New York Catholic Bible Summit 2013

The Catholic Bible Event of the Year is scheduled in New York City for June 22, 2013! Keynotes in English and Spanish, with top speakers and scholars including James Martin, SJ. Cardinal Timothy Dolan will celebrate liturgy.

Meet today’s leading Scripture scholars: 

• Celebrate the Good News of Jesus Christ.
• Learn how to make Sacred Scripture central in the Year of Faith.
• Discover your role in preaching the Gospel to the whole of creation 

For complete information, click here.

A Weekly Bible Study - Galatians 1:11-19

10th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Writing to the churches of Galatia, Paul is concerned that there are ambitious “missionaries” who, although well-meaning, are mistaking the message of the Gospel and misleading others in faith. Paul does not hesitate to set the Galatians straight when he tells them “the gospel preached to me is not of human origin…but came to me as a revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Should we not also go right to the source? Until we come face to face with the Sacred Word, how can we truly know the Word Made Flesh, Christ?

Paul goes on to tell us that once he received the "revelation” he spent three years in the desert of Arabia. Very little is recorded about these years. However, it is easy to imagine that during that time Paul spent many hours pondering the Scriptures, making sense of the Old Testament from the perspective of the Christian revelation.

Paul provides an important model for growing in Christian faith. God invites each one of us to go directly to the Sacred Word to find God’s truth with open hearts and searching minds. The invitation bids us to enter our own "desert " where we can linger, ponder, listen quietly for a deepening of the Bible’s meaning and message. And, like Paul, as we encounter the Word of God at ever deepening levels we may proclaim with Paul (as we will hear next Sunday), “I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me.”  (Gal 2:20)

Christians read the Bible. It's not a luxury. It's a necessity.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

A Weekly Bible Study

Trinity Sunday
Proverbs 8:22-31; Psalm 8:4-9
Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15

Sometimes we find it hard to believe that God really has a plan in mind! Our world often seems aimless as it courses through history. We ourselves struggle to find a rudder as we tread challenging paths. But a golden thread running through today’s four readings offers us some insight into God’s glorious design.

Wisdom, personified as a woman, speaks first. Existing even before the created world, she partners with God to bring life into being. God’s plan unfolds with Wisdom as master “artisan.” All that would come to be, including humankind, would be shaped by God’s Holy Wisdom.

The psalmist joins the chorus of praise, showcasing humanity as the pinnacle of creation. But more than that, the psalm highlights our deep connection to God, as creature to creator. And in the process, Lady Wisdom continues to walk hand in hand with us in our lifelong quest.

Next, Paul’s message to the Romans echoes the theme of God’s loving design. Paul says that we have been justified (saved) by faith, and therefore our lives are not bound to the tempests of sin and death. Enfolded in grace, we are empowered to move in harmony with God’s plan toward a hope of glory, despite any present-day suffering.

And in today’s gospel, Jesus tells the disciples, “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now.” It has been said that if God revealed everything to us at once we could not endure it! But now as then God's Wisdom is revealed, little by little over time, so we may come to know God more fully and ultimately achieve God's plan for us: a share in the glory of God.

In the meantime, we rejoice to know that God, in infinite wisdom, not only has a plan for the world (Jesus called this plan the Kingdom of God), but that we are called, through our daily choices, to partner with God in the unfolding of that perfect plan.



The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.

Comfort from Fabric

Working @ Sew Inspired Quilt Shop

Sandy Hook-Quilts2Heal

As we reflect back on the tragedy of the Sandy Hook shooting in Newtown, CT, many of us have asked ourselves, "What can I do to help?" Dr. Paula De Silva CBS Class of 2013 and member of St. Ann Parish, Avon took charge.

In her own creative, unique way, Dr. De Silva organized over 200 volunteers to create quilts for each of the 26 teachers and children killed on that day, in hopes that they can bring some degree of comfort to traumatized families and the Newtown community. Seamstresses, donors, couriers, pray-ers: these are the folks who came together to create Quilts2Heal.

Fabrics from Sweden!

Fabrics collected from across the country and around the world were pieced together by volunteers, incorporating themes to represent the passions, accomplishments and dreams of each of those lost at Sandy Hook Elementary School. And did they get it right! A sister of one of the teachers exclaimed, “Everything my sister loved!” And from a classmate of one of the little boys, “You got him, 110%!”

In order to send these quilts on their way in the most spiritual and loving way possible, a Blessing Ceremony was held during Sunday liturgy on April 21 at Holy Family Passionist Retreat Center in West Hartford, with a beautiful blessing for the quilts and all the Sandy Hook –Quilts2Heal volunteers. Every person who came to the blessing ceremony was given a 6” square of fabric, each representing fabrics in the quilts.

Thank you for all your prayers: for the families and for the Sandy Hook-Quilts2Heal project. From the Archdiocese of Hartford to each and every person who made this endeavor a labor of love and comfort: our deepest gratitude. To the Sandy Hook community: We continue to pray for all of you.

Holy Family Blessing Ceremony, April 21, 2013