Graymoor at 100: "The spirit of Jesus creates unity"
I had no idea this religious order had such
an unusual history:
One hundred years before Pope Benedict XVI captured headlines by establishing a special structure for Anglicans who want to be in full communion with the Catholic Church, the Franciscan Friars and Sisters of the Atonement became the first religious group to be received into the church in its entirety.
Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Vatican ambassador to the United States, said the pope's recent overture to the Anglicans could be seen as a fruit of 100 years of prayers offered for the unity of the church by members of the Society of the Atonement.
Archbishop Sambi spoke at Mass Oct. 30 celebrating the centennial of the society's reception into the church. The Mass was concelebrated by New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan at Graymoor, the society's headquarters.
In remarks to some 400 people after the centennial Mass, Archbishop Sambi said, "Your charism is a charism of the future." From its founding in 1900, the Society of the Atonement has dedicated itself to Christian unity.
The spirit of Jesus creates unity," said Archbishop Sambi. "Where there is love and unity, there is God. Where there is unity, there is a spirit of family."
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It has been a tremendous blessing to have Graymoor in our own backyard here in Peekskill, NY (Assumption parish). The friars and sisters have always extended themselves to the "least among us" as they express their "ministry of hospitality" They founded and run St. Christopher's Inn--a drug and alcohol treatment facility on the grounds. They were at the forefront of this kind of care. They are truly living the Gospel.
I love Graymoor. When I was growing up in Westchester County, my mother regularly got mail from there and supported them financially to the best of her ability. She was especially vehement about support for the men of Christopher's Inn, the last stop for so many and a place where their "fall" was finally broken.
Many years on, in the late 80's/early 90's, when I was returning to the RC church, when my mother was ill and dying, when she died and when I was dealing with many problems, my visits to Graymoor were grace unleashed. It was an oasis from the parched landscape of my life at that moment and I will never forget that.
In 2003 I was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition and was distraught, but kept praying. I went to a mass at Graymoor with friends and had an unusual experience during communion. Somehow I felt that I had been healed - although I am not the sort of person given to this kind of thought.
Upon my return to the doctor and many tests later, she confirmed that there was no sign of what we had been dealing with.
So you can see that Graymoor is a very special place for me and I love its unusual history and all of its great work.
Graymoor...Atonement...they mean so much to me which is odd because I live on the opposite side of the USA and have never been to Graymoor. BUT Graymoor came to me, so to speak, as a teenager seeking God everywhere EXCEPT the Church of my baptism (Catholic). I was a baptized Catholic whose family never set foot in church or darkened the doorway of CCD. Yet a book came into my hands about Fr. Paul of Graymoor and in this book I read the story about the apparition of Our Lady to a group of these Anglicans and that supernatural mystery served to increase my search. Soon after a Protestant youth group was the intrument for this unchurched Catholic boy to revert to the Faith of his Baptism...which is quite a different and long story BUT...to this day a little statue of Mary as Our Lady of the Atonement (dressed as she appeared to those Anglicans) in still in my possession and STILL means so much to me...30-odd years later.
The friar who inspired me to use the legacy of St. Francis to teach conflict resolution is one of the Friars of Atonement from Graymoor.
Friar Joe Scerbo also wrote the forward to the book I authored, Taming the Wolf: Resolving the Conflicts Ruining Your Life, and continues to consult on the project as we go forth with presentations and workshops.
Was good to see them recognized in this blog.
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