As part of the Year of St. Phoebe we invite everyone to join together as the Discerning Deacons community on the 3rd of every month at 7 pm* ET.
We will gather to pray for a synodal Church, receive the gifts of women for preaching, and challenge one another to go out to love and serve our neighbor.
In November, the DD Boston team led us as we prayed for women who have experienced violence, follow this link to read Boston College grad student Arumi Ortiz’ written reflection.
The Women and Ministeriality Thematic Core Group of the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon-CEAMA led a beautiful service on December 3rd, where Brazilian missionary Sr. Ivoneide Viana de Queiroz prepared us for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12 by reflecting on the solidarity, missionary outreach and prophecy of women, follow this link to read her reflection.
At the January 3rd, 2023 service, Rhonda Miska preached about the Epiphany, and other ministerial leaders from the region of St. Paul/Minneapolis, Minnesota reflected on the meaning and intersectionality of three stories: the story of the three magi who journey to encounter the Christ Child; the story of St. Phoebe, who journeyed from her home in Cenchrea to encounter the early Christian communities in Rome; and the story of our synodal journey in our present day Church in which wise and holy women come bearing gifts to a church in need of renewal. You may access Rhonda’s preaching along with video clips of the service here.
The South Bend DD circle has been meeting monthly to pray, to break open the Word, and to strengthen the fellowship among diaconal women across the diocese. They will lead our February Prayer Service on Friday, February 3rd @ 7pm ET.
Felicia Johnson O’Brien will be proclaiming the Word, and Karen Schneider-Kirner (Assistant Director Emeritus of Notre Dame’s University Folks Choir) will debut a new hymn she composed entitled “God of the Women.” Offered for the Sisters of the Holy Cross, it is also a gift to the Discerning Deacons community, as St. Phoebe is prominently invoked in the refrain!
Felicia Johnson O’Brien works at the University of Notre Dame facilitating justice education programs. She graduated from Notre Dame in 1995, spent a few years volunteering in rural Honduras, and then received her MSW from Catholic University.
Karen Schneider-Kirner currently serves as a musician liturgist working for the Sisters of the Holy Cross at Church of Our Lady of Loretto in Notre Dame, IN. She composed original music to a hymn text by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette celebrating the gifts of women to the Church, and to assist the Discerning Deacons movement, entitled “God of the Women.” She is the Assistant Director Emerita of Notre Dame Folks Choir, and has a MM/M.A.R. from Yale University Institute of Sacred Music, Worship and the Arts.
*Start times may vary depending on the team leading the service.
Note: we are not planning to record these services to make public, though we may share the prepared reflections.