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Greetings!
The new year is here,
and if you didn't make any new year's resolutions, this
month's E-News
is rife with stories which may give you a few ideas:
take action against global warming, support
disadvantaged youth and adults, strive to understand
from others' points of view, speak out against
injustice. And when you feel a little overwhelmed by all
your resolutions, take a moment to let music fill your
heart and your
soul.
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Take action against global
warming
Image: Modified NASA image Join Bishop Bud Cederholm at the Interfaith Pledge
for Climate Action: A Day of Prayer and Advocacy on
Tuesday, Jan. 29, 10-11 a.m., at the State House in
Boston. Members of several faith communities will gather
for prayer, to hear speeches and to visit their
legislators and urge state action on global climate
warming. Legislators will be asked to sign the
Interfaith Pledge for Climate Action. For more
information, e-mail to massinterfaithcan@verizon.net.
According
to the Mass. Interfaith Climate Action Network mission
statement: Our
faith traditions speak to us in different ways. We
are united, however, in seeing the world not simply as
resources to deplete, but as a magnificent gift of which
we are an integral part and for which we have an abiding
responsibility. When we view the world through the
lenses of our faiths, our response is one of gratitude
and reverence that impels us to action. The crisis
of global warming is dire, threatening our lives, our
communities, our society, and our future as a
planet.
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Bishop Coburn makes afterschool
visit
Bishop Coburn eats lunch with students at St.
Stephen's.
Image: Maria Plati The Rt. Rev. John B. Coburn, retired 13th bishop of
the Diocese of Massachusetts, braved snowy streets to
make a Dec. 18 visit to the afterschool program at St.
Stephen's Church in the South End of Boston.
He
had heard about the services and community that St.
Stephen's provides for neighborhood children and youth
through its afterschool and B-SAFE summer programs, and
he wanted to come see it for himself.
Read
more>>
St. Stephen's Church needs partner churches to
provide lunches, field trips and reading partners for
450 youth at six B-SAFE sites this summer. Get
more info from Liz Steinhauser at lizsteinh@netzero.net
or 617-262-9070.
Watch a video about
the B-SAFE summer program>>
(Goes to the
site of our videographer, Kathy
Wittman)
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"Gifts from the Heart" givers
show holiday generosity Bishop Bud
Cederholm sends his thanks to the many givers of "Gifts
from the Heart" for Gulf Coast hurricane
survivors.
The holiday mail and radio appeal,
spearheaded by Cederholm, so far has brought in $3,000
worth of merchandise gift cards from retailers like
Wal-Mart, Sears, Lowe's and Home Depot; contributions
are still coming in. The cards are being shipped
to targeted areas in the dioceses of Mississippi and
Louisiana for distribution to hurricane survivors who
are still in need more than two years after the
disaster.
Cederholm said that as meaningful as
the gifts themselves are the notes of encouragement that
givers sent along with their contributions:
"Peace, joy, love. May these be your
gifts this Christmas."
"Courage!"
"Please know you are not forgotten
especially at this time of year. Be strong and God
bless."
"I've been overwhelmed by how much our
prayers, presence and partnerships continue to mean to
people on the Gulf Coast who are still struggling.
They find tangible hope in this generosity," Cederholm
said.
Learn more about
mission on the Gulf
Coast>>
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Bishop Shaw visits Pine Street
Inn and celebrates on Common for
Christmas
Bishop Tom Shaw celebrates the Eucharist on Boston
Common with the assistance of the Rev. Stephanie
Spellers (left of Shaw) and the Rev. Kathy McAdams (in
Santa hat).
Image: Maria
Plati
Bishop Shaw chats with Pine Street Shelter
volunteers.
Image: Maria Plati For the second year, common cathedral and
St. Paul's Cathedral hosted the festive Christmas Day
worship service featuring music, hot chocolate,
Christmas carols and the Eucharist.
Read
more>> |
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Hundreds end up at Cathedral for
Las Posadas
Boston high schoolers portraying Mary and Joseph
lead the procession.
Photo: Driss
Bahraoui Las Posadas
("the inns" in Spanish), is an annual re-enactment of
Mary and Joseph's journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem.
For the Catholic Latin Americans who celebrate Las
Posadas, it resonates with the experience of illegal
immigrants. Las Posadas normally takes place during
Advent in the third week of December. However, the
Boston event was postponed to Jan. 6 due to a
storm.
At this year's procession on Boston
Common, two local high school students portrayed the
holy couple, followed by 350 supporters and clergy. At
several points, including in front of the State House
and at the Paulist Center, the procession stopped and
Mary and Joseph requested shelter, but each time they
were denied.
The Cathedral Church of St. Paul was selected as
the place which would welcome Mary and Joseph.
Photo:
Driss Baraoui Finally, Mary and Joseph and their supporters
reached the steps of the Cathedral Church of St. Paul,
where they were welcomed by a little girl who opened the
cathedral doors in a symbolic gesture of acceptance.
Because of its connection to immigration
policy issues, Las
Posadas is not without controversy. However, the
Very Rev. Jep Streit, dean of the Cathedral Church of
St. Paul, thinks it is natural for the church to
participate. "It's been my experience that when people
voice concerns about the church getting caught up in
politics, they are opposed to the stance being taken.
Jesus was executed by political authorities, so from the
beginning the two are inextricably linked," Streit
said.
For more photos of
the event: www.drissimages.com>>
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Too many Episcopalians were
silent about slavery, Bishop Shaw tells Congressional
subcommittee
Left to right: Maureen Shea, director, Episcopal
Church Office of Government Relations; Bishop Tom Shaw;
Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA); Jayne Oasin, social
justice officer for the Episcopal Church
Image: John
B. Johnson IV Speaking on behalf of Presiding Bishop Katharine
Jefferts Schori and the Episcopal Church on Dec. 18,
2007, in Washington, D.C., Bishop Tom Shaw, SSJE
admitted to the Congressional Subcommittee on the
Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties that the
Episcopal Church had "benefited materially from the
slave trade," and that too many had remained silent
against the injustices of the institution.
Shaw
also outlined the numerous steps that the Episcopal
Church has taken and continues to take to repent for its
complicity, citing the church's "'commitment to become a
transformed, anti-racist church and to work toward
healing, reconciliation, and a restoration of wholeness
to the family of God.'"
Read Bishop Shaw's
testimony>>
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Bestselling author Marcus Borg
to be featured at Spring Learning
Event
Image: Cyndy J. Hubbard Marcus J. Borg will be the guest speaker at the
diocesan Spring Learning Event, which will take place
Saturday, March 15 at Boston University's Sherman Union,
9 a.m.-1 p.m. Borg is Hundere Distinguished Professor of
Religion and Culture at Oregon State University and
author of the bestselling Meeting Jesus Again for the
First Time, The
Heart of Christianity, Reading the Bible Again for
the First Time, The God We Never Knew
and Jesus.
This event is a day for reflection and
refreshment in community with others who have a desire
to listen, learn and explore together themes of
deepening personal Christian belief and ways to speak
about Jesus and faith in public life and local
settings. This will be a thought-provoking
discussion where your questions and opinions are
welcome.
On-line registration will be available
for this event soon.
For more information,
contact Amy Cook: 617-482-4826 ext. 645, acook@diomass.org.
Promotional materials
for
parishes>>
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Coming up
Jan. 16, 19, 23 &
30: Evening Interlude Concert series, Church of St.
John the Evangelist, Boston, 5:30 p.m. (The Jan. 19
concert begins at 7 p.m.)
Jan. 19:
Recycling Fundraiser, Church of the Holy Nativity, South
Weymouth, 9 a.m.-2 p.m.
Jan. 23: Radical
Welcome Circle, Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston,
6:30-8 p.m.
Jan. 27:
Bluegrass Mass, St. Anne's Church, Lowell, 10
a.m.
Jan. 27:
Centennial kickoff and quilt unveiling, St.
Bartholomew's Church, Cambridge, 10:30 a.m.
Jan. 27:
MagnificatBoston sings Evensong, Convent of the Society
of St. Margaret, Boston, 4 p.m.
Jan. 29: Join
Bishop Bud Cederholm and environmental advocates from
diverse faith communities at Interfaith
Pledge for Climate Action: A Day of Prayer and
Advocacy, State House, Boston, 10 a.m.
Jan. 29-31:
Clergy Pre-Lenten Retreat, Notre Dame Mission Centre,
Ipswich
Feb. 2: Ministry Discernment Conference,
Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston, 8:30 a.m.-2:30
p.m.
Persons
considering ordained ministry are required to attend,
along with their sponsoring priest and at least one
member of their parish discernment committee.
Online registration is necessary for each person
attending and can be done through Jan. 25 here.
Feb. 2: "Tools
for Strengthening Marriage and Partnership" workshop,
St. Anne's-in-the-Fields Church, Lincoln, 8:30 a.m.-3:30
p.m.
Feb. 2: "Way of
Transition: Seeing Change as a Spiritual Process"
workshop, St. Peter's Church, Weston, 9-11:30
a.m.
Feb. 8-10: Senior
High Youth Retreat, Barbara C. Harris Camp and
Conference Center, Greenfield, N.H.
Feb. 9: Small
Church Summit, St. Mark's Church, Burlington, 9
a.m.
Feb. 13: Absalom
Jones Lecture: "An Icon of Inclusivity" by The
Rev. Dr. Harold Lewis, Episcopal Divinity School,
Cambridge, 7 p.m.
March 7-9:
"Toward Resurrection," Province I Conference on
Stewardship, Evangelism and Congregational Development,
Doubletree Hotel, Westborough.
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