community of celebration

mum was a lay member of the community of celebration, which includes the music of the fisherfolk. more than music and communal living, the community of celebration reaches out to the larger community:

"In addition to our principal work of prayer, our local ministry includes:

The Aliquippa Community Enterprise (ACE) Women's Training Program
Participating in programs to support anti-drug, anti-crime, and domestic violence initiatives in Aliquippa and Western Pennsylvania
Supplying chaplaincies for the City Council, the local police and fire departments, and the FBI in Western Pennsylvania
Providing affordable, quality housing to low-income families"

read more on their ministry to the town of Aliquippa, "bereft after the fall of the steel industry, [...] viewed as a place of discouragement and fear"

in an essay on the dedication of their new chapel, one member writes

"Most of the sayings of Jesus are so radical when set against the way life is lived in a modern industrial society that it seems impossible that anyone could fulfill them. Maybe this is why a lot of religious enthusiasm nowadays concentrates on the person of Jesus rather than his sayings, as if his ‘lordship’ could somehow be separated from what he said. At any rate, when we give ourselves to God and to one another, all of a sudden the sayings come within the realms of possibility."

mum was involved in more than the ministry of praise. she counseled others on bereavement and cancer. she was mightily involved in the church's breakfast program, providing meals to the hungry and homeless in downtown st. catharines.