Sad news arrived today in the Forest Hill Church (Presbyterian) newsletter:
The office learned that Carolyn Doggett, former member, Deacon and Elder, died on July 21, 2017.
The Lake Erie Girl Scout Council employed Carolyn. But her true passion lay in working for racial justice. Carolyn knew herself to be a beloved child of God. As such, she understood that all people are precious to God and all people should be treated accordingly.
Carolyn played a key role in the work to disrupt institutional racism and seek racial equity in the Presbytery of the Western Reserve. She challenged the status quo with a fierce, gentle passion.
A dignified, graceful, persistent, disruptive resistor, Carolyn taught me much and touched my soul.
I give thanks for her life and faith and love and witness. I give thanks that she was my co-worker, colleague, and friend. I pray for all who grieve at her death.
In the Communion of Saints, Carolyn goes with us in the struggle for justice and the march for peace.
Thanks be to God for Carolyn Doggett!
Presente!
See you along the Trail.
P.S. – I wish I had a photo to share. Not for myself, Carolyn is forever present in my mind’s eye and in my heart, but for you who did not know her.
The briefing marks 50 years since Israeli forces occupied the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. Children under 18 years old currently represent 46 percent of the 4.68 million Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This current generation has grown up in the shadow of failed negotiations and with futures stifled by systemic discrimination, persistent settlement expansion, blockade, and repeated military offensives.
As more people face famine today than any time in modern history, the World Council of Churches (WCC) together with the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) and a range of faith-based partners and networks invite a Global Day of Prayer to End Famine on 21 May 2017, in response to the hunger crisis.
It turned out that May 12 was the day Janice Kamikawa was approved for ordination as a Minister of the Word and Sacrament. She serves as a chaplain in a hospital and at a youth detention service. We met at Ghost Ranch during a week in antiracism work.
“Brokenness, disunity, and hatred are evident all over the planet. The world needs the witness Belhar calls the church to live out in the world. The church’s primary responsibility is to love God so fully that God’s saving presence shines through her like light in the midst of darkness. The church then becomes a beacon of hope, a lighthouse on the shore of a storm-tossed sea. By confessing, internalizing, and living out the principles of Belhar in her own experience, the church positions herself to become what Henri Nouwen calls, ‘a wounded healer.'”
“… Belhar claims the one God, revealed in Jesus Christ and present through the Holy Spirit, will be present and active when human lives are demeaned, threatened by violence, hemmed in, and held down by law, tradition, and institutional racism.”
Along the Graybeard Trail 