Sr. Nativa, CSJ was my 2nd Grade Teacher Rev. Jim Ryan In 1955 Sr. Nativa was the only African-American Sister in the Congregation of St. Joseph (CSJ), Rocky River, Ohio. My family moved on January 1, 1955 into St. Ignatius of Antioch Parish, Cleveland where Sr. Nativa taught. There were two reasons why we moved. …
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Belle’s Story by Belle Snyder, Member of Mary of Magdala Community Belle Snyder, Mary of Magdala Community Member, recently quoted Ram Dass in a letter to me: “We walk each other home sharing our stories.” ( Ram Dass and the Seva Foundation are one google search away.) Belle has been thinking about this story for…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div.,Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles Community In the wake of cancelling our 10th Anniversary celebrations I have retained lingering as well as exploratory thoughts about community and our gathering in faith. A favorite scripture quote for me that guides my view of who we are and why we…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Rev. William G. Poole – or as everybody knew and called him, Bill – was a man of persistence toward and fixed visage on life’s qualities which he viewed as correct to hold. Though his first career goal was to be a journalist he accepted the vocation of priest…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div.,Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles Community John O’Donohue in Divine Beauty (2003) on True Community: “As in the rainforest where a dazzling diversity of life-forms complement and sustain each other, there is secret oxygen with which we unknowingly sustain one another. True community is not produced; it is…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Sister Marie Gangwish was a most enlightening mentor to me in the time I ministered in eastern Kentucky. Marie was a Sister of the Congregation of Divine Providence (CDP), Melbourne, Kentucky. While her community styled themselves among the pioneers of Catholic presence in the mountain counties of eastern Kentucky…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div.,Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles Community Today I plan to slide right on by the question of historical fact and “Did this really happen?” as we celebrate this Feast of Epiphany. We will not dwell on the stargazing puzzle of whether the Star in the East was possibly…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div.,Ph.D. Christmas is, at the level of human experience, fundamentally personal. I’m not talking theology, history, sociology, psychology or even philosophy. I’m talking practicality about Christmas Spirit and doing for others, acting for peace, and carrying out the work of justice. However, I would like to make the point that at its…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, M.Div., Ph.D. jimryan6885@gmail.com I ran across Fons Trompenaars the other day. Fons, a native of Holland, is an organizational theorist, management consultant and creator of the Model of National Cultural Differences. He specializes in guiding corporations on getting things done from the standpoint of acknowledging and addressing multicultural differences. In this covid…
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Rev. Jim Ryan, PhD — jimryan6885@gmail.com Co-pastor of Mary of Magdala, Apostle to the Apostles Community 2nd Sunday of Advent — December 6, 2020 You may be aware that the Prophet Isaiah was, along with being a prophet, a priest. His call was dual – the prophet speaking for God and the priest becoming one…
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