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Let Me Explain: Wade White Shares His Gift of Teaching with the Passionists
The Heart of the Cross: Father Pat Brennan, CP, Explains the Passionist Charism
Digging Deep: Patty Gillis Helps the Passionists to Stay Grounded with Laudato Si’
The Art of Being Passionist: Brother Michael Moran, CP, Connects with Christ Through His Art and Parish Missions
All Occasion Cards are Available
Dear Passionist Family,
St. Paul of the Cross, founder of the Passionists, after being inspired to dedicate his life to God, spent some time discerning what God wanted him to do.
He tried out various ways in which he helped people until the time he was given the inspiration to gather companions to promote the memory of the Passion of Jesus Christ. Paul was given the insight that the Passion of Jesus was the greatest sign of God’s love for the world.
Paul and his companions not only preached this in giving parish missions, but they also taught people how to pray and meditate on the sufferings of Jesus to realize the extent of God’s love and to grow closer to Christ.
Paul faced many challenges in getting the Passionist Congregation started, but he always trusted in God’s love and always sought God’s will. In a letter to one of his spiritual directees, Paul wrote: “When the sea is swept by storms, no matter how great the waves may be, the rocks are so hard, there is no danger they will be shattered. Similarly, the soul at prayer is a rock because God holds it fast in his infinite love.”
We Passionists strive to continue that mission today as so many are trying to overcome their own challenges.
For us, knowing and trusting in God’s love is a message that still needs to be heard today. We have cards available which cover a variety of occasions and gives you an opportunity to share your love with somebody in need of hearing God’s love for them. As you use the cards for your loved ones, please send us the names of the people you especially want remembered in our daily prayers.
Please consider including a donation when you send the names to be remembered in our prayers. It will help us continue the mission given to Paul of the Cross and us Passionists in proclaiming the Passion of Jesus and bringing hope to the crucified of today.
Thank you for your generosity and for being a part of our Passionist Family. May God continue to bless you and those you love. We ask that you continue to pray for us as we pray for you.
Chapter Newsletter – May 31, 2023
In this issue
- VIDEO: Our Provincial Chapter is Here!
- A Deeper Integration of Charism
- VIDEO: The Passionist Way with Paul Wadell
- What Does it Mean to be Anti-Racist
- A Moment of Synodality
- Join Us for our Final Walk with Us Thursday
- Prayer for the 36th Provincial Chapter
Our Passionist Family: The Call of the Charism
Our Passionist Charism knows no bounds, calls us to remember our interconnectedness and compels us beyond our comfort zones to seek justice with love.
Visit the Chapter Website
A Deeper Integration of Charism
By Phil Paxton, CP
Early in our Chapter preparation process, Fr. Jim Strommer, C.P., shared with us the consideration of our upcoming Chapter as a “formation” Chapter. It would not be a Chapter along the lines of Chapters in the past where decisions were made that were to be implemented by leadership. At the same time, it would not be the same as the last Chapter, where visioning was the driving force and action steps were discussed and considered.
No, this Chapter would hopefully lead us into a deeper integration of our Passionist Charism, our identity as a Passionist Family and our awareness of important issues such as care for our common home, cultural and racial diversity and equity, migration and the plight of millions of migrants and shared leadership, all within the context of Synodality.
Now what I just wrote can seem like a mouthful of buzzwords and trendy jargon. But these terms speak to us about the situations of real people, including ourselves. It is important for me to realize that formation is not divorced from visioning, nor is it isolated from making important decisions. Formation informs how we look at the world and what is going on in our times. It informs our vision and our discernment. Formation informs not only the decisions we may make, but how they are made, and with whom.
If I am honest with myself, I know that I am not perfectly formed. A Chapter meeting, no matter how profound and meaningful it may be, will not complete my formation, but I hope it will help me, and help us, to continue to grow.
I hope to continue to grow in understanding what it means to be Passionist. I hope to continue to be open to learning from my brother and sister Passionists, both vowed and lay. I hope to be open to learning from the people with whom I work, and those whom I am called to serve. And I hope to be open to learn from any source of education and formation that may come my way. I do not believe I am unique in this. My apologies if this all sounds trite and obvious.
May our Chapter help keep us on the path where the Holy Spirit is leading us.
The Passionist Way with Paul Wadell
Paul Wadell give the history and evolution of The Passionist Way.
What Does it Mean to be Anti-Racist
Compiled from an Article by Anna North June 3, 2020, VOX and Ibram X. Kendi TED Talk
Remember Amy Cooper, a white woman, who called the police on Christian Cooper, a black man who was bird watching in New York’s Central Park, because he asked her to put her dog on a leash. He videoed her saying “I’m going to tell them there’s an African American man threatening my life.” The video went viral.
When she made a public apology, she began by saying “I’m not a racist.” Maybe that’s likely what most of us would say, especially if we have just done something racist.
Ibram X. Kendi, Director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University, wrote a book entitled “How to Be an Anti-racist,” published in 2019. In it he states, “The opposite of ‘racist’ isn’t ‘not racist,’” he writes. “It is ‘antiracist.’”
The term itself has come to be used to describe what it means to actively fight against racism rather than passively claim to be non-racist. Anti-racism involves taking stock of and eradicating policies that are racist, that have racist outcomes and making sure that ultimately, we’re working towards a much more egalitarian, emancipatory society.
A Moment of Synodality
By Bob Choiniere, Chapter Facilitator
In just a few weeks, members of the Passionist Family will meet in Sierra Madre, California for the 36th Provincial Chapter meeting. Those gathered at the Chapter will engage in critical conversations about our charism, the call of the gospel and the signs of our times and the way we are being called to stand with the crucified in our world. But these conversations will not begin at the Chapter meeting. In fact, they have been occurring for many months. The Chapter will be the culminating moment of a much larger conversation that has been unfolding in the province for the past few years. Most recently, each Thursday this Spring, members of the Passionist Family have come together to listen and engage one another around future leaderships, migration, diversity, the environment and our Passionist Way.
Tomorrow, Thursday, June 1 (12:00 p.m. PT, 2:00 p.m. CT, 3:00 p.m. ET), we will take a moment to savor and gather the graces of all of these conversations and together discern what the Holy Spirit might be calling us to as we move ever closer to Chapter.
The meeting on June 1 will be a time to name what continues to resonate with you as you reflect on the Thursday conversations and to name the way that the Holy Spirit might be calling us to respond as a community of faith. In a word, it will be a moment of Synodality. We believe that the Holy Spirit resides in the hearts of every member of the Passionist Family. When we come together to listen and reflect, we participate in a collaborative effort to articulate the Holy Spirit’s call. Every person, every prophetic voice, every listening ear is needed. Therefore, I would like to invite you to attend the culminating meeting on June 1 and be part of the journey to discern what God’s desire is for us as we seek to authentically respond to God’s call.
Join us for Our Final Walk with Us Thursday
Walk with Us Thursdays Zoom Link
June 1 Preparing for Chapter
12:00 p.m. PT
2:00 p.m. CT
3:00 p.m. ET
Recordings of previous Walk with Us Thursdays
are available on the Chapter website.
Dios Amoroso,
We thank you, for You have led us
to grow together in the Passionist Way.
You have called us, not only as individuals,
but together as a Passionist Family,
juntos como hermanos y hermanas,
to recognize more and more the crucified of today.
We hold in our hearts and minds
all of crucified creation: migrants and refugees,
and those beset by poverty and violence, systemic racism,
injustice and oppression, pain and distress.
As we prepare for our upcoming Provincial Chapter,
keep us forever on the path we pray.
Help us to continue to hear the cries of the crucified,
as we work together as the visionaries You have called us to be.
Foster in us the leadership required to meet the needs of our times.
May whatever conclusions we draw, whatever actions we take,
be done en el amor de Cristo Crucificado, and in His name, we pray.
Amen.
Holy Cross Province
2023 Chapter
June 8-13, 2023
Sierra Madre, California
All materials for Chapter can be found
on the Chapter 2023 website at https://passionist.org/chapter2023/
Chapter Newsletter – May 17, 2023
In this issue
- Our Passionist Family: The Call of the Charism
- Why We May Actually be Preparing for Chapter 2027
- A Moment of Synodality
- Title 42: The Plight of Those Seeking Help
- A World Without Trash or Garbage
- Useful Words on Race, Gender, and Diversity
- Join us for Walk with Us Thursdays
- Prayer for the 36th Provincial Chapter
Our Passionist Family: The Call of the Charism
Our Passionist Charism knows no bounds, calls us to remember our interconnectedness and compels us beyond our comfort zones to seek justice with love.
Visit the Chapter Website
Why We May Actually be Preparing for Chapter 2027
By Pat Brennan, CP
I would like to share with all of our Passionist Family, vowed and lay, a few thoughts that have been filling my mind and heart during these past months of preparation for the 36th Provincial Chapter. Much of our conversation has centered around very important and critical topics, all of which I admire and believe is the work of the Holy Spirit in our midst. At the same time, I find myself struggling with some key questions and issues that I feel must be faced at this point in time in the life and history of Holy Cross Province.
To be sure, I have always thought of myself as being more of an idealist and a dreamer than a pragmatist or a hard-nosed realist. I suspect that those who know me well will agree. Yet, at this moment, I do believe there are a number of “realities” that simply cannot be ignored. These realities touch upon several things:
- Our proud history as a Province
- Our current membership of vowed members, and
- The work of the Holy Spirit who is guiding us as we continue to share our Passionist charism with lay Passionists and, consequently, all of God’s holy people.
“We stand on the shoulders of all those who have gone before us.” We vowed Passionists can and should be very proud of all that has been achieved in terms of community life and prayer, preaching ministry, and the deepening of the “memoria passionis” in the hearts and lives of the people of God through service and other ministries. We all vowed, prostrate at the altar, to do this with a special vow long ago and, by God’s grace, we can rightly take satisfaction with our collective history as a community of Passionist religious. And, even as we give thanks for the new life and growth in various parts of the Congregation worldwide, we can, without regret, look back and rejoice in all that has been done since the very founding of Holy Cross Province. We have a proud history and ample reason to be glad. However, the future will be shaped by others in new and different ways than what we have known and been familiar with in the past.
A Moment of Synodality
By Bob Choiniere, Chapter Facilitator
In just a few weeks, members of the Passionist Family will meet in Sierra Madre, California for the 36th Provincial Chapter meeting. Those gathered at the Chapter will engage in critical conversations about our charism, the call of the gospel and the signs of our times and the way we are being called to stand with the crucified in our world. But these conversations will not begin at the Chapter meeting. In fact, they have been occurring for many months. The Chapter will be the culminating moment of a much larger conversation that has been unfolding in the province for the past few years. Most recently, each Thursday this Spring, members of the Passionist Family have come together to listen and engage one another around future leaderships, migration, diversity, the environment and our Passionist Way.
On June 1 (12:00 p.m. PT, 2:00 p.m. CT, 3:00 p.m. ET), we will take a moment to savor and gather the graces of all of these conversations and together discern what the Holy Spirit might be calling us to as we move ever closer to Chapter.
The meeting on June 1 will be a time to name what continues to resonate with you as you reflect on the Thursday conversations and to name the way that the Holy Spirit might be calling us to respond as a community of faith. In a word, it will be a moment of Synodality. We believe that the Holy Spirit resides in the hearts of every member of the Passionist Family. When we come together to listen and reflect, we participate in a collaborative effort to articulate the Holy Spirit’s call. Every person, every prophetic voice, every listening ear is needed. Therefore, I would like to invite you to attend the culminating meeting on June 1 and be part of the journey to discern what God’s desire is for us as we seek to authentically respond to God’s call.
Title 42: The Plight of Those Seeking Help
Submitted by The Migration Commission
Title 42 has come and gone. Much hype was made about the chaos to come after the lifting of Title 42. The fact is that for many years agencies and refugee centers have been feeling the pressure to service all of God’s people who come seeking help. With so many desperate to escape the horrors in their own country they come here seeking a way to sustain their families. Below is an article that can give us a snapshot of the pressures and needs of a refugee center in Houston and their plight to service all that are seeking help. A reality I am sure all the agencies and refugee centers are currently experiencing.
Many Refugees, God’s People, Arriving in Houston – Help Needed
MAY 10, 2023 BY LOUISE ZWICK
Overwhelming numbers of migrants and refugees have been arriving at our doors—again. Several weeks before May 11, 2023, the date when thousands were expected at the border each day, more and more people have already been walking up to Casa Juan Diego asking for refuge.
We were already at capacity. We are over capacity. More people are arriving each day. People call from the border, from cities in other states to seek help for the relatively few of God’s people who have been able to enter the country.
Who Can Help With So Many Refugees Arriving?
A World Without Trash or Garbage
Submitted by The Laudato Si' Committee
How does the Ecological Conversion that Pope Francis calls us to play out in our mundane daily living? Like when we “take out the trash”?
Image by Manfred Antranias Zimmer from Pixabay
What IS trash? According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary “trash” is “things that are no longer useful or wanted, and that have been thrown away; or useless waste or rejected matter.” And “waste” is defined as “damaged, defective, or superfluous material produced by a manufacturing process, such as hazardous waste and nuclear waste.” Some synonyms are “garbage” and rubbish”.
The Creator made a world where there was no trash, no garbage, and no waste. Built into Creation are cycles of death and regeneration that lead into ever more complex forms of life, with nothing wasted. In God’s Creation everything and everyone belongs. Biological processes like composting transform animals and plants that have completed their lives, releasing their molecules to build new Life.
A Words Matter: Useful Words on Race, Gender, and Diversity
Submitted by The Cultural and Racial Diversity Committee
Our country is going through a transformation with vigorous, renewed calls for cultural and racial equity, diversity and inclusion. Churches, social justice groups, educational institutions, corporations, and individual citizens are being proactive and speaking up throughout the country. Holy Cross Province is actively engaged in the transformation. A commitment was made during the 2022 Assembly by the Passionist Family to learn to live into the principles in the Holy Cross Province Statement on Cultural and Racial Diversity. The Province supports that effort with ongoing conversations and by keeping the document in focus in all the efforts of the Province as it prepares for our June Chapter.
Words matter. Language can be used to exclude and, conversely, to elevate and empower people. Commonality of language facilitates conversation and enhances mutual understanding,
Click here for a list of some words we are hearing more and more in the daily dialogue in our country, and our Province. It is a starting point for anyone seeking to educate themselves on important words related to diversity, equity and inclusion. The list was adapted from one published by Marguerite Ward of Business Insider ([email protected]), and other online sources.
Join us for Walk with Us Thursdays!
The Chapter Planning Committee (CPC) invites you to join us for Walk With Us Thursdays to prepare for the communal discernment that will take place at our June 2023 Chapter. These conversations will be held via Zoom at 4:30 pm, PDT; 5:30 pm, MDT; 6:30 pm, CDT; 7:30 pm, EDT.
Walk with Us Thursdays Zoom Link
Our next Walk With Us Thursday will be May 4, and our topic will be Migration.
As baptized Christians, educated in the Catholic faith, we are called to reflect on and have a comprehensive understanding of the sacred scriptures and the principles of Catholic social teaching. Our Passionist charism and mission enables us to give a Christ-like compassionate response to our suffering sisters and brothers in the world today. The desperate and painful cry of suffering migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers calls us to be conscious of their human and spiritual needs and mercifully meet them where they are. We need to respond with the open mind and heart of the Good Samaritan, as we hear Christ saying to us: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matthew 25:40, NABRE).
Please, join the Migration Commission as they help us reflect and have a conversation on the migration crisis event from the perspective of our gospel values and God-given call to serve our Crucified brothers and sisters. Be ready to share your faith experiences and discuss your community resources to help make this vision of our Passionist charism and mission come true.
Walk with Us Thursdays Zoom Link
Dios Amoroso,
We thank you, for You have led us
to grow together in the Passionist Way.
You have called us, not only as individuals,
but together as a Passionist Family,
juntos como hermanos y hermanas,
to recognize more and more the crucified of today.
We hold in our hearts and minds
all of crucified creation: migrants and refugees,
and those beset by poverty and violence, systemic racism,
injustice and oppression, pain and distress.
As we prepare for our upcoming Provincial Chapter,
keep us forever on the path we pray.
Help us to continue to hear the cries of the crucified,
as we work together as the visionaries You have called us to be.
Foster in us the leadership required to meet the needs of our times.
May whatever conclusions we draw, whatever actions we take,
be done en el amor de Cristo Crucificado, and in His name, we pray.
Amen.
Holy Cross Province
2023 Chapter
June 8-13, 2023
Sierra Madre, California
All materials for Chapter can be found
on the Chapter 2023 website at https://passionist.org/chapter2023/
We Want to Hear from You!
As we prepare for Chapter 2023, please feel free to reach out to the members of the Chapter Planning Committee with any proposals, thoughts, questions or suggestions. You can reach all members of the Committee at any time by emailing [email protected].
The Chapter Planning Committee
Faith Offman, Chair
Joe Castro
David Colhour, C.P.
Phil Paxton, C.P.
Jim Strommer C.P.
Elizabeth Velarde
Keith Zekind
Robert Choiniere, Facilitator