Voices from the Community – Servant Song – v25n2

I was greatly dismayed when I brought your flier for Francis Day, to my parish’s Spiritual Life Committee Meeting and was met with much anti-Muslim criticism, including the pastor saying that I could not post the flier in the church as he doesn’t deal with anything “political.”

Claudia McNeil is a beloved friend of Agape whose husband Paul McNeil was a member of Agape’s Mission Council for over 15 years, before his death in 2014.

I am curious that two women speaking at Agape are pictured (in the Agape flier) wearing the headscarf.  The Muslim world has experienced a wave of fundamentalism and women are suffering (not unique to Islam), likened to fundamentalist Christianity.  Organized religion is patriarchal, and I do not support the fundamentalist wave which is hurting progressive Muslim women.

Author, feminist, veteran and friend of Agape

Thank you for writing and putting into words the reality of aging for those of us who grew up and were formed in the 60s not caring (or preparing) for anything as bourgeois as retirement!  But, we all age, diminish and need to face it. I too have been talking to others to see how they have done and how they maintain community.

Swanna Champlin is the director of L’Arche Irenicon in Haverhill, MA

One of my tasks at Agape was clearing overgrown plants that surrounded the tree in front of Francis, taming the wildlife, flowers that were entangled and weeds wrapped around other flowers. As I grabbed the hedge clippers and began chopping and sculpting around the path of rocks, I saw St. Francis jump with excitement.  I put away my hedge clippers and went through the path to get to the house.

Williams Martinez was a summer intern on a Brown University intern scholarship

I don’t identify with any one religion and the Agape has helped me solidify my interfaith position in life, to understand many religions and to put as much peace and love into the world as I physically and spiritually can.  I rediscovered the raw soul of my childhood, helping me reconnect with myself.

Zayne is one of the Franklin College Students from Franklin, IN, who were on a Rural Immersion trip beginning with Easter Liturgy and continuing through the week