• NOVA Community
  • 2022
  • Retreat 2022
  • Co-partners trip
  • RIP
    • RIP Mike Timpane
    • RIP Dear Marie
    • RIP Dear Jerry
    • RIP Dear Jim
    • RIP Marcelline
  • 2021
  • Retreat 2021
  • Party
  • Celebrate Fr Quinn Conners
  • NOVA Baby Shower
  • NOVA Zoom liturgy
  • 2020
  • Carrolls 50th
  • Lent b4 zoom
  • 2019
  • 50th Friday Gathering
  • 50th Liturgy
  • 50th Gala
  • 2018
    • 2018 Easter week
  • Advocacy
  • 2017
    • Holy Week 2017
    • Special Meetings
    • Men Who Cook 2017
    • New Chairs
    • To the Park 2017
    • Asher's Baptism
    • Advent Plus
  • 2016
    • February
    • Lent at NOVA
    • Holy Week 2016
    • Baptism of Simon
    • Summer 2016
    • Farewell to friends
    • Late Summer
    • Walking with Ken
    • Retreat 2016
    • October plus
    • Advent
    • Liturgy Workshop 2016
    • Caroling
  • Men Who Cook
    • Men Who Cook 2016
    • Men Who Cook 2014
    • Men Who Cook 2013
    • Men Who Cook 2012
  • Street Sense
    • Share the Warmth and Holiday
    • Street Sense Picnic
    • Hollertown Concert Fundraiser
  • Rest in Peace
  • Special Events
    • Tar Sands Pipeline Protest
    • Ramadan Baskets 2015
    • Ramadan Baskets 2014
    • Ramadan Baskets 2013
    • Annunziata's 50th
    • Gunston Distribution
    • Forward on Climate Rally
    • Veterans Day
  • January February 2015
    • Lent 2015
    • Holy Week 2015
    • To the Park
    • Investiture
    • Meyer's 50th
    • Retreat
    • Fall
    • O'Tooles 50th
  • NOVA's Annual Projects
    • Annual Project
    • LFFP Project
    • El Centro fundraiser
    • Hollertown fundraiser
    • Annual Project Meeting 2014
  • Farewell Marie & Tom
  • January 2014
    • February 2014
    • Lent 2014
    • Palm Sunday 2014
    • Holy Thursday/Good Friday
    • Easter 2014
    • Baptism of Henry
    • May and June 2014
    • New Chairs 2014
    • Summer in the park
    • Retreat 2014
    • Back to Kenmore
    • October
    • November
    • Advent - Christmas 2014
  • Special Events
    • Welcome Henry
    • Guys and Dolls
    • Bazaar for Dream Project
    • Sonja Donahue
    • Educate the Girls Fundraiser Bus Tour
  • 2013
    • Lent 2013
    • Holy Week 2013
    • April
    • May
    • Park 2013
    • Summer 2013
    • Retreat 2013
    • October
    • November 2013
    • Advent
    • Christmas
  • 2012
    • Holy Week 2012
    • May 2012
    • Summer in the Park 2012
    • Retreat 2012
    • October 2012
    • November 2012
  • December 2011
    • October
    • November
  • altars etc.
  • Music Group
  • 40th Anniversary
Today, August 27, 2016, Ken was welcomed home into the loving arms of God.
Below is part of a poem by John O'Donohue which might be of some comfort.
When you lose someone you love,
Your life becomes strange,
The ground beneath you becomes fragile,
Your thoughts make your eyes unsure;
And some dead echo drags your voice down
Where words have no confidence
Your heart has grown heavy with loss;
And though this loss has wounded others too,
No one knows what has been taken from you
When the silence of absence deepens.

Gradually, you will learn acquaintance
With the invisible form of your departed;
And when the work of grief is done,
The wound of loss will heal
And you will have learned
To wean your eyes
From that gap in the air
And be able to enter the hearth
In your soul where your loved one
Has awaited your return
All the time.

"Walking Ken Home"

The NOVA Community was saddened when we received Ken's message that he would be entering hospice care.  In his email he said:
"I ask for your prayers and continued friendship.  I am at home and hope to remain there.  Visitors are welcome most any time.  We can talk about everything or nothing.  Come if you have something to say or nothing to say. Come if you want to read to me out loud or even sing a new song.  Come if you have an empty hand... I may need one to hold."  We were all deeply moved by his message.  We are praying, visiting, singing and "walking home with him"  At liturgy the community sent a blessing and sang to him delivered to him by video! - videos below.
Scroll down for NOVAtones and Ken's Holy Thursday planning group visit.
​Keep Ken and his family in your prayers...
The NOVAtones went to Ken's home where his daughter, Katie, son in law Steffin, and granddaughter Mary Cate are caring for him, comforting him and walking this walk with him too.  They sang Amazing Grace.
The Holy Thursday NOVA planning group, (Ken has been a part of this group for many years), gathered at his home with Fr. Quinn for prayers, blessing and eucharist. Cathy Showalter (with photos from Dianne Carroll) created a blessing blanket for Ken to surround him with warmth, love and comfort. Ken was so emotionally moved by this gift - tears flowed from all gathered. NOVA visitors who came next said he told the story of the visit and the blessing blanket with more tears - they described this as: "a mixture of the joy of being known and loved that deeply and a new belief that he is worthy of such love and attention - his heart and being opened up in a truly astonishing way".
The HT group shared this litany of prayer with him before the eucharist:
As you are held in the loving embrace of family and friends…I am with you.
And when you feel utterly alone…I am with you.
 
As the clarity of light befriends you…I am with you.
And when fear and confusion arrive unbidden…I am with you.
 
As you welcome the solace of rest and sleep…I am with you.
And when sleep becomes impossible…I am with you.
 
As moments feel alive with my presence…I am with you.
And when I am nowhere to be found…I am with you.
 
As the melody comes easily and the song feels effortless…I am with you.
And when you can’t find the note…I am with you.
 
As the earth beneath you holds firm and steady…I am with you.
And when the ground gives way to awful tremors…I am with you.
​
Another blessing that has been shared by several NOVA folks with Ken - When Rosemarie visited she wrote: He wanted to read aloud an absolutely  lovely piece he keeps close at hand by John Donahue that Phyllis had brought him from a book called  Anam Cara, A Book of Celtic Wisdom.

“Beannacht / Blessing
On the day when
the weight deadens
on your shoulders
and you stumble,
may the clay dance
to balance you.
And when your eyes
freeze behind
the grey window
and the ghost of loss
gets in to you,
may a flock of colours,
indigo, red, green,
and azure blue
come to awaken in you
a meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
in the currach of thought
and a stain of ocean
blackens beneath you,
may there come across the waters
a path of yellow moonlight
to bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
may the clarity of light be yours,
may the fluency of the ocean be yours,
may the protection of the ancestors be yours.
And so may a slow
wind work these words
of love around you,
an invisible cloak
to mind your life.


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.