DAVENPORT — St. Anthony Parish will hold its parish mission, “A Place at the Table,” Oct. 31 to Nov. 2. Participants will explore how they are part of a reconciling community of healing and hope. Schedule follows:
• Sunday, Oct. 31, 6:30 p.m.: “Finding our Common Ground: Creating Safe Space.” In real estate, location is everything. In the ministry of real presence, of reconciliation, of finding and keeping our common ground, location is also essential. We find that safe place first in prayer, in our relationship with God. From this sacred center, God’s spirit invites and motivates us to find that safe place in one another. This is our meeting place where we find our common ground.
• Monday, Nov. 1, 6:30 p.m.: “An Open Door and an Open Heart: Practicing the Art of Hospitality and Truth-telling.” As a people of healing and hope, we maintain an open door policy. One way we assess whether our parish is a safe place is to ask, “Do people feel free to speak their truth here?” Truth needs a safe place to prosper and grow. When we discover our truth that we are God’s beloved, we will speak and live and tell the truth. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life who found himself on the night before he died at supper in the company of friends.
• Tuesday, Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m.: “Standing in the Breach: A Ministry of Real Presence.”In the ministry of reconciliation we stand in the breach. We are in a “holding pattern” — we seek to hold all the contradictions that confront us daily before the presence of God. Jesus stood in the breach. He was comfortable in the trenches. Jesus spent his life bridging the gaps that kept people apart. Ultimately, his cross became the bridge between heaven and earth. Throughout our journey of faith this is our call: to be for one another and our world bridges of hope and healing.
Presenter is Father Joe Nassal, the author of eight books including “The Conspiracy of Compassion,” “Rest Stops for the Soul,” “Premeditated Mercy,” “Moments of Truth” and “Stations of the Crib.” A Missionary of the Precious Blood, he has been engaged in retreat, renewal and reconciliation ministry since 1988.
In 2002, he was part of the team to establish the Precious Blood Center for Reconciliation on the south side of Chicago. Ordained in 1982, Fr. Nassal has also served in parish and justice and peace ministry and in formation, vocation, and leadership for his congregation. He presently serves on the leadership team of the Kansas City Province and lives in Berkeley, Calif., where he is involved in setting up a House of Prayer for those on the margins.
