listed everyone, or everything you’ve given or done, but thank you, so much.
Every Thursday morning last summer, I woke up in a panic. “What am I doing?!” I would ask myself. “I don’t speak Spanish!” And every Thursday night, I drove home, happy. We are little, we are hidden, we live and worship in precarious conditions, but all is well. All is well. Pray for us as we go forth, please.
Love and light to all
Chava
We are also sending prayers for Gustavo Monzone, a Guatemalan man living in Mexico. We met Gus in Las Vegas last October at the Catholic Worker National Gathering. He worked at the Los Angeles Catholic Worker for a time. He was also in this country without documents. A Catholic parish in Los Angeles was helping him with the process to stay here legally, when they found out that he was gay, and dropped him in a flash. Gus was deported, and has been working at a Catholic Worker House in Mexico ever since. Just recently we got the news that Gus is dealing with a brain tumor. Please pray for this beautiful man, who has so much to give the world.
We continue to worship Sunday mornings at St Joe’s at 11. It’s always a surprise, who will be there. Maybe you, one of these weeks? We’d love to see you.
And happy Father’s Day to all the Dads!
_________________________________________________
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 are some things that Jesus never said. “The kingdom of God is like an army.” or, “The reign of God is like a government.” Nope. Jesus used images of surprise – the kingdom of God is like a treasure found in a field! – and persistence. The kingdom of God is like the most annoying weed you can think of! In Jesus’ time, that was mustard. Perhaps now he would say it’s like dandelions, or even poison ivy. Just when you think it’s all gone, poof! It’s back again. The reign of God is like little seeds, scattered in a field. Or like yeast, hidden in some dough. Littleness, hiddenness, persistence.
Those are great images for us to carry at St Romero’s, as we begin our second season of Masses with our migrant community. We began at this point last year, too: June 16, 2011. We celebrated the Mass together, standing in a parking lot, all summer long. In September, two things happened at once: the community moved to a bigger house where we could worship inside, and two of our guys got taken by immigration. In the fall we worshiped, standing around a picnic table in the new house, and our community went deeper as we dealt together with the realities of undocumented people and began our ministry of accompaniment, walking with the guys who were now in the system. In November, about half of the community went to Florida, and most of the others moved to a tiny house. We stopped having Mass, but continued Religious Education. Since April, everyone has been back, but working long hours because it’s planting season. They are now scattered over two houses.
This Thursday night, June 14, we’ll start celebrating Mass together again, back at the original location. I begin this year with a lot more knowledge of the reality of their lives: the monotony, the incredibly hard work, the fear of la migra, the conditions that they live in. I give them a lot of credit for showing up week after week last year, to worship with this gringa priest who knew so little. I’m still a pretty frustrating pastor, I think: my Spanish has improved a lot, but listening comprehension is another story. Luckily, there’s usually someone around who can translate. Please pray for us as we begin anew.
…and if you like, join us! Let me know if you’re coming and we’ll meet at St Joe’s to carpool. What, driving an hour each way to stand through a Mass with people you don’t know in a language you can’t understand, while swatting mosquitoes, doesn’t appeal to you? If you’d like to participate in a different way, we could also use cookies each week for our social time after Mass!
This past year, you who read this bulletin have been wonderful. You have been the extended community, the yeast hidden in the dough. Your prayers and encouragement mean a great deal. You have given practical help – I think of Martin and Linda, driving everybody in to my house for our Christmas Eve Mass – or those who helped with things, like Caryl, Linda, Lynne & Marianne, Karen & Mike, Kevin, Deb and others, who gave paint, beds, shelves, a crock pot - or the folks from the Methodist Church in Churchville who made cookies last year – and all the people who have given money, that pays for the phone our guys use to report in each month, and for gas and religious ed materials. Most of all, Librada, who patiently translated conversation after conversation last year. I’m sure I haven’t listed everyone, or everything you’ve given or done, but thank you, so much.
Every Thursday morning last summer, I woke up in a panic. “What am I doing?!” I would ask myself. “I don’t speak Spanish!” And every Thursday night, I drove home, happy. We are little, we are hidden, we live and worship in precarious conditions, but all is well. All is well. Pray for us as we go forth, please.
Love and light to all
Chava
We are also sending prayers for Gustavo Monzone, a Guatemalan man living in Mexico. We met Gus in Las Vegas last October at the Catholic Worker National Gathering. He worked at the Los Angeles Catholic Worker for a time. He was also in this country without documents. A Catholic parish in Los Angeles was helping him with the process to stay here legally, when they found out that he was gay, and dropped him in a flash. Gus was deported, and has been working at a Catholic Worker House in Mexico ever since. Just recently we got the news that Gus is dealing with a brain tumor. Please pray for this beautiful man, who has so much to give the world.
We continue to worship Sunday mornings at St Joe’s at 11. It’s always a surprise, who will be there. Maybe you, one of these weeks? We’d love to see you.
And happy Father’s Day to all the Dads!
_________________________________________________
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
Bulletin for Sunday, June 10, 2012
Feast of Corpus Christi
Friends,
How ironic that as we celebrate the feast of the Body of Christ – Corpus Christi – you and me and all of us who together are the church – as well as the meal we share as Jesus said to, the meal that binds us Christians together all throughout the world, in our different understandings of God and Eucharist and church – we are many, we are varied, but we are also one body ----- how ironic that we celebrate this feast at a time when the church in Rome is in what looks to me like a meltdown. “All hell breaks loose in the Vatican,” read a recent headline in the National Catholic Reporter. Nuns in this country are under pressure to conform, very much as we were pressured in 1998, with painful decisions to be made. And just this week, the Vatican announced the notification of Sr. Margaret Farley, who wrote a book called “Just Love: a Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,” causing her book to go overnight from obscurity to the Amazon top-twenty bestsellers list. (Reminding me of my Mom, Mary Doyle-Feder, who as a teenager used the annual Catholic list of banned books as her reading list!) You realize the average age of American nuns is over 70? They are bullying old women! - Our brothers in Rome seem to be flailing around, trying to control the Spirit, who goes where She will –and they are making things worse and worse.
All of this brings to mind something Jim Callan said in August 1998, after he was fired – by the same people – over much the same issues. Jim said, “Things aren’t breaking down, they’re breaking through!” – and that’s true now, too. Hang on, church, it’s going to be a bumpy ride --- but there is life at the end of it. God is here in the mess. All is well.
So here’s my prayer. I’m praying for the nuns, these days, for integrity and courage and insight and wisdom, all of which they already have in spades. May they be fearless and strong. And I’m praying for the church. The worldwide church, all of us who love Jesus and are trying – missteps, mistakes and all – to follow him. MAY WE BE RENEWED! May we become truly a church of the poor. May we value love and solidarity over security. May we fearlessly follow Jesus, who did warn us that we’d be persecuted. May we let go of our stuff and our power and see the world through the eyes of our brothers and sisters who have so little stuff, so little power. May we recognize that the church is all of us, not just the Catholics. May we be truly a church of equals, a church that can transform the world. May it be so.
Meanwhile at St Romero’s. we continue on our tiny, obscure and trusting-God-every-step-of-the-way way. All is well, even when all is fuzzy and unclear. Our brothers and sisters in the migrant community are back to working 12 hours a day planting cabbage, after several days off due to rain. The cabbage seedlings are in heavy boxes with nails and wires that tear at fingers and bruise legs. Please keep them in your prayers. And me, on the road. My car, after heroically making the hour-each-way trip countless times in the past year, is letting me know that it is feeling every inch of its 149,000 miles. God is good, all the time, and our little church will unfold as God is dreaming, one day at a time.
Blessings on this feast of Corpus Christi to all, all, all of the Body of Christ. May we all be the church God dreams of. Amen!
Love and light to all
Chava
_________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
How ironic that as we celebrate the feast of the Body of Christ – Corpus Christi – you and me and all of us who together are the church – as well as the meal we share as Jesus said to, the meal that binds us Christians together all throughout the world, in our different understandings of God and Eucharist and church – we are many, we are varied, but we are also one body ----- how ironic that we celebrate this feast at a time when the church in Rome is in what looks to me like a meltdown. “All hell breaks loose in the Vatican,” read a recent headline in the National Catholic Reporter. Nuns in this country are under pressure to conform, very much as we were pressured in 1998, with painful decisions to be made. And just this week, the Vatican announced the notification of Sr. Margaret Farley, who wrote a book called “Just Love: a Framework for Christian Sexual Ethics,” causing her book to go overnight from obscurity to the Amazon top-twenty bestsellers list. (Reminding me of my Mom, Mary Doyle-Feder, who as a teenager used the annual Catholic list of banned books as her reading list!) You realize the average age of American nuns is over 70? They are bullying old women! - Our brothers in Rome seem to be flailing around, trying to control the Spirit, who goes where She will –and they are making things worse and worse.
All of this brings to mind something Jim Callan said in August 1998, after he was fired – by the same people – over much the same issues. Jim said, “Things aren’t breaking down, they’re breaking through!” – and that’s true now, too. Hang on, church, it’s going to be a bumpy ride --- but there is life at the end of it. God is here in the mess. All is well.
So here’s my prayer. I’m praying for the nuns, these days, for integrity and courage and insight and wisdom, all of which they already have in spades. May they be fearless and strong. And I’m praying for the church. The worldwide church, all of us who love Jesus and are trying – missteps, mistakes and all – to follow him. MAY WE BE RENEWED! May we become truly a church of the poor. May we value love and solidarity over security. May we fearlessly follow Jesus, who did warn us that we’d be persecuted. May we let go of our stuff and our power and see the world through the eyes of our brothers and sisters who have so little stuff, so little power. May we recognize that the church is all of us, not just the Catholics. May we be truly a church of equals, a church that can transform the world. May it be so.
Meanwhile at St Romero’s. we continue on our tiny, obscure and trusting-God-every-step-of-the-way way. All is well, even when all is fuzzy and unclear. Our brothers and sisters in the migrant community are back to working 12 hours a day planting cabbage, after several days off due to rain. The cabbage seedlings are in heavy boxes with nails and wires that tear at fingers and bruise legs. Please keep them in your prayers. And me, on the road. My car, after heroically making the hour-each-way trip countless times in the past year, is letting me know that it is feeling every inch of its 149,000 miles. God is good, all the time, and our little church will unfold as God is dreaming, one day at a time.
Blessings on this feast of Corpus Christi to all, all, all of the Body of Christ. May we all be the church God dreams of. Amen!
Love and light to all
Chava
_________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Bulletin for Sunday, June 3, 2012
Feast of the Holy Trinity
Friends,
Pentecost at St Romero’s, 2012:
Before heading out to church on Sunday morning I had a feeling I should check my email. There was a note from Don Monefeldt, asking about the future of St Romero’s. Will we become solely a migrant church, leaving the church in the city behind? That question has been at the back of my mind, too, so I talked to God about it, as I often do. “If it’s just Michael and me at church again today, Lord, I’m going to take that as a sign that it’s time to move out to the country.” Even Capo hasn’t been coming to church lately, as he’s so tired from planting cabbage 72 or more hours a week.
So, off I went to St Joe’s. I tried to get in the back door and my key didn’t work, so I went around front. Still no luck. Ah. The locks have been changed. And no sign of Michael. Is this my sign? Along comes Fernando, though, wanting church. I see that the upstairs windows are open, so I holler up: “Marc? Jen? Bobby? José? Tom? Can anyone come down and open the door?” I’m thinking that I’ll just share a prayer with Fernando and call it a morning, but along comes José, who lets us in and joins us for Mass. Another man comes in at the end. As usual, it’s a lovely little Mass. I really love being pastor of a small church where it’s possible to know everyone.
After Mass I tell José about the email and the question in my mind, and telling God that if it’s just Michael and me I’ll take it as a sign. José laughs and apologizes for being part of my mixed message from God!
What I feel in my spirit is simply to pray with open hands, asking God for direction, and to keep on going, one day at a time. Meanwhile, back at the rancho, we haven’t started Mass yet. We went to Buffalo on Tuesday. There is pressure for the guys to get Mexican passports. We’re waiting for a document to arrive from Mexico, and then we will take a trip to NYC to visit the Mexican consulate. We will need a place to stay in New York, so if you know anyone who might be willing to put up two very nice men and a priest for a night, we’d appreciate hearing about it.
This Saturday, Fr Enrique Cadena will be in town celebrating both his 30th anniversary of priesthood, and his 60th birthday with a Mass at Perinton Park in Fairport at 5. Enrique was a very important part of the events at Corpus Christi in 1998. His creativity changed our habits of worship: it was he who first invited the congregation to say the words of consecration. May his vision of equality be the reality of the church!
Love and light to all
Chava
“One can make an offering of the self to God. This is far different from offering one's special talents, as important as that may be. It is more than the offering of resources, however great or limited they may be. It is to offer one's self: to put at the disposal of Life one's life, not merely one's needs, one's demands, one's frustrations, one's unresolved problems. This is to say to Life, ‘Here I am, I put myself at your disposal to be where I am--all of me. To do, where I am, with all of me. To respond to life where I am without bargaining or bartering.’”
Howard Thurman, “The Inward Journey”
_________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
Friends,
Pentecost at St Romero’s, 2012:
Before heading out to church on Sunday morning I had a feeling I should check my email. There was a note from Don Monefeldt, asking about the future of St Romero’s. Will we become solely a migrant church, leaving the church in the city behind? That question has been at the back of my mind, too, so I talked to God about it, as I often do. “If it’s just Michael and me at church again today, Lord, I’m going to take that as a sign that it’s time to move out to the country.” Even Capo hasn’t been coming to church lately, as he’s so tired from planting cabbage 72 or more hours a week.
So, off I went to St Joe’s. I tried to get in the back door and my key didn’t work, so I went around front. Still no luck. Ah. The locks have been changed. And no sign of Michael. Is this my sign? Along comes Fernando, though, wanting church. I see that the upstairs windows are open, so I holler up: “Marc? Jen? Bobby? José? Tom? Can anyone come down and open the door?” I’m thinking that I’ll just share a prayer with Fernando and call it a morning, but along comes José, who lets us in and joins us for Mass. Another man comes in at the end. As usual, it’s a lovely little Mass. I really love being pastor of a small church where it’s possible to know everyone.
After Mass I tell José about the email and the question in my mind, and telling God that if it’s just Michael and me I’ll take it as a sign. José laughs and apologizes for being part of my mixed message from God!
What I feel in my spirit is simply to pray with open hands, asking God for direction, and to keep on going, one day at a time. Meanwhile, back at the rancho, we haven’t started Mass yet. We went to Buffalo on Tuesday. There is pressure for the guys to get Mexican passports. We’re waiting for a document to arrive from Mexico, and then we will take a trip to NYC to visit the Mexican consulate. We will need a place to stay in New York, so if you know anyone who might be willing to put up two very nice men and a priest for a night, we’d appreciate hearing about it.
This Saturday, Fr Enrique Cadena will be in town celebrating both his 30th anniversary of priesthood, and his 60th birthday with a Mass at Perinton Park in Fairport at 5. Enrique was a very important part of the events at Corpus Christi in 1998. His creativity changed our habits of worship: it was he who first invited the congregation to say the words of consecration. May his vision of equality be the reality of the church!
Love and light to all
Chava
“One can make an offering of the self to God. This is far different from offering one's special talents, as important as that may be. It is more than the offering of resources, however great or limited they may be. It is to offer one's self: to put at the disposal of Life one's life, not merely one's needs, one's demands, one's frustrations, one's unresolved problems. This is to say to Life, ‘Here I am, I put myself at your disposal to be where I am--all of me. To do, where I am, with all of me. To respond to life where I am without bargaining or bartering.’”
Howard Thurman, “The Inward Journey”
_________________________________________________
Oscar Romero Church
An Inclusive Community of Liberation, Justice and Joy
Worshiping in the Catholic Tradition
Mass: Sundays, 11
St Joseph's House of Hospitality, 402 South Ave, Rochester NY 14620
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