St. Patrick - St. Anthony Church and the Franciscan Center for Urban Ministry
a Roman Catholic faith community in the Franciscan Tradition
Vibrant Voices for Peace
September 28 @ 12:30 pm – 4:00 pm
Our Women of Hope Ministry invites you to join them for prayer to focus on many dimensions of peace ~ building a culture of peace, cultural diversity in friendship and the theme of justice, for example. We launch this important time to ‘be’ together.
Please join with other parishioners to hear the voices of women lead our communal prayers and reflect upon the peace sought after and celebrated at this moment in history.
On February 14, 2007, Pope Benedict XVI made the rather remarkable statement that “The history of Christianity would have turned out very differently without the contribution of women . . . the female presence was anything but secondary.”[i] Because of their belief in a countercultural Jesus, women founded and led house churches, prophesied, taught male evangelists, served the poor and functioned as apostles, benefactors, founders of monasteries, and envoys. This program focuses on the witness of early “mothers of the church” such as Euodia, Syntyche, Lydia, Prisca, Phoebe, Junia, Grapte, Thecla, Marcella, Macrina, Egeria, Olympias, Proba and many other women only known to us via the archaeological evidence from 3rd -5th century sarcophagi and catacomb frescos.
Presenter: Sr. Christine Schenk, CSJ
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Suggested Offering: $20.00 can be made payable to “St. Patrick-St. Anthony Church” and mailed to 285 Church Street, Hartford, CT 06103, Attn. Pat Curtis OR
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In her critically acclaimed book Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity, author Christine Schenk, C.S.J. explores the archaeological and literary evidence for women’s leadership in early Christianity. Schenk’s original research into visual imagery found on burial artifacts demonstrates that women were far more influential in the ancient world than has been commonly recognized. Join us for a fascinating visual journey and consider what it may mean for today.
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 most recent work, To Speak the Truth in Love: A Biography of Sr. Theresa Kane RSM (OrbisBooks 2019) received first place awards from The Association of Catholic Publishers and the Catholic Press Association. Schenk’s forthcoming book: Bending Toward Justice: Sr. Kate Kuenstler and the Struggle for Parish Rights documents Kuenstler’s courageous advocacy and that of hundreds of ordinary Catholics whose persistence charted a new course in canon law that allowed their vibrant churches and parishes to remain open. It will be published by Sheed and Ward in December 2024.
[i] As found on Asia News: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-History-of-Christianity-would-be-very-different-without-women-8487.html
Sponsored by Women of Hope Ministry
