[posts]
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Pro-Death Catholics and the Racist Death Penalty
by Suzanne Belote Shanley Today is the second day of Advent, and I have just completed reading two women friends’ mystical writing, one a poet, Denise Levertov, another a mystic, environmentalist woman priest of the Episcopal Church, Margaret Bullit-Jonas. Denise’s poetry matches the 6 a.m amazement as I look out
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St. Francis Day 2020 Recap
On October 3, 2020, Agape Community celebrated our 31st annual (and first ever virtual) St. Francis Day. The event was titled “Becoming Anti-Racist to Build Beloved Community During COVID-19 and the 2020 Election.” It consisted of a morning session, an afternoon small group discussion, and an open mic. During the
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Are You Willing to Become an Anti-Racist? by Edgar Hayes
by Edgar Hayes While walking down the streets of NYC, I witnessed with ease how other peoples’ conscious or subconscious thoughts played out before me. I cannot recall when I became of age or when I became aware of my “place” in society. I thought I was obscure, invisible, undetected,
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We Demand Change Now. An interview with Julie Bradey
In this interview with Brayton Shanley, Julie Bradley shares her unique experience as a bi-racial daughter of a white mother and a black father, who grew up with her four siblings in various housing developments and projects in the Boston area. Julie and her family have been a part of
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COVID-19, Environmental Racism, and the Legacy of Dr. James Cone
by Jim Robinson Throughout the spring and summer of 2020, the radical evil of systemic racism and the death-dealing impact of COVID-19 have occupied the center of our collective consciousness. After the brutal and callous murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police on May 25, 2020, masked protesters have come
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Loving Life on the Margins • the story of the Agape community
40 years of Community, Resistance, Nonviolence and Sustainability. Read "Loving Life on the Margins: The Story of the Agape Community" available now! Order online from our website or download an order form to purchase by mail. The book covers the life of its co-founders, Suzanne and Brayton...
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Lift Every Voice and Sing – by Melinda Adrienne Pellerin, SSJ
“Lift ev’ry voice and sing, ‘Til earth and heaven ring, Ring with the harmonies of Liberty… facing the rising sun of our new day begun, Let us march on ’til victory is won.” Often called the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” was written as a poem by
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Rooted in Love – by Jeanelle Wheeler
I believe white people need to learn to talk about race. White people need to own our whiteness and examine what whiteness means. This examination is a huge part of fighting for racial justice because, as Lala Saad writes in her book, Me and White Supremacy, “You cannot dismantle what
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Power Differential in the Context of Poverty in Haiti – by Steve and Nancy James
We both grew up as missionary kids in Burma/Myanmar where our friends were Burmese/Karen kids, so we were very conscious of not being like our friends. Every day, we wished that we had brown skin and black hair and that we were not white foreigners. Although our childhood in Burma/Myanmar
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Look Again – by Rev. Jonathan Betts Fields
It is essential that we notice how we have been changed and how we have worked to change ourselves if we are to truly become anti-racists building the Beloved Community. If we want to change our world, we first must live, move and become the change we wish to see.
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Be the Change – by Julie Bradley
After attending Agape’s October 2020 Zoom Francis Day event, I felt a sense illumination. Agape Community stepped up to the challenge of racism, showing its members’ level of commitment and involvement in all areas of struggle within humanity. This event brought me a sense of hope that in the future
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The Dream of Allyship – by Edgar Hayes
There is a classic story about a hypothetical dream conveyed to a psychiatrist in which a runner tries to catch up in a race of 401 laps. The runner keeps being held back from completing the race by one obstacle after another, until a merged path appears when “a huge
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God’s Peace Heals All Divisions: An Election Year Vigil – by Jim Robinson
Throughout the fall, we at Agape have been reading Pope Francis’s recently released encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, as part of our noonday prayer. Before eating lunch together, we gather in the living room of St. Francis House and read an excerpt from the encyclical. We sit with the impact of Pope
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Finding a New Way of Being – by Dixon George
At different points in my life I’ve found myself reflecting on where I have come from, where I am now, and where I am going. The answers that I get from prayer, meditation and conversations with people in my community are that I come from ten years of the experience of the
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Climate Change and Covid Are Telling Us: Go Vegan – By Katya Renée Freitas
Like many people, Covid has drastically changed both my internal and external world. I was only about a month and a half into my last semester of college at Hofstra University when the virus first hit. In an instant, my college career seemed to be ending, giving me no time
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The Harmonizing Power of Dialogue – by Steve Tumolo
Joe Biden wins But God’s peace steals our attention The people and the woods of Agape Invite us to be still. One in a hut, one in a hermitage, Our stay is too brief. Yet even a pause in the woods Can heighten our capacity to hear. The healing power
