Liturgies & Presentations
Presentation
Living the Gospel in Turbulent Times
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Refugee Assistance Morris Partners
'No matter where you are from, we're glad you're our neighbor.'
"The headline above is on a sign in front of my house, and that message is in three languages: Spanish, English and Arabic. I am delighted that many of my neighbors in Maryland and D.C. have the same sign. It is a signal that we understand that our diversity as a nation is not a source for worry and concern; it is a source of our strength. It speaks to who we are as a nation." Read more of Maureen Fiedler's blog in NCR.
VOTFNJ is a founding member and supporter of
RAMP which has
welcomed and is now assisting two refugee families.
Ever wondered what you can do to help refugees?
If you would like to join this multi-faith and civic effort, go to the RAMP
website. If you would like to make a tax-deductible donation, please
click here. Contact
Gerry Gannon for more information and timely updates. Find out more about this issue at
#GreaterAs1.
Climate Refugees is a documentary that was 3 years in the making and covered 48 countries. The multi-award winning Sundance film has screened around the world illuminating the human face of climatic change to global citizens...
Learn more.
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Supporting Survivors
Road to Recovery in the the News
"We're looking for more victims of a professor of Maine Maritime
who abused children," Robert Hoatson said as he passed fliers out to everyone that walked and drove by him in downtown Castine. Hoatson is the president of Road to Recovery -
- an organization dedicated to helping sexual assault victims seek justice and find peace. Now he is doing his part to help Neal Gumpel -- who says he was molested at Maine Maritime Academy 44 years ago.
Read more.
Learn more about
Road to Recovery.
Sex Abuse Survivors Group Hold Rally at Central Catholic High School
Road to Recovery, an international group that supports sexual abuse survivors, plans to rally at Central Catholic High School in Lawrence MA after a school administrator was fired after being accused of drugging and raping a student in 2006.
Learn more.
On Good Friday, Pope Francis Seeks Forgiveness
At the end of the two-hour service, Francis read a prayer he wrote that was woven around the theme of shame and hope. In what appeared to be a reference to the Church's sexual abuse scandal, he spoke of "shame for all the times that we bishops, priests, brothers and nuns scandalized and wounded your body, the Church." The Catholic Church has been struggling for nearly two decades to put the scandal of sexual abuse of children by clergy behind it. Critics say more must be done to punish bishops who covered up abuse or were negligent in preventing it. Learn more.
Atlanta archbishop says clericalism continues to hinder sex abuse reforms
Archbishop Wilton Gregory, who led the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops during the tumultuous years when the wide scope of the clergy sexual abuse scandal was brought to light, said in a new interview that clericalism is still hampering efforts to address the issue, even at the highest levels of the church. Learn more.
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Structural Change in the Church
A Letter to Young Women in Easter Season
This Easter Season, Anthony T. Padovano writes to young women and to our Church reminding us all that God entrusted women to play a crucial role in two of the most important events of Salvation History...Read more from a Church for Our Daughters.
Vatican unveils frescoes hinting that women held power in the early Church
- The 230-240 AD frescoes were found in the Catacombs of Priscilla of Rome
- One fresco shows a group of women celebrating banquet of the Eucharist
- Another shows woman with outstretched arms like those of a priest
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What women theologians have done for the church
Catholics can thank women theologians for 70 years of building up the church. Learn more.
Woman theologian examines new forms of
religious life
Kochurani Abraham, a feminist theologian, left a congregation of women religious to lead an independent religious life in her home state of Kerala, southern India.
"Feminist theology is liberative. It corrects and completes the mainstream theology. It also critically examines and challenges the male-centered mainstream theology that sees the divine only in the form of male bodies or teaches that only such bodies can mediate with the divine for humans. It questions the legitimization of women's subordination by religion's hegemonic codes. ... It advocates a liberative knowledge of God in all its implications for women and other marginalized groups." Discover more.
World Day of Prayer for Vocations: "Vocations Sunday" May 7th 2017
May 7, 2017
marks the 54th annual World Day of Prayer for Vocations -- a day when the global Church prays for the ministers of the Church and for "young men and women to hear and respond generously to the Lord's call to the priesthood, diaconate, religious life, societies of apostolic life or secular institutes." While seemingly inclusive, this language neglects to footnote those ministries where women are rejected, silenced and punished for following their call to ordination. Women's Ordination Worldwide has a series of resources.
Are you called to be a deacon in the
Catholic Church?
As Pope Francis' Commission for the Study of the Diaconate of Women undergo their work, FutureChurch has launched the 100 Women Deacons's Campaign asking Catholic women who have considered a call to the diaconate to share that discernment with the wider church.
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Supporting Priests of Integrity
Rev. Robert Kennedy, S.J., Roshi to receive honorary degrees from the College of the Holy Cross and St. Peter's College
Fr. Kennedy's practice embodies the principles articulated in the Jesuit statement on mission and interreligious dialogue which calls the Jesuits to engage in a dialogue of life, action, religious experience, and theological exchange. He has lived his mission of conversation and collaboration in Mexico, Ecuador, England, Wales, Ireland and several centers in the United States.
Learn more.
Responding to Vatican Document
responded to a vocations document from the Vatican that uses terms that are considered "ambiguous and disrespectful of the personhood of those who identify with a homosexual orientation." Read it here.
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Happy Mother's Day!
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| The Women of Standing Rock |
Let's celebrate ALL women this Mother's Day. Whether or not we physically give birth, we all "mother one another."
Discover more.
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We hold Louise and Chuck Schaefer in our hearts and minds and send them our love, prayers and all good energy to help them with their health issues.
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...to all those who became part of our family or renewed their membership! If you would like to become a member of VOTFNJ, please fill out this
form and mail it in. We are here
for you and we wouldn't be here
without you!
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