For Immediate Release:
June 23, 2011
Contact:
Emily Holtel-Hoag
216-228-0869, ext. 3 (work)
216-401-8827 (cell)
FutureChurch Program:
Unheard Homilies: End the Silencing of Catholic Women
On Wednesday, July 20, at 7pm, FutureChurch will be celebrating
the Feast of St. Mary of Magdala with an evening celebration at Independence
Civic Center, 6363 Selig Drive, Independence, OH 44131. Three women will share the homilies they would love to preach at Sunday
Mass.
At present, womenÕs voices are silenced
in our churches. Stories of female
biblical leaders are omitted or made optional in our lectionary and women,
indeed all lay people, have recently been forbidden to preach at Mass even though
canon law allows it. This deprives both women and men of hearing the GospelÕs
life-giving message through the lens of female experience.
The focal point of the St. Mary of Magdala prayer
celebration will be listening to the Òunheard homiliesÓ given by women who
refuse to be silenced. They
have been asked to preach the homilies they have longed to preach at Mass if
they were only permitted -without restraint and without fear of criticism.
Woven into the context of prayer, we know these homilies will be inspiring!
The homilists are: Diana Culbertson, O.P., Ph.D., professor emeritus at Kent State University and
former president of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion. She is a member of the Dominican
Sisters of Peace and lectures and publishes extensively. Theresa Hafner,
CSJ, is a member of the
Congregation of St. Joseph who has taught Theology, and worked in the Health
Care and Food Service fields. Patricia Shullick is a Pastoral Minister at parish in Lorain, Ohio
who is passionate about justice and peace work and is committed to service to
the poor.
No charge, but a free will offering will be
accepted.
To educate about women leaders and to model gender
balance in scripture proclamation, FutureChurch began special international
celebrations of the Feast of St. Mary of Magdala in 1997. Each year
between 200 and 300 such events are held in mid July. Participants hear
presentations by biblical scholars about early women leaders and experience
prayer services at which competently prepared women preach and preside.
The program in Cleveland is one of over 275
international celebrations organized by FutureChurch for the July 22 Feast of
St. Mary of Magdala in 2011.
Aside from the United States, celebrations will
occur in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Great Britain, Ireland, Jamaica,
Mexico, and New Zealand. They will engage between 10 and 300 people in
parishes, convents, Catholic schools, Protestant churches, private homes and
small faith communities.
FutureChurch, headquartered in Cleveland,
Ohio, is a U.S. coalition of 3,500 parish based Catholics striving to educate
fellow Catholics about the seriousness of the priest shortage, the centrality
of the Eucharist (the Mass), and the systemic inequality of women in the
Catholic Church. FutureChurch makes presentations throughout the country,
distributes educational and informational packets and recruits activists who
call on Catholic leadership to open ordination to all baptized persons who are
called to priestly ministry by God and the people of God.
FutureChurch
17307 Madison Ave.
Lakewood, OH 44107
216-228-0868 www.futurechurch.org