A Prayer Vigil for the Chilean Miners trapped underground will be held on Wednesday, September 8, at 11:00am at the Peace Gardens, Toronto City Hall.
Come join us in a Prayer Vigil for the people of Chile and their miners, who are trapped underground awaiting rescue. Join us as we pray for their help and for suffering people all over the world.
This Vigil is supported by:
6 St. Joseph House * Lazarus House
Sr. Clarice Garvey, OLM writes of Our Lady’s Missionaries support of a group of landless farmers over 15 years as they worked to lawfully obtain a patch of land on which to live and farm together as a community. Sr. Janet MacDonell, OLM who died in 2004 never got to see their final victory, but she is fondly remembered and surely present in her own way as they celebrate their good fortune.
The idea first came as I sat in the small brick chapel waiting for a Mass to begin. I was thinking of how Janet had given vital and nourishing support to this group of people in their endeavor to lay claim to this land. The utter bareness of the brick walls without windows and the floor of sand told me that these people had first built their church community and only now are building their community church.
Now here we were, celebrating fifteen years of effort to own this land named after Antônio Conselheiro, a famous spiritual leader in Brazil in the eighteen nineties. Janet had worked hard along with the members of the land Pastoral Team and would be so pleased to know they had not forgotten her.
Thoughts stirred up in this very place led me to the idea that our Lady’s Missionaries could donate a picture of Janet to this new chapel. The elderly and dearly beloved pastor, Fr. José Maria was delighted. The idea seemed to blossom. Others suggested that more people be included in the picture, which of course we knew Janet would like. Then rather than a few of us gathering for the presentation of the picture at a small ceremony, we discovered that a date was set, friends and co-workers were invited, arrangements for food preparation and a bus to transport people from Fortaleza were finalized. A celebration was under way.
The Eucharist would be central. The parish pastoral team prepared with a little help from Our Lady’s Missionaries. Hymns from the seventies were chosen, an era when the church assumed the option for the poor, and a reminder for us of the great years in Aratuba, Mulungu, and Palmacia, when Janet was with us working for justice and life for the landless.
It was a time of remembering and celebrating. Fr. José Maria spoke of Janet’s courage in going to Aratuba alone. He spoke as Fr. Moacir often does of Our Lady’s Missionaries choosing to go to the rural areas in those difficult times. Some people from those difficult times were with us and thanked God for priests like Fr. José and Moacir who initiated the Base Christian Communities and taught the poor their rights.
Several people, including Raimundão, Rosa, and Sr. Bete Flynn spoke beautifully of Janet, moving us all to tears and laughter.
The Celebration continued in the home of Fatima and Manoel, members of the CPT, with the sharing of food, stories and music.
We left there knowing that this celebration was meant to be and that Janet had brought us together to remember friends and to thank God for life and the beauty of a place called after Antônio Conselheiro.
Janet’s picture now hangs on the wall of the Chapel of Nossa Senhora das Candeias (Our Lady Source of Lights) in the Parish of Aracoiaba.
Sr. Noreen Kearns OLM volunteers at the St. Clair O’Connor Community in East York. She describes one of the many activities made available to the residents and visitors of the centre.
One hot humid day this summer the Gift and Coffee Shop became a “cool off spot” for many of our Residents as they enjoyed ice cream fruit sundaes while visiting with friends as they forgot all about the high hot temperature outside.
We have added a new link to our website! Click on the link below (which is also added to the links listed to the right and below on your screen), and you will arrive at “Stirrings,” a quarterly Peace and Social Justice Newsletter of the Congregation of St. Basil. It is edited by the Basilian Office of Peace and Justice. Fr. Bob Holmes, CSB says that the Summer edition will be added this month.
If you’d like to learn more and pledge to pray, please click on this link:
http://www.amillionminutesforpeace.org/
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