Advent Prayer Service

 

ADVENT PRAYER SERVICE Women Witnesses for Racial Justice Mother Mary Lange  Led by Sr. Mumbi Kigutha, CPPS Please join us for our Women Witnesses for Racial Justice Advent Prayer Service on Sunday, November 29, 2020 at 7pm ET. Sr. Mumbi Kigutha, CPPS, will lead us in prayer as we honor the life of Mother Mary Lange and the lives of all black Catholic women who have led the Church on a long journey toward racial and reparative justice. We will hear the witness of Sr. Romina Sapinoso, SC, Sr. Melinda Pellerin, SSJ, and others. Jim Carr will lead us in song. Mother Mary Lange, Pioneer Who Desegregated Religious Life and Education Nothing is known for certain about the very early years of Mother Mary Lange's life. But we do know that she appeared on the scene with the force of a small tornado. She knew what she wanted out of life and worked to make her dream a reality -- no easy task, especially in those days. She was a foreigner, a woman, a woman of color, a Catholic, and an educator. She set out to make a difference in Maryland, a slave state where the economy was built on the back of enslaved peoples, and all aspects of society kept those divisions in place. Slavery was so entrenched in Maryland that even sisters and priests in the Catholic Church had slaves. Yet, in the face of racism, Mother Lange founded the first school in the United States for black Catholic children and the first religious community for black Catholic women. Following her example and her call to make the Gospel a reality for all, we join together for this evening of prayer, witness, and reflection.  Deborah Rose-Milavec & Russ Petrus Co-Directors FutureChurch Register WOMEN WITNESSES FOR RACIAL JUSTICE Purchase Art Sr. Antona Ebo artist statement by Chloe Becker This portrait represents the active and public contributions that Sr. Antona Ebo made to racial justice movements throughout history. I painted from her iconic picture of speaking to the press at the march from Selma, as that was a monumental moment of representation for Black nuns. The background shows the march in the front (you might be able to spot Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.), but transitions to depict the protests in Ferguson for the unjust murder of Michael Brown, which Sr. Antona Ebo also spoke at. I wanted the crowd to convey that the racism of the Civil Rights Era is the same racism America is experiencing now---it is the same evil, just in slightly different form. Lastly, the dove in the sky is a reference to Sr. Antona Ebo’s public love of the Holy Spirit, and how reliant we are on the Spirit in our work for justice. Download our resource-rich packet on Sr. Antona Ebo. Purchase Art Mother Mary Lange artist statement by Chloe Becker Mother Mary Lange is sitting with a young student from St. Frances Academy, the school she started for Black girls. The positioning and colors of the two reference the iconic Black Madonna of Czestochowa as a means to emphasize Mother Lange as a powerful mother figure in the Church and her community. I wanted to center Mother Lange’s portrait around her focus on women in her racial justice work (as her school was initially created only for girls, and also formed the Oblate Sisters of Providence). So, I connected the Say Her Name campaign of today with what I believe would’ve been the Say Her Name campaign of the early nineteenth century---the countless Black women who were lynched and/or raped by white Americans during this time period. The names near the bottom of the painting are of those from the 1800s, and transition halfway to names of Black women who were killed by police in the twenty first century. Finally, the hands held at the top of the painting are layered with meaning. They represent the unity and support that Mother Lange provided for her Black community still dealing with the aftermath and continual existence of slavery after the Civil War. They represent the women of the names on the painting holding hands together in God’s Kingdom. They can even represent people holding hands while praying. All interpretations apply. Purchase our resource rich packet with educational and prayer resources Purchase Art Sister Thea Bowman artist statement by Chloe Becker First and foremost, it was important for me to feel Sr. Thea’s energy through this portrait. I wanted to show her as she spent most of her time on earth: lively, joyful, singing, teaching, and preaching her truth as a Black Catholic woman. She is lighting up the cool night sky with her warmth, and preaching to the United States Bishops as she did famously in 1989. I chose to add in a larger crowd than just the bishops to convey that Sr. Thea taught the entire white Catholic community what it means to genuinely live out one’s faith, and even more so, the urgent need to dismantle racism in the Catholic Church and United States. The constellation and moon display in a divine way what she is preaching: “I bring myself, my Black self, as a gift to the Church.” -Sr. Thea Bowman. Purchase Art Mother Anna Bates artist statement by Chloe Becker Mother Anna’s portrait is centered on her grass-roots work to form a Black Catholic church in Detroit, Our Lady of Victory, amidst resistance and racism from the Church. The positioning of Mother Anna and her parishioners emulates the architecture of Our Lady of Victory, as after Catholic authority refused to grant her request for a church, Mother Anna created a “church” with the people in her popular summer programs. The stained glass behind Mother Anna further emulates the church’s architecture, and displays in the three panels the ways in which women like Mother Anna are excluded from the Church. The left panel shows discrimination and lack of representation of Black women with natural hairstyles; the middle displays a Black Madonna (for the white-washing of Mary and Catholic motherhood, and the Church’s ignorance of the racism-caused high rates of infant mortality for Black mothers as a life issue); the right panel conveys the exclusion of Black song and spirituals from Euro-centric Masses or prayer services. The stained glass---chosen for its unbelievable lack of representation of Black figures---conveys a future Church where all Black women are centered and valued. This Advent, Please Support FutureChurch  as We Reclaim, Rebuild, and Love the Church We Seek into Existence. Advent reminds us that God calls us to make new places in our hearts for Christ's presence. As we enter into this season, we ask you to support this work by contributing what you can to make sure initiatives like Women Witnesses for Racial Justice, the Women Erased series, Catholic Women Preach, and more can continue. Please know how grateful we are for your support as we work to share the renewing Spirit of Hope at this critical time.  CONTRIBUTE  ‌  ‌  ‌

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