WALKING WITH GOD IN A NEW YEAR …

Greetings from Fr. Bob ...

As I consider the new year, amidst a gripping cold that seems to be encompassing so many of us across the country, I was pleased to find that a friend sent me a poem in my e-mail. So, I decided to share it with you. I believe it is a fitting sentiment to start a new year —

I intend to keep this poem in mind all year long, as I hope you will also … let it ground you and guide your journey on the path to Christ’s blessings.

Yours in Christ,

Fr. Bob Warren

P.S. – I do not know who wrote this poem or where it is from, so I would be grateful if anyone could identify it for me.
e-mail Fr. Bob >>

WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY, JANUARY 18 - 25, 2010 SCRIPTURAL THEME

Chosen Theme: You Are Witnesses of These Things.
                                    (Luke 24:48)

READ THE ENTIRE SCRIPTURAL TEXT >>

TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO TO PROMOTE CHRISTIAN UNITY

1. Pray each day with the Friars and Sisters of the Atonement “that all may be one … that the world may believe” (Jn.17:21). Click here for the prayer for peace and unity that’s said in every mass.
2. Locate a special Week of Prayer service or program in your area and plan to participate. Invite your friends to accompany you.
3. Keep in mind that “wherever two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them,” — suggest regular meetings with similar groups in neighborhood churches: e.g. bible study and centering prayer, soup kitchens and homeless shelters, pastors and religious educators, etc.
4. Create opportunities with other Christians to explore Interreligious opportunities by visiting other houses of worship — e.g. temple, mosque, shrine, etc.
5. Create a calendar of opportunities for joint ecumenical activities — e.g. Blessing of Palms on Palm Sunday, Stations of the Cross on Good Friday, joint prayer services on World AIDS Day (December 1st each year).
6. Look ahead to Pentecost (Sunday, May 23rd, this year) and propose a joint choir festival with all the churches in the neighborhood celebrating the many gifts of the Spirit.
7. Organize a neighborhood film festival using either commercial or religious productions to identify and discuss issues that matter to all – especially families.
8. Contact your arch/diocesan officer and volunteer to support in whatever way you can local dialogs and other activities.
9. Call “Family of Faith” to the attention of your parish music director. It’s a hymn that was written to commemorate the centenary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity and it can be sung congregationally to several familiar hymn tunes. Click here to learn more.
10. Subscribe to Ecumenical Trends for your pastor – and/or the pastor of a neighboring church – so that ten times a year he/she is reminded of the prayer of Jesus at the Last Supper “that all may be one…that the world may believe.”

  Order Week of Prayer
2010 Materials

Franciscan Friars of the Atonement

Headquartered at Graymoor in Garrison, NY, the Franciscan Friars of the Atonement is a Roman Catholic religious community with social, pastoral and ecumenical ministries in the United States, Canada, England, Italy, and Japan.

Graymoor Spiritual Life Center

In the Franciscan tradition of hospitality, Graymoor Spiritual Life Center welcomes individuals and groups of all faiths for spiritual retreats, meetings, conferences and pilgrimages.

Located on a mountaintop overlooking the Hudson River Valley, facilities include overnight accommodations, large dining room, a library, three chapels, as well as meeting/seminar facilities.

Centro Pro Unione
Christian Unity and
Ecumenical Research

The Centro Pro Unione, founded and directed by the Society of the Atonement, is an ecumenical research and action center. Its purpose is to give space for dialogue, to be a place for study, research and information in ecumenism: theological, pastoral, social and spiritual.

Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute

The Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute promotes Christian unity and interreligious dialogue in North America through their monthly (except August) Journal, Ecumenical Trends, Lecture Series, and Week of Prayer for Christian Unity resources.

St. Christopher's Inn
Residential Shelter & Substance Abuse Treatment Center

St. Christopher's Inn is a temporary shelter dedicated to the rehabilitation of men in crisis. Today the Inn shelters over 1,200 men per year, most of whom suffer from alcohol and/or drug addiction.

Our mission is to offer a continuum of quality health care services that facilitate physical, emotional, and spiritual healing by providing chemical dependency treatment, primary health care, and temporary housing.

The Franciscan Friars of the Atonement find both challenge and purpose in active service. We direct thriving social, ecumenical and pastoral ministries spanning three continents.

Our name — “At-One-Ment” — reflects the passion to reconcile Christians and their churches; to unite men and women with God and one another, making them
“at-one.”

If you are a man 19 to 40 years of age, who feels God’s
calling to live a life of faithfulness to the church, our
Vocations Director, Bro. John O’Hara, SA can be reached at 1-800-338-2620, ext. 2126.