Spirituali-TEA!

Spirituali-TEA will return to our Rose of Sharon Shows beginning February 18th.

2009-02-14T11:38:00.000-08:00

We will feature interviews with individuals and in-depth discussions on spirituality, and the various spiritual paths followed by Christians which give vigor to their gospel life.
Here are a few dates to keep in mind.

Check back for updates on this schedule!

May 6, 2009: The Oral Tradition Today On the first Wed of each month we will include our discussion of various religious movies (new and old) that are available for viewing today in our own homes. On March 4th we will discuss the movie, available through The Rose of Sharon: JOHN XXIII THE POPE OF PEACE. This movie will open a discussion about the affect of JohnXXIII on Catholicism and all of Christianity.

March 18 In the spirit of St. Patrick's Day, we will talk about Celtic Christian Celtic Spirituality Lived Today. We'll discuss the spiritual needs of individuals and families today, and how living Celtic Christian spirituality can help answer those needs and assist in living the Gospel today.

March 11th, as we continue Lent, with a discussion on Spiritual Direction and What It Means Today. How does it work? What is the purpose? Where does one find a spiritual director? Additionally I invite you to join our SKPE Public Chat on Spiritual Direction.

Spiritual Direction What is it? hosted by caitfinnegan.

Join now

Chat about what's on your mind. More about public chats.

February 18th in a discussion of Carmelite Spirituality as lived by a privately vowed woman who lives the contemplative life in a world of action.

May 14, 2008 Homosexuality ~ When a Family Member Comes Out

2008-05-14T03:12:00.000-07:00

Topic: When a Family Member Comes Out How families respond spiritually. How religious beliefs do or do not affect responses.

Guest: Mrs. Anita Lee Coordinator of PFLAG, Monroe County PA Chapter

Callers are welcome: 646-200-4653

Hecklers, and disrespect for our guests or subject will not be tolerated.

Holy Lives That Inspire Us--Padre Pio

2008-05-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

May 7, 2008 "Spiritu-a-le-TEA" will focus on Padre Pio, and the gift of spiritual friendship he brings to the lives of so many Christians.

Movie Review: "Padre Pio, Miracle Man"

Chat Room Opens at 5:30 PM
Listeners are invited to call the show: 646-200-4653

...

2008-04-28T23:52:00.000-07:00

Topic: Arising From Darkness. Finding strength within, and from God, family, and friends, --when your Church doesn't offer help.

Guest: This week on Spiritu-a-le-TEA I will be interviewing a woman who has the child of a Roman Catholic priest. She has raised her son alone, and tried to pass him Faith in Christ, while dealing with the mistreatment she and he have endured from their Church. They are now members of the Lutheran Church where they are welcomed and spiritually fed.

We will discuss the problems such women face, and the long-term problems the children of priests must face when ignored by their fathers, who are busy serving as preachers!

Poetry Segment: Yourself the Fool, Holy Innocents

An OLD New Approach

2008-04-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

This week, I planned to host a show about Good Tidings, a ministry with which I've worked for about 25 years. It has all to do with sexual misconduct of priests, and my schedule was to interview someone who has quite a story to share. However a few things interfered with the schedule, and that caused me to rethink my approach to this show.

Good Tidings is a very limited topic, as mentioned above. I thought of offering it weekly, but in truth, I do not think having it that often would actually help those who need to have this messy fact known by more people--especially Church folk. Somehow, when we are drowning in one tone, we don't appreciate the sound. The same, I think, with the message I'd like known regarding this particular issue in the Church.

Rather, I reconsidered the approach I'd used when we first opened our little religious shop in the Poconos. We wanted to offer the hospitality one would find around the teapot in a family home! Hospitality is the hallmark of Celtic Christians, and I truly want to offer that in all I do.

So, rather than focus only on one particular ministry (Good Tidings), I am opening this show up to the candid discussions shared around the kitchen table. Our family always kept "tea time" and it was Holy Time! We shared our day, children were heard and had a chance to share and listen right there with the adults. With my own daughter I tried to offer that same tradition so she could come home from school to tea with her mom and grandmother, and when her father worked from home--with him as well. It was the best way to share our values with her, and know where her head was at most of the time. It built strong traditions and bonds.

Therefore, this show will be "Spiritu a le TEA!" and out time together will be a time to share about family, our faith, and those topics that affect both. So, yes, sexual abuse by clergy is real, and it will be addressed, along with many other important topics before the Church today.

Join me for a cup of Spiritu a le Tea.

Cait

Spiritu-a-le-tea!

2007-07-08T00:22:00.000-07:00

I began this little "tearoom" over one year ago, then left here hidden on the gmail blogspot unused. It's not as if we were doing nothing this past year. However the actual tearoom my husband I hoped to open in this are was not meant to be at this time in life. Rather, we customized the dream to begin as best we could by finally opening The Rose of Sharon Religious Books and Articles in East Stroudsburg, PA. It's just a bitty shop, but has some neat religious gifts for the Christian community surrounding us. One plus, given as if to keep our hope alive, is that it also includes a tiny kitchen!

We are not set up legally to serve food for sale from that little kitchen, but it has allowed us to add to the warm atmosphere in our shop by decorating it as a kitchen with items people can use in their own kitchens, and which also have various reminders of the Faith, and our life in Christ--in the home. This is a great part of our mission with the shop--to encourage, and support Faith in the home, and in families.

As a child growing up in NYC, the Faith was passed to me in our home first, with it then being nourished in school and Church. It was in our cell group, our family, the domestic Church that I first learned of Christ and the great love of God Jesus came to announce to the world! Each day, after school, we'd have "tea" not simply as a hot drink, but as a family ritual, an old and, in its own way, a sacred tradition. It was, afterall, the time we sat and talked about my day in school. Sure, we also shared our family dinner, on schedule each night, but tea was its own kind of sharing time, somehow a bit more subdued than when the entire family gathered around the table for main meals. Tea was with my grandmothers! That in itself made it special.

Later in the evening, the family would gather once again for "tea" before retiring to bed. This was actually a small light meal, not quite the size it had been when and where the tradition began back on the farm in Ireland, but it was a bit more than a snack. This time for tea was not as subdued as afternoon tea with grandmothers. Night tea included whoever was home, parents, grandparents, uncles, the kids old and young, and often enough a neighbor still there from visiting in the evening. She'd have that last cuppa before heading back to her own home for the night. One for the road, tea-toteler style!

The beauty of these shared tea times was not just the comfortable cup of tea had in mid-afternoon or late evening; the beauty was the sharing within the family that was done daily in such simple, yet ritual ways.

In our little shop, I keep a kettle on, and we have tea available for anyone who might like to sit and look through a book, or just chat for a bit. It's not part of our business. It's part of our life. Sure, some prefer that "other drink" but whichever, it is the simple pleasure of sharing a few moment, an exchange of ideas, or experiences, or perhaps just a bit of relaxation from a busy day.

The Rose of Sharon is not a tearoom...but the hospitality is the same. "Sit long, talk much" the Amish saying goes. Such conversation had in a totally relaxed atmosphere allows for a great deal to be unloaded, and holy sharing, even among strangers, and, the truth be know, among Christians of different traditions! Ecumenical relations are enhanced by tea!!! We only need look at the accomplishments toward peace in the North of Ireland when Protestant and Roman Catholic women, mothers, wives came together for their morning tea groups! There were no wars, no bloodshed in those groups. Women seeking and finding peace together, amid their differing Christian and political views. These women then went home and influenced their husbands and sons, and eventually there was peace. Not, simply "quiet" but advances toward peace.

Tea...

Stop in for a cuppa, or if you can't we can talk here as well. This blog will be tied to our store website for the convenience of any of our customers who might like to jump into this world of technology that helps with communication!

Blessings, and welcome to all.

Cait