FOCUS E-News April 30 - May 6, 2017

Please support FutureChurch during our Women inChurch Leadership Campaign!

Follow in the Footsteps of Our Foremothers in Faith in Greece!

Cincinnati's Voices Speakinghosts FutureChurch'sDeborah Rose-Milavec

At the invitation of Voices Speaking, agroup of Catholics dedicated towomen's equality in the CatholicChurch, Catholics gathered at theUnited Church of Christ in Cincinnati tolearn about the latest trends in women'sleadership and ministry in the Churchfrom FutureChurch's Deborah Rose-Milavec.

"While 80% of the lay Catholicworkforce are women, only 3% of thetop three positions of influence in theVatican (Prefect, Secretary,Undersecretary) belong to women",explained Deborah Rose-Milavec,Executive Director of FutureChurch.

One of the barriers holding womenback, is the Church's infatuation withcomplementarity, the anthropological-theological framework honed by PopeJohn Paul II that claims women andmen are equal, but have separateplaces and roles in the Church.

Read more

FutureChurch goes to NewWays Symposium

Russ Petrus, Program Director ofFutureChurch headed to Chicago thispast weekend to share informationabout FutureChurch resources andprograms with participants at the NewsWays Ministry National Symposium,Justice and Mercy Shall Kiss: LGBTCatholics in the Age of PopeFrancis.”

Here is his report.

“We ain't whatwe oughta be. We ain'twhat we want to be. We ain't what wegonna be. But,thank God, we ain't whatwe was.”~unknown, quoted byMartin LutherKing, Jr.

Among the many impressivespeakerswho presented was Rev. BryanMassingale, who opened theSymposium witha plenary sessionentitled Pope Francis,Social Ethics,and LGBT People.

Massingaleopened his presentation byarticulating a question that has weighedheavily onthe hearts and minds ofLGBTQIA Catholics throughout Francis’Papacy: what arewe to make of thehope that Francis has given toCatholics with statements like“who am Ito judge” and the concurrent hurt,disappointment and frustrationcausedby statements about LGBTQIApeople coming from the Vatican, suchthe recentreiteration of the 2005 ban ongay priests, which claims that “Suchpersons, infact, find themselves in asituation that gravely hinders them fromrelatingcorrectly to men and women.”

Women and those who care aboutwomen’s equality in the Churchareasking themselves the samequestion.

Read more

FutureChurch board memberRita Houlihan makes history asnew art honoring St. Mary ofMagdala is hung in the Churchof the Ascension

Parishioners filled the Church of theAscension on Manhattan's Upper WestSide on April 22 to honor St. Mary ofMagdala, the subject of the church'snewest work of art: a bronze relief ofMary preaching.

Hundreds of parishioners from theparish's diverse congregation turnedout for the festive 5:30 p.m. liturgy,which had a Gospel reading and homilyby pastor Fr. Daniel Kearney that toldthe story of how Mary of Magdala wasfirst to proclaim that Jesus had risenfrom the dead. The parishioners whoheard this good news stayed after theMass for the unveiling, blessing anddedication of a bronze relief of Mary ofMagdala proclaiming the Resurrection.

Kearney said the parish chose to honorMary of Magdala during Eastertiderather than wait until her declared feastday, July 22, because she had everyreason to be celebrated during thejoyous Easter season.

Read more

Phyllis Zagano asks, "WhoseGospel is it anyway?"

Who knows where the list came from,but the pope approved 12 men andone woman as consulters to the 2-year-old Vatican Secretariat forCommunication.

This does not send a good message.

Read more

Female deacons in Spain: Whywomen could come to therescue of Spain’s Catholic

Church

In case you missed here, here is ainsightful article from El Pais about therole women and women deacons couldplay in reviving the Church.

The author, Juan Bedoya, writes, "In the19th century, the Catholic Church wasdeserted by the working classes; in the20th century it lost its intellectuals andyoung people. In the 21st century, it is indanger of alienating women, who havebeen among its most active members."

“Young people left the Church withoutso much as slamming a door, and wehaven’t taken note,” says the Bishop ofSantander, Manuel Sánchez Monge,who sees that the Church’s womencould soon follow suit."

Read more

Women -- raising their voices,renewing the Church!

In case you missed it, there is anexciting new website where you canhear and see Catholic womenpreaching each week. It is calledCatholic Women Preach(catholicwomenpreach.org).

Launched in Advent 2016, CatholicWomen Preach features a diversegroup of Catholic women reflecting onthe Scriptures that is rooted in their faithexperience and their commitment to theGospel.

Sr. Chris Schenk reflected on the birthof Jesus as a midwife. Sr. BarbaraReid likened Mary's annunciation to thecall of the prophets. Jocelyn Collenreflected on her work of ministering towomen in prison. Krisanne VaillancourtMurphy spoke about the Gospel call tomake sure all our sisters and brothersare fed and spoke as a mother of threewho cares about the nourishment andbrain development of all children. Kerry

Robinson reflects on the faith of herfriend who died of breast cancer andAstrid Lobo Gajiwala preached aboutthe triumph of young athletes "whofought like girls."

Sr. Mary Catherine Hilkert preachesabout the woman in John's Gospel whois typically most known because shewas caught in adultery and asks us toconsider her role as a disciple whoconverted a whole Samaritan town onthe strength of her testimony.

Sr. Margaret Farley preached about St.Mary Magdalene as the primarywitness to the Resurrection.

Sr. Anita Baird holds up a beautifulimage of a St. Sabina parish mural ofthe last supper with a faded image ofJesus and proclaims, "until everyone iswelcome at the table, Jesus cannotcome into the fullness of his glory."

Woven into each preaching session isthe perspective of Catholic women. Andfor many Catholics, that is new.

Check out CatholicWomenPreach.organd be inspired!

Learn more

Jesus and the ordination ofwomen

Fr. Roger Vermalen Karban, Scripturescholar, writer, and Catholic priest in thediocese of Belleville, IL argues that theCatholic Church’s traditional argumentsagainst the priestly ordination of womenrevolving around Jesus of Nazarethbeing a man would beincomprehensible to early Christians.

According to this “official” line ofreasoning, the priest must be “anotherChrist,” a male other Christ. Such anindividual must have a “naturalresemblance” to the first Christ. Bydefinition, a female can’t fill that role.

The authors of the Christian Scriptures

would never have understood that logic.

Read more

Policing the Communion Line

When a priest refuses to "police thecommunion line" and Catholicsexperience the welcoming Spirit of thekin-dom of God, they know it.

Read more

The Catholic Bishops'Conference of England andWales launch "Mega YouthPoll"

Once again, the bishops of Englandand Wales are leading the Churchwhen it comes to reaching out to youthin the lead up to the 2018 synod. Thesurvey they have released closes onJune 5, 2017.

Learn more

A 70-year old "baby boomer"reflects on FutureChurchteleconference where"Millennials Speak forThemselves"

Conni Dubick is a committed Catholicand a Dominican Associate of Peace.She serves as President of the Boardof Directors of the North AmericanConference of Associates andReligious. She is 70 years old. But shebelieves she has a lot in common withthree millennial Catholics who spokeabout their faith life during aFutureChurch teleconference last year.

Read more

Cardinal Sarah reignitesliturgy controversies

Cardinal Robert Sarah, the Holy See'sliturgy prefect and head of theCongregation for Divine Worship andthe Discipline of the Sacraments, haslambasted the liturgical changes whichoccurred following Vatican II whilepraising Summorum Pontificum, whichlifts restrictions on the Tridentine liturgy.

Cardinal Sarah said that thosepromoting a "modern liturgy" hadcaused disaster, devastation andschism by trying to reduce the Massinto a "simple convivial meal".

Although it has not been officiallyconfirmed, it is believed that Francishas set up a commission to examinethe 2001 text Liturgiam Authenticamthat sets out principles on how totranslate Latin into vernacularlanguages. It is reported that he has putArchbishop Arthur Roche, the numbertwo person in the Congregation, incharge while the reported list ofcommission members does not includeCardinal Sarah (The Tablet, 8April17).

University of St. Thomasstudents protest CardinalDolan's upcoming appearance

St. Thomas University students areprotesting the choice of formerarchbishop of Milwaukee TimothyDolan as spring commencementspeaker, due to concerns relate to hisrole in handling sexual abuseallegations against Milwaukee priestsand his reported remarks criticizingsame-sex marriage.

Read more

Prayer: Lessons from thewomen

Russell Pollitt, SJ learns from thewomen in the Easter accounts.

He writes, "In the weeks after Easter wehear a number of accounts in which therisen Jesus encounters his somewhatperplexed and disheartened friends.These personal encounters are a keymoment; it’s from these encounters thatthey energetically go out and proclaimthe Good News and the Christiancommunity is born. In our lives we areinvited to encounter God in prayer. St.Mark (16:1-11) tells us of an encounterbetween “a young man, dressed in awhite robe” Mary of Magdala, Mary themother of James and Salome. Thisencounter can teach us somethingabout the perplexity and paradox of ourown prayer."

Read more

Red-hot rubbish: BBC specialseparates the goats from thesheep in the art that portraysSt. Mary Magdalene

Art critic Waldemar Januszczak thinksDan Brown's depiction of MaryMagdalane is "red-hot rubbish." In hisBBC special, he explores the variousart forms that have shaped this saint inthe Catholic imagination.

But, Lucy Lethbridge, writing for TheTablet, thinks the Januszczak programcould have been better. Lethbridgeargues that throughout the program,Januszczak gave his examination of theart short shrift (The Tablet, 8April17).

Learn more

India's Church remains indenial

Cynthia Stephen argues that the

Catholic Church is not doing enough tostop crime within their own ordainedranks.

In February, Father RobinVadakancherry of ManathavadyDiocese in Kerala was arrested forraping and impregnating a 16-year-oldparishioner of his and a student of aschool under his management.

The girl delivered a baby boy in achurch-run hospital. The infant wasmoved to a church-run orphanage, allwithout informing the authorities of thefate of the girl, a minor under Indianlaw.

Police said the hospital's doctor andfive nuns in the hospital and orphanagecolluded to cover up the crime, acharge they now contest in court.

Read more (UCAnews subscription)

Listening to the needs ofseparated, divorced andremarried Catholics in France

The diocese of Le Havre last weekendorganized a meeting for separated,divorced and remarried divorcedpeople in an effort to understand whatthey expect from the Church. A yearafter Pope Francis’ "Amoris Laetitia"was published, integrating such peoplehas become a concern for Frenchdioceses.

Read more

Support our work

Don't miss theseopportunities and events!

Join FutureChurch in

Greece and follow in thefootsteps of ourforemothers in faith

Listen to Sr. Chris and RussShare a Preview of thePilgrimage

From October 5 - 14, 2017 joinFutureChurch as we explore thearchaeological sites of early Christianwomen. Learn about the ancient Greekgoddesses Athena, Artemis and Gaiato women of the New Testament andfinally present day nuns in Greekmonasteries. This pilgrimage will focuson the influence of women on thespirituality and history of Christianity. Sr.Christine Schenk will serve aseducational director and Russ Petrus,FutureChurch program director willserve as spiritual director.

Read more

FutureChurch offers secondretreat for Catholic womendiscerning a call to thediaconate

FutureChurch will host a second retreatfor women who are discerning a call tothe diaconate September 8-10 in SanFrancisco, CA. This second retreat willalso include a special workshop on onecomponent of diaconal ministry: theMinistry of the Word -- particularlyLiturgical Preaching. Sign up today!

Learn more

Catholic Women Preach

Each week throughout the year,Catholic Women Preach offers thewisdom and challenge presented bythe Gospel through the experience ofwomen. In this season of Easter, beinspired by the Catholic women whopreach each Sunday and some holydays.

Learn more

Celebrate the Feast of St. MaryMagdalene!

Go and Tell My Sisters andBrothers: A Celebration ofWomen Preachers

Join thousands of Catholics across theU.S. and worldwide as we celebrate theFeast of St. Mary Magdalene.

This year, FutureChurch will liftup women preachers from Scriptureand history -- from Mary of Nazarethand Mary of Magdala to Catherine ofSiena and Thea Bowman. Together wewill honor and learn from theirwitnesses and ask them to pray with usas we work to lift up women’s voices inChurch and society today.

Learn more

Support our work

FutureChurch |17305 Madison Avenue, Lakewood, Ohio 44107 | 216.228.0869info@futurechurch.org

Visit our website