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This past Wednesday, Futurechurch concluded our "What is Mine to Do?" Lenten Series with a Eucharistic Liturgy with and for women. Rev. Angela Nevitt Meyer, co-pastor at Brownsburg Inclusive Catholic Community, was the presider of our Liturgy. Rev. Angela was ordained with the Roman Catholic Women Priests in 2021. Here is an excerpt from Rev. Angela's homily:
"To pray with women is to pray with all of humanity. To hear, feel, validate, and respond to the collective experience of women is to engage in radical healing. Because when we begin to heal our relationship with power — the kind that has relegated women and girls to the bottom of social, economic, and ecclesial hierarchies — we begin to dismantle the systems that cause suffering at every level of human life." Read more here.
Thank you, Rev. Angela, for your courage and your witness. We at FutureChurch are deeply inspired by your commitment to equity in our church and in our world.
Do you know of an individual or community who has displayed holy courage in recent times? Tell us about them! Email Martha at martha@futurechurch.org.
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April 13, 2025 | Palm Sunday
Today Klaus Yoder invites us to explore the Passion’s parallels to our current time of deportation and fascism; engage our shared exhaustion and our solidarity with one another as we search for God in this time; and embody the ‘dark night of the soul’ in which we live with a contemplation, and the organizing of Democratic Socialists of America.
"The point of a liberative Christian reading of the Passion is not that we seek the perverse literalization and promiscuity of the Incarnation by confusing the Gospel of Christ with 'Social Justice.' This orthodox heresy is called for in other liturgical seasons. No, the point here is that if the Son of God and his chosen companions can be so vulnerable, so weak, so divided among themselves, so able to be snatched up by the ICE of their day, then small wonder the very slightest thread of human solidarity is so frayed in the current moment."
Klaus C. Yoder teaches in the Religion Department at Vassar College and co-hosts the podcast Seven Heads, Ten Horns: The History of the Devil.
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April 13, 2025
Preaching for Palm Sunday, Anne Arabome, SSS offers a reflection on what makes Holy Week holy:
"The holiness of Holy Week is in our story, writ large in the passion and triumph of Jesus of Nazareth. This week calls us to focus our gaze on Jesus and to follow him closely along the way. If we do so, we discover an immense treasure: a life of total self-giving that trumps selfishness; a gift of self-sacrificing love for the weakest and most vulnerable among us; a fullness of life that neither death nor despair can threaten, steal, or destroy."
Sister Anne Arabome, SSS, is a member of the Sisters of Social Service in Los Angeles, California. She has served as the Associate Director of the Faber Center for Ignatian Spirituality at Marquette University and recently founded the Sophia Institute for Theological Studies and Spiritual Formation in Namibia. She holds a PhD in Systematic Theology from the University of Roehampton, UK, and a Doctor of Ministry in Spirituality from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.
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Lent 2025: "What Is Mine To Do?" Session 5: Praying with and for Women
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As so many in our midst are becoming increasingly marginalized and vulnerable you may be asking, “what can I do?” Led by the Spirit and rooted in our Gospel values, FutureChurch is pleased to offer this 2025 Lenten Series – “What Is Mine To Do?”
Inspired by the Anointing Woman of Mark’s Gospel (14:3-9), who – in Jesus’ words – “did what she could,” FutureChurch is offering several opportunities designed to help each of us prayerfully discern how we are being called to stand in solidarity with the vulnerable and marginalized and to uphold and defend the dignity of all people.
Our series continued on Wednesday evening as we celebrated Eucharist in solidarity with all women. We are grateful to Rev. Angela Meyer, RCWP and members of the Brownsburg Inclusive Catholic Community who so beautifully led us in prayer. To learn more about BICC, visit https://www.binclusivecatholiccommunity.org/.
View/Download the Worship Aid
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| April 12, 2025 | 11:00am ET |
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2025 Lenten Retreat with Nancy Sylvester, IHM
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This Lent, Stop…Take Time…Drop deeply into Divine Presence…Respond to what is going on in our world from your contemplative heart.
This two hour retreat invites you to experience contemplation and how it awakens you to a new way of seeing, a new way of being. There will be silence, reflection, and opportunities for small and large group sharing. You may want to bring a candle, pencil and paper. An excellent companion to the retreat both before and after is Journey-Faith in an Entangled World by Nancy Sylvester, IHM available here.
About our Retreat Leader:
Nancy Sylvester, IHM, founded the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue in 2002. Prior to that she served in elected leadership positions both within her religious congregation, the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) of Monroe, MI., and in the Presidency of the national Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR). She served on the staff of Network, a D.C. based Catholic Social Justice Lobby, for fifteen years, ten years as Executive Director. Nancy also taught at Marian high school in Bloomfield Hills and Immaculata in Detroit, MI. She is a well-known speaker, writer and process facilitator. She has recently written the book, Journey-Faith in an Entangled World. She has an undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science from St. Louis University and a master’s in human development from St. Mary’s University in Winona, MN.
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| May 6, 2025 | 7:00pm ET |
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“The Catholic Church and Its Hospitals: A Marriage Made in Heaven?” with Patricia A. Gabow, MD
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Join FutureChurch as we welcome Dr. Patricia Gabow for a conversation on Catholic healthcare in the United States.
Please Note: originally scheduled for April 29th, this event has been rescheduled to Tuesday, May 6th at 7:00pm ET.
In The Catholic Church and Its Hospitals: A Marriage Made in Heaven, Dr. Patricia Gabow, MD, MACP delves deep into the origins, evolution, and the present-day implications of the Catholic healthcare system in the U.S. This well-researched volume traces Catholic healthcare's lineage from its biblical foundation to the role of courageous women religious in providing care to those in need, to the modern era of bishops' control over hospitals, doctors, and their clinical practice, determining the care that will be provided to millions of Americans.
In her presentation for FutureChurch, Dr. Gabow will focus her remarks on the beginnings of Catholic healthcare in the US – particularly the role of women religious in its noble beginnings; the reach of Catholic health care and the impact of religious directives on women’s, reproductive, and LGBTQ+ healthcare, as well as the impact on the conscience of medical professionals; and finally offer suggestions for meaningful change that could make Catholic healthcare more committed to Catholic Social Teaching.
Patricia A. Gabow, MD, is a national healthcare leader who has focused on the care of vulnerable populations and the institutions that serve them. She spent 40 years at Denver Health, a highly integrated healthcare system and Colorado’s major safety net institution. The last 20 of those years was as CEO, retiring in 2012. She has authored over 130 articles, 36 book chapters, and two previous books books, The Lean Prescription: Powerful Medicine for Our Ailing Healthcare System and TIME’S NOW for Women Healthcare Leaders: A Guide for the Journey.
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| Mary Magdalene: Her Easter Proclamation and Why It Matters |
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| Tell the Whole Story of Mary Magdalene on Easter Sunday |
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The full story of Mary Magdalene’s Easter proclamation of the Risen Christ is NEVER heard on Easter Sunday (John 20: 1 – 18). Thus, Catholics are deprived of learning about the gifts, grace, courage, and ministry of women such as Mary Magdalene whose memorial was raised to a feast day in 2016 and is officially known as the “Apostle of the Apostles.” This Easter, encourage your local parish to proclaim the FULL story of what happened on that first Easter morning. Click the "READ" link below for resources on Mary Magdalene and the Lectionary, and the "VIEW" link to re-visit FutureChurch's 2024 presentation on why Mary Magdalene's Easter proclamation matters.
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| Pentecost Project |
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ALTernative LITurgies: Abounding Grace in Chicagoland Living Rooms
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With the fire of Pentecost and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, we at FutureChurch are engaging in a new project to recognize and celebrate communities that are embodying the mission of Pentecost. Over the next several months, we will continue highlighting communities that have been emboldened to live the Gospel in new and creative ways. Today we introduce you to Alt-Lit.
“I’ve never been in a space where both my talents can be lauded, and my brokenness cared for in such an affirming way. I think that comes from that consistent dedication to community that all of us have.” - Claire Erlenborn, Alt-Lit Participant
Read More about Alt-Lit...
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| September 5-7 | West Hartford, Connecticut | New Ways Ministry |
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| The Path of Desire: Adventures in Spirituality; A Retreat for LGBTQ+ People, Family, Friends, Pastoral Ministers, and All |
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New Ways Ministry is sponsoring a retreat for EVERYBODY — LGBTQ+ people, family, friends, and pastoral ministers, and all interested people. Entitled The Path of Desire: Adventures in Spirituality, the retreat will be held Friday to Sunday, September 5-7, 2025, at Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center, 303 Tunxis Road, West Hartford, Connecticut. The retreat will be facilitated by Lisa Fullam, D.V.M., Th.D., professor emerita of moral theology at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. This retreat will explore spiritualities of desire—spiritualities that seek God in the longings of our hearts and the yearnings of our imaginations. The weekend will combine talks, small group discussions, silent meditation, communal prayer, and socializing.
Register and learn more here.
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| We seek changes that will provide all Roman Catholics the opportunity to participate fully in Church life and leadership. |
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FutureChurch is a national 501(c)(3) organization and your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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