Changing direction during COVID

Br John-Paul writes about teaching students and how it has changed his life.

Please accept the short block of my experience of teaching. What it is done to me and my spiritual life and my perspective of giving serving and receiving. During COVID I decided to train in another profession. From the time I was 15 I thought I would be a priest. And from the time I was 22 I was a youth minister. But in the middle of COVID I did a lot of soul searching,and praying and I realized that though my call to serve hadn't changed my concept of serving had. So, I left paid ministry and went to teachers college. I'm not the first friar to ever gone to teachers college and God knows I won't be the last. But let me tell you what I found at teacher's college…

When I decided to go to teachers college I thought of this story of the Greeks in the temple before Christ's passion. In the gospel of John chapter 12, "Now among those who went up to worship at the feast were some Greeks. So these came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and asked him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Philip went and told Andrew; Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus." My thought was that I need to take Christ to the marketplace. To introduce the teachings of Jesus to a greater community beyond our Parish churches. Funny enough when I got there I found that in fact it was not the children who waited for Christ, but it was Christ who waited for me in the children.

Throw my time as a youth minister I came up with all kinds of adventures games and fun for young people to understand more fully and apply more deeply the gospel to their lives. When I got to school I had to relearn math to teach students math. It never occurred to me that sitting next to a 10-year-old whose eyes were filled with tears because they were having issues subtracting while all of their classmates were doing division, that I would see the face of my Lord looking back at me. But I do, every day in so many ways, Christ cries out, for love, for affirmation, for acceptance and most of all to be seen and not dismissed. Now I have many things to talk blog about, with regard to teaching 

• How to teach the gospel without using the name of Jesus

• How deeply I feel the impact of what it is to be a religious (brother) who is teaching, in a country where 'religious teachers' destroyed the indigenous culture of my country.

• The joys and sufferings of watching students make the same social mistakes I made. 

• Watching from the other side as students are bullied, ignored or even develop an over abundance of victim-hood.

Over over the last few months, I have come to understand my life as a teacher not from the perspective of the Greeks in the temple. No, my perspective has become that of the apostles in Chapter 13 of the Gospel of John as I sit around the table trying to understand what Christ was doing. "When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place.” “Do you understand what I have done for you?”, he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet." (John 13:12)

We can experience the Kingdom of God here on Earth!!

The opportunities to serve our Sisters and Brothers who are seeking Asylum and who are Homeless are right in front of us and is part of experiencing what the Kingdom of God is really like. I thank God for these experiences to serve as it is in these acts of servitude that my spiritual growth is taking place in a richer and deeper way that I could never have imagined. It is the Word of God coming alive and validating all that has been written in scripture about the joy of living a spirit filled and Christ centered life. These experiences of serving whether in be in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Birmingham, Washington DC, Germantown, PA all have a common thread and that is Christ is deeply alive in each and every individual we encounter and also in His Holy Creation. Our individual and communal commitments to seeing Christ in every person we encounter calls us to solidarity and action with those who are struggling physically, mentally or spiritually.

Once again, the experience of encountering Christ is taking place here in Washington DC this weekend. I am blessed to be back in DC to participate in the ministry of showing hospitality to Asylum Seekers with wonderful volunteers from St Thomas Episcopal Church DuPont Circle and also from the Migrant Mutual Aid Solidarity Network. On Tuesday God willing I will have the opportunity to serve breakfast to our siblings who are homeless at St Margaret’s Episcopal Church “Charlie’s Place” https://www.charliesplacedc.org/ I am also encountering numerous individuals who are homeless while traveling in DC on the Metro.

I thank God again for all these experiences and thank all of the people from my Parish Family at St Anna’s Episcopal Church in New Orleans Saint Anna's Episcopal Church, New Orleans LA - Saint Anna's Episcopal Church New Orleans (stannanola.org) and my Franciscan Sisters and Brothers in the Community of Francis and Clare cfcfranciscans.org for their prayers.

Br. Donald

I was a Stranger and You Welcomed Me

Brother Alasdair writes…

I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes. (Matthew 25:35)

Life at Wyke Regis Rectory has seen some changes since May. When Br Alasdair and his wife Nicky saw the plight of Refugees leaving Ukraine, they realised that they needed to open their home and invite a family to live with them. Little did they know the process would be so rapid as Alasdair got a call one day to say a young Refugee Mother and Child had been made homeless late at night with nowhere to live. They were put into emergency accommodation for four days. In that time, Alasdair asked for donations to turn his Chapel in the Rectory into a home for a mother and baby. He was so blessed that members of the Community of Francis and Clare sent money to help him buy a new bed and bedding

In the Centre of the Chapel in the Rectory is a figure of Our Lady with Jesus in her Arms. Very often as Franciscans the word must become flesh and literally live amongst us, (John 1: 14). Iana and Boghdan have now been living with Br Alasdair and his wife Nicky for nearly 3 months. It is lovely to have a little baby around and we have sought to not just provide Iana with lodging, but a family and a home. Within Br Alasdair’s Parish there are now over 50 Ukrainian Refugees and the Children attend the School where he is Chaplain. He has been able to provide other help in terms of helping them have places to meet as a Community and to support them with days out during the summer holidays.

Christian Climate Activism

My name is Brother Alasdair of the Community of Francis and Clare. I am the Rector of the Parish of Wyke Regis and the Churches of All Saint’s and St Edmunds. I am an Anglican Priest and my Parish is on the Coast of England and so very susceptible to flooding. 

As a Franciscan I am very conscious of the present Climate and Ecological Emergency we are in. Extreme weather events, loss of biodiversity, significant plastic pollution, deforestation, melting Ice Caps leading to feedback loops and serious levels of greenhouse gas emissions. The time for action has arrived. As a Franciscan our common home is in serious trouble heading towards 3 degrees of global warming and so I have added my voice and body to the growing number taking part in non-violent direct action against governments and big polluting business that seeks to destroy our sacred earth. 

Recently, I joined with fellow members of Christian Climate Action and Extinction Rebellion at my first Action in London.  I went to provide a witness to my faith as a Christian and wanted to pray, to protest and provide a presence of one who embodies the establishment and say “no” to more investment in Fossil Fuels.  We called on our government and those at COP26 to take the action necessary to avert serious ecological breakdown.  

After 17 months of Covid it was intense and yet totally liberating to kneel in front of scores of police officers and pray for the environment and the rebels and look into the eyes of police and rebels alike with love, sorrow, and moral conviction. I was proud to see my fellow Clergy arrested and to be among those whose faith calls for action and non-violent direct action.

We are called as Franciscans to pray but also to act for the common good of all. 

A Brush with God

Peter Pearson, a member of the community, has been painting icons since he was a kid and has been teaching this ancient art for over thirty years. His workshops/retreats focus on techniques, history, spirituality, as well as learning how to pray with a brush. His works can be found in churches, monasteries, retreat houses, and in private homes around the world. Throughout this Covid-time, most of the classes switched to online teaching experiences and it was a way to give his students something to focus in besides the fear surrounding the pandemic. In addition, Peter works closely with The Friends of the Poor, a ministry of the IHM Sisters in the Scranton area. Since the beginning of the pandemic, they have fed nearly 1,200 families every two weeks through their drive-in food pantries. These ministries compliment his other job as a parish priest in Northeastern Pennsylvania.

Bikes for Christ

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Sr. Cindy Fleming has turned her love of bicycling and years of skill repairing them into into a ministry of love and giving to those in need. The parishioners at her parish, St Thomas Episcopal Church in Coral Gables, Florida, support her ministry by donating used bikes and parts. Cindy then takes the bikes, repairs them and gets them ready for use. When they are ready, the bikes are then donated to another local church in the area and distributed to people in need. Bicycles are ecologically friendly and a reasonable form of transportation for many people. Cindy is helping to make owning a bicycle a reality for many people and to improve their quality of life.

Using the Example of Saint Clare to Help Others

Sr. Judy Kenyon uses her skills as a needleworker to make items for others.

Sr. Judy writes, “I have always been drawn to making things for others. When I was younger I made clergy vestments, Eucharistic linens and altar hangings, choir vestments, banners and other items for newly ordained clergy or religious who could not afford these items or churches who needed these things but could not afford to buy them.

I was delighted when I became a Franciscan to learn that St. Clare is the patron saint of needleworkers. I was right at home. Today, I am focusing on individual items for those in need. I make 11 inch knitted teddy bears for Seattle Children's hospital to be given out to the children who are receiving care. Until COVID I was able to bring each bear to the altar for a healing service to be held and blessed before sending them to the children. Now, I can not send them because of COVID. I still make them and pray I will be able to bless and send them soon.

Recently, I have been knitting hats for Br. Donald’s homeless ministry (in New Orleans, LA) which brings me great joy as I pray for the person who will be receiving the hat. This is a small thing but I feel connected to St. Clare and her Sisters as I work.”

Much appreciated hats and gloves for homeless sisters and brothers.

Ministry of Music and Love in a time of COVID

Sister Karen from Sequim, Washington writes:

During our COVID confinement, I’ve given three little piano concerts at out retirement home to lift people’s spirits, with the help of my little rescue dog Luna. I’ve played everything from classical music to show tunes to some of my own compositions, including “Luna’s Song” and “A Tale of Two Dogs.” About 30 to 40 people have attended, spread out over two floors with social distancing and some looking down from the balcony.

Luna has her own ministry here. Six months after my old dog died, I prayed and asked God to bring me another little dog. A year ago November I found Luna online; her previous owner, a homeless person, had brought her to a shelter in southern California, a big truck drove her to Tacoma, WA, and my sister Gail and I picked her up at a gas station there and brought her home to Sequim. She was SO scared, she wouldn’t approach anybody or even go outside for the first two weeks. People here were so patient and gentle with her, and now she loves them all. One woman, Tia, who was dealing with a recent terminal diagnosis, was getting her hair done in our beauty salon; she saw Luna and said, “Oh, what a cute little dog!” Luna responded by running over and jumping in her lap! Tia burst out laughing and exclaimed, “Oh, you’ve made my day!” Another woman, Audrey, whose old dog had just died, was sitting alone outside last summer. Luna went over, jumped in her lap and stayed there for a long time, comforting her. People smile and stop to pet her when we meet in the halls or lobby; she has become our little mascot. As my sister Gail said, “Luna has brought so much joy into our lives!”

Serving during a Pandamic

One must be creative when serving during a global pandemic trying to follow CDC protocols for safety. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity rely on volunteers to help with their rehab and building projects. Br David writes, “After month of being idle it felt good to follow the Holy Spirit and once again be building and serving. We have fewer people volunteering and those who do volunteer need to maintain social distancing, but the work of Jesus is slowly getting done. I thank God for opportunities of service. So many in our Community are serving in a variety of ways, continuing to help and serve others. It is very humbling.”

Br. David

St Anna's Episcopal Church Food Assistance Ministry

By April 18, 2020 our Feeding Program will have provided 189 grocery bags full of food. This will have served 93 families of which about 35 are Service Industry/Artists & Musicians. The demand is increasing. We do this by referral. We provide a dependable source for food security for those in need. Please consider a can or two of food in our white bucket on the porch located at 1313 Esplanade or make a donation by hitting the donate button at www.stannanola.org . The Little Church that Could.

Br Donald Dubay, CFC