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June 19, 2026: Juneteenth:  “We have simply got to make people aware that none of us are free until we’re all free, and we aren’t free yet.” -  Opal Lee, "Mother of Juneteenth" On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger and his troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to announce the emancipation of all enslaved people. The event took place more than two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation and two months after the April surrender of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee to Union forces.  This is what became known as Juneteenth. A holiday, long celebrated in many African American communities, that takes place every year to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Texas and the other Confederate States of America. On June 17, 2021, the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act was signed into law. Juneteenth, also known as Jubilee Day, Emancipation Day, and Black Independence Day, became designated a federal holiday in the United States to comme...
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Wednesday, June 17, 2026:  In 2021 I went on leave from the Society of Jesus, after 31 years in the order. And for the first time in my life, I started to go to gay bars.   In 2021 I went on leave from the Society of Jesus, after 31 years in the order. And for the first time in my life, I started to go to gay bars.  It was kind of terrifying. I’d spent so much of my life avoiding not only gay bars but the parts of town they were found in, as though simply being in the vicinity of a gay bar might get me in trouble with my order or church authorities.  In part, my decision to go on leave had emerged from the realization that any time I met openly gay men, I instinctively avoided them, because I was afraid they would see me for who I am.  So simply walking into a place which would identify me as gay was a big, scary step. Once inside I found myself over my head in so many other ways. What was I to say that I did for a living? I could say truthfully that I had been ...
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Tuesday, June 16, 2026: Peacemaking, forgiveness, and reconciliation are not some kind of ticket to heaven later. They are the price of peoplehood—the signature of heaven— now . For Jesus, teachings such as forgiveness, healing, and justice work are the real evidence of a new and shared life.  If we do not see this happening in churches and spiritual communities, religion is “all in the head” and largely an illusion.  Peacemaking, forgiveness, and reconciliation are not some kind of ticket to heaven later. They are the price of peoplehood—the signature of heaven—now. Jesus’s first vision of church is so simple we could miss it: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them” (Matthew 18:20).  This is surely why Jesus insists that the message be communicated not by a lone evangelist but by sending the disciples out “two by two” (Mark 6:7). An individual by herself has a much more challenging time communicating the core message of love and service....
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Monday, June 15, 2026 Great News for Victoria and her daughter and a call for prayers for Dan Lambert and Dan Vrooman: ( Emily MacDonald and her daughter Pykea) Great News: Emily MacDonald is now an Assistant Professor - Scenic Design, Costume Design at Longe Beach State University: The scoop: On May 26th, Victoria’s daughter Emily received her letter of Tenure as Associate Professor at California State University Long Beach! Victoria writes “I am so grateful! And I am so happy and proud thank you all for your  prayerful support for my daughter, Emily” As we all know, receiving tenure only occurs after years of hard work and in Emily’s field of design, a tremendous amount of creativity, long days and very little money. Congratulations Emily! A bit about Emily: Emily Anne MacDonald designs for Opera, Theater, Concert, and Dance throughout the United States and Europe.  She has designed for notable companies such as the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, LA Phil, San Francisco S...
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Tuesday, June 9, 2026: Upcoming Events this Sunday the 14th of June: 2 Events: #1 No Kings 11 am - 1PM on Farmers Lane in Santa Rosa .  #2: A Live and Streamed Concert to Celebrate the1st Amendment in Sebastopol at the Sebastopol Community Center: 3:30 - 6:30 PM Event #1: In Santa Rosa - 11a to 1p along Farmers Lane.  Here’s a color-coded map of where we will be. We’ve marked areas of available parking. Here’s a map of the bus routes that serve Sonoma Ave., Montgomery, and Farmers Lane. Bus routes serving Sonoma, Farmers Lane, and Montgomery We’ve had a lot of questions — and we have answers. If you are still looking for more information, read this FAQ . This truly is a somber moment in our country. The current president is attempting to corrupt the military, just as he’s attempting to corrupt every other part of our government. If you want to stand with the veterans, join them (and all the rest of us). West side of Farmers Lane, north of Hoen. This truly is a somber moment ...
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Monday, June 9, 2026: 'We cannot get beyond our racial, tragic past without a confrontation with our history. We can't get over something that we've never acknowledged.' -  Fr. Bryan Massingale Descendants of slaves once owned and sold by the Jesuits are among those welcoming Pope Leo XIV's formal apology for the Catholic Church's historical involvement in slavery. The move has been largely praised by Black Catholic leaders, scholars and descendant communities as it renews debate over how fully the church has reckoned with its past. The apology appears in Magnifica Humanitas, Leo's first encyclical. While the document primarily focuses on artificial intelligence and human dignity in the modern world, one paragraph drew immediate attention for addressing slavery and the church's complicity in it. In paragraph 176, Leo acknowledged that ecclesiastical institutions owned slaves in antiquity and the Middle Ages and that the Apostolic See had "interven...
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