Advent Presentations with Lunch and Taize Prayer

Save money and register for the series of four Advent Lunches on Dec. 1, 8, 15, and 22.

Picking up from our popular Lenten Lunch series, we are offering our Advent Lunch series to immerse ourselves in the season!

For four weeks on Tuesdays in December, we will focus on a theme for Advent, in keeping with the Sunday Scriptures.

We will gather in the Chapel to pray with Taize Chants, then we will enjoy a simple lunch of soup and sandwiches while allowing our guest speaker for the week to unpack the Advent theme.

• December 1 | Hope, with Christina Leaño
• December 8 | Peace, with Arthur McDonald
• December 15 | Joy, with Liam Myers
• December 22 | Love, with Sr. Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP (on Zoom)

Program Schedule

10:30-11: Check-In
11-11:15 - Taize Prayer (chapel)
11:15-12 - Presentation by Guest Speaker (chapel)
12-12:30- Lunch (Evergreen)
12:30-1 - Guided Reflection (Evergreen)

Presenter Profiles:

Christina Leaño serves as Associate Director of the Laudato Si' Movement, a global movement mobilizing the Catholic family worldwide for climate and ecological justice where she provides spiritual and strategic leadership. She brings over 25 years of leadership on social and environmental justice issues in various non-profit and academic institutions.Christina is also a trained spiritual director and retreat leader drawing upon 25 years of contemplative study and practice. She leads programs on contemplative practice, nature based spirituality, compassion, and more. Christina holds a B.A from Yale University and M.A. in Systematic Theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, CA. She lives in the New York City area with her daughter Malaya. www.christinaleano.net

Arthur J. McDonald wrote his doctoral dissertation on liberation theology in Peru at the University of Pittsburgh. Ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1978 by the Dominican Order of Preachers, he served as a priest in the South Bronx until 1982. After leaving the Catholic ministry and marrying, he has served two Unitarian Universalist congregations, one in Pittsburgh, the other in Essex, Massachusetts, for twenty-six years until his retirement in 2017. He has also taught theology and religion at several colleges and universities. He now serves as minister emeritus at the Universalist (UU) Church of Essex.

Liam Myers is a freelance writer, adjunct professor of religious studies at Iona University, and the Program Coordinator at the Center at Mariandale. As a writer, he has bylines in National Catholic Reporter and The Catholic Worker, where he previously served as associate editor. He writes at the intersection of faith and justice and is particularly concerned about the rapid advance of technology and its impacts on the environment.

Jo-Ann Iannotti, OP, a poet, photographer, and educator, is a Dominican Sister of Hope. She holds an MA in Theology from Fordham University. She is the author of Remember, Return, and Rejoice: Journeying from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, and the co-editor of Teilhard de Chardin: Pilgrim, Prophet, and Mystic by Sally Campbell Woodhall. She often lectures on art and spirituality in the Christian tradition.

Please make sure you add This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to your email contact list, so that you receive the confirmation and reminder emails. You will receive the Zoom link to the session one week ahead of time. Thank you!