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All Saints Parish is "an open and welcoming Catholic Christian Community" in Syracuse, NY. While All Saints has had a LGBTQIA+ Task Force for some time, recent decisions made by the current U.S. administration have inspired the community to establish a support group specifically for transgender parishioners, their families, and their friends. Jeff Wright, chair of the parish's LGBTQIA+ Task Force, wrote in a recent letter to the editor that "the goal [of the support group] is to foster understanding, offer support and strengthen the sense of community within our church, where we believe in the importance of love, unconditional acceptance and support for all individuals, inclusive of all gender identities." Thank you to All Saints Church for courageously supporting our marginalized siblings in Christ!
To learn more about All Saints Church, or to participate in their Liturgy via livestream, visit their website: https://www.allsaintssyracuse.... .
Have another person or community you’d like to highlight for their courage? Let us know! Email Martha at martha@futurechurch.org!
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March 2, 2025 | Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Today Marty Tomszak invites us to explore blindness and the class divide in the Gospel of Luke; unearth the Lukan centering of the Kingdom of God on Earth, with the help of Peter Maurin; and embody the kingdom here and now with the artwork of Fritz Eichenberg.
"Jesus’s central liberating message is that the failures of casting social safety nets to catch the most vulnerable in their times of need is a demarcation of Roman societal structures, and not something reflective of the Kingdom that his ministry was enacting. Quite simply: the Roman Empire leaves their blind poor to fall in ditches, Christ’s Kingdom does not."
Marty Tomszak is currently the Visiting Professor of Theology at Valparaiso University where he teaches courses in theology and liberationist ethics. He was also recently the recipient of a Visiting Researcher Grant at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven which served as a springboard for his upcoming monograph Time, Silence, and Yeast: A Song of Appreciation for Trappist Communities and Their Beer (Cascade Books). The intersection between theology, continental philosophy, and radical community not only influence his research interests but shape the way in which he intertwines theory and praxis in his day-to-day life as he serves as director of the Fire for Food Drive, an initiative aimed at overcoming food insecurity in Chicago in Partnership with the Chicago Fire Soccer Club; engages with Chicagoland’s Catholic Worker communities via experiential learning models in his courses; is active in Mutual Aid initiatives on Chicago’s North Side; and contributes to literature documenting state sanctioned violence by the CPD against his city’s residents.
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March 2, 2025
Preaching for the Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sr. Quincy Howard, OP, offers a reflection on rooting our selves in the "good soil" of love:
"Character is either rooted in a foundation of love or else it will bear bad fruit. Good fruit, we learn from Scripture, is seen in words and acts of love, kindness, acceptance, patience, and humility. Bad fruit grows from entitlement and deception and is easily recognized as it ripens into feigned outrage, violence, scapegoating, mockery and dehumanizing 'the other.'"
Quincy Howard is a Dominican Sister of Sinsinawa with a background in urban planning, community development and disaster recovery. Growing up in Texas, she distanced herself from the Church and was a non-practicing Catholic for most of her life. A late bloomer to her vocation, she returned to her Catholic roots and entered religious life in her late 30s and recently made her final vows, a decade later.
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March 5, 2025 | Ash Wednesday
Today Elizabeth Gross invites us to explore our own redirection away from cycles of harm; engage a reconnection with our ancestral tending of cycles of birth and death; and embody new cycles with a contemplation from Audre Lorde and The Nap Ministry.
"Today’s liturgy begins with a call for acknowledgement of the ways we are broken. Grief is a doorway through which we learn from our pain, rather than run away from or avoid it. When interfacing with our grief, we enter into a collective of humans who also share our sufferings, which taps us into the essence of compassion more wholly."
Elizabeth Gross (BA, CATP, CYT) is a holistic health practitioner based in Kingston, NY. Elizabeth weaves her training as an herbalist, yoga instructor, end of life doula, Thai Yoga bodyworker, and willow casket weaver into many of her offerings. Elizabeth’s spiritual praxis of contemplative and mystical forms of Christianity and yoga greatly influence the way she approaches her work with clients and students. She encourages her clients and students to keep their process simple, implement changes at a slow and steady pace, and prioritize rest throughout their healing journey. Her approach is grounded in humor and lightheartedness, integrity and authenticity, and reverence and devotion. You can learn more about her work at www.selkiemedicinals.com.
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March 5, 2025
Preaching for Ash Wednesday, Dr. Jessie Thomas offers a reflection on living each day as Ash Wednesday:
"While the Lenten journey only lasts for weeks, our journey of life is forever. Every day is an opportunity to ask for God’s forgiveness. Every day you and I must be an outward sign of our faith as well as an expression of our repentance..."
Dr. Jessie Thomas is a Lay Pastoral Theologian in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. She holds a master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry from the Athenaeum of Ohio and a Doctor of Ministry in Preaching from Aquinas Institute of Theology St. Louis University. Dr. Thomas has served as adjunct faculty for the Diaconate Office in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati teaching Homiletics. She is also a regular presenter and guest preacher throughout the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.
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| Upcoming FutureChurch Events |
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| beginning on March 12, 2025 | 7:00pm ET |
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Lent 2025: "What Is Mine To Do?"
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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 will begin on Wednesday, March 12, with an introductory evening of reflection and discernment, facilitated by the FutureChurch team, during which we will call to mind the gifts God has given to us. On the subsequent four Wednesdays, members of the larger FutureChurch network will lead us in prayer meant to increase our awareness of the struggles of these populations and learn about ways we can support them. Finally on Saturday, April 12, we will conclude our Lenten series with a two-hour retreat led by Sr. Nancy Sylvester, IHM – founder and director the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue, past president of LCWR, and past national coordinator of NETWORK, the Catholic Social Justice Lobby.
Join us for any or all of these programs as we begin to faithfully answer the question “what is mine to do?”.
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| March 27, 2025 | 8:00pm ET |
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“Bending Toward Justice: Sr. Kate Kuenstler and the Struggle for Parish Rights” with Sr. Christine Schenk, CSJ.
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Join FutureChurch as we welcome Sr. Christine Schenk for a conversation about her newest book!
Bending Toward Justice (Rowman Littlefield, 2024) tells the story of the rampant closings of Catholic parishes across the United States and documents the courageous advocacy of Sr. Kate Kuenstler and hundreds—indeed thousands—of ordinary Catholics whose persistence charted a new course in canon law. Sr. Kuenstler's expertise eventually gave increased leverage to the laity—and their parishes—in the struggle to preserve their parish homes, especially in ethnically diverse and poor neighborhoods.
Christine Schenk, CSJ has worked as a nurse midwife to low-income families, a community organizer, an award-winning writer-researcher, and the founding director of an international church reform organization, FutureChurch. Her first book Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity (Fortress Press, 2017) received a first place in history from the Catholic Press Association and her most recent work, To Speak the Truth in Love: A Biography of Sr. Theresa Kane RSM (Orbis Books 2019) received first place awards from The Association of Catholic Publishers and the Catholic Press Association.
Schenk also writes a regular column for the National Catholic Reporter and is one of three nuns featured in the award-winning documentary Radical Grace. Schenk graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University and holds two masters’ degrees, one in science from Boston College and an MA in Theology "with distinction" from St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland.
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| Catholic Women Strike for Lent |
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FutureChurch is pleased to endorse and support the Catholic Women Strike project of Women’s Ordination Conference. This global effort to disrupt the status quo in the Church encourages women and people of all genders to strike from sexism this Lent.
“Striking” will mean different things to different individuals and communities. And we encourage anyone interested in this action to visit the website and download the toolkit to learn more about the different ways to be involved or to show your support in ways that make most sense for you, your community, and your ministries.
If you are looking for alternative ways to engage your faith and with inclusive communities this Lent, we invite you to:
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| Pentecost Project- New Highlight! |
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Building Community Across the Miles with Beyond the Habit
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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 be highlighting communities that have been emboldened to live the Gospel in new and creative ways. Today we introduce you to Beyond the Habit.
Excerpt:
“At a time when Catholic sisters are less and less visible in the spaces where they were historically called to minister, Srs. Erin McDonald, CSJ and Colleen Gibson, SSJ have taken to the airwaves to spread the charism of their congregations. Through the power of modern day streaming, since November 2022 the voices of this dynamic duo can be found through the speakers in your car, earbuds, or living room as they interview various theologians, ministers, and other people of faith on real life issues in our world today."
Read More...
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| March 6th | 1:00pm ET via Zoom |
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| Webinar: Women and the Church: Affirming, Challenging and Transforming |
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Join The Tablet as we celebrate International Women’s Day with this webinar which focuses on Women and the Church. Maggie Fergusson, the host for this webinar, will be joined by Prof Celia Deane Drummond, a Director of the Laudato Si’ Research Institute and Senior Research Fellow in theology at Campion Hall, University of Oxford and Dr Phyllis Zagano, a Senior Research Associate-in-Residence and Adjunct Professor of Religion at Hofstra University and Sister Imelda Poole, a British religious IBVM sister and a former leader for ten years of RENATE (Religious in Europe Networking Against Trafficking and Exploitation) network fighting modern slavery across 27 countries in Europe.
Register Here.
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| March 9th - April 3rd | 12 sessions: 9 asynchronous forum discussions and 3 live zooms |
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| Getting Saintly and Subversive this Lent |
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What do we learn from the stories of Brigid of Kildare, Hildegard of Bingen, and Teresa of Avila, whose commitments to God inspired a subversion of oppression and patriarchy, and a oneness with creation? From these foundresses and abbesses, we can draw inspiration, courage, and instruction for our own resistance and resilience today. Join Monasteries of the Heart in this four-week series!
Register 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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