Dedication of St. Charles of Brazil in Lansdowne, Maryland
We formally dedicated on October 18 our new parish in Maryland, St. Charles of Brazil, named for our founder, Charles Duarte-Costa, with a Eucharistic liturgy at 3:00 followed by a meal shared in common. Our Presiding Bishop, Tony Santore, led our Eucharistic assembly joined by other CACINA clergy, Pastor Kristi Kunkel of Our Saviour Lutheran Church, and Rev. Joan Stiles. Here are some photos from the day.
We gather for Eucharist:
We shared a meal afterward to celebrate what God is doing among us:
Presiding Bishop Tony Santore and the President of the House of Delegates Carl Pope:
The one year anniversary of our blog
It was a year ago today that Bishop Tony Santore, presiding bishop of CACINA, established this blog with this post. The motto of our church is, “All are welcome,” and to each of you who visits us here, we extend an embrace in the Lord Jesus, saying to you, “Welcome! You are most welcome here!”
Franciscan Community of Reconciliation Profession
On Saturday, October 3, 2009 at our parish church in Halcottsville, New York in the Catskills, Holy Innocents, CACINA’s Franciscan order received five newly professed members. Their professions were an element of the community’s celebration of Francis’ Transitus. Bishop Tony Santore, FCR documented the profession with photographs; the ceremony commences with a procession led by Victor carrying a crucifix:
The Minister General, Francisco Betancourt, FCR, serves as the president of the assembly:
Walter proclaims the gospel:
The Facilitator of Novices, Joe Diele, FCR, addresses the congregation concerning aspects of the Franciscan charism:
The novices prior to their professions declare their intentions:
We rely on the prayers of the saints:
Evelyn makes her profession:
Walter makes his profession:
Patti makes her profession:
Jackie makes her profession:
Linda makes her profession:
Dante, Walter, Frank, and Joe pray with the congregation:
May God who has begun this good work in them bring it to completion.
Church for All People News
It’s been several months since our last blog about news of The Church For All People – Tarrytown, but this is not to say that we haven’t been busy!
On June 13 we hosted a day of prayer in Tarrytown for both of our parish locations: Brooklyn and Tarrytown as well as Church of the Holy Innocents in Halcottsville NY. It was led by Kathleen Connell, a priest from the Celtic Catholic Church who introduced us to the Dances of Universal Peace which we then used to pray on the Beatitudes while learning to chant in Aramaic. It is hard to describe in words what the experience was like; all were very moved and we continue to be so. Kathleen has been a long time friend of CACINA and the Church For All People and we are most grateful to her for the many gifts she brings to us.
This past week was our annual silent, directed retreat. Members of the Church for All People as well as assorted friends and other members of CACINA parishes spent Monday August 3 through Friday August 7 at the beautiful Linwood Spiritual Center on the banks of the Hudson River in Rhinebeck, NY. We were blessed to have our pastor, Joe Diele, as well as three other directors to guide each of us on our journey into our hearts and souls to encounter our living God. The other directors were all women and from varied backgrounds and perspectives: a Roman Catholic nun, an Episcopal priest and a professed lay member of the Order of EcumenicalFranciscans. We also were blessed with gorgeous weather which made the fact that the Center had a pool even more delightful!
On September 5th the Tarrytown community will celebrate their second anniversary with liturgy and a barbecue afterwards. Our parish continues to grow, slowly but surely….we recently had a young family with two small children attend and expressed a definite desire to continue to be with us. Since we began our community two years ago, we have doubled in size. While this means that we have a mere 8 members, we continue to know that God’s timing is perfect and we are right where we are supposed to be. Alleluia!
June 10 2009 Day of Prayer - Praying with the Beatitudes in Aramaic
Daily Eucharist at Linwood Retreat
Joe Diele’s homily on Palm Sunday
Joe preaches at the Church for All People in Brooklyn last Sunday:
Gospel reading and homily at Sunday’s Mass at the Church for All People
Fr. Joe unlocks the mystery of Sunday’s gospel reading:
Gospel and homily from a CACINA parish March 8
Fr. Joe reads from the gospel last Sunday:
Here is his homily after the gospel:
The Church For All People-Tarrytown
This is the first blog posting for CFAP Tarrytown. We began our parish community in July of 2007 and have quickly grown to 8 regular members. We are one of two communities which comprise the parish of The Church for All People; our other community is in Brooklyn and much larger and a bit older. Pastor for both communities is Joe Diele.
2008 was a year of much growth for Tarrytown and nothing gave us greater pleasure than to host the receiving of the habit and professing of three members of the parish into the Franciscan Community of the Reconciliation on November 22nd.
The day began with a memorial prayer service at a local Lambda Peer Support Group Center for members of the LGBT community who had died during the last year as a result of AIDS or hate crimes. The service was organized and led by one of our parish members, Joe Diele and our Bishop, Frank Betancourt. Other members of CFAP Tarrytown and FCR clergy from CACINA also attended including George Lucey and Denis Couture. It was a fitting and mindful way to begin a day of much prayer, love and celebration both of lives lived and living.
Later that evening nearly 30 people gathered to witness the professing of 3 parish members in the FCR as they who took their vows and received their habits . Each was accompanied and assisted by a family member; as they received their habits from Frank along with Joe, George and Denis assisting. For those of us who had never witnessed the professing of a new member of a religious community, it was a moving and joyful moment!
The ceremony took place during Mass and immediately afterwards the celebrating continued with a potluck Thanksgiving dinner. The house was jammed with people, eating, drinking, laughing and truly savoring our community! Surely it was a night of great joy and gratitude.
Other news of our parish: we began a monthly scripture study in September and are currently working our way through Revelation. Once a month right after our Saturday evening liturgy we order pizza and crack open our bibles. Joe is leading us and the discussions are pretty lively and illuminating!
One of our newer members, left us in January to move to Florida for several months, so we bade her Godspeed and will miss her!
That’s it for now….but stay tuned! The next big event should be our 2nd anniversary celebration in July!
