Lenten Virtual Book Club
In this time of accelerating division, fear, and polarization, join the Imago Dei Team in cultivating and celebrating belonging in a Lenten, (Mostly) Virtual Book Club.
What might change if we view every person as unshakably good? That’s the question- and mandate - that Jesuit Gregory Boyle offers in Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times. We’ve selected this book because many of us want to see better, communicate better, love others better, and feel better, and know that our faith can help us with that.
Every week in Lent we’ll post a handful of reflection questions based on a couple of chapters of the text, as well as short readings or videos for further meditation.
- Week One Questions will post here
- Week Two Questions will post here
- Week Three Questions will post here
- Week Four Questions will post here
- Week Five Questions will post here
At the end of the five weeks, we’ll offer an optional gathering for participants to come together in community to share challenges, learnings, next steps, and areas of growth.
The text is honest and faith filled. The format is low stress. The work it calls us to is challenging. The benefits are life altering. Interested? Grab a copy, get reading, and let’s talk about it more in March.
Janice Andersen's Bulletin Columns:
Upcoming Events
Inspired by The Archangel Gabriel (A project of the Basilica Imago Dei team)
In this time of historic division, are you yearning to turn towards others- even or especially across boundaries- and deepen community? If so, consider joining Basilica members as we journey together in our Gabriel year- a series of book studies, lectures, classes, and community building events that rely on our shared Catholicity as a bedrock through which we can dependably grow our capacity to embrace difference with love and civility.
“Be not afraid; Rejoice!” said the Archangel Gabriel, as he shared messages that challenged and affirmed those called to serve God. Known as the patron saint of communication, and a figure who appears in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, Gabriel is our model for courageous, boundary-erasing conversations generated from a spirit of love and shared sense of mission.
Join the Basilica Imago Dei team as we proclaim 2025-2026 a boundary-less and bountiful season. Our plan of books, classes, and workshops will offer all who participate opportunities to learn more about Catholicism’s views of the human person, ways to encounter others with open hearts; pathways towards restored relationships; and peaceful and nonviolent communication, all while celebrating our shared Catholic values.
Please see more details about our scaffolded plan on the reverse side, as well as details on how to participate. “No word from God will fail,” assures Gabriel, and it is in faith and trust that we begin the journey.
Grow in Understanding, Grow in Faith, Grow in Community, Grow Across Boundaries
We will offer an array of opportunities for people to engage in discussion, learning, praying, and serving over the next 10 months. We hope to engage with partners in The Basilica and beyond.
Arc of Opportunities
Book Study: Look for ways to connect with fellow parishioners to read and discuss these books.
- Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times By Fr. Greg Boyle
- Being Restorative By Leaf Seligman (possible 4 sessions)
- The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World By Fr. Robert Aaron Wessman, vicar general and director of formation of Glenmary Home Missioners.
Video/Films:
- A Place at the Table: African Americans on the Path to Sainthood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A8c-OPBwmo
- YouTube Recording: Conversations that Connect with Yvette Erasmus, March 2, 2024 https://youtu.be/tIAEdGlTR8Q
The Basilica’s Commitment to Justice – Dignity, Solidarity, and Belonging
As Christians, our faith is rooted in Jesus Christ – who became incarnate so God might extend salvation to all. Our faith is radically inclusive – the Gospel narratives include Jesus’s outreach to all of humanity and manifest a special concern for those on the margins – the least, the last, and the lost. This ethic of special concern and care for those who are dispossessed and struggling can be clearly seen in the Hebrew Scriptures and flows over into the ministry of Jesus.
As Catholics – and as disciples of Jesus, we are called to follow his model of compassion and care for those in need. Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, teaches that the ministry of charity and justice is an integral to the life of the Catholic Church as proclaiming the Gospel and celebrating the sacraments. Our commitment to justice and charity is not an add-on or dispensable, but rather constitutive of the Gospel. The Basilica of Saint Mary has long lived a culture of compassionate outreach to those in need and an open welcome to all who enter our doors, wherever they are on their journey of faith.
In a world that is often beset by injustice and exclusion, The Basilica stands as a countersign and a refuge. Our commitment to justice is rooted in the Gospel and in the principles of Catholic social teaching (CST). CST is a treasure of the Catholic faith but is often little known or understood within the Church. CST helps Catholics build a more just and humane society. That work must begin first within Catholic communities – communities committed to justice, compassionate care, and inclusion.
At the Basilica, the principles of dignity, solidarity, and belonging will guide our commitment to justice outreach, and our programming in the coming months and years ahead. These principles are Gospel-centered and rooted in Catholic social teaching. Dignity communicates that all people are made in the image and likeness of God and thus have an inherent and inviolable worth, which all are called to respect and cherish. Solidarity communicates that all human beings belong to one humanity, created by God, and thus Christians are called to live in compassionate solidarity with all – beyond border, creed, and race. Belonging communicates that all have a place at the table of the Lord, all are loved by God, all are given gifts for service, and all are welcomed as Christ. These principles are central to our commitment to work for justice in the Church, in our community, in our nation, and in our world.
Join us at The Basilica as we seek to live justice, walk with humility, and compassionately serve our sisters and brother in need. May you always know that you are deeply loved by God!
Resources
The document Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love - A Pastoral Letter Against Racism was developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Less than a year before she died of bone cancer, Sr. Thea was invited to address the Catholic Bishops of the United States. Different as she was from this group–a Southern African-American woman, a nun raised among Protestants, a dying woman vibrantly alive–Sr. Thea was fully herself and very much at home speaking the truth of the Gospel to the Successors of the Apostles.
Sister Thea Bowman’s address to the US Bishops in 1989
A converstion with Fr. Daniel Griffith and Monique Trusclair Maddox, CEO of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation and an Advisory Board Member of the Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing (IRJH) at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.
Monique Trusclair Maddox conversation (video)
Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing (IRJH) at the University of St. Thomas School of Law seeks to name and help heal harm from institutional and Leadership failures.
Fr. Aaron Wessman, G.H.M. author of The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World
Questions? Please Contact:
Janice Andersen
Director of Christian Life
Janice Andersen has been on staff at The Basilica of Saint Mary since 1994, working with programs…
MoreDignity, Solidarity, and Belonging
Dignity, Solidarity, and Belonging All are beloved children of God
Lenten Virtual Book Club
In this time of accelerating division, fear, and polarization, join the Imago Dei Team in cultivating and celebrating belonging in a Lenten, (Mostly) Virtual Book Club.
What might change if we view every person as unshakably good? That’s the question- and mandate – that Jesuit Gregory Boyle offers in Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times. We’ve selected this book because many of us want to see better, communicate better, love others better, and feel better, and know that our faith can help us with that.
Every week in Lent we’ll post a handful of reflection questions based on a couple of chapters of the text, as well as short readings or videos for further meditation.
- Week One Questions will post here
- Week Two Questions will post here
- Week Three Questions will post here
- Week Four Questions will post here
- Week Five Questions will post here
At the end of the five weeks, we’ll offer an optional gathering for participants to come together in community to share challenges, learnings, next steps, and areas of growth.
The text is honest and faith filled. The format is low stress. The work it calls us to is challenging. The benefits are life altering. Interested? Grab a copy, get reading, and let’s talk about it more in March.
Janice Andersen’s Bulletin Columns:
Upcoming Events
Imago Dei Commitment to Justice Learn More Imago DeiInspired by The Archangel Gabriel (A project of the Basilica Imago Dei team)
In this time of historic division, are you yearning to turn towards others- even or especially across boundaries- and deepen community? If so, consider joining Basilica members as we journey together in our Gabriel year- a series of book studies, lectures, classes, and community building events that rely on our shared Catholicity as a bedrock through which we can dependably grow our capacity to embrace difference with love and civility.
“Be not afraid; Rejoice!” said the Archangel Gabriel, as he shared messages that challenged and affirmed those called to serve God. Known as the patron saint of communication, and a figure who appears in Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, Gabriel is our model for courageous, boundary-erasing conversations generated from a spirit of love and shared sense of mission.
Join the Basilica Imago Dei team as we proclaim 2025-2026 a boundary-less and bountiful season. Our plan of books, classes, and workshops will offer all who participate opportunities to learn more about Catholicism’s views of the human person, ways to encounter others with open hearts; pathways towards restored relationships; and peaceful and nonviolent communication, all while celebrating our shared Catholic values.
Please see more details about our scaffolded plan on the reverse side, as well as details on how to participate. “No word from God will fail,” assures Gabriel, and it is in faith and trust that we begin the journey.
Grow in Understanding, Grow in Faith, Grow in Community, Grow Across Boundaries
We will offer an array of opportunities for people to engage in discussion, learning, praying, and serving over the next 10 months. We hope to engage with partners in The Basilica and beyond.
Arc of Opportunities
Book Study: Look for ways to connect with fellow parishioners to read and discuss these books.
- Cherished Belonging: The Healing Power of Love in Divided Times By Fr. Greg Boyle
- Being Restorative By Leaf Seligman (possible 4 sessions)
- The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World By Fr. Robert Aaron Wessman, vicar general and director of formation of Glenmary Home Missioners.
Video/Films:
- A Place at the Table: African Americans on the Path to Sainthood https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5A8c-OPBwmo
- YouTube Recording: Conversations that Connect with Yvette Erasmus, March 2, 2024 https://youtu.be/tIAEdGlTR8Q
The Basilica’s Commitment to Justice – Dignity, Solidarity, and Belonging
As Christians, our faith is rooted in Jesus Christ – who became incarnate so God might extend salvation to all. Our faith is radically inclusive – the Gospel narratives include Jesus’s outreach to all of humanity and manifest a special concern for those on the margins – the least, the last, and the lost. This ethic of special concern and care for those who are dispossessed and struggling can be clearly seen in the Hebrew Scriptures and flows over into the ministry of Jesus.
As Catholics – and as disciples of Jesus, we are called to follow his model of compassion and care for those in need. Pope Benedict XVI, in his encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, teaches that the ministry of charity and justice is an integral to the life of the Catholic Church as proclaiming the Gospel and celebrating the sacraments. Our commitment to justice and charity is not an add-on or dispensable, but rather constitutive of the Gospel. The Basilica of Saint Mary has long lived a culture of compassionate outreach to those in need and an open welcome to all who enter our doors, wherever they are on their journey of faith.
In a world that is often beset by injustice and exclusion, The Basilica stands as a countersign and a refuge. Our commitment to justice is rooted in the Gospel and in the principles of Catholic social teaching (CST). CST is a treasure of the Catholic faith but is often little known or understood within the Church. CST helps Catholics build a more just and humane society. That work must begin first within Catholic communities – communities committed to justice, compassionate care, and inclusion.
At the Basilica, the principles of dignity, solidarity, and belonging will guide our commitment to justice outreach, and our programming in the coming months and years ahead. These principles are Gospel-centered and rooted in Catholic social teaching. Dignity communicates that all people are made in the image and likeness of God and thus have an inherent and inviolable worth, which all are called to respect and cherish. Solidarity communicates that all human beings belong to one humanity, created by God, and thus Christians are called to live in compassionate solidarity with all – beyond border, creed, and race. Belonging communicates that all have a place at the table of the Lord, all are loved by God, all are given gifts for service, and all are welcomed as Christ. These principles are central to our commitment to work for justice in the Church, in our community, in our nation, and in our world.
Join us at The Basilica as we seek to live justice, walk with humility, and compassionately serve our sisters and brother in need. May you always know that you are deeply loved by God!
Learn MoreResources
The document Open Wide Our Hearts: The Enduring Call to Love – A Pastoral Letter Against Racism was developed by the Committee on Cultural Diversity in the Church of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB).
Less than a year before she died of bone cancer, Sr. Thea was invited to address the Catholic Bishops of the United States. Different as she was from this group-a Southern African-American woman, a nun raised among Protestants, a dying woman vibrantly alive-Sr. Thea was fully herself and very much at home speaking the truth of the Gospel to the Successors of the Apostles.
Sister Thea Bowman’s address to the US Bishops in 1989
A converstion with Fr. Daniel Griffith and Monique Trusclair Maddox, CEO of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation and an Advisory Board Member of the Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing (IRJH) at the University of St. Thomas School of Law.
Monique Trusclair Maddox conversation (video)
Initiative on Restorative Justice and Healing (IRJH) at the University of St. Thomas School of Law seeks to name and help heal harm from institutional and Leadership failures.
Fr. Aaron Wessman, G.H.M. author of The Church’s Mission in a Polarized World