Cleveland Commonweal Local Community Network

Gathering Topic:  WHAT IS RELIGION? The Paradox of Pluralism by Jack Miles | November 2019 NATIONALISM WITHOUT IDOLATRY How Christians can purify their civic commitments by Slavica Jakelic | November 2019 CHRIST'S RABBLE The first Christians were not like us by David Bentley Hart | September 26, 2016  which is also found in the 2017-2018 Conversational Starter Series Consumerism and Christianity which is being made available at the Saint Noel Kiosk Place and Time:   Resurrection Room, Saint Noel Parish 6:30 pm to 7:00 pm  Opening comments about the November 2019 Issue and suggestions for a topic for the next meeting. 7:00 pm to 8:15 pm  Discussion  Miles offers two definitions of religion. A modern one where religion is one activity among many other activities such as health, politics, business, family, etc.. An ancient one in which still exists where religion, ethnicity, and culture are integrated and there is...

Gathering Topic: THE GREEN POPE: WHY CALL IT PROGRESS by  Austen Ivereigh from the October Commonweal & THE ENVIRONMENT  from the 2017-2018 Conversational Starter Series available at our display in the Saint Noel Gathering Area which includes the following past Commonweal articles: the most import of which is  EMBRACING OUR LIMITS by Rowan Williams (September 23, 2015 ) former Archbishop of Canterbury and prominent theologian. as well as NO TIME TO WASTE  by Anthony Annett (September 26, 2016) HISPANICS LEAD US CATHOLICS ON CLIMATE CHANGE by Katie Rose Quandt   (March 11, 2015) THE GREEN POPE AND THE ENVIRONMENT provides a four page overview of the four articles listed above and is also included in the Saint Noel Conversation Starter packet Place and Time: The Resurrection Room, Saint Noel Parish 6:00 -7:00 pm Gathering time, introductions, and preliminary thoughts 7:00-8:30pm Discussion of the...

The Green Pope WHY CALL IT PROGRESS? Francis’s radical critique of the way we live now Austen Ivereigh Discussion Outline     Is the teaching of Francis best described as being in continuity with John Paul II and Benedict (i.e. saying the same thing) or as a development of their teaching (building upon their foundation to reach new conclusions)/      Is Francis being critical of the political right for advocating total economic freedom, unrestrained consumption, the right to carry guns, and the death penalty, and of the left for advocating birth control, abortion, same sex marriage, and gender modification? Are both the left and the right destroying our ecology in the name of progress?      What is an integral ecology? Some definitions of integral: “necessary to make a whole complete; fundamental; essential to completeness; composed of constituent parts; lacking nothing essential: entire”   ...

Gathering Topic: CAN THE CHINAMPAS SURVIVE? The Floating Gardens of Mexico City Place and Time: the Small Meet  Room at St Dominic, 7:00pm - 8:30pm. GATHERING FORMAT Opening Conversation : Synod of the Amazon Come prepared to share for about a half an hour what you know about the Synod of the Amazon which has been taking place in Rome during October.  The following post gives some links to information about the Synod.  ECOLOGICAL DISASTERS: ORGANIZING THE CHURCH Primary Conversation on the Featured Article: In many ways the ecological disaster of the chinampas in Mexico City is very similar to the larger and more divese problem of the Amazon. The Archdiocese of Mexico City was until about a month ago the large diocese in Catholic population in the world. It has been subdivided creating suburban dioceses in order for the auxialary bishops to be "closer to the people."  I suspect that means being better able to advocate for the...

Gathering Topic: DIVORCE, ANNULMENT & COMMUNION An Orthodox Theologian Weighs In David Bentley Hart   Place and Time: the Small Meet  Room at St Dominic, 7:00pm - 8:30pm. NEW GATHERING FORMAT Opening Conversation :    Come prepared to share briefly your reactions to one item in the September Issue or October Issue outside the featured article (e.g. comments, columns, short takes, art, screen, books, poetry, pictures, etc.). This format encourages everyone to participate and helps us to get to know each other better for about a half  hour..    There are a lot of interesting things in articles that we would not likely choose as our featured article.  Most of us do not read most issues from cover to cover. This may help bring to our attention items that we have missed. It can be used to find articles in the issues for possible attention in future meetings. Primary Conversation on the Featured A...

SYNOD OF THE AMAZON / FLOATING ISLANDS OF MEXICO CITY MONDAY OCTOBER 28, 2019 @ 7PM in RESURRECTION ROOM, ST NOEL The best description of the ‘organizing’ behind the synod of the Amazon is an article Pan-Amazon Ecclesial Network at center of synod preparations. https://www.ncronline.org/news/environment/pan-amazon-ecclesial-network-center-synod-preparations The origins of the synod of the Amazon lie in the Fifth General Conference of the Bishops of Latin America and the Caribbean (CELAM) in Aparecida, Brazel (2007). Cardinal Bergoglio was the lead writer of its document which spoke of deep concern for traditional communities, and the wealth of biodiversity in places like the Amazon.   Brazilian Cardinal Hummes sat next to Bergoglio in the conclave. As the decisive vote came in he said to Bergoglio “remember the poor” inspiring him to take the name Francis. Cardinal Hummes is the chief person guiding the documents   of Synod on the Amazon. Within a month of the ele...

Divorce, Annulment & Communion David Bentley Hart An Orthodox theologian on the controversy sill rocking the Roman Catholic Church   The one thing that tradition cannot tolerate is ambiguity, But alas, history is nothing but ambiguity, and the actual historical record is rarely the traditionalist friend. The Church Fathers tended to treat marriage as little more than a civil institution, a natural fact rather than a sacred vocation. They treated it as a moral discipline rather than a theological topic. They took a pragmatic approach to fre­quent dissolution of marriages and remarriage. They regarded both as sinful in some sense but not the equivalent of apostasy Basil the Great (330-379) apparently first estab­lished a penitential discipline for remarried la­ity: a second marriage after divorce or bereave­ment required one to two years of abstinence from the Eucharist; a third marriage from three to five years. Council in Trullo (692)...