Countdown to Synod 2013

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Synod 2013, "Co-Creating the Living Church,"

is less than two months away!

No doubt many of you reading this have already registered to be part of this important and exciting event in our local church on Saturday, September 28. Thank you!

If you haven't yet registered, now is the time to do so! For one thing, registering now will help Synod organizers in their planning. Also, if you register now the fee is only $50. After September 1 it increases to $55. To register online, click here. (To have an informational brochure/registration form mailed to you, call 612-379-1043.)

The Progressive Catholic Voice is committed to "Co-creating the Living Church" and has started a "Countdown to Synod 2013" series of posts. (For the first in this series, click here.)


Getting to know our Synod 2013 keynote speaker . . .

Sister Gail Worcelo, sgm

In this second post in our Countdown to Synod 2013 series, we spotlight Sr. Gail Worcelo, sgm, a Catholic practitioner of evolutionary spirituality and the co-founder with Thomas Berry of Green Mountain Monastery in Vermont. Sister Gail will be the keynote speaker at Synod 2013, where she will share with us insights into how to be Catholic Christians at home in the universe, co-creating a living church.

Following, in Sister Gail's own words, is how she describes her commitment to "the fire of Christ’s love" and thus to connecting with others "in order to become Love In Action for the total Earth Community."

I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York.

Dance has always been my passion. I began taking ballet and tap lessons as a child and continue to this day, using dance as an art form for healing Earth.

In the 1980′s I studied Liturgical Dance with Carla DeSola and became a choreographer of this style which I have been able to integrate into the beauty of liturgy as an embodied expression of praise and adoration of the Divine.

I joined the Passionist nuns, a monastic community of women in 1982 with a Master’s degree in Christian Spirituality from Fordham University. During my novitiate in 1984, Thomas Berry, who was a priest in the same congregation, came to the monastery to give us classes on the Universe Story and our role as humans in that story.

Thomas became my mentor and guide and I began to study with him at the Riverdale Center for Religious Research in NYC. He continued to mentor me until his death in 2009.

During my years at my former monastery I founded and directed, Homecomings: Center for Ecology and Contemplation (1990-1999), served on the Leadership Team as Councilor and Novice director of the community, (1992-1999,) obtained a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology (1993), and began traveling around the world giving retreats to congregations of men and women religious based on my work with Thomas Berry (1990-present).

. . . I am passionate about giving myself fully to the fire of Christ’s love and connecting with others whose deep desire is the same in order to become Love In Action for the total Earth Community. . . . I am currently working on a book on the topic of the evolution of Christ consciousness and its new emergence within religious life.

Note: Sister Gail was interviewed in December 2010 for the Advent of Evolutionary Christianity audio-series. To listen to this conversation, click here.

Remember, Synod 2013 registration is easy!

You can register online, here.

Or call 612-379-1043 to have a brochure/registration form
mailed to you.

Looking forward to seeing you at

Synod 2013!