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Loving in Advent 2020: How to Rejoice! with Mary and Joseph
The pandemic this year has changed and challenged how I both show and receive love.  I know all of us have had to adapt not just to new "normals" but to new ways of connecting with and caring for others and ourselves.  This Advent, I have found particular strength and peace in the example of how Mary and Joseph loved each other.  In all the trials and terrors they must have faced in bringing the son of God into the world - talk about not having much normal in their life! - both the Blessed Mother and our saintly father Joseph made space above all for God, so their hearts could bloom and they could love fully and beautifully - and, in an entirely new way that has changed the world forever.  This Advent meditation on the love of Mary and Joseph, from Ascension Ministries, is exactly what I - and maybe you - need to hear in these final days just before Christmas.

May this be the most sacred and beautiful Advent of your life, as Mary and Joseph tenderly wrap your soul in a warm cloak of love and divine grace.
Luke Henkel
assistant, social outreach and advocacy

Introducing: Rejoice! Advent Meditations with the Holy Family.  How to Love like Mary and Joseph

Rejoice! Advent Meditations on how to love like Mary and Joseph
Featuring Fr. Mark Toups, Sr. Miriam James, and Fr. Josh Johnson.
The Advent Giving Tree and Sock Drive

This year's Advent Outreach provides for the needs of the region while also ensuring the health and safety of the St. James community. Please support the following efforts this Advent season!
 
WARM HEARTS & SOLES SOCK DRIVE
              • The annual sock drive has a goal this year of 2,021 pairs of new socks for the homeless. You can drop socks off at the weekend Masses, at the Parish Office (call 206-622-3559 to confirm open hours), or have them shipped directly to the Cathedral (804 Ninth Ave, Seattle, WA 98104).
 
ADVENT GIVING TREE
              • The Virtual Giving Tree lets you donate a gift for someone in need.
              • This year we are partnering with Skagit Valley Migrant Farmworker Families, CCS Pregnancy Support Services, King County Juvenile Detention, the Frederick Ozanam House, and St. James Immigrant Assistance. Gifts must be delivered by December 20.
              • Handy links are provided so you can order gifts online and have them shipped to the Cathedral (804 Ninth Ave., Seattle, WA 98104), or you can drop them off at the weekend Masses or at the Parish Office (call 206-622-3559 to confirm open hours).
 
Information, Patrick Barredo, pbarredo@stjames-cathedral.org.
Almost to 2021!  Sock drive update

Our goal for the Warm Hearts and Soles sock drive is the calendar year - 2021 pairs - and we're getting close!  We now have over 1450 pairs.  That's a lot of warm feet!  With your generosity we can certainly make it.  Many thanks to all who have contributed.

Drop off socks at any of the weekend masses at St. James cathedral through Dec. 27.  For more information or questions, email Luke Henkel.
Go Deeper with 
Pope Francis' Third Encyclical, Fratelli Tutti

"To see the earth as it truly is, small and blue and beautiful in that eternal silence where it floats, is to see ourselves as riders on the earth together, brothers [and sisters] on that bright loveliness in the eternal cold -- brothers [and sisters] who know now they are truly [family]."
- Archibald MacLeish

We Are All Sisters and Brothers 
January 11, 2021, 6:30pm- 7:30pm
Dr. Judy Mayotte, MacArthur grant recipient, humanitarian and Cathedral parishioner, will speak on Fratelli Tutti's call to restore humanity's fraternal bond, that we are all sisters and brothers dwelling together on the Earth, our common home. We are called to hear the cry of the poor, our brothers and sisters. We also are called to hear the cry of the Earth, which sustains us and gives us life. Dr. Mayotte's reading of the Pope's encyclical includes a consideration of what walls we build within ourselves, and what structural walls we (as a people) have constructed. Following her presentation, there will be a period for discussion.
 
Fratelli Tutti Study Groups 
Starting the week of January 17
Cathedral parishioners are invited to join a 4-week, small group program on Zoom to read, discuss and pray with Fratelli Tutti, with a particular focus on the importance of human solidarity and friendship. You are welcome to participate in one of these small groups: Tuesdays, 2pm-3.30pm, Wednesdays, 6:30pm-8pm, and Thursdays, 6:30pm-8pm. Two books will be needed: Fratelli Tutti and Bill Huebsch's On Fraternity and Social Friendship: Group Reading Guide to Pope Francis' Fratelli Tutti. Both are available in the Cathedral Bookstore.

For registration and information, please email Patrick Barredo, Director of Social Outreach and Advocacy.
Lessons We Learned from Kate Hennessy:
Thanks for sharing with us!

On Dec. 8, Dorothy Day's youngest grand-daughter, Kate Hennessy, virtually joined the St. James Cathedral community. It was a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the co-founder of the Catholic Worker movement, with details about Dorothy Day's life from someone incredibly close to her.

The session was recorded if you could not make it. You can access it by clicking here, and then entering passcode 6nh^Dd#5  

Questions? Email Patrick Barredo.
Faith and Racial Justice: 
Changing Systems and Structures

Mondays Jan. 18 - March 15, 2021
6:30pm-9pm via Zoom
 
"The great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us, are unconsciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do."   
- James Baldwin

Learn how to advocate for racial justice 
within your family, church and community
 
The St. James Cathedral Life, Peace and Justice Commission invites you to participate in this JustFaith Ministries program, which gives participants the tools they need to address racism at a systemic level - whether they decide to work for criminal justice reform, advocate for fair housing, close the racial wealth gap, or end racism within the church. In this ten-session program, participants learn about key obstacles to racial justice that are embedded within our institutions, systems, and structures. They are then equipped to mobilize people and resources to dismantle those obstacles. Through a grounding in prayer, spiritual practice, and a reflection on the Epistle of St. James, your group will leave the program ready to work for racial justice in your nation, local community, and the churches and institutions of which you are a part.
 

Limited space available!  Information/registration, email Patrick Barredo.

Job Opening at St. James Cathedral

ASSISTANT FOR SOCIAL OUTREACH AND ADVOCACY

St. James Cathedral is hiring an Assistant for Social Outreach and Advocacy. The incumbent will provide support for the Cathedral's ministries for the poor and underserved, with a particular focus during the pandemic on meal programs and care for creation. This is a 25-29 hour/week position, non-exempt. 

To receive a job description and details, interested applicants should download the Seattle Archdiocesan Job Application and email it with an attached resume to Patrick Barredo.  206-619-2879.
An Advent Prayer


During this holy season of remembering the Incarnation, let us always be mindful that we have been blessed with the fruits of God's creation. So let us in turn, bless others. May we be especially generous to our brothers and sisters in need, and may we protect God's great gift of Creation so that future generations may also be blessed by its abundance. 
 
May we pray for all those who are suffering during this Advent season, may our Good and Gracious God bless us and grant us a keen awareness, a compassionate heart and the ability to reach out to those in physical, spiritual or psychological need. 
 
"In switching on the light of the Nativity scene, we wish for the light of Christ to be in us. A Christmas without light is not Christmas. Let there be light in the soul, in the heart; let there be forgiveness to others; let there be no hostilities, which are dark. Let there be the beautiful light of Jesus. This is my wish for all of you, when you turn on the light of the crib."
Pope Francis


From the Archdiocese of Cincinnati's Catholic Social Action Office
206-382-4515