Wishing you a happy & healthy 2020!
Thought for the Day – “Indeed, a quick glance around this broken world makes it painfully obvious that we don’t need more arguments on behalf of God; we need more people who live as if they are in covenant with Unconditional Love, which is our best definition of God.” – Robin R. Meyers, Saving Jesus from the Church: How to Stop Worshiping Christ and Start Following Jesus
Book written by a Married Priest Available
Edmund Byrne contacted CITI and sent us some copies of his book Remembering My Self: Priest, Philosopher, Human Being. In this memoir, he tells his story of how he left the priesthood and transitioned into a successful career as an academic. Along the way, he tells of the problems he encountered in the religious and then the secular world. Let me know if you would like us to send you a copy.
Midwest Regional Meeting
The Midwest Regional Group had another gathering on October 22, 2019. There was a total of 12 individuals attending including Mallory and Charlie Schmitt from the CITI Board. There was lots of eating, laughing, and sharing with each other. The group discussed ways to promote CITI Ministries and to get more members by reaching out to their various contacts, especially those they know who have left ministry. They also reflected how fortunate they are to have other local members as a back-up in the event of an emergency.
Welcome
We welcome our newest member, Tom Bujnowski from the Chicagoland area.
Greg Zimmerman, also from the Chicago area, has joined our Board of Directors. Greg has been involved with CITI since 2000. Thanks, Greg!
Did You Know…
This may be of interest to those of you who do not have a personal website. Thanks to Jeff Long’s research, you are able have a simple website for free on Wix.com. I am happy to help you set it up. Please reach out to me at mallory@citiministries.org if you would like a hand with this.
Also, through our connection with ICCC, there are a variety of leadership education opportunities
online. Thanks to a grant from Duke Divinity Leadership Education Program to ICCC, Pinnacle Leadership Association will provide monthly webinars such as congregational development, social and theological issues, Lenten season lectionary study, and two clergy coaching groups. Most of these webinars will begin in February. Some may be of interest to you. Please view the preview webinar and if you are interested, please sign up right away – info is provided in the preview webinar on how to sign up.
Here is link to the recorded preview webinar – https://vimeo.com/385081879 Password is ICCCPreview
CITI Spotlight
Remembering Pete Szafran by Louise Haggett
I received the sad news from Mallory in the summer of 2019 that our dear friend, brother and former CITI Board Member F. Peter Szafran had died suddenly in the spring of 2019, while travelling from Florida to his and Penny’s newly-built home in Michigan. (Penny died four weeks later.)
Pete and I met at a Federation of Christian Ministries (FCM) Conference in Indianapolis in the mid-1990s. We both happened to have a three-hour layover at the airport on our way home, across the gate concourse, so we spent the time getting better acquainted.
Pete was a very spiritual guy. He was a diocesan priest from Buffalo and was now living in Texas with his wife Pat, a former nun, and his two boys. His background in clerical ministry included a long stint as a Cursillo Director. He had the Gift of Tears and said he had been spending his married life searching for and following Jesus. When I recounted to him, the Divinely Inspired writings of Donna Amy Podobinski and the Society of Christ’s Priesthood, which was just becoming affiliated with CITI, it resonated with him immediately. Pete saw this as an essential part of CITI and wanted to be on our Board. Done.
Pete quickly assumed the role of CITI Spiritual Director, planning all the spiritual interludes before, during and following our meetings. Every meeting began with the song/hymn “Holy Ground” and he would call for a Prayer break whenever a major (sometimes controversial) discussion would be taking place. “Holy Ground” became CITI’s mantra. During CITI’s second “60 Minutes” segment that included Lee and Roseann Ganim interviewed by Morley Safer around 2002, Pete was the presider at our Mass that was included in the CBS-TV segment.
After Pat died of cancer in the early 2000s, Pete visited Dick and me on several occasions in Massachusetts and Maine, to play golf with Dick and cards with the two of us. We became very good friends. Space does not allow for sharing some “doo-doo” moments with Pete, nor very funny stories like impromptu poker games at our Delray board meetings using wrapped candy mints as poker chips. Pete is high up there on my list of MP favorites. I bid a very fond farewell.
The CITI Ministries Board of Directors thanks you for your support!
Read full newsletter here:
CITI Newsletter Winter 2020 pdf
