breakthrough! Membership category, Friends of ARCWP
| Our major good news is we now have 9 Friends of ARCWP Ireland who have formed a supportive community for women leaders in inclusive ministry in Ireland. We? will share with them on a regular basis our newsletters, educational programs and continue to meet, celebrate liturgies and work with them for future events to grow our movement in Ireland.?In 2019 Mary Theresa Streck and Bridget Mary Meehan travelled to Ireland Sept. 11-25 . We did media interviews, a panel, two liturgies and had 5 meetings with various groups and individuals. We shared a new movie about ARCWP which we had prepared on our movement that is now on youtube and available to the public.?https://youtu.be/9716xzTs_DEWe documented our events in Ireland on my blog and sent this information to our ARCWP listserv.? |
| Before our trip:We had did advance communications with We Are Church Ireland. They? promoted our events ? a panel discussion on Sept. 14th?and a liturgy on Sept. 15th?in Dublin.? Sept. 11th?12th?Bridget Mary was interviewed for the?Journal.ie?and a radio program.? ?Over 12,000 readers viewed this article and there were 27 interesting comments about women priests and the Roman Catholic Church.?https://www.thejournal.ie/women-priests-meeting-dublin-4807255-Sep2019/?See article below: Sept. 13th?We met with Ana Bermingham Doran, who is discerning a vocation. Sept. 14th: Panel in Malddron Hotel at Dublin Airport A diverse audience of twenty people from across Ireland? including 2 nuns, a professor from Trinity and a seminary student from One Spirit, leaders of We Are Church Ireland attended our panel discussion. They expressed interest in sharing information with other women. One woman who is attending One Spirit Preparation Program expressed interest in ARCWP as a possible dual step.https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/09/ireland-panel-presentation-on-women-in.html? There was an enthusiastic dialogue between Irish theologian Angela Hanley and us as well as the participants on our new model of inclusive and empowering leadership in the Church. General agreement that patriarchy is dead! Angela has now joined our movement as a Friend of ARCWP.?Myra Noonan, a student who completed a course on women in scripture with People?s Catholic Seminary, shared a testimony of the impact that our program which is interactive and online had on her.? She promoted our educational ministry as a viable option for future studies and is now a facilitator for a new course on women leaders in Christianity which is based Irish Theologian Mary T. Malone?s book, The Elephant in the Church.? |
| September 15th At Liturgy at St. Andrew Community Center in Rialto, Dublin 15 attended, ?Amanda Dillon, a theologian from Trinity ?attended both panel and liturgy and? leaders from We are Church Ireland were present. Colm Holmes, the spokesperson from We Are Church Ireland, ?expressed his support of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests as a significant movement for justice and equality in the Church.See Liturgy below. ?https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/09/association-of-roman-catholic-women_15.html |
| Sept. 16th?Moved to rental house on a rainy day. We have many beautiful days, weather wise and ?sharing with our new ARCWP friends community!?September 17th We Visited Solas Bhride Spirituality Center in Kildare?Today Mary Theresa and I visited with Sister Mary and Sister Rita to investigate possibilities for use of one of Ireland?s most popular Catholic retreat/conference centers, Solas Bhride Spirituality Center.? We submitted a request to hold a conference there next year. We also prayed at St. Brigid’s Well.?https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/09/ireland-today-we-visited-solas-bhride.html |
| Sept. 18th:? We went to Mercy International Center, where Catherine McAuley founded the Mercy Sisters on Baggot Street in Dublin. There we met ?Margaret Roche, a newly ordained woman from ?One Spirit, and Gerry Lococo and her friend Kelly ?who are on tour in Ireland. We had a great time learning about the history of the Mercies and were introduced to members of the Mercy Community who were in Dublin. So wonderful opportunities to share our movement with some who had never heard of us, and great news in this survey of Irish Catholics! |
| Sept? 19th– Swords Ireland Today we met with Tony McCarthaigh, a leader from Community of 72 who is a supporter of women priests and who has sponsored our Eucharistic Liturgies in Rialto, Dublin for 3 years.Mary Theresa and I affirmed the white paper stating their purpose of being a Eucharistic Community, and supporting women called. We both joined the Community of 72 .https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/09/ireland-hopeful-news-irish-welcome.html |
| Sept. 20th? Application for ARCWP to be recognized as a religious body in Ireland who can authorize solemnisers to do weddings. In order for a minister or priest to function in Ireland, one must be on this registry. Sept. 21st?Prepared for Home Liturgy and hospitality for Sunday Liturgy and meeting. Sept. 22nd?House Liturgy with Women Interested in Women Priests. Four women attended: a chaplain, a Brigidine nun, two local woman leaders affliated with We Are Church and both are teachers.https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/09/arcwp-home-church-liturgy-for-25th.html? September 23rd: We met with Myra Noonan who has joined the faculty of People?s Catholic Seminary and will teach a new course on?Visionary Women Leaders in Christianity.?https://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/2019/09/new-course-coming-soon-to-peoples.html? September 24th?Wrote this report and packed up to fly home on September 25. |