Month: December 2012

Community vs. Individualism Don: Our discussion of community and individualism gives us an opportunity to reach out and help Alice and her family deal with the blows life is delivering to them, in whatever way we can. I feel as though part of the problem with the community vs. individualism discussion has to do with…

I thought this was very relevant to our current discussion, and would share it with you.   December 25, 2012 Why, God? By MAUREEN DOWD WASHINGTON When my friend Robin was dying, she asked me if I knew a priest she could talk to who would not be, as she put it, “too judgmental.” I…

Individual vs. Community  or United vs. Untied (thanks to Eb for the anagrammatic suggestion!) Before the meeting began, the participants expressed their concern for Fay, and for Alice, Ghada and Rimon. We admired the depth of Fay’s “self-awareness” and above all her demonstration of faith, which we thought must be an enormous comfort. David reiterated…

From: Faten Date: December 17, 2012 Re: Notes from December 15 Hello everyone, First, I’d like to thank you all again for your kindness. Secondly, just wanted to share a few thoughts. Actually, just a few questions that came to mind, to contemplate… On “Evil” Yes, the Newtown shooting was/is oh so so sooo sad!…

Evil Don: This has been an emotional week. I was impressed and deeply moved by Faten’s response to last week’s discussion. It was a lusty, full-throated defense of her faith and of God, and I found it incredibly inspiring. The only thing I disagreed with was her worry that she might be embarrassing her mother…

Hello everyone, This is Fay D’Anna, Alice Rihani’s daughter. I just read this, as I read all your beautiful thoughts and words that have been such a blessing to me in these past months since my beloved mother has been sharing these wonderful emails with me. Even though I don’t see you all or know…

Before the meeting proper got under way, Don shared with us the very sad news that Alice and her family have suffered another tragedy, in the discovery of brain tumors in Alice’s daughter Fay. Don noted that this kind of evil —  a natural evil, not one caused by an evil human being —  always…

Jay conducted the meeting. Jay: Last week we were looking at parables dealing in some way with judgment – the sheep and the goats, the wheat and the tares, and the Good Samaritan. If the latter two are both about judgment, we ought to be able to discern some similarities among them. The parables are:…