This poem was dedicated to Agape by Rich Bachtold, a revered member of Agape’s Mission Council, who introduced and hosted an annual Arts and Poetry Night at Agape. Rich dedicated over 20 years of his life to Agape and assisted in planting Agape’s first garden with raised beds, earning him the title of Raised Bed Revolutionary and was member of Agape’s first Mission Council which began in 1989. His memory endures.

 

1974
Suzanne and Brayton meet and begin a journey into alternative lifestyle, attending peace gatherings and pursuing the dream of intentional community. They became attenders at Friends Meeting in Cambridge for four years.
1974
1978
Inspired by the lives of Philip Berrigan and Liz McAlister since the 60’s, Suzanne and Brayton attend a conference at the Rowe Camp and Conference Center in Western, MA where they meet Liz and Phil in person for the first time. The meeting, together with a growing friendship with Charlie McCarthy, inspired Suzanne and Brayton to pursue a life of radical Christian nonviolence.
1978
1979

Suzanne and Brayton meet Paul Hood and Mamoru Kato of the Peace Pagoda.

1979
1979

Suzanne while teaching at Simmons College, invites Philip Berrigan, Tony Mullaney of the Milwaukee 18, and Denise Levertov to a Teach-In attended by over 400 people

1979
1979

Ailanthus, a faith-based and resistance community rooted in Christian Nonviolence, ecumenical, interfaith and open to all, is founded by Brayton and Suzanne, with Paul Hood, Dinah Starr, and others.

Picture: Members of Ailanthus at New York Disarmament Rally 1980

1979
1979

Picture: Ailanthus members meeting at the Quaker meeting house in Beacon Hill. From left to right, Robert Hillegass, Dinah Starr, Paul Hood, and Jeanne Holladay.

Members of Ailanthus travel to Jonah House in Baltimore and the Pentagon for arrests and witness.

Ailanthus: A Nonviolent Witness for Peace combines with Catholics, Quakers, and activists including Tom Lewis, John Leary, and Cathleen Cooney, to begin a weekly vigil at Draper Labs, Cambridge, MA. The vigils include actions of civil disobedience which lead to arrests and trials.

Kathe McKenna, founder of the first Catholic Worker (and only) in Boston, welcomes Ailanthus to Haley House, establishing a life-time relationship.

1979
1980

Suzanne and Brayton are married by Fr. Joachim Lally, CSP at the Friend’s Meeting in Cambridge. The ceremony is attended by dozens of community members and extended family, and is forever remembered as a “Quatholic” wedding.

Liz McAlister gives wedding homily as Philip Berrigan Daniel Berrigan are both in jail for acts of resistance. Friday and Jerry, Liz and Phil’s children, participate in the wedding.

1980
1980

Suzanne does prison time at MCI Framingham for civil disobedience at Draper Labs.

Suzanne and Brayton meet the Bradleys, lifetime members of the Agape family.

Picture: From left to right – Michelle Bradley, Allah Mathematics Allah (deceased), and Julie Bradley.

1980
1981

Members of Ailanthus go to trial for civil disobedience at Draper Labs. Members plea Defense of Necessity, and the court rules in an historic decision, Commonwealth v. Hood.

Meetings take place to discern intentional community with Mary and Charlie McCarthy, and Steve & Nancy James, who later established a ministry in Haiti.

Picture: Assembled Ailanthus friends chanting outside of courthouse.

1981
1982

The Agape Community is born.

Brayton and Suzanne move to Brockton, MA and buy a condemned house for $23,000 which is 0.6 miles from the McCarthy household. Charlie, Brayton, and Suzanne begin ministry teaching nonviolence, living under taxable income, and home schooling the McCarthy children.
1982
1982

Agape begins to vigil and fast at the Boston State House on days of execution to protest and resist the reinstatement of the death penalty in MA.

IRS puts a lien on Suzanne and Brayton’s house for withheld taxes.

1982
1983

Agape produces the slide show (now on DVD) “To See God Face to Face: The Nonviolence of Mahatma Gandhi,” broadening its interfaith educational outreach at the Friends Meeting in Cambridge, MA.

Agape Ministry grows to include holding seminars at junior and senior high schools and colleges with multiple themes on Christian non-violence.
Bob Wegener joins the Agape Ministry Team.

1983
1984
Billy Neal Moore gets a 20 day stay of execution in Georgia. Suzanne writes to him to give support. Billy responds, leading to an ongoing correspondence and broadening national attention.
1984
1986
Skip Schiel suggests land in the Quabbin Reservoir Area. A brief time later Brayton and Skip visit land in Hardwick on a tip from Dan Lawrence and Wayne Petrin. Fr. Emmanuel Charles McCarthy is ordained a Byzantine-Melkite priest, an Eastern Catholic rite. The Agape newsletter begins. Fundraisers start. Teresa Shanley is born.
1986
1986
Brayton and Suzanne purchase 32 acres of land in Hardwick, MA using interest-free loans, donations, and personal savings to provide space for a residential community. Bob Wegener designs Francis House and agrees to assist in building project with Dan Lawrence, a master carpenter and ex-Trappist, and Alden Poole. Over 200 volunteers help build throughout the year. Agape launches programs on Theology of Nonviolence in elementary schools, high schools, and colleges, as well as confirmation retreats.
1986
1987

Bob Wegener, Brayton, Suzanne, and 7-month-old Teresa visit Billy Neal Moore on death row in Georgia. While in Georgia they also visit the Open Door Community and Koinonia Farm.

Picture: Sketch by Bob Wegener of Billy Neal Moore holding Teresa on death row, Jackson, GA.

1987
1987

Bob and Tara Wegener buy the Brockton, MA home from Brayton and Suzanne, providing the much-needed funds to purchase the land in Hardwick. Upon sale of the house to the Wegener’s, the IRS lien on the house for war tax resistance comes due.

Bob and Tara launched Agape in this significant community move.

1987
1987
A land blessing takes place at Agape with Worcester Olive Branch and Ailanthus/Agape members in June. Tree removal begins.
1987
1987

Hundreds of volunteers from near and far assist in the building project over a two-year period. Some live in a basement apartment in Ware, which slept 10 – 12 people.

1987
1987
Picture: Raising the main oak carrying beam of Francis House.
1987
1988

Brayton, Suzanne, Teresa, and Dan Lawrence move into a livable but incomplete Francis House amid a blizzard, assisted by Steve James.

House building continues. The roof and some rooms are finished.

Brayton and Suzanne meet Wally and Juanita Nelson, founders of the Pioneer Valley War Tax Resisters and early participants in the Civil Rights movement.

1988
1988
Picture: Juanita and Wally giving a presentation at Agape
1988
1989

“Please Save His Life”: Billy Neal Moore National Campaign reaches several thousand. Roslyn Carter, Millard Fuller of Habitat for Humanity, and Theodore Hesburgh, CSC of the University of Notre Dame, all assist the cause.

The official community opening is attended by over 400 people. Mass is said by Bishop Timothy Harrington of Worcester. Speakers include Tom Cornell, Fr. Richard McSorley S.J., Michael True, Sister Jane Morrissey and Sr. Maryanne Guertin.

1989
1989
Picture: Tom Cornell at the First Francis Day.
1989
1989
Picture: Bishop Harrington at the First Francis Day.
1989
1989
Picture: Gordon Zahn and Wally Nelson at the First Francis Day.
1989
1989
Picture: Catholic worker and local children enacting the Wolf of Gubbio Story of St Francis.
1989
1990

The execution of Billy Neal Moore is scheduled for August 20th. Agape joins Billy’s family in Atlanta to call for commutation. Mother Teresa intervenes. The Board of Pardon and Parole votes unanimously to commute Billy’s sentence to “life”—the first confessed homicide to gain commutation on death row nationally.

Suzanne and Brayton meet the Lyon family, Nipmuc descendants pictured below, who become an important part of Agape Community life.

1990
1991

Fr. Warren Savage asks Agape to teach a year-long nonviolent education program at Cathedral High School in Springfield. The program focuses on the Seamless Garment position, and topics include pacifism, nonviolent resolution to war, capital punishment, and abortion. Speakers include Alden Poole, WWII vet, Billy Neal Moore, former death row inmate, and singer Sarah Pirtle.

Agape joins National Protest Campaign in opposition to the U.S. invading Kuwait and Iraq.

1991
1991
Picture: Billy Neal Moore holding Teresa on a visit to Agape after being released from prison.
1991
1992

Philip Berrigan, SJ celebrates Agape’s 10th Anniversary with a talk on voting in an election year at the Congregational Church in Hardwick, MA. Pictured below.

1992
1992
Agape members meet with Philip Berrigan, Liz McAlister, Fr. Richard McSorley SJ, and Jim and Shelly Douglass to draft a position statement on military intervention in the Persian Gulf.
1992
1992

Picture: From left to right – Brayton, Daniel Lawrence, Chief Francis house carpenter, Suzanne, and Philip Berrigan.

1992
1993

Picture: Horse and buggy at Agape Francis Day with rides for children.

1993
1993

Picture: Holy Cross Peace and Conflicts Studies retreat at Agape with Ted Henken, third from left, who later became an Agape intern and remains involved in Agape’s ongoing plans.

1993
1995

50th Anniversary of Nagasaki and Hiroshima and the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.

Francis Day speakers include Dave Dellinger; Edwin Brunel, Auschwitz survivor; and Hibakusha, survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

1995
1996

Agape and other Peace Communities join Dean Hammer, Plowshares Eight Member, in peacemaker retreat at the Benedictine Weston Priory. Dan Berrigan reads poetry accompanied by cellist Eugene Friesen of the Paul Winter Consort.

Agape teaches year-long nonviolent education program at North Cambridge Catholic High School, Cambridge, MA.

1996
1997

Agape begins construction of a straw bale house with a compost toilet and solar energy. Money is raised by selling bales of straw.

Francis Day keynotes include Vincent Harding, speech writer for Martin Luther King Jr., and Miriam Therese McGillis, cofounder of Genesis Farm.

1997
1997

Picture: Vincent Harding with Suzanne and Brayton.

1997
1999

The Straw Bale House is completed and named Brigid House, after Saint Brigid of Kildare. The house is blessed by Agape Chaplain Fr. David Gill S.J., Sr. Eleanor Mclellan RSCJ, and other guests.

1999
2000

Brayton, Suzanne, and Teresa travel to Ireland. Suzanne and Brayton meet and co-present with Nobel Laureate Mairead Corrigan McGuire. They also attend Zen Peacemakers retreat with testimonies from IRA members and families of Protestant Provisionals.

2000
2000

Picture: Left to right- Suzanne, Brayton, Mairead Corrigan McGuire

John Schuchardt, cofounder of the House of Peace, spearheads “Prison Pilgrimage” with Buddhist Peace Pagoda, Agape, and many other participants. Pilgrims walk to twenty prisons throughout MA calling for prison reform and abolition.

2000
2000

Picture: Many friends of Agape including Mike True, John Schuchardt, Margaret Johnson, Frances Crowe, Elizabeth Dellinger, and Dave Dellinger.

2000
2000

Agape starts a fourteen year long relationship with the Sisters of Saint Joseph (CSJ) of Boston to facilitate programs for Bethany Hill Place, a living and learning community located in Framingham, MA. Programs include a retreat setting with prayer, deep sharing about addictions and life as an unhoused person, and the healing power of community and nonviolent love. Sr. Eleanor Daniels CSJ and Sr. Denise Kelly CSJ, Program Coordinator, brought students from Bethany to Agape for days of fun. Pictured below.

2000
2001

September 11th Attacks and US military invasion of Afghanistan.

Picture: Francis Crowe, Suzanne, and two Agape Interns from Ireland at the Westover Air Force base in Chicopee, MA.

2001
2001

Picture: House of Peace, Tom Lewis, Charlie McCarthy, Agape, and Pax Christi members protest the invasion at the Catholic Cathedral in Boston.

Agape drafts A Catholic Call to Peacemaking, a Christian statement of nonviolence in opposition to the invasion that indicts the American Catholic Bishops for their support of the “War on Terrorism.” The only two bishops to oppose the invasion were Bishops Thomas Gumbleton (Detroit) and John Botean (Canton, OH), both friends of Agape.

2001
2001

Brayton attends American Catholic Bishops Conference in Dallas to protest the bishops’ votes and to call them back to Jesus’ prophetic message of nonviolence.

2001
2002

Agape members join with Jane Morrissey SSJ, Pat Ferrone, Cornelia Sullivan, and Linda Finlay in support of Pope John Paul II’s ecumenical Peace Day in Assisi, Italy. Peace vigils take place in Assisi and Vatican Square. Agape and friends hold a banner that reads “We U.S. Catholics to our Church say NO to the War on Terrorism.”

2002
2002

Bishop Thomas Gumbleton and James Douglass, Theologian, Author, and Resister celebrate Agape’s 20th Anniversary.

Phillip Berrigan dies and is eulogized in Agape’s journal Servant Song.

2002
2003

U.S. invades Iraq.

Members of Agape, House of Peace, Buddhist Peace Pagoda, and the Peace Abbey are arrested in Natick at a weapons facility and at the Westover Air Force Base. Six months of trials follow. All are found guilty, but charges are dismissed.

2003
2003

Picture: Protest and arrest at Westover

2003
2003

Picture: Protest and arrest at Natick

2003
2003

Teresa takes a Mission Trip to the Dominican Republic.

2003
2004

Agape purchases a V.W. Jetta Diesel and converts it to run on used vegetable oil supplied by 99 Restaurant’s manager Peter Wuelfing, Agape friend. The car assisted in resisting the use of fossil fuel which feeds US resource wars abroad.

2004
2004

Suzanne and Brayton join protests in NYC during Republican National Convention. Protestors conduct an illegal rally at the U.N. and march peacefully without a permit to the site of the Republican Convention.

2004
2004

Eugene Friesen, Paul Winter Consort cellist, performs a benefit concert for Agape to raise money for land in Hardwick which was slated for development without regard to wetlands or wildlife. Agape raises enough funds to protects 1 ½ acres.

2004
2004

Wheels of Justice Campaign from WI, led by Mike Miles of Anathoth Community Farm, stops at Agape.

2004
2004

Dave Dellinger dies. His wife Elizabeth Dellinger commits Dave’s ashes to Agape soil with Father David Gil SJ. Pictured below.

2004
2005

Agape joins CT and MA Citizens Against the Death Penalty to oppose the execution of Michael Ross in CT. Billy Neal Moore intervenes on Michael’s behalf. Ross gives up his appeals and is executed in May.

2005
2005

Freedom Farm is modeled after Agape vision and nonviolent spirituality.

2005
2005

Edgar Hayes, former Agape intern and current Mission Council and Board of Directors member, and wife Ann Rader, MA in Theological Studies from Wesley Theological Seminary and current member of the Mission Council, cofound Freedom Farm Community. The community is a Christian-based farm that shares organic produce with neighbors in need and offers youth and young adult ministry through farm work and intentional community. With an antiracism charism, Freedom Farm works with disadvantaged youth from inner-city New York which includes educating young people of color on farming, gardening, and sustainability. Edgar goes on to become a Minister in the Hudson River Presbytery of NY.

2005
2005

Picture: Ann and Edgar at Freedom Farm Community

2005
2006

Agape conducts a year-long forum on “Peak Oil” and sustainable energy which begins on Francis Day. Hardwick participants Chris Green and Bill Cole initiate a local Hardwick Farmers Market. Commitment to world peace starts with local growing and non-cooperation with oil.

2006
2006

Agape joins Boston College faculty, students and anti-war activists protesting Condoleezza Rice’s honorary degree at BC. Future members of Agape’s post graduate group, the Creatively Maladjusteds, form the core of the student protest leadership.

2006
2006

Picture: Protest at Boston College

2006
2006

Picture: Carlos Arrendondo, center, with Agape friends who became a prominent Peace activist after his son, Alex, was killed in combat in Iraq.

2006
2006

Agape chaplain, David Gill SJ, presents nonviolent position to Honors Convocation at Boston College during graduation week ceremonies.

2006
2007

Suzanne and Brayton take a year-long sabbatical after 25 years of nonviolent community to visit peace communities and monasteries in the US and abroad.

2007
2007

Arun Gandhi gives the keynote address at Agape’s 25th anniversary. Pictured below, third from left.

2007
2008

Picture: Brayton and Suzanne meet with Fr. Richard Rohr at The Center for Contemplation and Action in Albuquerque, NM.

2008
2009

Sabah Kader and sons, Omar, and Ali, join Agape’s extended community. Sabah’s wife, Suad, was killed by an American attack at a checkpoint in Baghdad. Sabah was critically wounded, and Omar, age 4, was burned on over 70% of his body. They seek medical help in the US. Agape helps with friendship, housing, special outreach, and fundraising.

Picture: Ali, Sabah, and Omar watering Suad’s tree at Agape.

2009
2009

Former interns and retreatants form the post-graduate group, the Creatively Maladjusteds. The community meets regularly in Boston.

2009
2009

Agape receives the Courage of Conscience award from the Peace Abbey.

2009
2010

Brayton goes to Haiti to assist Agape Cofounders Steve and Nancy James in relief efforts after the earthquake in January.

Picture: Dr. Steve James, left, with earthquake survivors, and his wife Nancy, right.

2010
2010

Francis Day theme is “Women and War: Finding our Voices, Reclaiming our Legacy.” Speakers include Dr. Paula Green, winner of the Unsung Heroes of Compassion Award given by the Dalai Lama, Martha Hennessy, seventh grandchild of Dorothy Day and member of Kings Bay Plowshares 7, and American and Iraqi survivors and combat veterans of the war in Iraq.

 

2010
2011

Agape shifts the focus of its educational ministry after 20 years of college retreats. Programs evolve to reach people from ages 20-40, including Divinity Schools and area Grad Schools. “The Creatively Maladjusteds” era continues as a primary way for Agape to evangelize the “integrated life of Christian nonviolence and sustainable living.”

2011
2011

Juanita Nelson dedicates a tree for her husband Wally Nelson at Agape. The Nelsons were leaders in both the Pioneer Valley and National War Tax Resistance communities and broader pacifist movement. Pictured below.

2011
2012

Brayton is arrested at Vermont Yankee Power Plant headquarters in Brattleboro, VT, extending Agape’s commitment to green energy, sustainable living, and opposing nuclear power.

2012
2012

Agape celebrates its 30th Anniversary with Arun Gandhi, Roy Bourgeois, Molly Scott, and Billy Neal Moore.

2012
2012

Olivia, daughter of Teresa Shanley, and granddaughter of Suzanne and Brayton is born.

2012
2013

Francis Day theme is “Faith and the Environment.” Speakers include Sr. Bernadette Bostwick and Sr. Amie from the Green Monastery (former residency and current resting place of Thomas Berry, Geologian), Prof. Roger Gottlieb, Tom Cornell, Shea Reister, and David Tall Pine White.

2013
2013

David Tall Pine White plants a Weeping Blue Atlas Cedar dedicated to the Nipmuc Nation, whose land Agape occupies.

2013
2014

Francis Day theme is “A Vital Conversation: Integrating Ecology, Justice and Peace.” Keynote speakers are Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-founder and co-director on the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale, and husband John Grim.

2014
2014

Picture: Suzanne, John Grim, and Mary Evelyn Tucker

2014
2014

Suzanne and Brayton are keynote speakers at the annual Daniel Berrigan SJ Lecture at Le Moyne College. Lecture is entitled “How Are We to Live in This World: Integrated Life of Gospel Nonviolence, Earth Centered Contemplation, and Sustainability.”

2014
2015

Francis Day theme is “Building and Sustaining Nonviolent Communities: What is Our Future.” Speakers include Michael Baxter, professor of Religion at Regis University, and Jackie Allen and Chris Doucot, cofounders of the Hartford Catholic Worker.

2015
2015

Veterans for Peace tree is planted and dedicated to Tony Flaherty, Korean War Veteran, Alden Poole, WWII Veteran, Paul Hood, WWII Marine, and all Veterans for Peace.

2015
2015

Suzanne and Brayton meet Jim Robinson, current member of Agape’s Mission Council and Board of Directors, at Harvard University Conference.

2015
2015

Dixon George joins Agape and stays for 6 years.

2015
2015

Agape celebrates the life of Richard Bachtold after his passing. Richard was a committed and original Agape Board Member for 20 years and was called the poet in non-residence and the “Raised Bed Revolutionary”.

2015
2015

Agape joins Pax Christi, Veterans for Peace, Sisters of St. Anne, and Worcester Catholic Workers at John Joseph Moakley Courthouse to protest the death penalty at the Trial of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

2015
2015

Pax Christi and Agape sponsor a petition to Cardinal Sean O’Malley of the Boston Archdiocese to denounce the death penalty for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

2015
2015

Suzanne and Brayton receive the Paulist Center Isaac Hecker Award for Social Justice.

2015
2016

Francis Day theme is “Listening to Muslim Voices in an Election Year.” Speakers include Nadia Alawa, founder, and president of New Day Syria; Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, Attorney for rights of Muslim women; Dr. Hisham Moharram; Dr. Robert Emmet Meagher, Professor at Hampshire College & Pacifist Author; and Dr. Ahmad Al-Hadidi, Physician. Music by Alicen Roberts, Rachel Ravina, and Chris Nauman.

2016
2016
New England War Tax Resisters hold a weekend retreat at Agape.
2016
2016

Brown University, Franklin College, Iona College, the Paulist Center Youth Group, St. Joseph’s Long Island Campus Ministry, and Stonehill College students come to Agape for retreats and Rural Immersions.

2016
2016

Suzanne and Brayton attend Daniel Berrigan SJ’s funeral in New York City.

2016
2016

Brayton takes a pilgrimage to the Dakota Access Pipeline protests at Standing Rock to deliver straw bales for Tipi insulation with Tim Bullock from the Peace Pagoda, and Nelia Sargent.

2016
2017

Francis Day theme is “Listening to Native Voices: Standing Rock is Everywhere.” Chief Arvol Looking Horse of the Lakota/Nakota/Dakota Sioux, 19th keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe and Bundle, arrives at Agape and stays for three days. Other Speakers include Chief Dwaine Perry of the Lenape Tribe; Two Clouds; Beatrice Menase Kwe Jackson, leader of Standing Rock Water Ceremonies; The Rt. Rev. Doug Fisher, Episcopal Bishop of Western MA; Gentle Hawk; and Dr. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, Missioner for Creation Care in the Episcopal Diocese of Western MA.

2017
2017

Picture: Beatrice Menase Kwe Jackson leading the Water Ceremony procession to the pond beside Francis House.

2017
2017

Picture: Chief Arvol Looking Horse at Agape

2017
2017

Iona College Students on a four-day Rural Immersion plant a tree in memory of Daniel Berrigan, SJ.

2017
2017

Agape attends memorial service for Bruce Davidson, cofounder of Agape’s sister community, Sirius Community. Brayton delivers the eulogy to Bruce.

2017
2017

Agape plants a tree in honor of the late Pat Tracy, friend of the community for 22 years.

2017
2018

Francis Day theme is “Confronting Systemic Racism: Voices for Racial Justice.” Speakers include Prof. John H. Bracey Jr., Professor at W.E.B. Du Bois Department of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst; Fr. Warren Savage; Tahirah Amatul-Wadud; Council on American Islamic Relations; and Elena Creef; Prof of Women’s and Gender Studies at Wellesley College.

2018
2018

Picture: Professor John H. Bracey, left, and Fr. Warren Savage, right.

2018
2018

Picture: Members of Worcester Inter-Tribal Indian Center light a sacred fire.

2018
2019

Francis Day theme is “Youth Leader, Listening to Elder Wisdom: Creating a Nonviolent Future.” Speakers include Frida Berrigan, Steve & Nancy James, Fr. Charles McCarthy, Jim Robinson, and Samantha Leuschner. Music by Matt Carriker, Harry Duchesne, and Fran Reagan.

2019
2019

Loving Life on the Margins: The Story of the Agape Community is published by Haley’s Publishing. An extensive book tour is planned but interrupted by Covid. Book signings take place at Dorothy Day CW in DC, Jonah House in Baltimore, Brownsville Quaker Meeting in North Carolina, and Elms College prior to the start of the pandemic.

2019
2019

Brayton and Suzanne give talks at Fordham University, which include book signings.

2019
2019

Picture: From left to right – Jim Robinson, Fr. Thomas Massaro SJ, Suzanne, Jack Reynolds, Prof. Jeannine Hill Fletcher, and Brayton at Fordham University.

2019
2019

Nicole Brathwaite-Hunt leads a Native Women’s Retreat at Agape.

2019
2019

Julie Bradley assumes the role of Office Manager at Agape.

2019
2020

Due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Agape holds a virtual Francis Day, themed “Becoming Anti-Racist to Build Beloved Community.” Speakers include Sr. Melinda Pellerin SSJ, Rev Jonathan Betts-Field, Julie Bradley, Edgar & Micah Hayes, Steve & Nancy James, and Jeannelle Wheeler.

2020
2021

Agape hosts a second virtual Francis Day, themed “Love and Fear in the Era of COVID.” Speakers include Sr. Melinda Pellerin SSJ, Edgar Hayes, Rhonda Miska, Vickie Machado, and April Dinwoodie.

2021
2021

Post-Covid Keynote by Suzanne and Brayton at Salve Regina University. Their talk is entitled “Moving from Fear in These Precarious Times: The Practice of Mercy and Nonviolence.”

2021
2021

Covid issues lead to Agape leading a virtual Lenten Retreat entitled “Loving Life on the Margins, Finding Our Prophetic Voice” sponsored by Jim & Shelley Douglass, cofounders of Mary’s House in Birmingham, AL. Other speakers include Frida Berrigan, Brenna Cussen Anglada of the Saint Isidore Catholic Worker Farm in Wisconsin, and more.

2021
2021

Allah Mathematics Allah, brother to Julie Bradley and lifetime friend of Agape, dies suddenly at age 47 after a spectacular career as the founding barber of the Everything Is Real Barbershop in Roxbury, MA.

Allah was a well-known community organizer in whose memory a street corner near the barbershop is named Allah Mathematics Allah.

2021
2022

Agape 40th Anniversary

2022
2022

Francis Day theme is “Dance to the Music of Community.”

2022
2022

Tom Cornell, keynote speaker at Agape’s first Francis Day held in 1989, dies after a lengthy illness. Brayton and Suzanne attend the funeral with many Catholic Workers and Peace People present.

2022
2022

Nativity School, located in Worcester, MA is stripped of its Catholic Identity by Bishop Robert McManus for flying Black Lives Matter and LGBTQ+ Flag. Before the Bishop officially declared that the Jesuit sponsored school is no longer a Catholic school, eighth grade graduates came to Agape for a day-long retreat, led by Fr. Warren Savage. Fr. Tom McMurray, the Executive Director of Nativity, who was also present at the Agape program, was told weeks later that Nativity cannot use its Catholic title or offer Mass and other religious services at the school. Agape has supported Nativity School and continues to stand by the school’s decision to fly the flags.

2022
2022

Ongoing Collaborative Efforts with a Variety of Communities and Universities

Kathleen P. Deignan CND, Director of Deignan Institute for Earth and Emerita professor for Religious Studies at Iona College fosters an alliance between Iona College, Freedom Farm, and Agape through the leadership of Jim Robinson, Agape Board and Mission Council Member.

Agape assists in the founding of Mass Catholics for Indigenous Rights (MC4IR), a group advocating for the Catholic Church to acknowledge church-sanctioned crimes at Native Residential Schools.

2022