Lent 2025

Lent 2025 Retreat: Respond from your Contemplative Heart with Nancy Sylvester, IHM

Written on April 14, 2025. Posted in Justice In the Church, Lent 2025.

To conclude our series of offerings during Lent 2025, FutureChurch welcomes Nancy Sylvester, IHM for this beautiful time of contemplative reflection. This two hour retreat invites participants to experience contemplation and how it awakens us to a new way of seeing, a new way of being.

The retreat begins with a brief introductory to contemplative practices and then invites participants to remain in a contemplative space as Nancy guides us through contemplative reflections on the sacred events of Holy Week.

Please note: To facilitate at home and small group contemplation, we have retained spaces of contemplative silence within the video. There are moments of silence for the initial contemplative sit and after each reflection on the days of the Triduum.

Nancy Sylvester, IHM, founded the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue (https://iccdinstitute.org) 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 (available here). 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.

More Resources:

To learn more about the Institute for Communal Contemplation and Dialogue and for more resources, visit https://iccdinstitute.org.
To join the mailing list, visit https://iccdinstitute.org/join-us-in-the-navigation
To purchase a copy of Nancy’s book, Journey-Faith in an Entangled World, click here.

Lent 2025 Session Five: Praying with and for Women

Written on April 10, 2025. Posted in Justice In the Church, Lent 2025.

In this fifth session of our Lent series, we celebrate a 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

The series will continue to unfold over this sacred season as we pray with and for vulnerable populations and see where our gifts and joys might meet their needs. Learn more at https://futurechurch.org/lent-2025.

Music:

“There Is a Light” © 1992, Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam. and spiritandsong®.. All rights reserved.
Eucharistic Acclamations from “Mass of Creation” by Marty Haugen. © 1984, 2010 GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Used and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-737115.

Lent 2025 Session Four: Praying with and for the Environment

Written on April 3, 2025. Posted in Justice In the Church, Lent 2025.

In this fourth session of our Lent series, we pray with and for the environment, seeking forgiveness for our role in environmental degradation, listening to the word of God, and discerning “what is mine to do.”

This prayer service was developed by Ariell Watson Simon and led by Molly Sutter. Readers are Ann Farah and Daryl Grigsby.

Music:

“There Is a Light” © 1992, Cyprian Consiglio, OSB Cam. and spiritandsong®.. All rights reserved.
“Sacred Creation” © 1990, Rufino Zaragoza, OFM. Published by OCP. All rights reserved.
Used and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-737115.

Confiteor adapted by Ariell Watson Simon

I confess to Creator God,
to Brother Sun, to Sister Moon,
to all that lives and moves around me,
and to you, my sisters and brothers,

That I have greatly sinned,
in my thoughtless consumption and in my broken resolutions;
In my willful ignorance, and in the despair that leads me to opt-out;
in what I have done to contribute to the destruction of the environment,
and in what I have failed to do to prevent it;

Through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault.

Therefore I ask Saint Francis of Assisi,
Saint Kateri Tekakwitha (patron of ecology),
all my spiritual ancestors,
and you, my sisters and brothers,
to pray with me for our Common Home.

Amen.

More Resources

Lent 2025 Session Three: Praying with and for Immigrants and Refugees

Written on March 27, 2025. Posted in Justice In the Church, Lent 2025.

In this second session of our Lent series, we pray with and for the Immigrant and Refugee community, who face increasing threats to their dignity, freedom, lives, and livelihoods.

Developed in collaboration with the FutureChurch team, our prayer service was led by Mayra Cervantes, Damaris Molina, Giovanni Perez, Maria Luna, Yolanda Chavez. The reflection is offered by Yunuen Trujillo, a faith-based community organizer, immigration attorney, and FutureChurch board member.

Music:

“Open My Eyes” All text except Spanish bridge © 1988, 1998, 2006, Jesse Manibusan. Music © 1988, 1998, 2006, Jesse Manibusan. Published by Spirit & Song®, a division of OCP. All rights reserved. Used and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-737115.

Lent 2025 Session Two: Praying with and for the LGBTQ+ Community

Written on March 20, 2025. Posted in Justice In the Church, Lent 2025.

In this second session of our Lent series, we pray with and for the LGBTQ+ community, who are still struggling for their rightful welcome and inclusion in the church even as they face emerging threats in society. We lift up our lamentations, our love, and our intentions as we stand in solidarity with this community.

We thank the members of the larger FutureChurch network who so beautifully helped us pray:

Leaders: Sarah Hansman, Sarah Morris, Isabel Thurston
Readers: Max Kuzma, Christine Zuba, Michael Sennett

Music:

Lent 2025 Session One: Introductory Reflection

Written on March 13, 2025. Posted in Justice In the Church, Lent 2025.

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.

In this first session, FutureChurch’s Martha Ligas offers an imaginative reflection on the anointing woman and helps us to discern what gifts we have been given and what brings us joy.

To view the Ted talk referenced in the video, visit: https://www.ted.com/talks/ayana_elizabeth_johnson_how_to_find_joy_in_climate_action

Music: