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| Prayer for Peace |
Eucharistic Procession Feast of the Assumption,
honoring Mary, Queen of Peace Through the merits of Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ, Mary, the Mother of God, was assumed into heaven body
and soul and crowned Queen of Heaven and Earth. A solemn
Eucharistic procession from the Grotto of Our Ladt of the Miraculous Medal to Jones inlet will take place on August 15th at
6:00pm, Point Lookout, NY.
Join the parisioners of OLMMC in honoring Mary, Queen of Peace, on the feast of her Assumption
Mother Mary. Raise your voice in hymns, songs and prayers for peace Directions: Take the Meadowbrook South to the Loop Parkway, go to the end turn
left into Point Lookout, maje a right at the light onto Parkside - you can't missit! Be there !
| Women
Religious honored with the Eileen Egan Peacemaker Award | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Pax Christi USA will present the award to the Leadership Conference
of Women Religious at the National Catholic Conference on Peacemaking in Chicago, July 18
Washington, D.C.—At
this year’s National Catholic Conference on Peacemaking, Pax Christi USA (www.paxchristiusa.org) will recognize the
significant contributions of women religious by honoring the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) with the Eileen
Egan Peacemaker Award. The award, first instituted in 2007, will be presented in Chicago at the closing plenary session of
the national conference, Sunday, July 18.
“Everyone in Pax Christi USA knows and recognizes that women religious
are the backbone of the Catholic peace and justice movement,” stated Dave Robinson, Executive Director of Pax Christi
USA. “These strong, prophetic and compassionate women are always on the frontlines where the weak and most vulnerable
suffer at the hands of violent and unjust power. For everything these women do, from their visionary leadership to their personal
integrity, we felt this moment to be the opportune time to honor them.”
The Eileen Egan Peacemaker Award
is bestowed periodically to honor a group or individual who has made a strong and extraordinary prophetic witness for peace
in a time or situation of devastating violence or injustice. The award is named for Eileen Egan, one of the co-founders of
Pax Christi USA, a long-time executive with Catholic Relief Services and friend to both Dorothy Day and Mother Teresa. The
recipient of the Eileen Egan Peacemaker Award exhibits the same spirit as Eileen: steady courage to speak the truth of nonviolence
in a world addicted to war-making, deep compassion for the victims of violence and poverty, and unshakeable perseverance to
change the world for the better.
“Women religious have been our teachers, our guides, our mentors, and our
conscience. They have called us to be a people committed to living lives fashioned by the heart of the gospel which Jesus
proclaimed,” stated Bishop Gabino Zavala, Bishop-President of Pax Christi USA. “For the dedication to peace and
justice which they have shown in our Church and to the world, Pax Christi USA recognizes and honors them with this award.”
Sr. Marlene Weisenbeck, FSPA, President of LCWR, will accept the award on Sunday morning at the National Catholic
Conference on Peacemaking. Pax Christi USA plans to honor women religious throughout the weekend conference. Past recipients
of the award were Camilo Mejia, the first U.S. soldier to publicly refuse to fight in the Iraq War; and Rev. Vien The Nguyen,
pastor of Mary Queen of Viet Nam Church in New Orleans, for his and his community’s perseverance during and after Hurricane
Katrina.
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For more information, contact:
Johnny Zokovitch, Pax Christi
USA Program Director: (352) 219-8419 or johnnypcusa@yahoo.com
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Op-Ed Columnist A Church Mary Can Love By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Published: April 17,
2010 I heard a joke the other day about a pious soul who
dies, goes to heaven, and gains an audience with the Virgin Mary. The visitor asks Mary why, for all her blessings, she always
appears in paintings as a bit sad, a bit wistful: Is everything O.K.? Mary reassures her visitor: “Oh, everything’s great. No problems. It’s just ... it’s just that
we had always wanted a daughter.” That story comes to mind as the Vatican wrestles with the consequences of a
patriarchal premodern mind-set: scandal, cover-up and the clumsiest self-defense since Watergate. That’s what happens
with old boys’ clubs. It wasn’t inevitable that the Catholic Church would grow so addicted to male domination,
celibacy and rigid hierarchies. Jesus himself focused on the needy rather than dogma, and went out of his way to engage women
and treat them with respect. The first-century church was inclusive and democratic, even including a proto-feminist
wing and texts. The Gospel of Philip, a Gnostic text from the third century, declares of Mary Magdalene: “She is the
one the Savior loved more than all the disciples.” Likewise, the Gospel of Mary (from the early second century) suggests
that Jesus entrusted Mary Magdalene to instruct the disciples on his religious teachings. St. Paul refers in Romans
16 to a first-century woman named Junia as prominent among the early apostles, and to a woman named Phoebe who served as a
deacon. The Apostle Junia became a Christian before St. Paul did (chauvinist translators have sometimes rendered her name
masculine, with no scholarly basis). Yet over the ensuing centuries, the church reverted to strong patriarchal attitudes,
while also becoming increasingly uncomfortable with sexuality. The shift may have come with the move from house churches,
where women were naturally accepted, to more public gatherings. The upshot is that proto-feminist texts were not included
when the Bible was compiled (and were mostly lost until modern times). Tertullian, an early Christian leader, denounced women
as “the gateway to the devil,” while a contemporary account reports that the great Origen of Alexandria took his
piety a step further and castrated himself. The Catholic Church still seems stuck today in that patriarchal rut. The
same faith that was so pioneering that it had Junia as a female apostle way back in the first century can’t even have
a woman as the lowliest parish priest. Female deacons, permitted for centuries, are banned today. That old boys’
club in the Vatican became as self-absorbed as other old boys’ clubs, like Lehman Brothers, with similar results. And
that is the reason the Vatican is floundering today. But there’s more to the picture than that. In my travels
around the world, I encounter two Catholic Churches. One is the rigid all-male Vatican hierarchy that seems out of touch when
it bans condoms even among married couples where one partner is H.I.V.-positive. To me at least, this church — obsessed
with dogma and rules and distracted from social justice — is a modern echo of the Pharisees whom Jesus criticized. Yet
there’s another Catholic Church as well, one I admire intensely. This is the grass-roots Catholic Church that does far
more good in the world than it ever gets credit for. This is the church that supports extraordinary aid organizations like
Catholic Relief Services and Caritas, saving lives every day, and that operates superb schools that provide needy children an escalator out of poverty. This
is the church of the nuns and priests in Congo, toiling in obscurity to feed and educate children. This is the church of the
Brazilian priest fighting AIDS who told me that if he were pope, he would build a condom factory in the Vatican to save lives.
This is the church of the Maryknoll Sisters in Central America and the Cabrini Sisters in Africa. There’s a stereotype of nuns as stodgy Victorian traditionalists. I learned otherwise while hanging on for
my life in a passenger seat as an American nun with a lead foot drove her jeep over ruts and through a creek in Swaziland
to visit AIDS orphans. After a number of encounters like that, I’ve come to believe that the very coolest people in
the world today may be nuns. So when you read about the scandals, remember that the Vatican is not the same as the Catholic
Church. Ordinary lepers, prostitutes and slum-dwellers may never see a cardinal, but they daily encounter a truly noble Catholic
Church in the form of priests, nuns and lay workers toiling to make a difference. It’s high time for the Vatican
to take inspiration from that sublime — even divine — side of the Catholic Church, from those church workers whose
magnificence lies not in their vestments, but in their selflessness. They’re enough to make the Virgin Mary smile. Sign in
Racism & Christians
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Liturgical Prayer"The liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church
is directed; it is also the font from which all her power flows." (Vatican Council II, Sacrosanctum
Concilium) Definition “The
word ‘liturgy’ originally meant a ‘public work’ or a ‘service in the name of/on
behalf of the people.’ In Christian tradition it means the participation of
the People of God in ‘the work of God. Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high
priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with, and through his Church.” (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, # 1069)
Liturgical
Prayer is public prayer that follows prescribed ritual formulas. Liturgical prayer is prayer for the salvation of the world.
It can be distinguished from Devotional prayer, which is intended to unite the individual with God through
Christ. The ritual of public prayer includes not only prescribed texts, but also gestures, garments, symbols and materials
such as bread and wine, candles, ashes, palms, oils and other symbolic elements. For Catholics, liturgical
prayer includes the Scriptures, the seven Sacraments (especially the Eucharist), the Divine Office, and prescribed prayers
and services for special occasions. History The liturgy of the Catholic Church had its origins in the liturgical practices of the Jews in the first century.
When Luke tells us in Acts 3:42 that the earliest Jewish followers of Christ in Jerusalem “devoted themselves to the
breaking of bread and the prayers,” it is most likely that this “breaking of the bread” was an adaptation
of the Jewish shabbat which was a thanksgiving prayer celebrated with bread and wine in small groups, usually families,
on Friday evenings. And when later Eucharistic practices were developed in the early centuries, they drew
their formulas from the Synagogue services—especially from the Passover Seder services. In the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th centuries,
liturgical prayers and formulas were developed in the various languages throughout the middle East: Greek, Syrian, Latin,
Alexandrian, Antiochean, etc. These were the origins of the various Eastern rites, which have fluorished in the
Middle East ever since. The Latin rite, which was the basis for Western liturgy today, grew out of services in Rome and Alexandria. Although the earliest versions of these liturgical
prayers drew upon the Jewish berakah (thanksgiving) formulas, they quickly became embellished with Christian themes
based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Resources You can find additional information about Liturgical Prayer in these resources: Church Documents - Sacrosanctum Conculium, The Constitution on Sacred Liturgy, from
the Second Vatican Council, in The Conciliar and Post-Consiliar Documents, ed. by Austin Flannery, O.P., Costello
Publishing, 2004.
Books - The Place of Christ in Liturgical Prayer, ed. by Brian Spinks, Liturgical Press,
2004.
- Liturgical
Prayer: Its History and Spirit, by Fernand Cabrol, 1925, republished by Scahuffler Press, 2008.
- Daily Liturgical Prayer: Origins and Theology,
Gregory Woolfenden, Ashgate Publishing, 2004.
Websites
Nurturing Devotion - Read Ron Rolheiser’s distinction between liturgical prayer and devotional prayer in the website above. This
understanding should enhance your experience of both kinds of prayer.
- Volunteer to serve on your parish’s liturgy or worship committee, both to
learn more about excellent worship and to assist with planning worship services.
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| Hiroshima / Nagsaki Anti Nuke Memorial |
Capuchin
Franciscan friars Fr. Michael Marigliano and Fr. Michael Sevigny will be leading several upcoming pilgrimages to Holy sites
around the world: “Glimpses of Greece” (July 4 – 12) “Heart
of the Holy Land” (July
11 – 21) “Holy Land, Jesus Our Savior” (Sep 29 – Oct 5) "Franciscan
Italy" (IN ASSISI FOR ST. FRANCIS FEAST DAY) (Oct 2-9) “Fatima” (Oct 10-16, in Fatima for the Anniversary, October 13) “Footsteps of John Paul II – Poland/Prague (Oct 15 -- 22) "Great Women of Faith” (Oct 22 -- 29, Paris/Lourdes/Lisieux) “Medugorje
– Journey to Peace” (Oct 23 -- 30) “Guadalupe” (Dec 9 – 14, FEAST DAY DECEMBER 12) Proceeds benefit
the work of the Franciscans. For more information, please contact Franciscan Spirit Tours at 646-736-7964
or 646-861-3634 or info@FranciscanSpiritTours.com or on the web at www.FranciscanSpiritTours.com. Mention you were referred by the bulletin and the parish will receive a contribution.
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NEED HELP ORGANIZING A LITURGICAL COUNCIL IN YOUR PARISH, CONTACT THE LONG BEACH ISLAND CHAPTER OF PAX CHRISTI FOR AN INNOVATIVE
& CREATIVE PROGRAM THAT IS DESIGNED TO ENHANCE THE LITURGY & COMMITMANT OF YOUR PARISH TO THE THE CORPORAL & SPIRITUAL WORKS
OF MERCY. CLICK HERE!
.... the sacrifice of Christ is
a mystery of liberation that constantly and insistently challenges us. I therefore urge all the faithful to be true promoters
of peace and justice: "All who partake of the Eucharist must commit themselves to peacemaking in our world scarred by violence
and war, and today in particular, by terrorism, economic corruption and sexual exploitation...... we must denounce situations
contrary to human dignity, since Christ shed his blood for all, and at the same time affirm the inestimable value of each
individual person. ~BENEDICT XVI
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kerry Moriarty
Phone:860-437-3012 ext. 113
E-mail: kmoriarty@twentythirdpublications.com NEW RCIA resource
TRANSFORMS parish life
Thirty years after the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults first appeared, many parishes are still
searching for an effective way to hand on the faith to those wanting to become Catholic. Even parishes that have long-standing
RCIA teams sometimes struggle to implement a genuine process that leads to life-long conversion and parish involvement. In
his new book, The Way of Faith: A Field Guide for the RCIA Process (Twenty-Third Publications), Nick Wagner gives parish leaders
a clear and simple solution: engage the entire parish in the initiation process. Using the RCIA itself as the model, the author
provides an easy-to-follow process for starting or sustaining a parish-wide catechumenate in any community, no matter how
large or small. “This book will not only change your catechumenate process,†said the author.
“It will transform the entire parish.â€
“For 20 years I have
been searching for a resource that was concise, logical, and informative regarding the entire RCIA process,â€
said Douglas J. Reatini, director of the office of worship in the Saint Petersburg diocese. “By using the
Rite, other church documents, his own personal experience, and a bit of humor, Nick Wagner has developed a step-by-step guide
that will help those who are new to this ministry as well as twenty-year veterans. Don’t know how to move
to a year-round RCIA? It’s in this guide. Not sure how do build an RCIA team? It’s in
this guide. Don’t know how to plan a dismissal or catechetical session? It’s in the
guide along with so much more!
Twenty-Third Publications marketing director Dan Smart said, “This
lively, ‘plain-English’ guide is cram-packed with tips, solutions, best-practices, and
no-nonsense guidance. Whether you are a veteran catechumenate minister or just starting out, The Way of Faith: A Field Guide
for the RCIA Process provides you with reliable, practical guidance to help you implement a powerful catechumenate process
in your parish.â€
Here’s just a sample of some of the tasks you’ll
be able to implement immediately with the help you’ll find in this book:
- Learn how to know if the catechumens are ready
- Find sponsors
- Get the parish more involved
- Learn what to do with the baptized folks
- Know what to do with children
Nick Wagner says that with
this field guide in their hands, parish leaders and teams will have the confidence they need to “lead the
RCIA, teach others how to help with the process, and transform the hearts of everyone involved.†It offers all
the help parish teams need, including rehearsal outlines for the major celebrations, a list of appropriate Sundays for celebrating
the Rite of Acceptance, and 100 ideas for involving your most important team member—the parish community.
The Way of Faith readers are also supported by regularly updated online resources.
Twenty-Third Publications
publisher Bret Thomas said, “Nick has the knowledge and experience to produce a genuine Twenty-Third resource:
hands-on, practical, and ready-to-use for people in the parish. This is the kind of product we are most proud of, and in this
case, it’s definitely needed. It’s a comprehensive, enjoyable, and affordable guide
to everything a parish wants or needs to know about the catechumenate process. Great going, Nick!â€
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