Catholicism WOW! ……………..because our Catholic faith is so amazing.
For upcoming meeting topics and details, please scroll down.
WHAT IS CATHOLICISM WOW! ?
Given that many are unaware or distracted by misinformation or lack of information about Catholicism, we need to be explorers and companions. Come join other explorers as we seek to discover how our faith continues to survive and thrive 2,000+ years and counting, despite of human frailty and mistakes. But then, Jesus promised that the gates of Hell would not prevail over his church.
What kind of things do we discuss? In the past, we have watched and discussed Bishop Robert Barron’s video series on Catholicism, the Saints, and the Mass. We’ve also read and discussed the lives of the saints, our Pope’s writings, and have explored topics in the news, as well as protecting the environment, racial justice, participants’ experiences in and of Catholicism, and myriad other topics.
You are warmly invited to join our remote Catholicism WOW meetings via Zoom.
We will start at 7 pm every Wednesday via ZOOM. We stop at 8 pm.
Want to attend? Please tell us to add you to the guest list.
Signing up to get the link does not oblige you to attend the meeting, it just tells us you might attend some of the remote meetings. You can eat dinner during the meeting. You can arrive late. You can leave early. We are all supporting each other as we explore our amazing Catholic faith.
Please join us. We look forward to seeing you!
Yvette and Ned
Questions? Contact us
Yvette (925) 640-0024 yvetteniccolls@gmail.com
Ned (925) 209-1271 niccolls@comcast.net
Please join Catholicism WOW on April 2, 2025 at 7 PM (by ZOOM).
Our topic this week is “Thea Bowman’s Journey to Sainthood”.
Sunday April 6 will be the 5th Sunday of Lent. God is asking us to journey closer to a world that embraces everyone. Sister Joan Chittister honors this amazing woman who taught us how to do that.
Note: printed copies of the Lenten Guidebook “Cry Justice, Cry Hope”, Joan Chittister, OSB, are available at the reception desk at Newman Hall. They're in a yellow envelope.
We will also discuss the Gospel passage which tells the parable of the woman caught in adultery. This story is really about society -- about scapegoats and those whom society chooses to ostracize.
Edwin Niccolls is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.
Topic: 4-2-2025 Catholicism WOW - Thea Bowman's Journey to Sainthood
Time: Apr 2, 2025 07:00 PM to 08:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83399602688?pwd=rsb6F3N3HGmBMGpyY77arRFf95z8At.1
Meeting ID: 833 9960 2688
Passcode: 929064
Homework, if you have time and inclination:
1. Please read the Gospel for Sunday April 6. John 8: 1-11 (see below) Fifth Sunday of Lent
2. Please read Joan Chittister’s booklet pp. 16 - 18 The featured hero this week is Thea Bowman.
3. Please read Bishop Robert Barron’s beautiful essay " The Woman Caught in Adultery". (See essay attached.)
Bishop Barron explains how society loves to find someone to use for a scapegoat.
4. Please watch minutes 30 – 40 of this documentary:
Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman's Journey to Sainthood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9oOa2iOwck
min 30 – 40 (if you can, watch more!)
Discussion Questions:
1. Who are scapegoats in society today? Share an anecdote where you witnessed or experienced the ostracizing of a person or group.
2. What aspect of Theo Bowman’s life most impressed you? Have you had an experience with joining a group where you were “different”?
3. Can you suggest changes that Newman Hall might make in order to draw in persons “on the outside”?
4. Sr. Joan Chittister writes “We fear risk because we want security. Morris West wrote that one has to abandon altogether the search for security, and reach out with both arms. What does Thea Bowman have to say to you this Lent about “openness to the spirit”?
‘Hope to see you on Wednesday April 2, ‘have a blessed Lenten journey,
Yvette and Ned
Questions? Contact us
Yvette (925) 640-0024 yvetteniccolls@gmail.com
Ned (925) 209-1271 niccolls@comcast.net
Newman Hall Holy Spirit Parish
2700 Dwight Way
Berkeley, CA 94704
Note: If you no longer wish to receive WOW announcements, please let us know.
Gospel Reading John 8: 1-11
Then each went to his own house,
1 while Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.* a
2 But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them.
3 Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle.
4 They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery.
5 Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.* So what do you say?”b
6 They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger.*
7* But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them,c “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.”
8 Again he bent down and wrote on the ground.
9 And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders. So he was left alone with the woman before him.
10 Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”d
11 She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, [and] from now on do not sin any more.”]e
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Preview YouTube video Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman's Journey to Sainthood
Going Home Like a Shooting Star: Thea Bowman's Journey to Sainthood