Monday, January 31, 2022

Celebration of St. Brigit of Kildare - February 1, 2022 noon EST

WELCOME and INTRODUCTIONS:

A warm welcome to this Celebration of St. Brigit of Kildare!

I'm Bridget Mary Meehan from Sarasota, Florida. I was born in Ireland and emigrated with my family when I was 8 to the U.S. We have returned many times to visit family , and hope to return there as soon as COVID is under control. I am a priest serving the Mary Mother of Jesus Inclusive Catholic Community in Fl. and on Zoom.

With me is Mary Theresa Streck , from Albany, New York. She is co-founder of People's Catholic Seminary, and a priest serving the Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community in New York. Mary Theresa and I have celebrated liturgies in Dublin with members of We are Church Ireland from 2015-2019. She will be taking care of the IT for us today.

(For our Zoom participants)

There are 3 parts to each section which consists of a brief introduction, short video, and 5 minute reflection time for prayer, journaling, and/or sharing on chat.

I have shared my pilgrim, notes, videos and more resources featuring some wonderful Brigit stories and legends which we will not have time to cover in 1 hour today. If you'd like to share this program and resource material with family, friends, or groups, you can do so at no cost. If you wish, you can make a donation to grow our mission at https://pcseminary.org/

Opening Prayer:

Aware of the Divine Presence within us and all around us, let us begin our time together with this Celtic Hymn to St. Brigid.

VIDEO: Gabhaim Molta Bride - Celtic Hymn for St. Brigid

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sy7rZ0nwMTc
(English Translation)

I pay homage to Saint Brigid
Beloved in Ireland,
Beloved in all countries,
Let us all praise her.

The bright torch of Leinster
Shining throughout the country.
The pride of Irish youth
The pride of our gentle women.

The house of winter is very dark
Cutting with its sharpness.
But on Saint Brigid's Day
Spring is near to Ireland.

INTRODUCTION- A Sacred Journey

Irish officials announced this past week that February 1 ,the feast day of St. Brigit will be celebrated as a national holiday starting in 2023. Mary Condren, an Irish theologian, who teaches at the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies at Trinity College Dublin, believes that this decision reflects the growing interest in Brigit and the role of women play in religion and society.

in an article entitled "Why the time is right to choose Brigid, saint or goddess, to be an icon for women" she writes, "Religious people honour St Brigid, while the disaffected turn to goddess Brigid...In a post-Covid world, we will be able to reflect further on her role, asking how the integration of nature, culture and technology can serve to heal our wounds and the vulnerable earth." https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/why-the-time-is-right-to-choose-brigid-saint-or-goddess-to-be-an-icon-for-women-1.4789132

In 1999, Sister Regina Madonna Oliver and I made a pilgrimage to Ireland on our journey in quest of the Celtic soul. We visited ancient monastic sites and holy wells associated with St. Brigit of Kildare. We interviewed three prominent experts on Brigit, Sister Mary Minehan, a Brigidine Sister in Kildare, Dolores Whelan in Faughart and artist Gail Donovan from Australia for a television program entitled GodTalk that aired in the DC metro area. In this celebration of Brigit, you will see clips of these interviews from my youtube video: "In Quest of the Celtic Soul."We also wrote a book about our on-site encounters in Ireland and Wales entitled: Praying with Celtic Holy Women .(available on Amazon and other online retailers.)

PART 1: BRIGIT: SAINT AND GODDESS- A THRESHOLD WOMAN

The myths, legends and stores about Brigit portray her as a goddess and a saint. Wrapped in the mystery of an older pagan goddess, St. Brigit lived in a time of transition between pagan and Christian beliefs. Although six lives of Brigit were written before the eighth century (and eighty during medieval times), it is difficult to separate fact from legend. Commentators believe that Brigit was born in 494 to a Christian mother and a Druidic father.

Her symbol was perpetual fire representing wisdom, healing, poetry, metal-working, and the hearth. There are many delightful stories about her that are steeped in the druidic folklore of the early Celtic goddesses.

Some theorize that she may have been a priestess in service to the Goddess Brid (patroness of fire and knowledge in the Druidic pantheon) before her conversion to Christianity .

St. Brigit is a role model for spiritual seekers of all faiths interested in the healing of the planet, equality, justice and the transformation of the human heart.

In this video clip Dolores Whelan reflects on Brigit as a reflection of the feminine divine.

VIDEO:

QUESTION FOR GOING DEEPER:

Pause now for several minutes of reflection. Reflect on what surprised, encouraged or inspired you about this presentation?

What challenges do the legends and imagery of Brigit as goddess and saint raise for patriarchal religion? And/Or describe the impact of the Feminine Divine on your spiritual journey.

Feel free to share any thoughts or insights on chat if you wish.

MUSIC:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kqdt50zOaQ

Monday, October 25, 2021

PCS Forum - November 11, 2021 - Womanist Church - Presenters: Rev. Dr. Irie Lynne Session, Rev. Kamilah Hall Sharp, and Rev. Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton

PCS Forum: WOMANIST CHURCH – November 11, 2021

1:00pm and 7:00pm EST

Womanist Church Presentation at 1pm:

https://youtu.be/PZlLl1yEt1w

Womanist Church Presentation at 7pm:

https://youtu.be/E5Yn0f6PIOA

A womanist church has great power to transform church and society, primarily because womanist theology centers the experiences of Black women while working for the survival and wholeness of all people and all creation. Experiences of the triple oppression of racism, sexism, and classism give Black women an epistemological insight into recognizing injustice and creating solutions that benefit all.

The Gathering is unique, the only church founded and identified as “womanist,” applying womanist theology to the full life and worship of a church. The Gathering, a womanist faith community in Dallas, Texas, welcomes all people to partner in pursuing racial equity, LGBTQ equality, and dismantling PMS (patriarchy, misogyny, and sexism), following Jesus in liberating the oppressed and lifting up the marginalized.

The Gathering website: https://www.thegatheringexperience.com

You are invited to experience the Gathering, a Womanist Church, on Facebook live every Saturday at 4pm Pacific Time, 5pm Mountain Time, 6pm Central Time, 7pm Eastern. Click here to join the experience:

The Gathering on Facebook.

The Gathering, A Womanist Church tells the story of the birth and ongoing development of a womanist faith community. This book includes personal narratives of people transformed in this community, womanist co-pastors’ sermons informed by their experiences and those of other Black women, and litanies for womanist worship. The book is available on Amazon.com

Presenters:

Rev. Dr. Irie Lynne Session is co-pastor of the Gathering, A Womanist Church, a Spiritual Entrepreneur, and Chief Illuminator of DreamBIG Courses, Coaching, Content Creation, & Connections. She holds a master of divinity with a certificate in Black Church Studies and doctor of ministry in prophetic preaching and transformative leadership. Dr. Session is the author of Badass Women of the Bible: Inspiration from Biblical Women Who Challenged and Subverted Patriarchy and Murdered Souls, Resurrected Lives: Postmodern Womanist Thought in Ministry with Women Prostituted and Marginalized by Commercial Sexual Exploitation. For more information: https://dririe.com/dreambig-academy

Rev. Kamilah Hall Sharp is a St. Louis, Missouri native currently residing in Texas with her spouse, Nakia, and daughter, Anaya. She is a co-pastor of The Gathering, A Womanist Church in Dallas and a PhD candidate in Biblical Interpretation-Hebrew Bible at Brite Divinity School. Kamilah holds a bachelor of science in business economics, a master of divinity, and a juris doctor degree.

Rev. Dr. Jann Aldredge-Clanton, an ordained minister and author, is co-chair of Equity for Women in the Church, ministry partner of The Gathering, adjunct professor at Richland College, and co-leader of New Wineskins Community. Her books include Praying with Christ-Sophia, Changing Church, and Inclusive Songs for Resistance & Social Action.

Thursday, December 10, 2020

PCS Forum - December 10, 2020

Opening Meditation: a beautiful hymn by Jann Aldredge-Clanton called Ancient Wisdom, Mother of Earth.

https://youtu.be/KgZknWMnZbc

Presentation: Womanist Theological Approaches to Religion and Society by Dr. Phillis I. Sheppard, Associate Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture at Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion.

Dr. Sheppard is the author of the Self, Culture and Others in Womanist Practical Theology and her second book Tilling Sacred Ground: Interiority, Black Women, and Public Religion will be published spring 2021.

https://youtu.be/B_SI4H2ILi8

Bridget Mary's Meditation on Hagar

https://youtu.be/vWdPSekwgNg

Closing: Those Who Dream by the Many

https://youtu.be/ZHlDSdYfBmM

Additional Resources:

Journey to Liberation: The Legacy of Womanist Theology

https://youtu.be/PjhtUGqFCWg

What Manner Of Woman - A Short Documentary Film

https://youtu.be/sUlc6L1Z9-k

SAVE THE DATE: Next PCS Forum - February 25, 2021

Womanist topic continued with a presentation by the authors of the book: The Gathering: A Womanist Church, Origins, Stories and Sermons. We encourage you to purchase the book and read it before we gather again.

Monday, November 16, 2020

PCS Forum - December 10, 2020 - Save the Date

SAVE THE DATE – Next PCS Forum – December 10, 2020

PCS FORUM: December 10, 2020

1:00pm and 7:00pm EST

Topic: Womanist Theological Approaches to Religion and Society

Presenter: Dr. Phillis Isabella Sheppard

Dr. Sheppard is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Associate Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture at Vanderbilt Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion.

She is a practical theologian and her areas of teaching and research foci include womanist approaches to psychology and culture, religious experience, ethnography, sexuality, and spirituality.

Her most recent ethnographies include “This is my Calling: An Ethnography of Black Women’s Vocational Formation,” (funded through a Louisville Institute Faculty Research Grant), her current ethnography underway “An Ethnography of Black Women’s Experience of Multi-religious Belonging,” funded through a Randal Mason Research Award.

Dr. Sheppard is the author of the Self, Culture and Others in Womanist Practical Theology

(Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), and her second book Tilling Sacred Ground: Interiority, Black Women, and Public Religion will be published spring 2021.

She earned her Ph.D. in Theology, Ethics and the Human Sciences (Chicago Theological Seminary, 1997) and the M.A. in Theology (Colgate Rochester Divinity School in Theology, 1988). Phillis also earned certificates in adult psychoanalysis (2005) and pastoral psychotherapy (1993) and has maintained a private practice for over twenty-five years.

Articles and YouTube videos on Womanist Theology will be sent closer to the date.

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

PCS Forum - October 15, 2020

Elena Garcia, ARCWP facilitating Baptism of Grandson

Theme: The Role and Responsibilities of the Ordained in Inclusive, Egalitarian Eucharistic Communities.

Welcome: Mary Theresa Streck, ARCWP

Opening Meditation: Where Did Jesus Go sung by Sara Thomsen
Video by Denise Hackert Stoner, ARCWP

https://youtu.be/biPM_MTQVgI

First Presentation: Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, presents an overview of the historical development of priestly ministry.

https://youtu.be/quwdNJg1b9M

Second Presentation: Sibyl Dana Reynolds, ARCWP, presents a personal response to the question: What is the Role of the Ordained in Inclusive, Egalitarian Eucharistic Communities?

https://youtu.be/BnGM9G-8xMQ

Break (5 minutes)

Question for breakout rooms: What is your role as an ordained person in your ministry/community?

Breakout Rooms (30 minutes)

If you finish early, leave the breakout room and return to the large group by clicking on the leave button.

Large Group Reporting session

https://youtu.be/JmVmiWHD3f8

Open Questions and Comments

Next Forum: December 10, 2020

Theme: Womanist Theology and Racism

Presenter: Dr. Phillis I. Sheppard

Phillis Isabella Sheppard is Associate Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture at the Divinity School and Graduate Department of Religion of Vanderbilt University.

Closing Blessing: May the Longtime Sun Shine Upon You by Sara Thomsen

Video by Denise-Hackert Stoner

https://youtu.be/Zgf6CzjAx40