Blog Archives
HOUSE NEWS: Holy Week
Dear Friends,
For this week’s schedule please click here.
Johnny and Patrick were at a Pax Christi meeting in Pennsylvania most of the week, but the rest of us kept the home-fire burning, the garden watered and weeded, and the meals coming. A big thank you to the Servants of Christ for their delicious Pasta Fagioli and to the DEI fraternity for their help in the kitchen during Sunday’s cafe.
Many of you have read about the recent changes at St. Francis House, our city’s homeless shelter, in response to complaints about the growing number being served lunch. Some of our thoughts and experience are related in Kelli’s letter to the Sun which appeared last Sunday.
This week is Holy Week, and there will be a few changes to our regular schedule.
Highlights:
Blue House Pants: Thursday, 1 – 4:30; New pants out of old things – “locally sewn;” If you’ve got some sewing experience, come help us churn out a few more pairs in anticipation of selling them at an upcoming diocesan conference.
NO THURSDAY ROUNDTABLE – It’s Holy Thursday
Way of the Cross: Friday, 12 noon – 2pm: This is an ancient tradition of the church. Meet at the House, and then join us as we make our way through downtown Gainesville and reflect on how Christ continues to be crucified among us in the poor and marginalized in our community.
Happy Easter!
Gainesville Catholic Worker
218 NW 2nd Avenue
Gainesville, Florida 32601
352.371.4695
www.gainesvillecw.org
HOUSE NEWS: Observing Lent with the GCW
The Way of the Cross 2008
The season of Lent, a time for reflection, repentance, prayer, and almsgiving, begins on Ash Wednesday, February 25. Over the past eight years, some folks have made it part of their Lenten discipline to become more involved in some of the activities here at the Jubilee House. If you’re interested, here are some ways to plug in. You can also always check out our weekly calendar for details on what is happening.
Pray with us at Tuesdays or Fridays, Morning Prayer – 7:30-8am at the House.
Sponsor or help out at the Breakfast Brigade – Fridays, 4:15am – 7am; Serve a healthy, tasty breakfast to hungry folks at the day labor pools. Or buy breakfast – we serve up to 120 people/week for about $120-150.
Volunteer at Dorothy’s Café – Every Wednesday, and the first and third Sundays of each month; Help to prepare the soup, learn to bake the bread, serve, eat, and/or clean up. Prep on Wednesdays begins at 9:30am and clean-up is over around 6pm. On Sundays, prep begins at 11am and clean-up is over by 6pm.
Participate in Scripture Study – Tuesdays, 2:30-4pm.This semester we’re looking at the readings for each Sunday in the traditional reading cycle of many churches. We’ll be studying the gospel readings that lead up to Easter during the Lenten season. To see the schedule for readings, click here.
Join us at the Roundtable – Thursdays, 6-7:30pm; each week we share a potluck dinner while a guest speaker leads us in a discussion on a current economic, political, religious, or cultural issue. During Lent, we’ll be joined by Joe Jackson, UF law professor and advocate for the homeless; Junior St-Vil, director of Pax Christi Haiti; Patrick Finn-Schultz on the state of our criminal justice system; Diedre Houchen, educator; members of Islam on Campus; and others. Bring a dish to share if you can!
Take Part in the Good Friday “Way of the Cross” – Friday, April 10. The Way of the Cross is an ancient tradition. Join us as we make our way through downtown Gainesville and reflect on how Christ continues to be crucified among us in the poor and marginalized in our community.
Monthly Mass at the GCW – Join us Thursday, March 5th or Thursday, April 2 at 6pm for Mass at the GCW, celebrated by our chaplain, Fr. John Phillips, pastor of Holy Faith Catholic Church.
Commit to Learning to Live More Locally – Since the beginning, we’ve considered it a main mission of the Gainesville Catholic Worker to “live locally.” We try to buy the food we use and serve directly from local farmers (we highly recommend the 441 Farmers Market on Saturday mornings) or – when impossible – from Ward’s, a local grocery store that often buys directly from local growers. And we try to be conscious of how what we consume – food, entertainment, energy, clothing, etc. – affects our brothers and sisters. During Lent, we are going to try to be more intentional and invite you to struggle along with us, and weigh in when you can, on how to live locally in Gainesville. A member of our community will be fasting every day during Lent and we’ll also experiment with lowering our electricity footprint. We write regularly about our family’s attempts, failures, education – and hopefully progress – HERE.
HOUSE NEWS: Way of the Cross
Today is the the Gainesville Catholic Worker/Pax Christi Gainesville’s annual Good Friday Way of the Cross at 4pm. We will walk the ”Way of the Cross” through downtown Gainesville, praying at sites where Christ continues to be crucified today in the most oppressed, suffering and impoverished amongst us. This is often a powerful experience of “public prayer and witness,” recognizing that our faith is expressed in our willingness to walk and work alongside our brothers and sisters who suffer because of injustice, violence, and greed. We encourage you to join us for this experience. We will meet at the Gainesville Catholic Worker House at 3:45pm and begin walking at 4pm. We will walk about 2 miles over approximately 90 minutes and end back at the GCW.
UPDATE: Lent with the GCW, Gainesville’s African American History, Living Locally
The season of Lent, a time for reflection, repentance, prayer, and almsgiving, begins on Wednesday. Over the past seven years, some folks who have made it part of their Lenten discipline to become more involved in some of the activities here at the House. If you’re interested, here are some ways to plug in. See the WEEKLY CALENDAR for details:
Pray with us at Wednesday Morning Prayer – 7:00 – 7:30 am at the House.
Sponsor or help out at a Breakfast Brigade – Tuesdays and Fridays, 4:15am – 7am; Serve a healthy, tasty breakfast to hungry folks at the day labor pools. Or buy breakfast – we serve up to 200 people/week for about $200.
Volunteer at a Café – First three Sundays of the month; Make the soup, learn to bake the bread, serve, eat, and/or clean up.
Participate in Scripture Study – Tuesday nights 6-7:30 (or so); join us for a simple meal and a provocative look at the Sermon on the Mount. To catch up on last week’s study, click here.
Join us at the Roundtable – Thursdays, 6-7:30pm; each week we share a potluck dinner while a guest speaker leads us in a discussion on a current economic, political, religious, or cultural issue. This week,Joel Buchanan, one of the three students who integrated Gainesville High in 1964 and a prominent voice in Gainesville’s African-American community, will talk about Gainesville’s African-American History and his own own recollections. Future roundtable guests and topics will be posted here.
Get a copy of the Pax Christi Lent Booklet: Johnny is one of a handful of authors featured in a Lenten reflection booklet from Pax Christi USA, Invited to Transformation: Reflections for Lent 2008. We have about 30 copies available at the GCW House for anyone who is interested in using it as a resource for reflection and prayer during the Lenten season. You can email Johnny (johnnypcusa@yahoo.com) or pick up a copy at the house anytime for free or feel free to make a donation which will go back into supporting the GCW house.
Take Part in the Good Friday “Way of the Cross” – Friday, March 21. The Way of the Cross is an ancient tradition. Join us as we make our way through downtown Gainesville and reflect on how Christ continues to be crucified among us in the poor and marginalized in our community.
Commit to Learning to Live More Locally – Since the beginning, we’ve considered it a main mission of the Gainesville Catholic Worker to “live locally.” We try to buy the food we use and serve directly from local farmers or – when impossible – from Ward’s, a local grocery store that often buys directly from local growers. And we try to be conscious of how what we consume – food, entertainment, energy, clothing, etc. – affects our brothers and sisters. During Lent, we are going to try to be more intentional and invite you to struggle along with us, and weigh in when you can, on how to live locally in Gainesville. We’ll write about our family’s attempts, failures, education – and hopefully progress – HERE.
