Photo of the entrance to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, where Jesus was buried and where He rose from the dead.
Pope Francis: beyond COVID
April 29, 2021
Dear Friends,
It was great to see so many people at the Parish-wide Meeting this past Sunday afternoon. I look forward to seeing the work being done on the Parish Pastoral Plan. I'm sure it will be our main topic at the Parish Council meeting next Monday evening.
During the meeting, I mentioned that Pope Francis has been urging us not to hope that everything just goes back to normal at the end of the pandemic. He points out that many things were not so great before the pandemic began and that we should use this time as an opportunity to come up with better ways of being, both as a church and a society as we emerge from this crisis.
One parishioner asked about the specific areas in which Pope Francis urges us to think and act differently. I could only remember that he had spoken of fraternity and poverty, but I could not remember the details. I promised to provide more concrete examples.
In researching this question, I came across an article written by Father Thomas Reese, SJ. He explains it better than I can. Here’s his concluding paragraph:
The COVID crisis presents us with serious challenges, and it is up to us how we will respond. “We need to choose fraternity over individualism as our organizing principle,” he concludes. “Fraternity, the sense of belonging to each other and to the whole of humanity, is the capacity to come together and work together against a shared horizon of possibility.”
Roger and Carol Pisani are sponsoring three talks about the Lord’s Prayer by theologian and storyteller John Shea. It will take place on Zoom. Please see below for details.
Our Muslim friends are now observing the month of Ramadan, their holy month of fasting. Next Wednesday evening, I will participate in an interfaith panel discussion on fasting. It’s also on Zoom. See the poster below.
Can you give a few hours a week for parishioners who need rides to the doctor or to the supermarket? Please see the item below about H.O.P.E.
Let us continue to pray for each other.
Christ's peace,
Friar Liam
Click anywhere on this poster to receive Zoom link.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR PROJECT H.O.P.E.
Would you be in a position occasionally to aid your fellow parishioners by driving them to a doctor's appointment or a store? We will maintain a list of volunteers, so one person is not always on call. If you can participate in this corporal work of mercy, please contact Pat Mallon via email at pmallon13@gmail.com or phone 610-896-7038. Many thanks!
Our thanks to all who so generously support our parish even during this time of quarantine.
To Dare the Our Father:
A Spiritual Transformative Practice
with storyteller, author and theologian
John Shea
To Dare the Our Father:
A Spiritual Transformative Practice
with storyteller, author and theologian
John Shea
Thursdays May 20, 27, June 3
7pm - 8pm
This program will be held on the Zoom platform
The Lord’s Prayer/Our Father accompanies our lives. When we are happy or when we are sad, when we eagerly wait for a child to be born or silently stay as an elder dies, when we hear of a plane going down or attend a church going up, when we stroll alone in the woods or gather together in liturgy, when we are filled with gratitude or emptied by grief, when we are driven to praise or dragged to repent, we find the Our Father in our minds and on our lips.
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Speaking about John Shea's book To Dare the Our Father,
Bishop Robert Barron said:
"This meditation on the Our Father ("To Dare the Our Father: A Transformative Spiritual Practice") is vintage Shea: theologically astute, spiritually alert, deeply attuned to the needs and aspirations of the human heart. Anyone interested in cultivating a more intentional relationship with God should read this book."
-Bishop Robert Barron
Auxiliary Bishop for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles
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Let us take some time to explore
what the Our Father invites us to become.
May 20 – Who Are We When We Pray the Our Father
The Catholic Catechism says we “dare to say” the Our Father. It takes some nerve to identify ourselves as people who can call God their “Father.” We are used to lesser identities in the physical, mental, and social realms. We will reflect on what it means to be children of God who can address the Ultimate Mystery of Life as Father.
May 27 – The Mission of the Our Father
When we pray the Our Father, we commit ourselves to carrying the agenda of the One to whom we pray. This commitment begins by hallowing the Father’s name and continues through working for the Kingdom and listening and enacting the will. This is the movement from heaven to earth. We will explore what this movement means for how we think, will, and act.
June 3 – The Strategies of the Our Father
The mission of Our Father naturally unfolds into strategies. These are ways of making better physical life (“Give us this day our daily bread.”), social life, (“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”) and spiritual life (‘Lead us not into temptation. But deliver us from evil.”). We will ponder these lines of action from Gospel and contemporary points of view.
Let us together renew and expand our praying the Our Father,
allowing it to become a truly transformative spiritual practice.
John (Jack) Shea is a consultant with decades of experience in providing theological and formation services to parishes and faith-based organizations. He has published over twenty books of theology and spirituality, three works of fiction, and three books of poetry.
He has served as the Executive Director of Program Design and Implementation for the Ministry Leadership Center; the Advocate Healthcare Senior Scholar in Residence at the Park Ridge Center for the Study of Health, Faith and Ethics; research professor at the Institute of Pastoral Studies at Loyola University of Chicago; and Professor of Systematic Theology and Director of the Doctor of Ministry program at the University of St. Mary of the Lake. He has also taught at the University of Notre Dame and Boston College.
This program is sponsored by Sacred Doorways,
part of the Institute for Liturgical and Spiritual Formation,
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization serving the Catholic Church
part of the Institute for Liturgical and Spiritual Formation,
a 501(c)3 non-profit organization serving the Catholic Church
since 1993.
Registration fee: $10.00 per session or free-will offering.
To register, send your name, preferred email address and phone number to sacreddoorwaysnj@gmail.com.