E-Bulletin:

September 3, 2023

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

&

Feast of St. Phoebe

Prayer to St. Phoebe

St. Phoebe, entrusted with a message, remind us, too, to lift our voices.

St. Phoebe, supporter of many, kindle in us your deep generosity.

St. Phoebe, traveler of Roman roads, lead us to where our gifts are most needed.

St. Phoebe, deacon, full partner in the Gospel, usher us in to find our place there, too.

St. Phoebe, courageous and committed. guide us as we follow in your holy footsteps.

Amen.

- Discerning Deacons

More resources on St. Phoebe can be found HERE.

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Membership Renewal

Membership renewal was due in January. Many have renewed. If you have not yet renewed, please do so as soon as you are able. To pay dues online, go to:

AUSCP - HOME 

To pay dues by check, send to:

AUSCP, PO Box 676, Tiffin, OH 44883

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To become a "Friend" of AUSCP, go to:

AUSCP - HOME 

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Help us continue the important and critical work of the AUSCP with your financial assistance!

You can click below to donate.

Thank you!

Parish Tithing

If your parish tithes its Sunday collection and sends a monthly donation to various places please consider putting the AUSCP on the list of recipients.  Thanks!

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To access the latest information on immigration reform and Action Alerts, click on the JFI logo below:

 To access information on care of creation and Laudato Si', click below:

Catholic Climate Covenant

Direct link to Homily Resources

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Website, Email, and Mailing Addresses

The website address is: www.auscp.org.

The office email address is: office@auscp.org.

The mailing address is:

P.O. Box 676,

Tiffin, OH 44883.

Please use these addresses for communication with AUSCP.  Thank you!

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If you are aware of any AUSCP member who has died recently, please inform the AUSCP office.

Thank you!

Season of Creation 

The Catholic Church commemorated the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation on September 1st. This also marked the beginning of a month-long ecumenical awareness initiative called the “Season of Creation,” which concludes on October 4th with the feast of Saint Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of ecology.

Pope Francis invites us to reflect on the relationship between justice and creation. Inspired by the scriptures, “let justice flow on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream” (Amos 5:24), the power, simplicity, and clarity of water offers a vivid metaphor. In so doing, the Holy Father recounts our foundational starting point: we must “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). A statement from USCCB for this year's Season of Creation can be found HERE.

Pope Francis will issue a  new environmental exhortation on October 4, 2023, as a follow-up to Laudato Si'.

Catholic Climate Covenant (CCC)

The CCC invites us to: Raise the Catholic Voice and Let Justice and Peace Flow! They have issued the following Call to Action for this year's Season of Creation:

Ask the Biden Administration to forgive the debt of developing nations and stop fossil fuel expansion at COP 28. Four steps are recommended:

1. Sign the forgiveness of debt letter
2. Organize a prayer service in an ecologically impacted place near you
3. Take a picture of the place and people gathered
4. Post your event to social media tagging President Biden, Special Envoy Kerry, and Secretary Yellen (more details and links here), and let them know we are #PrayingForYou to take strong action on fossil fuels and debt relief.

Find more details on this Catholic call to action here.

Is the Eucharistic Revival Missing the Call to Peacemaking?

AUSCP member Fr. John Heagle, (former chair of the Gospel Nonviolence Working Group), wrote an article titled: Where is the call to peacemaking in the eucharistic revival? An excerpt from the article reads: Jesus taught the love of enemies and then lived it by confronting violence without retaliation, by refusing to respond to brutality with revenge, by forgiving his executioners and, in the end, by breathing the Spirit of peace into the very disciples who had denied and abandoned him.

How did we lose this bond between the breaking of the bread and active, nonviolent love?

The reasons for this are complex, but two stand out: the transformation of the "Jesus movement" into Christendom, and the resulting cultural-religious amnesia as to why Jesus was executed by crucifixion. 

You can access the entire article HERE.

 Mutual Support Committee: Listing of Retreats & Sabbatical Opportunities for Priests

Retreats and sabbaticals provide opportunities for us to re-focus and recharge our ministerial energies. Attached is a sampling of offerings found on the internet. It is not a comprehensive list and AUSCP does not endorse any program offering. The list will posted at www.auscp.org soon.

Valuable Synod & Eucharistic Revival Resources

AUSCP member Fr. Dan Klem (Diocese of Richmond) serves on the Leadership Team of the The Pentecost Vigil Project, a Catholic non-profit dedicated to “Unleashing the Spirit of Synodality.” The resource is titled Everything You Need to Know About the October 4-29 Synod:  www.pentecostvigilproject.org 

This website also has a parish resource developed for Eucharistic Revival: Christ Present in the Eucharist: A Synodal Parish Process for Eucharistic Revival.

AUSCP 2023 Assembly Videos

The following videos from the 2023 AUSCP Assembly are ready for viewing at: https://auscp.org/assembly-videos/

• Cardinal Luis Tagle Interview by Fr. Steve Newton, Vision for a Church Where We All Walk Together
• Massimo Faggioli, The "Synodal Process" in the USA and in the Global Church: A Geography of Hope 
• Brian Flanagan, Synods as Liturgy: Presiding in a Synodal Church 
• Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu, Bridge People or Neglected and Peripheral? Latinas/Latinos Catholics in the U.S., is now available with a video that includes both the slides and the visual of Cecilia speaking to the Assembly.
• Vatican II Work Group Report: Year I – From People of God to Tents

Mark your calendars for next year's AUSCP Assembly!

 June 24-27, 2024, Hyatt Regency in Lexington, Kentucky.

Bishop John Stowe will give the retreat.

Speakers: Tom Reese, SJ, Michael Driscoll, Kim Harris

AUSCP Webinars 

Zoom Sessions & Webinars

There is a new AUSCP Zoom webinar series beginning this week on Leavening Humankind in Today's World. See below for the dates. Register HERE.

If you scroll down, you will find the links to some of the past webinars in case you would like to view them. Thank you for your interest and participation! 

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Leavening Humankind in Today's World

Dr. Joe Torma and Fr. Bob Bonnot will continue their series of webinars on Vatican II Documents on Wednesdays at 4:00 p.m Eastern Time. Dr. Joe Torma will continue to be the presenter of these webinars with Fr. Bob serving as Moderator. The sessions will formally conclude at the end of an hour, but then will be open to continuing dialogue for those interested.These are the dates and topics:

• September 6 -- Revelation as addressed by Dei Verbum
• September 13 -- Non-Christian Religions as addressed by Nostra Aetate
• October 4 -- Eastern Catholic Churches as addressed by Orientalium Ecclesiarum
• October 11 -- Ecumenism as addressed by Unitatis Redintegratio
• October 18 -- Social Communications Media addressed by Inter Mirifica.

Register HERE.

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The following webinars of 2022-23 are available for viewing: