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Month: July 2012

Franciscan Friday’s on Ramadan: Preparing for the Light

To celebrate interfaith friendship and St. Francis’ history with Islam, Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM is guest blogging about Ramadan every Friday though August 17. A shop in Cairo displaying Ramadan lanterns for sale. Dates – the sugary sweet fruit of the palm tree. They are the first food traditionally eaten after a day of fasting…

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Mission as Peacemaking

How does mission promote peace around the world?  Marie Dennis, co-president of Pax Christi International, delved into this topic at our last Souposium event before our summer hiatus. Accompaniment, solidarity, and building bridges of understanding – the hallmarks of mission also help make and promote peace between people, countries and cultures. Check out these two excerpts from…

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Franciscan Friday’s on Ramadan: Fasting to Reorient

To celebrate interfaith friendship and St. Francis’ history with Islam, Franciscan Fridays is starting a series on Ramadan. Check back every Friday though August 17 for posts by Fr. Michael Calabria, OFM. A late-medieval Qur’an from Spain, opened to Sura (Chapter) 40 which begins: “The revelation of the Book is from God, the Mighty and…

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Donec sed odio dui. Morbi leo risus, porta ac consectetur.

Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Nulla vitae elit libero, a pharetra augue. Praesent commodo cursus magna, vel scelerisque nisl consectetur et. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare…

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Amazon Day and the Martyrom of Rainforest Protectors

Yasuní National Park As the most biodiverse place in the world, the Yasuní National Park in the Ecuadorian Amazon teems with life.  Just one hectacre of of the park has as many species of tree and shrubs as all of Canada and the United States combined. In addition to plants and animals, the rainforest is…

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Mission Monday: The impact of the U.S. nuns and their bus

The Nuns on the Bus rolled into Washington, D.C. last week and Executive Director Kim Smolik attended the prayer service and press conference welcoming the sisters home from a nine-state tour against the proposed federal budget. Despite the heat, a crowd of 300 cheered as fourteen nuns climbed off the bus at the end of…

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Franciscan Friday: One Body in Solidarity

During our Discernment Days closing prayer this afternoon, we read from 1 Corinthians about the gifts of the spirit, varieties of service and our connection as members of one body. Verse 26 drew us in particular to deeper reflection, “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all…

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Mission Monday: An Eye-Opening Experience

“How often I still only see the surface in my own life and those I come in contact with,” reflected missioner Michael Redell after learning more about the lives — and homes — of the people he serves in Bolivia. Women and children at a health workshop His ministry with a mobile hospital in rural…

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