PHOTO PROJECT: A Vision of Church, A Voice of Hope
The Committee that produced the Envisioning the Church Women Want Photo Exhibit invites you to enjoy the images captured on film which represent the Church many of us envision and desire.
Please join us in envisioning and celebrating The Church Women Want!
~ The ECWW Photo Project Committee
Jen Tilghman-Havens, Latin American Mural:
This photograph was taken at The Cultural Center of the Heroes and Martyrs of Batahola, a community center in a poor barrio of Managua, Nicaragua. This mural includes images of Nicaraguan women, men, and children, and if you look closely, you'll see Oscar Romero and Augusto Sandino as well. The mural is the backdrop for the weekly community Mass, where children from the neighborhood lead the music with their instruments and voices. When we visited Batahola, three inspiring young Nicaraguan women toured us through the classrooms where art, music, cooking, sewing, computers, carpentry, and hairstyling are taught to poor women and men of the community. Colorful murals cover every wall, depicting the history of creation and culminating in the work of the Sandanistas, the heroes of the young women at the Center. A theology of liberation is very much alive at the Center, both in its murals and its people.
How might voices from Central America and the broader developing world enliven our own vision for Church in the 21st Century?
Eileen Fortunato, common cathedral:
Reverend Dr. Deborah Little first celebrated Eucharist with homeless folks on the Boston Common on Easter Sunday, 1996. common cathedral now gathers every Sunday at 1 p.m. for "church under the tree" across from St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral. The congregation includes both the housed and those living on the streets. For more information, visit www.ecclesia-ministries.org. For a totally inclusive experience of church, come and see for yourself. All are welcome in this circle!
Lea Pascotto, Home:
Nature is the purest community of Church that we are privileged to encounter everyday. My first encounter of this Church was in my backyard growing up in Fort Myers, Florida along the Caloosahatchee River. There are many celebrants at this Church: communities of dolphins, manatees, white egrets, blue herons, pelicans, palm trees, hibiscus flowers, and even the smallest no-see-ums are included in the celebrations with me. I have witnessed many triumphant acts of nature while sitting along the river and thus have learned many valuable lessons by observing God’s Creation. They teach us to respect the diversity in the world—one would not survive without the other. Dolphin’s help one another when they are stuck, colors bleed into each other to produce radiant sunsets, pelicans sit to watch the sun set into the river, ducklings swim together with their parents close by until they are ready to swim in the river by themselves. Like all of the birds and fish that call the Caloosahatchee their home, my home is also here in Creation. My spirituality is experienced through all of this; this is my home. Like the ducklings, I have learned to swim in the rivers of life and have left my home by the river’s side. But when I struggle to stay afloat in life, I come back home to my communities of Church and they lift me up—it is so much easier (and a whole lot more fun) to swim alongside of friends. All of God's Creation is celebrated in Church and we are all equal. Each color of the sunset, each species of plant and animal, each woman and man is a valued and a respected member of God's Pure Church.
What was your first encounter of Church? Where do you feel most at home? What lessons have you learned through your journey in life?
Suzi Camarata and Jen Bader, Jenni Preaching:
This photograph of a Boston College IREPM student, Jenni Mather, preaching is a demonstration of women having a voice in liturgy, which is at the center of our life as church. While many women do good and important work from the margins, this is a hopeful, eschatological sign of women's full participation and leadership in the communal act of coming together to worship God in word and sacrament, thus expressing our most fundamental identity as People of God.
What does your picture of women's full participation look like?
Chris Kowalcky, Domestic Church, Boston, MA and San Marcos, Honduras:
(Icon couresy of Niccolo di Pietro Gerini, Italian, 1375-1400, Art Institute of Chicago)
"The angel said to her, 'Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.' "... "And Mary said, 'Surely, from now on, all generations will call me blessed...' "
~ The Gospel of Luke 1:30-48
Mary's role in the life of Jesus was that of mother, nurturer, teacher and more. Her life of faithfulness and love must have taught Jesus a great deal. The Holy Family models an experience of what North American culture today calls “domestic church.”
What (did) does domestic church look like in your family? How do parishes and other communities of faith support families and foster spirituality across generations so that families may teach and support one another in the ways of faith?
Tia Pollack and Chris Kowalcky, Receiving Eucharist:
"Today on this happy day we come to sing to our sister parish that has traveled to be here with us... We want to give you thanks for the help you gave us in building our church here in the community of El Granzal... We are all united together and are full of gratitude... Let us give thanks for the efforts of our communities and to our Christ for the help that he gives to us... We are all united together and are full of gratitude... We are united in spirit and truth forever..."
(English translation of a ballad written by the community of El Granzal, San Marcos, Honduras for visitors from its sister parish, Our Lady Help of Christians, Newton, Massachusetts.)
Our Lady’s Parish had given the community of El Granzal a $4000 gift to assist them in the construction of a new (one-room, dirt floor) church building. In gratitude, the people of El Granzal created colorful placards of thanks, and wrote and sang this ballad for us at mass during our visit to their new church. It was very moving to stand in front of the entire community and have these hospitable and generous people share with us their spirit of gratitude and joy. I can't help but wonder who received the greater gift?
Kathy Tardif, Future Church Leaders:
At Regis College, a Catholic women's college in Weston, MA, women take nearly all the roles in liturgies: proclaiming the Word, leading the congregation in song, sharing reflections and distributing communion. They also preside over prayer services. The image of Mary reflected here is a photograph of a panel displayed outside the Regis College chapel.
What role(s) do you play in the Church? How would you like to expand your participation in various ministries and functions?
Sister Callista Roy, Hispanic Women Leaders:
When I think of Envisioning the Church Women Want, I am keenly aware that our church must be inclusive and involve women and men of all colors and cultures at all levels of leadership and participation. I had a profound experience of the living potential of Hispanic women leaders as I joined the faculty and students of the first PhD program in nursing at their school in Monterrey, Mexico in January this year. It was winter and it was cold and there was no heat in the building. Margarita wore her hat for this picture, but hats, gloves and scarves were worn throughout the classes I taught. However, nothing dampened the warmth, enthusiasm and commitment of the scholars from different states of Mexico and from Chile as they discovered the social mandates of improving health care for all. Eager to learn, eager to serve, they represent the best potential of the Church in the Twenty-First Century.