The Heavens are telling the Glory of God,

and all creation is shouting for joy!

Psalm 19:1

The Aurora Borealis,

"Northern Lights"

November 11, 2025

Eagle, Colorado

Photo taken by Amanda Bricker Barnwell

Used with permission

In all things, give thanks!

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Happy Thanksgiving

from

The House of Laity

November 2025

Dear Friends,

As we travel through November, let us remember to give thanks in all we do and for all the Gifts God has given us!

We hope you enjoy reading about the events and blessings happening in our ECC Communities!

Claudia Kilby, John Duffy-Burke, Erin Duffy-Burke

Rocky Mountain Region

Holy Synod 2025

The Rocky Mountain Region (RMR) of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion met in October for their second local Holy Synod.

Laity and clergy from all five Colorado Ecumenical Catholic Communion communities, including Bishop Kae Madden, participated in this day of prayer and visioning. Presiding Bishop Pablo Burson was able to join in the day as well.

Father Scott Jenkins

The keynote speaker of the day was Fr. Scott Jenkins who took the attendees back to the roots of their story as members of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, specifically in the Rocky Mountain Region, and as followers of Jesus.

He challenged those gathered to be Catholics in modern times and to be the creative authors of their story with God.

Attendees in person and on Zoom shared dialogue and holy conversation about Ecumenical Catholic Communion distinctives and what is working well in the Rocky Mountain Region.

From those conversations, those in attendance began to imagine how they could learn from one another, pray for each other, and collaborate together on bringing the love and justice work of God into our world today and specifically Colorado where all 5 Rocky Mountain Region communities are located.

Donations were collected throughout the day and sent to the Ecumenical Catholic Communion communities in California impacted by recent US Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities that are making church an unsafe environment.

Preparing and Sharing a Meal

In person attendees also shared a meal together for lunch. Instead of breaking bread, the Rocky Mountain Region broke corn chips with their taco salads together!

A Time for Prayer

Melissa O’Neal from the Center for Contemplative Living led a session in centering prayer.

Other prayer offerings included

Thomistic Prayer,

chanting,

walking a labyrinth,

ringing the church bells to raise awareness for climate justice,

and a blessing of the body.

Chrism Mass

The day ended with a Chrism Mass presided by local Bishop Kae Madden. Presiding Bishop Paul Burson was there too, along with Deacon Christy Chady and Deacon Mike Weil. This Mass could be joined for participation through Facebook or Youtube as well.

The 5 communities of the Rocky Mountain Region

in Colorado include:

Church of the Holy Family in Aurora

St. Paul in Denver

Church of the Beloved in Northglenn

Light of Christ in Longmont

Mary of Magdala in Ft. Collins

Living the Gospel

All Souls ECC

Reading, PA

No Kings Walk

On Saturday, October 18, 2025, Members of All Souls ECC participated in the No Kings Walk in West Reading, Pennsylvania.

Solidarity Walk for Homeless Youth

On Saturday, November 15, All Souls showed their support and love on the Solidarity Walk for Homeless Youth at the Reading Public Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

or as it is known as

"International Transgender Day of Remembrance"

is always held on November 20th.

This day, we remember all those transgender individuals who were murdered just for being transgender.

We observe by having a speaker, usually an individual who is transgender. One year we had Dr. Rachel Levine who was the Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services.

We then read the names of all the transgender individuals

who lost their lives in the past year.

We have a video slideshow that shows

the person's name, country and age.

If we have a picture, we show that as well.

We ring a bell and light a candle for each name.

It’s a very solemn evening.

We do this in cooperation with Reading Pride and The LGBTQ Center of Reading. We know we are missing the names of so many individuals because in many countries, transgender deaths are not reported.

Holy Angels Women's Retreat

Our Women's Retreat, "Cultivating a Heart Like Mary," was a wonderful gathering on November 15, 2025.

Many thanks to Victoria Anderson for her insightful content and engaging direction as we walked through the scriptures. We're also grateful to Victoria Greene who, together with her team, coordinated the wonderful 'ambiance', food, a game or two, etc.

We leave you with our closing prayer:

Lord, give me a heart like Mary's:

humble, trusting, and open to Your will.

Teach me to ponder Your words in my heart,

to find courage in suffering,

and to live with faith-filled love each day.

Amen.

Synod 2026

There continues to be lots going on behind the scenes for synod 2026.

It will take place October 9-12, 2026 in Bloomington, Minnesota, outside of Minneapolis.

Our theme is: Fully Human, Truly Church: An Ever Expanding Circle of Belonging.

We are in the process of finalizing contracts for the Sheraton hotel and working on a roster of speakers. Work is being done with creative individuals to create a logo and a social justice project is being considered.

There will be many hands needed to make this a success. We are defining teams that will be needed for synod. We will soon identify those teams and let you know where you can use your gifts. Please consider how you might help, even if you don't live in the region. Much of what is done happens before synod.

HOL BYLAWS

At Synod 2024, two people came forward to volunteer for the Vice-Chair House of Laity position, Erin Duffy-Burke and John Duffy-Burke. We have previously never had two people serve in this one role. By an email vote to all the HOL delegates, it was agreed that two people could serve in this role.

Because our HOL bylaws only reflected a single person in this role, the HOL Steering Committee worked to change these bylaws to reflect our lived practice. Once our work was complete, we shared with the whole HOL our new re-wording to the bylaws. In order to implement these changes, we needed a 2/3 vote from the whole HOL.

72% of our delegates participated and voted unanimously for the re-wording changes. This only changed the wording to accommodate two people to serve, not the function of the role.

Your input matters!

As delegates/representatives of your community,

your voice is important.

There will be other issues to vote on at Synod 2026. Please let us know if you no longer want to be a delegate for your community. We want the House of Laity to remain strong across the Communion.

Click HERE to read the changes voted on.

Note that the text in RED are the changes.

January - September

Financial Summary 2025

Please continue to send us your news about events and celebrations from your community so we can share it with all of our Ecumenical Catholic Communion family.

Feel free to email us with yours questions, thoughts and ideas.

Claudia Kilby, John Duffy-Burke, Erin Duffy-Burke