I knew little about this remarkable woman until I started researching the Brewsters and their role in the Mayflower story for Mayflower Chronicles: The Tale of Two Cultures. She has been largely ignored by those who have researched in great detail the life of her more famous husband, Elder William Brewster. Toward the end of the second decade of the 17th century, he and other exiled English Separatists living in the more tolerant Netherlands, made the daring […]
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Those Sturdy Surviving Pilgrim Women
“Those intrepid English women whose courage, fortitude, and devotion brought a new nation into being.” So reads the inscription on the Pilgrim Maiden Statue in Brewster Garden in Plymouth, MA. Those Sturdy Surviving Pilgrim Women are immortalized in the work of Henry Hudson Kitson’s sculpture, dedicated to their endurance, courage, and devotion in 1924. ”The Mayflower set sail for the New World from England in September 1620 with nineteen women among the 102 passengers. The […]
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Lent and Learning to Fast Again
Thank you Bishop Rinehart for your thoughts about applying an ancient practice to our very modern challenges. Though appropriate any time, Lent seems a particularly good time to incorporate this practice into our lives. Lent begins next Wednesday with Ash Wednesday. Lent and Learning to Fast Again by Michael Rinehart God cannot fill what is full. — Mother Teresa The three disciplines of Lent are prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Jesus instructs his followers on these three […]
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Who Was Valentine?
All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt. Charles M. Schulz We’ve barely lugged all the holiday trappings back to wherever they were before Thanksgiving. Now we’re surrounded with reminders to get something (preferably something chocolate) for Valentine’s Day. How did a Christian martyr from the 3rd Century end up being used to market flowers, candy, romance-themed movies and cards? There are several St. Valentine’s for whom this annual shop-for-your-sweetheart-or-wish-you-had […]
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People of Hope – Angela Burgess
These days there is a lot of poverty in the world, and that’s a scandal when we have so many riches and resources to give to everyone. Pope Francis Angela Burgess is on a mission to help families escape the poverty trap and find hope for their futures. I met this exuberant carrier of hope through the Houston non-profit RaiseUp Families organization. After being a long-time donor, she became the executive director in 2020. In […]
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