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Corona Virus as Teacher
by Brayton Shanley It has been six long months since Covid 19 arrived and began to shut the country down, bringing the mighty to their knees and the world’s economic and social life to a halt. With some states opening prematurely, we are experiencing a second wave, with over 39 states reporting increases in the…
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Irony and Perspective in Corona Times
by Suzanne Belote Shanley As I walk to St. Francis House, I turn to the garden, just as the sun rises above the lush rows of broccoli, kale, lettuce, and all things green. The sun sheds her shining golden light over the sleeping clusters of green, stretching in anticipation of the day. The dense…
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Are You Willing to Become an Anti-Racist? by Edgar Hayes
by Edgar Hayes While walking down the streets of NYC, I witnessed with ease how other peoples’ conscious or subconscious thoughts played out before me. I cannot recall when I became of age or when I became aware of my “place” in society. I thought I was obscure, invisible, undetected, yet time and time again,…
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We Demand Change Now. An interview with Julie Bradey
In this interview with Brayton Shanley, Julie Bradley shares her unique experience as a bi-racial daughter of a white mother and a black father, who grew up with her four siblings in various housing developments and projects in the Boston area. Julie and her family have been a part of the Agape Community for forty…
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COVID-19, Environmental Racism, and the Legacy of Dr. James Cone
by Jim Robinson Throughout the spring and summer of 2020, the radical evil of systemic racism and the death-dealing impact of COVID-19 have occupied the center of our collective consciousness. After the brutal and callous murder of George Floyd by Minnesota police on May 25, 2020, masked protesters have come out of lockdown to fill…
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Harmony with the Cycles of Nature
by Merwyn DeMello My wife, Kirstin and I, returned to the US in March, after a six-year span of service with Mennonite Central Committee in Afghanistan and Bangladesh. We then embarked upon a pilgrimage, seekers of intentional community in which to live and love with over the next years. Agape Community was the first stop…
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Racial Justice for the Indigenous People: Change the State Flag of Massachusetts
by David Detmold Sometime in the middle of 2016 , as Native activists and their allies struggled through an emotionally charged series of public hearings to get across to our beleaguered school committee the gross iniquity of our high school – named after Captain William Turner, the leader of an infamous dawn massacre of Native…
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Agape Mission Council Changes: Farewell to Skip Schiel and El Maclellan RSCJ
Agape’s Mission Council is our lifeblood and advisory community which meets since the 1990’s at least four times a year to plan Francis Day and to consult on various aspects of Agape community life. The commitments of members are usually life-long, and so we were sad to see the retirement and departure from Mission Council…
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Intrepid: Our Call – by Sr. Rita Raboin SND
by Sr. Rita Raboin SND In July, I was blessed with a seven-day retreat at Agape. I am a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur, having served 36 years in Northern Brazil with a return to the United States two years ago. I chose to stay in Agape’s small Hermitage on a hill about 400…
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400 Years after 1620: Prayers for Seven Generations
by Peter Blood In this 400th anniversary of the beginning of European settlement in the Northeastern U.S., two interfaith associations in Western Massachusetts are taking this opportunity to reflect and act towards justice for our Native sisters and brothers in our region. This concern was brought to us by Sr. Clare Carter of the New…
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