Carissimi,
Our beloved Archbishop has issued a pastoral reflection, the title of which is above. The
text
and accompanying
video
are on the parish website. I urge you to pray over it in the coming weeks.
His reflections on the sin of racism and the principles of Dr. King call us all to personal conversion, dialog with others, and determined action. Below are some excerpts from the introduction:
"We grieve over the many people who lost their lives to gun violence in the City of Baltimore in the year just ended. We are concerned about the urgent need to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the residents whom the police and city leaders are duty-bound to protect. Weighing heavily on our minds and hearts is the sin of racism that continues, sometimes overtly but often subtly, to insinuate itself in our relationships, institutions and communities of faith, including our own. Indeed, the sin of racism has tarnished the soul of our society for so long that racist attitudes can be deeply embedded in our subconscious, such that we may hardly know they are there. We must bring to light such attitudes and overcome them….
"Not to be ignored are conditions which create despair and spawn violence in our neighborhoods…These deep and systemic problems do violence to the dignity of real human beings created in the image and likeness of God. Even worse is the tendency…[to]…react to these harsh realities with indifference or jaded cynicism. In this stark environment, Dr. King’s principles of nonviolence are more necessary than ever: they are prophetic words of hope that can light the path forward.
"No family, no neighborhood, no community is immune from violent crime, domestic violence, drug abuse, racism and many other social problems that give rise to an angry and violent way of life. How often, for example, do immigrants face discrimination, hatred, denied opportunities and even unjust deportation? Think of how vitriolic and coarse public rhetoric has become in politics and the media, a coarseness that often spills over into private conversation. Instead of trying peacefully to reach the common ground of understanding, people far too often and far too quickly resort to abusive language. They may not kill their neighbors with bullets but they do “kill” them with words and gestures of disrespect. The commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” pertains to all forms of violence against others, including the violence of economic inequality."
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Video: Shooting survivor addresses mental health as well as gun control
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Video: Jimmy Kimmel on School Shooting in Parkland, Florida
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Two Upcoming "Main Events'
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DC Detention Visitation Network Training
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Saturday February 24th
10:30AM -12:30 PM
On any given night, about 1,000 (or more) people are held in immigration detention in at least five detention facilities in Maryland and Virginia, incarcerated in actual or virtual jails solely because they have been accused of or determined to be in the US without authorization.
The DC Detention Visitation Network seeks to lessen their isolation and vulnerability by providing friendship and support through in-person visits and letters.
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Join us at a volunteer training session to learn more about the immigration detention system and some things you can do to help people who are negatively affected by it.
Please RSVP to:
or 443-620-3380.
Location:
Ignatian Hall
St Ignatius Catholic Church
740 N Calvert Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
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The St. Ignatius Justice & Peace Committee is hosting this month's
Prayer Walk for Peace in the City with Bishop Madden
. This Lenten walk, on Wednesday, February 28, beginning at 5:30 PM, will begin here at St. Ignatius (740 N. Calvert Street).
The evening will begin with the meal downstairs in the parish hall, which is accessed through the doors to the lower church. Signs will clearly point the way. (If you are able to bring a Lenten soup, salad or bread, please contact Diane White at
dwhite718@comcast.net
OR Rose Ann D'Alesandro at
rdalesandro@jesuits.org
. Your contribution to the Lenten "lite supper" will be greatly appreciated.)
During the walk, we will pray at specific locations that have been affected by physical violence and the violence of social injustice, and for all those individuals who have been so terribly affected by violence, and for a change of heart in those given to violence.
We hope you will join us as we continue to step out in faith to reclaim our city for Christ.
Parking: There is some metered street parking nearby. You can also use the Sun Paper Garage, which is only about a block away on Calvert and Monument. This facility requires payment
Parish phone: (410) 727-3848
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Lenten Events and Mass Schedule
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Below are various Lenten Events and Masses happening in and around St. Ignatius Parish
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- Wednesday, February 21 – Lenten Evening of Reflection
- Wednesday, February 28 – Lenten Prayer Walk with Bishop Madden
- Wednesday, March 7 – Lenten Evening of Reflection
- Wednesday, March 14 – Lenten Evening of Reflection
- Monday, March 19 – Lenten Penance/Reconciliation Service
- Saturday, March 24 – Palm Sunday
- Sunday, March 25 – Palm Sunday
- Wednesday, March 28 – Tenebrae Service
- Thursday, March 29 – Holy Thursday
- Friday, March 30 – Good Friday
- Saturday, March 31 – Holy Saturday
- Sunday, April 1 - Easter
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Upcoming Events and Meetings
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Women of the New Testament
Tuesday, February 20, 6:45 PM
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Lenten Evenings of Reflection
Wednesdays (February 21, March 7 and 14) - 6 PM
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St. Ignatius Concert Artists at Mercy Hall
Wednesday February 21, 7:30 PM
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Young Family Ministry: "Coffee & Conversation at R House"
Saturday, February 24, 10 AM
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D.C. Detention Visitation Network Training
Saturday, February 24, 10:30 AM
See box above for complete information.
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Respect for Life Meeting
Sunday, February 25, 9:45 AM
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Embracing God's Gifts
Tuesday, February 27, 7 PM
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Lenten Prayer Walk with Bishop Madden
Wednesday, February 28, 5:30 PM
See box above for complete information.
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Interfaith/Ecumenical Committee Meeting
Thursday, March 1, 7 PM
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Ignatian Morning of Reflection
Saturday, March 3, 9 AM
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Baltimore Harp Chapter presents Helen Gerhold
Sunday, March 4, 4 PM
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Environmental Lenten Resources...
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An Ecological Examen, "
Reconciling God, Creation, and Humanity
," is a prayer, reflection and action tool developed by the Jesuits of the United States and Canada and the Ignatian Solidarity Network to help individuals deepen their call to care for creation and the most vulnerable and to embrace ecological justice.
Developed by the Inter-religious Working Group on Extractive Industries, A Lenten Creation Care Calendar, "
Protect Sacred Places
," invites individuals to grow closer to creation and to explore the lives of vulnerable communities through daily prayer and actions.
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Run (or Walk) in the Park for Others
Register now for
Runners for Others: An Ignatian 5K. The 3.1-mile race and 1-mile family walk kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday, April 7, in Patterson Park.
Click here
to register through Charm City Run, or paste
www.MDSJ.org/Ignatian5K
i
nto your browser.
As an extra incentive, all who come to the registration table after the March 11 Sunday Masses will get a free Ignatian 5K T-shirt (while they last) if they show registration confirmation or register on the spot.
The family-friendly race allows strollers and leashed dogs; children 10 and younger register for free. All parishioners are welcome to come join the fun and support the runners. To volunteer with the race, send your name and contact information to
anne.haddad1@gmail.com
.
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Ignatian Weekend Retreat
This year's retreat at Faulkner (Loyola-on-the-Potomac), Maryland, will be offered April 20-22. “Come, Follow Me” invites us to hear Jesus’ call to us now, and respond to it. Conducted in silence, it includes generous amounts of time for personal prayer and reflection. Open to all who want to grow in friendship with God through prayer. Fee is $245. Fee for first-time retreatants and those under 30 is $195. To register online:
www.loyolaonthepotomac.com/registration-3/ignatian/
or call 301-392-0819.
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Worship with Offerings, Liturgy and Prayers for Others
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POOR BOX
Each weekend St. Ignatius specifies a Poor Box collection for a needful cause. This week's
support goes to the
Vulnerable Families in Crisis
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MASS MUSIC
Attached is the listing for the music selections at next Sunday's 10:30 Mass.
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PERSECUTED CHRISTIAN REPORT
Weekly updates on Christian persecution around the globe. Keep a prayerful watch on what is
happening with your
brothers and sisters!
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The Spiritual Lessons of a School Shooting on Ash Wednesday
The sun rises as I retrieve Thursday’s Los Angeles Times from my driveway. On the front page, the indelible image from Wednesday’s high school shooting in Parkland, Fla., is of a woman, presumably a mother, crying, her arm clasped tight around another parent. The forehead of this present-day Madonna wears the vestige of a black cross, drawn in ashes. The photo makes me relive the act of having a cross traced on my own forehead only one day prior. The accompanying news story describes how 17 people were shot dead and at least a dozen others were wounded. It was Valentine’s Day. For us Catholics, it was also Ash Wednesday.
We receive our ashes as a sign of repentance, of our yearning for God’s forgiveness, of our intent to live our faith more truly in the face of our mortality. “Remember you are dust, and to dust you will return,” says the priest or lay minister, blessing us with a blackened thumb. The ashes that mark our foreheads only last for a day, but the mark this makes on our hearts is meant to endure for the entire 40 days of Lent.
READ MORE
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The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial in Washington, D.C. (CNS/Tyler Orsburn)
Archbishop Lori's Pastoral on MLK and Nonviolence is Timely, Engaging
by Michael Sean Winters | Feb 19, 2018
John Carroll, the first bishop and archbishop of Baltimore, is rightly revered as a holy and wise man who led the ancient church in the newborn republic with care and skill. He was, as are we all, a man of his times and so it would not have surprised his peers, even though we find it somewhat shocking, that Carroll was a
slaveowner
and, indeed, made a gift of a slave to a newly arrived group of nuns.
In 1861, Abraham Lincoln's security detail had to contrive an intricate plot, filled with decoys and deceit, to get him to Washington for his inauguration. A
plot to kill the president-elect
in Baltimore had been unearthed.
Later that same year, Lincoln had to
suspend the writ of habeas corpus
because Confederate sympathizers in Baltimore and the rest of Maryland threatened to cut off Washington from the rest of the Union. Maryland was a slave state and, sad to say, even today in some of its rural parts, there are plenty of homes where they fly the Confederate battle flag.
READ MORE
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READER NOTIFICATION:
"Parish: the thought" is a publication of St. Ignatius Catholic Community, Baltimore. Each edition contains articles and news feeds that are included for awareness of current topics in our world today. The positions expressed by outside authors and news feeds are theirs' alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions or positions of St. Ignatius Catholic Community or its staff.
- This e-zine was compiled by John C. Odean
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