Life is grey

We got to hear a wonderful presentation this evening about Christian ministry and how it is and should be changing in this country and in our Catholic Church. Dr. Greg Baker from our local Mercyhurst University shared his ideas on how "pastoral power" is not the mechanism to lead people on their faith journey, but rather accompanying people on their paths of freedom, guiding people along their own seeking is the better way. He used the analogy of fences--that tend to control and hold in, contrasting them with porous boundaries that allow coming and going with the freedom of adulthood.

He shared the statistic that in 1970 55% of US Catholics attended Mass weekly. In 2018 it was 21%. Something is not resonating with seekers. He stressed that this is not at all a Catholic-only trend, as 26% of Americans now identify themselves as "unaffiliated" in religion.

It was a great presentation, full of contemporary, yet solid perspectives and concerns. Greg complimented us on the many social justice areas we address, but we think that with people as himself by our side, they are all the more meaningful, powerful and enriching.

Special weekend

Two special experiences stand out this week, no, let's make that three.

In nature, it's THE week when our larch tree is in its golden glory. Usually one of the last whose leaves turn from green to gold, as well as one of the last to get those leaves again in the spring, it's such a special tree. We get a first hand view of it every day as it is located right outside the dining room.

On the guest list, four of the writers of the book Dear Joan (see the blog entry below) came to visit for the weekend. It was delightful to see them again. They had a chance to visit with Sister Joan, to join us in prayer and just to be "on site" after a year and a half since their first visit. I heard that many of them are doing things with the book: offering retreats, book club sharing, Q & A's. Good for them. The book has already sold over 1,000 copies.

Third, after two weekends in a row of community meetings and obligations, it was nice to have a "free" one and to see so many of the sisters enjoying a weekend to visit friends, catch up on projects, watch movies or TV and just relax.

Letters

Today I'm going to plug one of our newer books, Dear Joan Chittister: conversations with women in the church that was published a few months ago. It's a very, very interesting little book, put together by eleven 22-35 year old women who attended a spirituality institute here that Benetvision sponsored a couple years ago. All of them are somehow involved in theology or religious studies or a similar area. In the book they each write a short letter about an issue and Sister Joan responds in a letter back to them.

The topics range from such things as:mentoring younger women, divorce and its effects on women, how to handle patriarchy in parishes, how to live authentically. In this month's US Catholic magazine, with a cover story ironically on Benedictine monks in Chicago, they ran a excerpt from the book---a full letter to and from Joan. The subject was: male only pronouns versus inclusive language. I don't know where to buy this issue, outside of libraries such as ours, but here's a 5-minute youtube video of the editor, Jessie, giving an overview.

The whole concept of young, educated Catholic women musing over the things about "church" that interest and bother them, is very attractive and interesting. Listen to Jessie and enjoy. BTW, six of the eleven letter writers are going to be here this weekend for a kind of reunion and to celebrate their project.

P.S. if you'd like a copy of the excerpt in the magazine, I'll send you one, just ask.

Bag Man

In the early 1970s my interests swayed little from my dedication to becoming a good high school teacher and the same for becoming a finally professed religious woman. I had little knowledge of the stories behind the political news of the day and, therefore, only got the big picture of Watergate and the Nixon era. Now, forty years later, along comes Rachel Maddow and her unique and compelling brand of storytelling to get the whole picture behind current events.

Recently Rachel produced a series of seven audio programs, Bag Man, on the background stories that led to the resignation of Vice-president Spiro Agnew, an event that was a pivotal prelude to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. They read like a modern day spy/thriller and have eerie similarities to today's political picture!

I want to encourage you to give them a try. Just listen to the first one (they are each only 30 minutes long). And, if you are hooked, as I was, I know you'll be fascinated with this time in our recent history, knowing now how things evolved over the next four decades and what could have happened--had things gone another way.

Ernest Howard Shepard

A little retro admission. I love greeting cards, whether through the mail or hand-delivered. And I have some friends that find the most wonderful cards, really unique and just stunning. Fortunately I am often the recipient of these unique pieces of art. This week I received two of them.

The first one was from one of my favorite illustrators, E.H. Shepard. Hallmark still produces a series of Winnie the Pooh cards, both the Disney ones and originals like this one.

And here's a new type of card, laser cut. They are just lovely. This one is "Birds on a Wire." You can see lots of examples by going to google images and type in laser cut cards.

Happy Halloween!

Peak week #2

Sorry, this is all we're talking about these days! Our trees and bushes absolutely popped over the last 3-4 days, more so than even the ones last week. I was encouraged to share some more pictures when our weekend speaker, who is from San Antonio, Texas, just exclaimed and exclaimed when she saw the autumn colors. "We don't have this in Texas," she said. "I have to take pictures for the sisters that I live with. They won't believe it."

So, believe it--here they are. (Plus another, better fire escape sunrise. More sky in this one).

Our backyard #1

Our backyard #2

7:45 am, four stories up and facing east.

Color my world--it's our peak week

Some of our trees have turned, others are as green as ever!

Along Troupe Rd at our side entrance

One of our many "golden" trees.

Even one of our sweet new trees changed colors!