| | Hi friends - A reminder that this Thursday is the first of two Living Communion info sessions. Is there a parish or other Christian community that you're part of that you think would be interested? Join us to learn more, and share with others too!
Read on also for a description of our Liturgy & Communion Economy class, being offered again this Easter season. | | |
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Living Communion Virtual Info Sessions The Whys and Hows of Interest-Free Lending within Church/School Communities In Partnership with Notre Dame Federal Credit Union |
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Everyone is welcome! And, invite your pastor and parish council! Meeting will include the Living Communion organizers, an NDFCU representative, and folks who have borrowed. |
| | | | | | | | | The Living Communion Initiative is a community of communities living as the Body of Christ through practical Scriptural frameworks for treating each other like (God’s) family. We start by participating in the ultimate expression of God’s familial love in Christ – redemption – through the Biblical obligation to prevent and redeem each other’s precarious (interest-bearing) debt.
To date, we are 4 communities including two new parishes, in South Bend, IN and Steubenville, OH, who have made about 30 interest-free loans over four years. | | | | | |
| | | THIS SPRING/SUMMER… the Living Communion Initiative will introduce a new cohort of parishes, schools, and other Christian communities to the practice of redemptive lending.
Setting the Context (optional): We start with a free, 5-week, online class - Liturgy and Communion Economy - This will help to open our eyes to see the Body of Christ as a living, mystical and social organism by opening Scripture to see how its economic dimension has been lived and developed over Judeo Christian history. The emphasis will be on uncovering possibilities for an economy of communion in our own parishes and neighborhoods.
Roadmap and Training: After the class, we’ll train communities ready to move forward in the specifics of the redemptive lending model. The training will prepare them to partner with Notre Dame Federal Credit Union to offer 0 interest loans–initiated and administered by NDFCU but processed and guaranteed within the community–to prevent and redeem interest-bearing debt.
– The class and training are free, and the model involves no costs to parishes or individuals –
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Liturgy & Communion Economy Course A free, 5-week course with the Simone Weil Catholic Worker |
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We at the Simone Weil Catholic Worker (Portland, OR) originally developed this class with the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame as we were developing the vision of parish life and model for redemptive lending that is now the Living Communion initiative.
Facilitators: The course will be facilitated by Bert and Emma Fitzgerald. Bert earned his MTS at Notre Dame and founded Simone Weil Catholic Worker, and Emma studied Religion at Princeton, and now organizes the Living Communion initiative with Bert.
Course Description: This course is about restoring dimension. It is opening our eyes to see liturgy forming the Body of Christ, opening our minds to see the Body of Christ as a living, social organism, and opening Scripture to see how its economic dimension has been lived and developed over Judeo Christian history. Finally, this course will be a forum for discussion, seeded with a variety of case studies, uncovering possibilities for a social economy of communion in our own parishes and neighborhoods.
Logistics: free, online 5-week course running from 4/16-5/14 Estimated weekly commitment: 1 hour live session on Thursday evenings (5-6:15pm Pacific) + 1/2 to 2 hours reading, depending on desired level of engagement Discussion forum for reflection responses & open dialogue
Content & Structure: Each unit contains a mini-lecture, excerpted readings on theology and economy, Scripture passages for meditation, and related “communion economy” examples.
Unit 1: God’s Household Economy - We’ll explore the birth of a separate, self-contained economic world, distinct from social and religious life, and juxtapose that with a liturgical vision of the cosmos, where ‘economic’ life is oriented toward participation in God’s rest and freedom.
Unit 5: The Body of Christ - We’ll close the course by reflecting on the competing demands impressed on us by our membership in the Body of Christ and the other economic, political, and social “corporate” bodies we participate in in light of the Gospel.
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