Marianist Lay Community
of North America
Being Church in the Modern World
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Greetings!
“The future will be determined by how we collectively respond.” I heard someone say this during a webinar or conference call recently. I honestly can’t remember the context because it applies to almost everything in life right now. We could have been talking about any number of issues, from how our country is handling COVID-19, to the need to abolish all forms of racism, to the future of our Marianist Family.
The Society of Mary US Province recently finalized their direction statement after a period of listening, dialogue, and discernment. Now it’s our turn, as the Lay Branch of the Marianist Family in North America, to think intentionally about our future. Perhaps you heard about the Year of Shared Discernment from MLC-NA chair elect, Margy Lisjak, during the Virtual Assembly in July, and you can read more about it in the newsletter sections below.
We invite all Lay Marianists, either as individuals or as members of an active Marianist Lay Community, to join us for a year of discernment. We want to hear why you love being a Lay Marianist, what you need to fulfill your calling, and how we can creatively grow together into the future. This is an incredible opportunity to not only reflect on our own experience, but to connect with Lay Marianists across North America, truly listen to the signs of the times, and lean into our mission, Mary’s mission, even more. I am most excited about the endless possibilities that can come from this year. Imagine hundreds of Lay Marianists praying, reflecting, discussing, sharing, learning, and taking action.
As MLC-NA’s leadership council and collaborators designed the Year of Shared Discernment, we did not realize it would coincide with a global COVID-19 pandemic and a national racism pandemic. However, inviting people to intentionally set aside time to pray, imagine, and create, as a continental community, seems all the more fitting now. May the Holy Spirit guide us and Mary be our model as we determine the future through our collective response.
Peace,
LeeAnn
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MLC-NA has a new address for all snail mail! Please send your donations, notices, and other mail to us at the following address:
PO Box 19444
Cincinnati, OH 45219
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Year of Shared Discernment: Coming Soon!
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The MLC-NA Leadership Council is inviting all Lay Marianists to take part in a new initiative starting in September called the Year of Shared Discernment. This year-long initiative is designed to help us focus our reflections and conversations about “What it means to be a Lay Marianist within a Marianist Lay Community.” Several teams of lay members throughout the country have created five modules for an integrated program that will unfold throughout the year, with a new focus introduced every two months. Each module will recommend a “Cornerstone Resource,” a book, document, or article the MLC-NA Leadership Council has denoted as holding deep meaning and truth for the topic at hand. Each module will ask Marianists to pray, engage in personal reflect, discuss the topics with others, share with other Lay Marianists and MLCs, gather learnings, and take action steps. MLC-NA hopes to build our collective wisdom through the process and we hope to use the Year of Shared Discernment to create directional statements for the lay branch of the Marianist Family.
This initiative officially launches on Tuesday, September 8th which coincides with the Nativity of Mary. However, we wanted to share with you all that we will be sending out the Introduction Materials, Resource List, and Module 1 on August 20th so that Lay Marianists and MLCs can start looking at the materials and making appropriate plans. Module 1's Cornerstone Resource is a book titled The Promise and the Path: Starting and Sustaining Marianist Communities which is available on NACMS' website. Please reach out to us at [email protected] if purchasing the book and other materials for the Year of Shared Discernment will be difficult for you. We will be happy to help in whatever ways we can!
We look forward to learning with you and hearing your Marianist story!
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Virtual Lay Assembly 2020 - Video Links
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The MLC-NA and Assembly Planning Team have uploaded all videos from the 2020 Virtual Assembly sessions to our YouTube Channel. Please rewatch your favorite sessions or view the ones you might have missed during the weekend!
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Gathering in the Spirit
Join us for Gathering in the Spirit - an initiative designed to build community through shared reflection and prayer within the Marianist Family.
Gathering in the Spirit is designed to build community through shared reflection and prayer within the Marianist Family. By hosting monthly faith-sharing opportunities, the Embers make space for the Marianist Family to regularly pray, build stronger relationships with one another, and grow deeper in the Marianist Charism.
The next Gathering in the Spirit is going to be on Wednesday, September 2nd 8pm ET! Please find more information and the Zoom link on this flyer.
Marianist Sisters Vocation Fund
Consider joining our vibrant volunteer committee of lay and vowed Marianists. For more information about joining our committee please complete the MSVF interest form.
Current members include Paul Combest, Bro. Stephen Glodek, Jenee Gonzales, Sr. Laura Leming, Matt Meyers, and Linda Zappacosta. For more information please read this flyer.
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As an expression of our commitment to "do whatever he tells you" in support of Mary's mission to respond to the needs of the world, the Visitation State Community has chosen to put some of the resources with which we have been blessed at the service of others. We are particularly committed to enabling small communities and fledgling service projects to thrive; to grow, and respond to the genuine needs of the young and the poor and to engage in the struggle for peace and justice.
All Marianist are invited to be a part of the Visitation State Community’s Seed Grants.
Either through submission of a grant request or by making a financial contribution (503c tax deductible) to the fund from which the grants are sourced.
For financial contributions, make checks payable to Marianist State Community and mail to:
Visitation Marianist State Community
6539 Harrison Avenue # 1118
Cincinnati, OH 45247
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Marianist State Commitment and the Vow of Stability
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One of the unique vocations within the Marianist Family is the "State of Religious Living in the World' with lay people taking a vow of stability to continue to live according to the Marianist charism. For short, it is called a State Commitment. The Visitation Marianist State Community has developed an educational/formational program for those wanting to learn more about a State Commitment and about the Vow of Stability such a commitment entails. The program is available for groups of individuals or for existing Marianist Lay Communities and can be delivered in-person or virtually. For more information, please contact Jim Vogt, [email protected], Linda Zappacosta, [email protected],or George Lisjak, [email protected].
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As a faith community, MLC-NA is the national association to which all Lay Marianists in North America belong. It is self-supporting through contributions from individuals and local communities.
Your support helps us to:
- Employ a part-time Administrator
- Maintain communication tools such as the newsletter, database, and Zoom accounts used by numerous committees and communities
- Support the Marianist Social Justice Collaborative and the International Organization of Marianist Lay Communities
- Support the creation and launch a new lay formation process for initial and on-going formation
Contributions can also be sent to the address at the bottom of this newsletter.
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Reflections on Marian/Marianist Feast Days
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Reflections are provided each month to heighten awareness of those feasts holding special significance for the Marianist Family and to allow for more focused reflection on the meaning of those days. The reflections are available at Reflections on Marian/Marianist Feast Days. Thanks to Alicia Cordoba Tait for sharing a reflection during July.
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August 1
August 4
August 13
August 15
August 22
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St. Alphonsus Liguori
St. John Vianney
Blessed Jakob Gapp
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Queenship of Mary
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See more information and prayers for all these Marianist Feast Days here.
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A Prayer For Educators, Parents, and Students
All Holy, Loving, and Compassionate God,
We thank you for your loving care of all creation and your protection and guidance over
all. We come to you today, with all the faith and trust we can muster in this time of the
pandemic. Please come to our aid.
We bring the administrators, principals, professors, teachers, school secretaries, the
support staff, and the maintenance staff of our schools and universities before you. In
their vocation as educators, they continue the teaching ministry of Christ. We pray for
your blessings over their lives, their work, their livelihood, and their families. Guide them
with your wisdom. May they be empowered by your Spirit to see the needs of their
students and to inspire those under their care.
We bring our parents, guardians, and
caregivers of our students before you.
They are faced with unprecedented
challenges. They have to make
decisions that require your wisdom,
understanding and insight. When they
feel overwhelmed, be present in their
lives. May they never feel alone or
abandoned. Strengthen them from
within, so that they might be a source
of strength, confidence, and hope for
their children.
Most of all, we bring before you our
students who will either be educated
online, at home, or in person in our
schools. As they pursue their
education in the midst of the pandemic, enlighten their minds. May they grow in grace
and wisdom. In areas where there is a lack, provide them knowledge, understanding,
counsel, and fortitude. Keep them safe from all illnesses and protect them from all harm.
We ask all these things, through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and
through Christ our teacher. Amen.
Written by Fr. Satish Joseph, pastor
St. Helen and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
Dayton, Ohio
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Lord, send us your Spirit of hope….
as we comfort and support those who have suffered tragic losses due to gun violence, especially as we remember the one-year anniversary of the tragedies in El Paso and Dayton. We pray for healing, we pray for peace, and we pray that our state and federal legislators are moved to action in bold ways to help prevent this violence.
as we hold in prayer those civic and community leaders who are making difficult decisions about life issues and health crises and all who make difficult decisions on behalf of their families and loved ones each day. May we all be sustained with wisdom, compassion, and love.
as we accompany those who are suffering physically, emotionally, spiritually, and financially due to the ongoing pandemics in our country. May God’s healing embrace give them strength for their journey and comfort in their suffering.
as we ask Blessed Adele’s intercession for the immigrant children and families who are suffering. May her witness to the poor give us encouragement to continue to advocate for compassion and a just solution to this painful crisis.
as we pray for our departed Marianist Brothers and Sisters who have enriched our lives through their presence. We pray this month for Bro. Hugh Bihl (July 27), may he be held in God’s loving embrace as he joins the fellowship of saints.
Lord, send us your Spirit of joy….
In thanksgiving for those Marianist Brothers and Sisters celebrating their jubilees this year. May their witness and commitment give us strength for the journey.
As we enjoy days of sun and warmth and connect in new ways with friends and family.
For the start of the new academic year. Let us enkindle in all students a love for learning, justice, and peace whether at home, online, or in school.
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Thank you to all who have visited our web form - we have hundreds of updated records.
If you haven't updated your information, please take a few moments to fill out this brief questionnaire (it's a Google form). Each member of a family should register separately so we have individual emails for future elections, etc.
Please also encourage your community members to keep their information current. Individuals may follow the link or a community rep can send us a community roster.
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MLC-NA Area Representatives
(Click on names for emails)
Southeast (FL, NC)
Northeast (PA, NY, NJ, MD, VA)
OH, KY, IN
Central States (CO, IL, KS, NE, MO, WI)
Texas
West Coast (CA, OR, WA)
Hawaii
Canada (French-Speaking)
UD-formed Communities (Many are virtual)
To Be Determined
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NEWSLETTERS
Read the Signs of the Times and Sign Up for these Marianist Family Newsletters
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Matt Dunn
Margy Lisjak
Abbey Saurine
Paul Combest
LeeAnn Meyer
Rob Brodrick
Caitlin Cipolla-McCulloch
At-Large (Member Engagement)
Corinne Woodruff
MSJC Rep
Maureen O'Rourke
Kelly Welling
Sarah Gray
Maureen O'Rourke
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AMAZON DONATION PROGRAM!
Did you know that when you buy stuff at Amazon.com, Amazon will make a donation to MLC-NA?
How? By using Smile.Amazon.Com.
Please consider using smile.amazon.com and selecting Marianist Lay Network as your charity. There is no additional cost to you and it really is the same site as Amazon.
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