she contemplated distances across time and space As with many of the unsettling religious tchotchkes scattered around the rectory where I spent my childhood I didn’t give much thought to the unkempt icon when I grew curious about Mary Magdalene and began to read into the controversies swirling around her Magdalene is the most famous woman in Christianity after Jesus’ mother; she is also arguably the most hotly contested figure in the New Testament is the first to see him after his Resurrection Jesus commissions her to share the good news of his return with the other disciples names her “the apostle to the apostles.” Nonetheless Magdalene has been maligned by Church fathers throughout the centuries; in the present day appearing in scripture only fourteen times belongs to a tangle of at least six women named Mary This multitude of Marys leaves considerable room for disagreement over which Biblical threads are authentically woven into Magdalene’s story she has a long and unassailed history of veneration “There are so many disparate stories,” Elaine Pagels Pagels went to fetch a copy of “The New Oxford Annotated Bible,” flipping between the Books of Matthew and pausing over discrepancies between their Magdalene narratives “The writers of the New Testament didn’t seem much interested in women except in their subsidiary roles,” she said She poked around in the Book of Luke to show me how the author diminished Mary Magdalene’s significance stretches far beyond the four Gospels that She has explored a much larger body of texts many of which include women in more authoritative roles the Gospel of Philip—a third-century text discovered with similar documents near Nag Hammadi in 1945—in which Magdalene is described as the woman “who always walked with the Lord” and “the one who was called his companion.” In its telling her expansive influence transcends the terrestrial “She’s seen as a manifestation of divine wisdom.” invited a friendly skepticism of orthodoxy and imbued value in people and ideas previously relegated to the edge Mary Magdalene is a cipher for slantwise truth; to engage with her story requires divine imagination a thirteenth-century French narrative known as the Golden Legend features Magdalene and Jesus’ friend Lazarus who in this and some other accounts is said to be her brother the two board a boat fourteen years after Jesus’ crucifixion and land on the southern coast of France Magdalene lives and teaches until her death Two duelling French monasteries still claim to hold her relics Magdalene is rendered more complex by associations with sexual desire: in the popular imagination as I read more about who Mary Magdalene was I was startled to learn that nothing in the New Testament associates her with licentiousness this claim originated in a series of sermons given by Pope Gregory in 591 Gregory argued that Magdalene should be understood as highly sinful in which Jesus exorcised seven demons from her body (Feminist scholars have questioned this interpretation raising the possibility that Magdalene’s seven demons reflect the Eastern concept of seven chakras rather than a sinful nature Maybe Jesus was clearing Magdalene’s chakras.) believing these demons to be an indication of Magdalene’s excessively sinful past identified her as an unnamed woman in Luke who wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair Each of the four canonical Gospels recounts a version of this story empties an expensive alabaster jar of unguent in order to anoint Jesus before he dies the disciples complain to Jesus that the costly perfume—which was called nard and derived from a kind of honeysuckle—could have been sold to raise money to feed the poor Pope Gregory emphasized the nard as proof that Magdalene was a prostitute claiming that the expensive perfume masked the stink of the sex trade the key to understanding these sermons is understanding Gregory’s intended audience which was male: Gregory calls his listeners “brothers.” In identifying Magdalene as the unnamed woman Gregory succeeded in helping to marginalize women in the Church for the next fourteen hundred years the Catholic Church went so far as to apologize for advancing this claim but the power of the association was so strong that many people still hold the mistaken belief that Magdalene was a prostitute I’m slightly embarrassed to say that I was one of them when I began reading about Magdalene and learned what Pope Gregory had done Disgusted by history and dismayed by my own ignorance a retired Episcopal bishop and a student of early-Christian tradition There was more to contending with the myth of Magdalene than dispelling Pope Gregory’s assertion This was also an ancient case of mistaken identity my father returned with that eerie icon of the naked woman who was also known as the Harlot of the Desert He’d come to know of her while travelling to monasteries in the Jordan Valley and he proposed that we take a trip to one of them and the impossibilities of international travel The scribe writes about Mary of Egypt living in doorways in the city of Alexandria for seventeen years until one day she spies several young men who are “vigorous in their bodies and their movements,” running to board a ship She asks who they might be and discovers that they are Christian pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem Frykholm read aloud to me some of the passages that she had translated “I am going to go up into one of those boats they have hired even if they don’t want to,” the scribe reports Mary saying “For I have this body that they will receive instead of passage.” The sexually explicit nature of the text startled me and provoked a laugh After paying for her passage in sexual favors Yet when she attempted to accompany the pilgrims inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre which sits on the storied site of Jesus’ Crucifixion and burial she found herself barred from entering the church by a mysterious force “She pushes and she shoves and she tries to get in Then Mary of Egypt heard a voice calling her to cross the River Jordan into the desert but to me it’s much more interesting to view her as an icon of desire,” Frykholm said was seeking a wise man to give him counsel; he met Mary of Egypt “The great moment of the story is he’s going in search of a desert father No one knows for sure what monastery Zosimas came from This was why my father wanted to take me to St so that I could hear the story of Zosimas and Mary of Egypt directly from the monks It had principally been a way to play with my dad who found humor in the human errors that are rife in supposed matters of Biblical certainty “Divine truth can as easily be revealed through myth and poetry as it can be through literal truth,” my dad liked to say he pointed out one more error by which Mary Magdalene had become entwined with Mary of Egypt this image of a shriven prostitute became conflated with Magdalene the Italian master Donatello carved a wooden figure called the “Penitent Magdalene”: emaciated and dressed in what looks like feathers but is painting Magdalene ascending to heaven as a kind of human sheepdog with well-muscled arms the Venetian Renaissance painter Titian updated the “Penitent Magdalene,” representing her as a zaftig figure with milky skin corkscrew curls cascading into her décolletage El Greco depicted his Penitent Magdalene with a nipple peeking out of Magdalene as a half-naked woman in prayerful penance continues through Caravaggio’s sexy and ambiguous “Mary Magdalen in Ecstasy,” from 1606 and Peter Paul Rubens’s tableau “Christ and Penitent Sinners,” in which a foregrounded Magdalene the Italian art restorer and researcher Sara Penco discovered a figure she argues is Mary Magdalene on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel Magdalene’s golden hair flows over her shoulders exposing a bony clavicle as she leans forward to kiss the cross The most intriguing elements of Magdalene’s story remain the most mysterious Among them is a Gospel written in her name first discovered in a Cairo bazaar in the late eighteen-hundreds the Gospel of Mary was excluded from the canon scholars contend that the text was in wide circulation among Jesus’ early followers What I love most about the Gospel of Mary is how it ends: with an argument Mary Magdalene comes to his disciples to tell them that he has given her secret teachings But Andrew and Peter question whether Jesus would really have done such a thing “How is it possible that the Teacher talked in this manner with a woman about secrets of which we ourselves are ignorant?” Peter asks “Must we change our customs and listen to this woman Did he really choose her and prefer her to us?” Peter isn’t just questioning her; he’s complaining about how much work the disciples will be required to do if they have to change their practices based on these new teachings “Mary wept.” The sentence mirrors the moment that Jesus wept when he found out that Lazarus had died who listen as Mary Magdalene begins to lay out the teachings She recounts asking Jesus how to reach God: through the psyche or the spirit God speaks to us through what Jesus calls the nous which is often translated from the Greek as “mind,” but is perhaps more accurately thought of as consciousness where the gym sold turmeric tea and pricey strands of prayer beads about thirty women leaned against black BackJacks or sat upright on meditation cushions directed the group to glance into their hearts to search for the nous much as she believed the ancient group of Christians called the Hesychasts did The practice allowed the meditators to view their devotion as closely tied to Magdalene “I’m always intrigued by how people identify with Biblical characters whether it’s Jesus’ mother or Mary Magdalene,” Pagels told me King acknowledged that it “tips the balance towards forgery.” thought to be the world’s oldest complete copy of the Gospel of John an assistant professor of New Testament at Villanova University argues that a second-century scribe deliberately suppressed the role of Mary Magdalene in which Jesus travels to the city of Bethany to visit Lazarus’s family reveals “some very strange scribal activity,” Schrader Polczer said Her scholarship has helped decipher some largely forgotten clues in the ancient papyrus discovered in Egypt in the early nineteen-fifties about why a woman’s name has been crossed out and her character split in two Schrader Polczer followed an unlikely path to becoming a Biblical scholar she won the first Pantene Pro-Voice competition several months after graduating from Pomona College opened for the pop star Jewel onstage in New York City’s Central Park performing a song called “Blood Red Moon.” “It was about a late period,” Schrader Polczer told me Schrader Polczer moved to Brooklyn and spent the next decade trying to break through in the music business She had some successes—she appeared on an episode of “Gilmore Girls”—but mostly supported herself by teaching piano and playing college gigs who’d been baptized in the Episcopal Church walked through the wrought-iron gates of the Co-Cathedral of St surrounded by disintegrating statues of Jesus’ mother response: “Maybe you should talk to Mary Magdalene about that!” In 2011 she began working on an album called “Magdalene.” In a music video for the title track returns to the cathedral churchyard “to ask for the blessing of the Magdalene,” as her title song instructs She’s a bleeding heart full of blinding lightWhich she carefully conceals ’til the time is rightOh a woman heavy with the dark of nightShe will do what she came here to do.She is ready now to do what she came to do competing narratives about who Mary Magdalene was One of the most heated debates centered on whether Mary Magdalene is indeed the same Mary who is the sister of Lazarus a figure scholars often refer to as Mary of Bethany This matters because if Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany are the same person then Magdalene’s role in scripture grows more significant: she is the woman who anoints Jesus in John Schrader Polczer wanted to return to the world’s oldest surviving copy of John to see exactly how the first anonymous scribes set down the story Yet when Schrader Polczer first pulled up the transcription of Papyrus 66 on her computer screen So she set about going through the text line by line with an interlinear study Bible she noticed that the anonymous scribe had made a series of changes “There are four hundred and fifty corrections throughout the manuscript,” she said One set of alterations caught Schrader Polczer’s attention: in the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead she could see that the scribe had changed a woman’s name by crossing out the Greek letter “I,” iota the verb agreements had also been changed from singular to plural indicating that one named woman had been split into two unnamed women called “the sisters.” “It looked like Martha was getting added to the story,” Schrader Polczer said it looked like an editor might be trying to dilute the role of Lazarus’s sister Mary.” Through interlibrary loan she went looking for previous scholarship related to these textual discrepancies and came across the work of the late Gordon Fee who had begun to ask similar questions in the nineteen-sixties Once Schrader Polczer found the correction in Papyrus 66 she set about contacting famous New Testament scholars who she hoped might consider investigating the matter She wrote to Karen King and attended a talk that Pagels gave at St Schrader approached with a printout of the transcription noted that she is often approached in unconventional ways “I got a call from John the Baptist once claiming he’d written the Book of Revelation,” she told me.) a friend advised Schrader Polczer to become the scholar she was seeking and earned two master’s degrees from the General Theological Seminary in New York and a Ph.D in early Christianity and New Testament from Duke University which contributed to her sense that Mary Magdalene had been “diluted” in the Gospel of John which many scholars took as a reference to a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee “Nobody said she came from a place called Magdala until the sixth century,” she said “Magdala” was a reference to the Aramaic word for “tower,” as in Mary Magdalene was a tower in the Church much as the apostle Peter is referred to as the rock “The figure of Peter has become a cipher for orthodoxy,” she said “Mary Magdalene—more of a cipher for direct Church fathers apparently favored Peter’s influence in the early text at the expense of Mary Magdalene famously declares to Lazarus’s sister—Martha in the edited text—“I am the resurrection and the life and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die the one coming into the world.” This declaration signifies one of the rare moments in the Bible when a follower of Jesus recognizes who he truly is who some scholars suspect is Mary Magdalene her role is significantly diminished; it is Peter and Luke and whose name is passed down through history Finding the alterations to the Greek manuscript hard to parse in the abstract I asked Schrader Polczer to meet in person so that she could walk me through them on the page We met on a brilliantly sunny pre-spring afternoon in Croydon a Pennsylvania town she’d selected as roughly midway between Villanova sat on a bench by the bank of the Delaware River and opened her laptop These photographs of Papyrus 66 were taken in the fifties showing me an image of a fat stack of flattened reeds its frangible leaves resembling flaky layers of pastry She clicked forward to another image and zoomed in showing me where the name Maria had clearly been made into Martha She pointed to another group of scraggly letters: the phrase “the sisters” had been superimposed over another word that was now impossible to read but included the Greek letters that correspond to “R” and “A.” It was definitely a woman’s name; Schrader Polczer hypothesized that it was likely Mary “A woman has definitely been split in two and her name has been erased in Verse 3 of John 11,” she said Whatever might be inferred from these changes her findings are now cited in commentary about the Gospel of John and have inspired a lively debate in current scholarship Mary Magdalene’s more central role in this gospel has been hidden for a reason: if she’d been too strong a figure and challenged the dominant narrative of Peter then the Book of John may have been left out of the Bible “Maybe this made John suitable for the canon,” she said “It’s not just Lazarus who is ill,” she told me “There’s an illness in the text.” She perceived the likely elision of Magdalene as a “wounding,” of the text itself and Magdalene’s willingness to allow herself to be erased as an example of Jesus’ famous invitation to his followers to “lay down their lives for their friends.” The revelations she has uncovered have also had profound spiritual relevance in her life “Doing this work has deepened my faith,” she told me “The Gospel of John is known as the Gospel of Signs and I think it might have one more sign for us.” I considered how risky it seemed for a budding academic to tie her work to the idea of divine revelation as the twentieth-century theologian Paul Tillich said Perhaps speaking in such terms to a journalist struck Schrader Polczer as risky “Just one last thing I should probably add—when talking about theology stuff like the wounded word It’s different than me as a historian.” I admired her for being honest welcoming skeptics like me to make room in our minds for more complex possibilities I considered the journey I’d never taken with my father Shake Shack and Ski Barn were less evocative landmarks than the ancient monasteries and archeological sites we would’ve seen And yet these were landmarks on another kind of journey I’d carried forward on my own I was aware that I was still in conversation with my dad and felt the presence of those qualities in me not in the form of some fixed new idea but in the multitude of disruptive possibilities she offers The depictions of the Penitent Magdalene are no less striking for their transformation over time through each artist’s imagination—or for beginning with the wrong Mary A long-ago crime, suddenly remembered A limousine driver watches her passengers transform The day Muhammad Ali punched me What is it like to be keenly intelligent but deeply alienated from simple emotions? Temple Grandin knows The harsh realm of “gentle parenting.”  Retirement the Margaritaville way Fiction by F. Scott Fitzgerald: “Thank You for the Light.”  Sign up for our daily newsletter to receive the best stories from The New Yorker. Mary Magdalene is the first person to see the risen Jesus beautiful space between meeting the Lord and telling the disciples what she’d seen Mary Magdalene was the whole entire church giving rise to her identification as “the apostle to the apostles.” “What an important and special thing for the first person to witness Jesus resurrected [be] a woman,” Elizabeth Tabish said and for her to not turn away from the crucifixion And then this beautiful reward of remaining with him to the point of seeing him resurrected the historical drama series that turned the life of Jesus into prestige TV and against all odds became a commercial and critical smash but the franchise’s inventive theatrical outings have netted over $115 million worldwide In an era where many Christians are every bit as skeptical of big budget biblical adaptations as Hollywood studios are of Christian audiences Tabish’s performance deserves no small amount of credit for the success breathing real dimension into a character who has endured several millennia of flattening “There’s all sorts of fan fiction,” Tabish said of speculation over Mary’s history “People see and believe what they want about these characters because there’s so little written about them.”  Mary Magdalene is one of the most fanfic’d figures in the New Testament She has been imaginatively cast as everything from Jesus’ secret wife in the movie’s adaptation of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code to the emaciated desert ascetic as depicted in Donatello’s sculpture The most famous and enduring bit of mythology around Mary Magdalene is the idea that she was a sex worker — a detail she likely gained from being conflated with other Marys in the Gospel The Bible itself does not suggest Mary Magdalene was involved in sex work but Tabish says it wouldn’t bother her if it did.  “I haven’t really cared too much either way,” she said “It never felt particularly offensive to me if she was a prostitute This is a woman that’s gone through so much and finds redemption If we label her as a prostitute before all of this she’s a woman who works around a lot of guys which already puts her in a unique position which she says makes her a bit of a unicorn in Christian circles.  “It’s a very rare thing for someone to publicly discuss both Christianity and progressive politics,” she said “But I know that there are so many people that are Christian and leftist and I don’t know if they’re feeling represented in any way I just want to share that there are so many and their political beliefs in many ways are influenced by their Christianity I just think those two things go hand in hand.” Tabish’s spiritual journey has not been straightforward She was born in Utah and grew up frequenting the Maronite Catholic Church attended by her father’s Lebanese family a worship experience she looks back on fondly But things changed when her family moved to Oklahoma where megachurch culture clashed mightily with her sense of church as an “intimate I was confronted with the power dynamics and hypocrisy in a lot of church structures,” she said “When you read the Gospels and you read what Jesus was teaching You want to be inspired by that and apply it to your life you’re focusing on all of our sinful nature and going to hell and the devil always being after you you go to hell if you don’t go to confession It was this information that felt at odds with what I would get from reading stories about Jesus and reading the gospels  “That was such a distraction from the message that I just thought Her belief in policies that welcome refugees and offered health care and education to all (“I love Bernie Sanders,” she told Vanity Fair) seemed to put her at odds with the Christian majority in the U.S and contributed to a long period of feeling dismissive of religion Things started to change when she read the first script for The Chosen an audition she landed after several years of scraping by on odd “It felt like it was this answer to a question I asked a long long time ago: How can we express the real thing?”  Mary Magdalene is a survivor of sexual assault who struggles with alcoholism giving her a craggy humanity that Tabish inhabits with skillful emotion Assault and substance abuse aren’t any more part of Mary’s official canon than sex work is but the show’s writers have always been open about their own creative interpretations and filled with an immense capacity for love — is another chapter in an ancient Tabish_TheChosen THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER (Season 5) Photo courtesy of 5&2 Studios Throughout the Middle Ages and through the Protestant Reformation Mary’s association with promiscuity transformed her in the popular imagination into a woman as beautiful as she was libidinous; extravagantly wealthy but only useful to Jesus once she brought her ravenous sexual appetite in check it proved convenient for patriarchal religious societies that found shaming sex an effective tool for keeping women in check.  as New Testament scholar Bart Ehrman has argued “the founder of Christianity,” but also the quintessential Christian woman — a disciple who was mistreated and misunderstood because she was a woman in a community largely led by men “I think being a woman in this industry has been so difficult for so long,” she says referring to a career where she’s regularly experienced “a certain dismissiveness a certain silent request that you be seen and honored A request that you be seen and not heard.” Tabish notes that the cast and crew of The Chosen have a broad and diverse range of beliefs created a small online stir when he appeared on right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson’s show in March There was another minor controversy in 2023 when show creator Dallas Jenkins assured fans that he believes “in a biblical viewpoint of sexuality” — a way of assuaging conservative fans’ concerns after a gay pride flag was spotted on set “I’ve been quietly just okay with men speaking for me and being the leaders and voices of the show When I got to a point where when someone is representing just themselves — but accidentally representing the show — and it doesn’t align with me it’s a hard thing to just speak up and say that’s for you and this is for me and that’s okay.” That’s the impulse that got Tabish to have the confidence to speak more publicly about her beliefs “And these are the things I want to say and to share the female experience and to share at least my experience Tabish is gearing up to film The Chosen’s sixth season which will finally see its central figure crucified This sets the stage for Mary’s own meeting with Jesus at the empty tomb an event Tabish says is her favorite story from the life of Jesus Her other favorite is the story of the woman caught in adultery from which we get Jesus’ command to let those without sin cast the first stone.  that is this message and lesson that I constantly return to: not judging people,” she says “You focus on fixing yourself before you go around trying to fix everyone else Tyler Huckabee is the managing editor of sojo.net Got something to say about what you're reading Robert Eggers' update of the vampire classic is a darkly apt companion piece for a season of limbo between death and resurrection A recent book tries to make the case that empathy is leading Christians astray What it really reveals is a fear of losing power "The very act of her getting up and pressing and pushing to her rightful healing is an act of resistance." Vanessa Martinez Soltero is an activist bridging her Christian faith and Indigenous traditions to sustain herself and community A National Day of Prayer appeal to Christian values failed to buoy Trump's approval rates Those of us who have met Trump's first 100 days with lament and anger are neither alone nor powerless the Christian Century has published reporting and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society Contact Us   Privacy Policy Have things changed for women since the time of Mary Magdalene some of us felt a flicker of hope when the Me Too movement appeared I wondered if it might become a tipping point women’s experiences and lives would be foregrounded While I stand in awe at the persistence and courage of Gisèle Pelicot her horrific experiences are a token of cultural modes that continue to treat women as second-class Peter and John insist on seeing what Mary has reported for themselves (vv In Luke’s version—in which other women join her in delivering the news—the lack of trust in female testimony is seen even more sharply: their “words seemed to [the disciples] an idle tale and they did not believe them” (Luke 24:11) We would love to hear from you. Let us know what you think about this article by writing a letter to the editors by Katherine A. Shaner and essays on the role of faith in a pluralistic society.      Contact Us  Privacy Policy let us look at MagdaleneThe Repentant Magdalen by Georges de La Tour (1593–1652) One of the most challenging essays every year is the one I write for Easter Sunday The topic that naturally suggests itself is the theme of new life but what does it really mean to behold afresh a vision of life renewed the fear of stepping into unknown potential even though I deeply feel a connection to the destiny God has placed within me that future is still very much being birthed and halting progress in my interior life that encourage me to persist but I don’t yet know precisely how to describe what I will one day become (or even if I’ll ever figure it out) Grace is a reality that exceeds our imagination so while I can gesture towards what a resurrected life might be like Recently, I was reading an essay by Amelia McKee on her wonderful substack about art in which she highlights the work of the French artist Georges de La Tour if we’re trying to gain new insight into the meaning of Easter we would do well to take a moment and attempt to look through her eyes (as La Tour is doing) She was the very first person to encounter the resurrected Christ The Magdalene has a famously checkered past Forgiven of grave sins (or at least the sort of sins we consider worse than others although I’m not so sure my own more socially acceptable sins are any less problematic) she was the one who anticipated the death of Christ and anointed his feet with costly perfume She is one of the few to remain at the Cross until the bitter end The disciples fled in the days after the Crucifixion and confusedly huddled together in a locked room Her faithfulness is rewarded with a grand revelation she had been set free from her past and promised a new life that new life was incarnate and standing right there before her at the mouth of an empty tomb he gently removes himself from her grasp (she may have held on forever) The new life he incarnates is too powerful so he departs into the greater glory of heaven I can’t help but empathize with the Magdalene The glory she witnesses is departing even as it arrives and she cannot follow Easter is celebration and grief mixed up into one big heartbreaking event The beauty and love of this world is but an icon of eternity and I try so hard to grab tight and hold on This is the situation La Tour depicts in his paintings she is alone in her room staring at a small flame On the desk are objects that represent continuing repentance The light came and went (I imagine the painting to be post-Easter) The new life she’d hoped for was different than anticipated Maybe she’s wondering if she somehow caused the disaster It’s an image of what remains after our illusions are stripped away When this disillusionment strikes me because I’ve thought I can simply try harder see the entirety of the glory of God right away I protest that I need to give myself some space and maybe get into a more comfortable zone and indulge in some mindless entertainment for a while we do need to understand that the new life we’re striving for is the work of a lifetime Mary Magdalene is still contemplating the flame This is why she is one of the greatest of the saints La Tour depicts the flame doubled in a mirror as it indicates a conflagration from the other world made present within ours It turns out that the glory of new life - the people we’re trying to become and the grace that’s transforming us – is both more and less than we’d supposed The reason I find Easter a difficult topic upon which to reflect is because We’ve built ourselves up for a life-changing experience but it slips from our embrace We’re left trying to figure out exactly what has gone wrong we’ve made the glory of the new life too small We thought we’d get it right away as if we’re somehow prepared when The glory of our destiny is actually much more than we’d supposed The good news is that we’re given a lifetime to chase that glory over the horizon It represents an interior fire kindling in her heart a living flame of love that will grow and grow La Tour’s paintings contain the glory of Easter a reality that is complicated and transforming and sometimes completely confusing At one moment we’re bathed in blinding light and in another are pushing through darkness but the reality is that the glory is always there maintain the courage to light a candle and tirelessly seek out the divine embrace once again Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news We have the address for the funeral home & the family on file If you're not happy with your card we'll send a replacement or refund your money Mary Magdalene Jones, 94, of Chattanooga, passed away Monday, January 27, 2025, in a local health care facility. MaDea, a beloved nickname rooted in the sweet expression "Mother Dear," was a woman of quiet strength and boundless kindness, a... View Obituary & Service Information The family of Mary Magdalene Jones created this Life Tributes page to make it easy to share your memories Available by phone 24/7 (423) 622-8152 Copyright © 2025 Taylor Funeral Home of Chattanooga « Back Please select what you would like included for printing: Copy the text below and then paste that into your favorite email application passed away peacefully at Stillwater Hospice in Fort Wayne 1939 to Frank and Hulda (Jackson) Gibson in Paintsville Magdalene dedicated her professional life to Zimmer retiring in 1997 after many years of service Her commitment to education and the well-being of children led her to volunteer at Claypool Elementary School for numerous years where she made a positive impact on many young lives She had a vibrant personality full of joy and enthusiasm Magdalene enjoyed shopping and was an avid fan of game shows Her love for social gatherings was evident in the joy she found in dining out with her friends from Zimmer she was a faithful member of Silver Lake Wesleyan Church and shared her home with her beloved cats Curtis (Robin Blankenship) Harris of Silver Lake She also leaves behind a host of nieces and nephews Preceding her in death were her beloved husband A visitation will be held in her honor at Titus Funeral Home & Cremation Services followed by a funeral service starting at 1:00 PM with Pastor Glenn Hall officiating Burial will follow at Akron Cemetery in Akron Donations may be given to the Kosciusko Animal Welfare League Enter your phone number above to have directions sent via text This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors Many have said that they were the same person new studies have finally figured this issue out And what impact have they had on the Church’s calendar and it was even more common in first century Judaism More than one out of every five women were named Mary at the time and this has led to confusion about some of the Marys mentioned in the Bible Like Mary Magdalen and her relationship—or lack of one—to Martha and Lazarus be sure and hit the bell notification so that you always get notified when I have a new video You can also help us keep making this podcast—and get early access to new episodes—by going to Patreon.com/JimmyAkinPodcast the Holy See announced that a memorial for the Bethany family—Mary and Lazarus—was being added to the General Roman Calendar the General Roman Calendar is the international liturgical calendar used in the Latin Catholic Church and it is the basis of the particular calendars used in different countries a memorial is a liturgical commemoration ranking below a solemnity and a feast but above an optional memorial Given the prominence of the Bethany family in the Gospels—they are mentioned as friends of Jesus in both Luke and John—it may come as a bit of a surprise that they didn’t already have a place on the calendar The decree announcing the new memorial explains that the reason why the Bethany family didn’t already have a spot on the calendar is because there had previously been some uncertainty about how three women in the Bible should be identified The traditional uncertainty of the Latin Church about the identity of Mary—the Magdalene to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection [and] the sinner whose sins the Lord had forgiven—which resulted in the inclusion of Martha alone on 29 July in the Roman Calendar has been resolved in recent studies and times as attested by the current Roman Martyrology which also commemorates Mary and Lazarus on that day there has historically been a question of whether these three figures are actually one person The reason this would cause a problem for giving the Bethany family a common slot on the calendar is that Mary Magdalene already had one Mary Magdalene is mentioned in all four Gospels as one of the witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection it would be odd to have a second liturgical day dedicated to Mary since Mary would be appearing on the calendar twice in the past Martha alone had a day on the liturgical calendar in the current edition of the Roman Martyrology—that’s the Latin Church’s official list of saints and martyrs—Mary and Lazarus are also now commemorated on that same day which is not the same thing as the General Roman Calendar What the new decree did was help the calendar catch up with the martyrology Why has there been a question about the identities of the three women Part of the reason is that the sinful woman that Luke mentions wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair in chapter 7 of his Gospel is unnamed (Luke 7:36-50) John says that Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus wiped Jesus’ feet with her hair (John 11:2) and that could mean that they are the same person because in the very next chapter—when John tells us the story of Mary wiping Jesus’ feet with her hair (John 12:3)—he does not say she was a sinner Luke also mentions the sinful woman weeping over Jesus’ feet since Luke does mention Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus—that’s in chapter 10 of his Gospel (Luke 10:39) which comes after chapter 7—you’d think that he’d mention her by name if she was the sinful woman Luke presents the hair wiping incident occurring at a very different point in Jesus’ ministry it’s early on—in chapter 7—long before Jesus arrives in Jerusalem for Passion week Mary wipes Jesus’ feet with her hair the day before the Triumphal Entry that begins Passion week That could be because the Evangelists aren’t required to keep events in a strict chronological order but it also could be that two different women performed similar actions to honor Jesus The identity of the sinful woman has not been the key obstacle to giving the Bethany family a spot on the calendar it’s been the question of whether Mary Magdalene and Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus are the same person multiple women named “Mary” in the New Testament more than one in five Jewish women in first century Palestine were named Mary You can see chapter 4 of Richard Bauckham’s outstanding book Jesus and the Eyewitnesses for more on that people in the first century Jewish community needed ways to tell them apart since they didn’t have last names like we do One of the most common ways of telling one person from another was to use a patronym—that is to call them by a name that reflected the name of their father Patronyms are still used in many countries today let’s suppose that there are a pair of Icelandic children named Jon and Anna Jon—as Stefan’s son—would then be Jon Stefansson and Anna—as Stefan’s daughter—would be Anna Stefansdottir or “Simon the son of John.” Bar is just the Aramaic word for “son,” and calling him Simon the son of John would distinguish him from other Simons since most of their fathers wouldn’t also be named John you might refer to them by a different relative—say Peter’s brother can be referred to as Andrew the brother of Simon (Mark 1:16) he is referred to as the son of Mary (Mark 6:3) you might refer to them by the names of their husbands Luke refers to Joanna the wife of Chuza (Luke 8:3) and John refers to Mary the wife of Clopas (John 19:25) But what do you do if you aren’t acquainted with a person’s relatives they were probably from somewhere else—since you’d know everybody in your own village—and so you could use their place of origin as a substitute This is why Jesus is known as Jesus of Nazareth and so they used the town in which he grew up they wouldn’t have called him this and would have used his family to identify him instead This gives us the information we need to figure out the puzzle of the Marys Both Luke and John refer to one of the Marys as the sister of Martha and John adds that she was the sister of Lazarus also They thus follow the standard naming conventions of the time Modern scholars often refer to them as the Bethany family Bethany is a small village just outside Jerusalem on the southeastern slope of the Mount of Olives And this was their stable place of residence John introduces Lazarus by referring to him as Lazarus of Bethany (John 11:1) and he follows up by saying Bethany was the village of Mary and her sister Martha (John 11:1) they were all identified with Bethany in Judaea If you were from somewhere else and knew only one of the siblings you would have used “of Bethany” as their identifier modern scholars often refer to Mary as Mary of Bethany to avoid the lengthier phrase Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus when Luke and John refer to another of the Marys as Mary Magdalene They already have a way of referring to the Mary who was related to Martha and Lazarus They’ve already introduced her to their audience using the sibling-identifier and so they would be misleading their audience if they suddenly switched the identifier to something else and didn’t mention to their readers that they’re still talking about the same person Magdala was a major fishing port on the Sea of Galilee way far away from Bethany down by Jerusalem Despite earlier identifications of Mary Magdalene with Mary of Bethany This has become clear—as the Dicastery for Divine Worship notes—“in recent studies” that have carefully examined the way first century Jewish names worked The growing awareness of the fact the two women are distinct resulted in giving the Bethany family a common day in the Roman Martyrology in giving them a common day on the General Calendar prove Jesus Christ survived his crucifixion and then raised a family with her in the South of France found dead under London's Blackfriars Bridge in 1982 apparently(Image: Getty Images)Though Calvi's death is commonly linked to financial scandal and Mafia ties "People have come forward suggesting that Calvi was about to reveal explosive information regarding the true history of Christ," Lee asserts "He allegedly had access to documents hidden deep within the Vatican – documents that would have shown Jesus did not die on the cross but escaped and lived with Mary Magdalene and their children it could bring the Church to its knees." Lee's latest cinematic venture, The Last Grail Hunter, is stirring up quite the buzz with its controversial themes and a star turn from EastEnders legend John Altman He was living it up in France(Image: Getty Images)‌Altman plays Johnny Calvi a character echoing the enigmatic Roberto Calvi who dives deep into ancient conspiracy theories entangling the Freemasons and the real deal behind the Holy Grail – hint: it's not just a cup but a symbol of a sacred lineage tracing back to Jesus and Mary Magdalene "People laughed at The Da Vinci Code," Lee remarks "but many of its concepts are rooted in long-standing theories supported by hidden codes in art – especially the works of Leonardo da Vinci There's a secret history encoded all around us "And I’m going to start an industry selling this guff that will last for 2,000 years The Last Grail Hunter will be released worldwide on June 20 For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters. Apr 14, 2025Elizabeth Tabish is reflecting on her experience with religion before starring as Mary Magdalene on The Chosen and I did not have great experiences with religion growing up," Tabish I started seeing more and more hypocrisy within churches … and it was really difficult to make sense of it all and I think I just really kind of cut off the concept of religion for a long time because of that." 🎬SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬  Tabish goes on to say that when she booked the role "It was like this reminder of who Jesus really is" and "what his teachings are really about." She also tells Parade that she "doesn't know how things got so convoluted and complicated" over the course of history noting that "looking back at who Jesus is She continues: "So it just reminded me of what his story truly is versus what Christianity and religion has become in modern society which has somehow become so politicized and so patriarchal I don't know how it got to that point but the beginnings of the roots of this belief system." Despite Tabish's past feelings on religion it's helped her figure out how to perfectly portray her character today "There's so much I want to say about spirituality and about what the show has inspired in me and what it's done in opening up the world for me and getting to reignite my passion for acting and the arts," she says "But every time I try to express that so I don't even know where to begin." The pilot episode of The Chosen was released in 2017 followed by the first season in 2019.  the entire Season 4 cast returned for the next installment of the series Part 1 (Episodes 1 and 2) premiered in select theaters on March 28, with Part 2 (Episodes 3 through 5) hitting theaters on April 4. Showings for Part 3 (Episodes 6 through 8) began on April 11.  Season 5 of The Chosen can be streamed in its entirety on Amazon Prime in June Log in to comment on videos and join in on the fun Watch the live stream of Fox News and full episodes Reduce eye strain and focus on the content that matters playing Mary Magdalene on “The Chosen” is both an honor and a privilege who also recently had roles in “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” and “The Shift,” is an actress and director whose filmmaking projects have centered around women Now she’s playing one of the most well-known women in human history Tabish said she looks at everyone around her that’s putting their sweat and tears into the project and then she feels a new emotion — gratitude “I’m so grateful to be a part of something that is affecting people so beautifully,” said Tabish She sat down with a group of reporters this fall while in Orlando to answer questions about what it has been like for her to play Mary Magdalene she said a number of people have shared that they feel seen and represented by her character and to be completely changed and transformed into a place of real hope and love.” It’s something that she said she tries to bring to character — recognizing that pain is part of the human experience and God can spin it into something that forges unity between people Tabish believes Mary Magdalene is a character many people relate to because she’s a “real and messy and nearly tragic figure” at first but her storyline transforms into something so joyous There’s a lot of speculation around her character Sometimes assumptions are made and Tabish said she enjoys playing a version of her character that is focused on her character’s portrayal in the Gospels Season 5 is just around the corner and Mary Magdalene is expected to have a strong role as Holy Week gets underway Tabish said her character grows more in Season 5 Her character’s determination and mission are something to watch for as the show continues to unfold While Tabish spoke about the impact of her characters on others she also said playing Mary Magdalene has changed her as well she said she was cynical about religion because she had lackluster experiences with both churches and sometimes people at church But Tabish said working on the show reminded her of who Jesus is and what he taught “It has changed my understanding of the gospel,” said Tabish there are more miracles and more healing than she had imagined The best thing Tabish said she could achieve in her portrayal is for women to look at her character and feel like they can relate “That’s kind of the best thing I could hope for as an actress in this industry.” Martin Company after nearly 40 years of service Rikard was a devoted member of Morris Chapel Southern Methodist Church where she served as a Sunday School teacher and the church Secretary and Treasurer for many years Rikard played and coached softball for many years Linda Rikard of Batesburg and Julie Rikard of Pomaria; a sister Virgil (Ann) Livingston of Pomaria; and a sister-in-law Funeral services will be conducted at 11:00AM 2025 at Morris Chapel Southern Methodist Church by the Rev The family will receive friends Monday from 5:00 until 7:00 PM at the McSwain-Evans Funeral Home Memorials may be made to Morris Chapel Southern Methodist Church Morris Chapel Southern Methodist Church Cemetery FAYETTEVILLE -- Magdalene Serenity House supporters celebrated the opening of Parks Place a home where women starting over can show they are ready for independence Finding an affordable place to live challenges those with clean records and solid credit histories in Northwest Arkansas said speakers at Tuesday's ceremony at the Sterling Bank in Fayetteville The problem is acute for those with felony backgrounds or no positive rental history Serenity House is a nonprofit corporation assisting women who have experienced trauma Parks Place offers living space for four women at a time who graduate from the two-year program at Serenity House The new home at 1029 Gregg Avenue is next door to Serenity House proving they can reliably keep their jobs and pay the $500 monthly rent Showing such a history will be a great help in getting a place of their own Henderson spoke to the crowd of at least 75 people attending Tuesday's celebration "These women come back from things that would have broken me," said Lowell Grisham a Serenity House board member who spoke at the ceremony David and Pam Parks of Prairie Grove made purchase of the house possible when the dwelling went up for sale in 2020 The Parkses were present at Tuesday's ceremony but declined to say how much their gift was toward the purchase "It wasn't such a hard decision to make," David Parks said Grisham said the couple were reluctant to have the home named after them "It took some arm twisting and telling them we couldn't pass up the Monopoly reference," he said Serenity House board Chairwoman Anne O'Leary-Kelly and other speakers thanked the city of Fayetteville Black Hills Energy and other contributors who helped pay for the extensive renovations to the dwelling She also praised the women who show the will to overcome their pasts "It's amazing to watch what determined women do," O'Leary-Kelly said Magdalene Serenity House was established in 2016 long-term support and community partnerships The group's residential program houses up to eight women for two years at no cost to them residents receive services to meet mental and physical health needs including counseling The program works in partnership with community resources Magdalene Serenity House website: atwww.lovehealsnwa.org Doug Thompson is a reporter with more than 40 years of experience including more than a quarter-century in Northwest Arkansas He covers state politics from a Northwest Arkansas perspective and issues of regional importance for the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette He previously served as a state Capitol reporter columnist and regional reporter for southwestern Arkansas This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Northwest Arkansas Newspapers LLC Material from the Associated Press is Copyright © 2025 audio and/or video material shall not be published rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium Neither these AP materials nor any portion thereof may be stored in a computer except for personal and noncommercial use The AP will not be held liable for any delays errors or omissions therefrom or in the transmission or delivery of all or any part thereof or for any damages arising from any of the foregoing went to her heavenly home Thursday at Cornerstone Personal Care Home daughter of Lester Adam and Sara Elizabeth (Bare) Glass She married Robert Leroy Nycum in August 1960 Surviving are her three children: Eugene Nycum of Jacksonville Va.; her three sisters: Coralie Ellis of Claysburg Louella Leedy of East Freedom and Judy Young of Montandon; a brother Bradie Glass of East Freedom; two grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews She was a 1957 graduate of Morrison Cove High School She was a personal care aide for the elderly for many years Mary enjoyed spending time at the Southern Blair Senior Center She also enjoyed the Glass Family Reunion hosted by her niece She was a positive influence on the younger generations and instilled the importance of family in others’ lives She enjoyed playing bingo and reading her Bible Friends will be received from 1 until the 4 p.m Arrangements are by Leslie-Miller Funeral Home Copyright © 2025 Central Pennsylvania Newspapers LLC | https://www.altoonamirror.com | 301 Cayuga Ave. “I am a pretty political person,” she says eyeing me: “Should I just admit what I am?” Publicly disclosing her personal politics comes with undeniable risk particularly at a moment of peak visibility the ultrapopular series on which Tabish is the female lead—we’re talking 280 million viewers across 175 different countries—debuts its fifth season But it’s a chance Tabish is willing to take “I’m a hardcore leftist,” she tells Vanity Fair I believe in healthcare and education for all I believe that America’s best quality is taking care of refugees I think those are deeply Christian values.” “There are a lot of very liberal Christians that feel like their religion has been held hostage by the right,” she says people just assume that you are on the right So a lot of leftist Christians are quiet about their beliefs but I have to say it: You look at what Jesus was teaching those who are excluded from society.” Tabish begins laughing caught up in the moment: “I’m just going to start promoting Bernie Sanders—those are qualities that I think need to be remembered in this country.” “It was season three where we started realizing how many people from so many different cultures are relating to these stories People that aren’t even of a faith are enjoying this series so much.” like placing one of Jesus’s disciples on the autism spectrum “It was season three where we started realizing how many people from so many different cultures are relating to these stories,” says Tabish “People that aren’t even of a faith are enjoying this series so much.” Earlier this year, Tabish was asked to promote the series alongside Roumie on a Fox News program “It’s a struggle not to speak up when I see people associated with our show having interviews or becoming close friends with politically specific characters in this world,” says Tabish “They are representing themselves—it’s their right to do that then people are going to assume that whoever is speaking supposedly on behalf of the show is speaking for all of us But it’s important to remember that they’re not.” Speaking out hasn’t always come naturally to the actor “It’s been my instinct to just stay quiet and to get along and be easy,” she says “Then you start looking around and realize all these men are speaking up for themselves They’re requesting what they need for a scene or a contract So she’s decided to leave sainthood to her TV counterpart “Good girl programming really does not age well It does not make for a strong woman,” says Tabish Tabish’s relationship with religion has always been complicated Born in Utah but raised in the Bible Belt of Oklahoma she spent her early years worshipping in the Maronite Catholic Church frequented by her father’s blended Armenian and Lebanese family Tabish noticed hypocrisy among the youth group leaders who preached “very harsh and fear-based instructions of how to not go to hell.” In small-town Oklahoma “religion felt like a social club—very exclusive and very judgmental,” she says The majority of kids are white and Christian There were few minorities who just weren’t ever really allowed in “The fans will not like that I love Eyes Wide Shut “It is a deeply feminist film: a man coming to terms with the fact that his wife is a person with her own internal reality.” Like Nicole Kidman’s disillusioned heroine Tabish has had her struggles with identity “I was just barely keeping my head above water,” she says like “Hot Woman” on an episode of NBC’s short-lived dystopian series Revolution or “Waitress” in Robert Rodriguez’s Alita: Battle Angel Tabish channeled her frustration into her own short films she had moved back in with her mother and was “self-medicating” during what Tabish refers to as a “depressive episode.” she was informed that she booked a commercial only to learn the next day that they had notified “the wrong Liz,” she says she asked her agent to stop submitting her for parts Tabish contemplated returning to school or pursuing behind-the-scenes work something like divine intervention struck: an audition for what was then a four-episode web series about Jesus “I hope this isn’t cheesy,” Tabish thought has been portrayed onscreen by the likes of Monica Bellucci (Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ) Barbara Hershey (Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ) Rooney Mara (Garth Davis’s Mary Magdalene) and Teyana Taylor (Jeymes Samuel’s The Book of Clarence) often as the tempestuous inverse of the Virgin Mary who experiences PTSD from sexual assault and struggles with alcoholism “I had not connected to a character like this ever,” says Tabish the emotional state that I was living in at that time lent itself to connecting to that character for the audition.” Vanessa Benavente as Mother Mary and Elizabeth Tabish as Mary Magdalene in The Chosen: The Last Supper.Photo courtesy of 5&2 Studios.As her acting career rebounded I have this renewed appreciation for who Jesus is and what he was actually teaching everyone—which is taking care of each other It’s also made me realize sometimes going to church and calling yourself Christian is a really easy thing to do But actually practicing what Jesus is teaching is very difficult.” After being saved by Jesus in The Chosen’s first season Mary backslides into temptation during the second telling Christ that she can’t live up to his redemption and then this next season there were all these emotional scenes I don’t think I’m good enough as an actress to carry this,” she recalls thinking ‘Just start with your heart.’ That bit of advice has stuck with me.” While playing a savior on TV, Roumie has met the Pope twice; the actor says he’s often asked to baptize then corrects herself with a laugh—“Jonathan has the most intense fan interactions.” But Tabish hears her fair share of testimony “A lot of women have shared their own personal stories of struggling with trauma and sexual assault and feeling seen by the way [Mary is] portrayed,” she says “Just because something traumatic has happened to you doesn’t mean that that’s what you have to focus on in your life Mary represents this opportunity to use it as a strength to recognize pain in others.” “There is a love for women in Jesus’s story that the show has done a commendable job of portraying.” Tabish tried to emulate Mary in her own life I kind of said whatever I thought they wanted to hear did whatever I thought they wanted me to do,” she says “And that’s a very strange way of dying spiritually and psychologically When you get to that bottom point where it feels as if you have died that’s when it was time to come back to myself and stop being so afraid of people not liking me.” the stars of The Chosen have made an implicit agreement to discuss religion “Your relationship with God is a sacred thing Sometimes it doesn’t feel right to talk about them in the context of a TV show that we’re promoting,” says Tabish Although that may come easier to some than others was sponsored by a prayer app endorsed by Chris Pratt and Mark Wahlberg “We’ve all had to learn together how to navigate this because some people are really comfortable talking about their faith but I don’t necessarily agree with certain things in organized religion because will they come after me with pitchforks and burn me at the stake The Chosen is largely fronted by a group of men But Tabish is quick to note the importance of women in actual scripture “You go back to the gospels and see the way Jesus treated women—he had such respect for and also trusted them in these really pivotal moments of his ministry and reminds everyone that they are not without sin,” she says she doesn’t mince words about the patriarchal structure of show business you can’t help but experience this imbalance and dismissiveness,” Tabish says It’s not up to men to necessarily fix that gap They’re probably not going to because they’re not thinking about that I don’t necessarily want to be equal to men—I want my own value And it’s up to us to set our own place at the table.” Elizabeth Tabish attends the Global Premiere of season 4 of The Chosen in London England.by Shane Anthony Sinclair/Getty Images.Is there a time that Tabish most felt the need to advocate for herself “I don’t know if I can really speak about it but it’s about scripts for the upcoming season six And the reaction was lovely and collaborative and pretty exciting to actually feel heard He came up with a brilliant idea to fix things.” She will continue to voice her role in an animated series and appear in the unscripted limited series The Chosen in the Wild With Bear Grylls Tabish is also writing multiple scripts and is in talks to direct one that centers on another Biblical female figure you think very pious and holy and saintly,” she says if there is a particular story that I resonate with that happens to be faith-based But I don’t think those are the only stories worth telling.” It all seems to be part of Tabish’s greater plan: “The more I create How Miriam Adelson Went From Big MAGA Winner to Casino Loser in Trump’s First 100 Days Trump’s Lies Are Finally Catching Up to Him The UK Has Found Another Reason to Be Mad at Meghan Markle “It’s About Him”: How Trump Is Perverting the Presidential Photo Stream The Ballad of Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson The Truth Underlying Pete Hegseth’s Job Security Why Are Americans So Obsessed With Protein How Sebastian Stan Became Hollywood’s Most Daring Shape-Shifter Every Quentin Tarantino Movie Meet Elon Musk’s 14 Children and Their Mothers (Whom We Know of) From the Archive: Sinatra and the Mob The Owensboro Times Paid Content By Paid Content St. Mary Magdalene Catholic Church Annual Truck Raffle Tickets $50.00 Win a GMC 2500 pickup (or same value towards any vehicle of winner’s choice) estimated MSRP up to $70,000.003000 tickets max sold. Choice of half pot or truck if over 2000 tickets sold (truck allowance of up to $70,000.00) You may purchase tickets via the attached link or visit the church office at 7232 St. Rt 56 Sorgho, KY 42301Office hours: 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. The drawing will take place March 4, 2025 7:30 p.m. in the church parish hall.License ORG0000141Winner responsible for tax, title, licensing and fees, including all state and federal taxes and fees. Privacy Policy Site by Tanner+West New Mexico to Felipe and Carolina Chavez (deceased) She is survived by her beloved husband James (Jim) Jamsay of 62 wonderful years Maggie was a graduate of Annunciation Catholic High School in Denver She began a very successful career after 30 years she retired as a high level manager at Mountain Bell Telephone Company & AT&T.  Maggie helped open the door for women joining the corporate world while encouraging females of all races to begin to break the glass ceiling She taught catechism at Sacred Heart Church which made a positive impact on the youth as well as the various roles within the church.  Her volunteerism was extremely diverse; she helped the seniors as well as people that needed a bit of help Maggie was bilingual which came in handy on a daily basis to assist those in need Her main goal was to make sure hundreds of people in need were fed a holiday meal and had gifts for their children during the holiday season and she succeeded Maggie held various positions with the American Cancer Society holding events to raise awareness and money for research She was so passionate for the cause that Maggie went to a local car dealer asking the dealership to donate a car for two years in a row She raffled off the cars and collected a great amount of money for Cancer research.  She and Jim have a home in the mountains where they would spend time with family enjoying the outdoors She loved to attend Coors Field to watch her Colorado Rockies She was very serious about the stats of each game She would bring a score book while she had her headset on listening for those extra details and we were not to bother her until the 7th inning stretch or any delays Maggie was most comfortable when she was surrounded by family and her best friend and loving husband Jim She was very specific about how she liked her coffee It was to be served HOT without cream or sugar plus cookies were a MUST Maggie will be missed dearly by everyone she touched!  A private committal service will be held for Maggie on Friday July 26 at 2:30 PM (Committal Shelter A) at Fort Logan National Cemetery we appreciate everyone's support during this time.  In lieu of flowers, please donate to Collier Hospice. How Mary Magdalene Changes in THE CHOSEN Season 5 Actress Elizabeth Tabish appreciates how “complicated” her character Mary Magdalene is as well as how the character has developed throughout the seasons of THE CHOSEN In an interview with Movieguide®, Tabish shared what drew her to this special character in the first place “I was really impressed with how complicated this character is and how messy she is,” she explained “It’s a historical figure and we see these saints usually depicted as just sort of these like untouchable and already ‘saintly.’ It was the first time I really saw who Mary was before Jesus healed her and as an actress I had been really frustrated with the sort of roles I was auditioning for or not auditioning for.” Tabish shared how she didn’t like the unrealistic portrayals of women in films and she felt that THE CHOSEN showed a more realistic view “[I] felt sort of just frustrated with the quality of like how realistic the depictions of women in general,” she said “When I read this, I was really excited about how they made her fully human fully messy um and also like just a fully dimensional person.”Related: Dallas Jenkins on THE CHOSEN Backlash: ‘We Let the Content Speak for Itself’ Mary has learned to take the focus off her own troubles and fix her eyes on Jesus she’s doing some things that are very different from what we’ve seen before,” Tabish explained “She’s finally like not thinking about her past or herself in any way She’s completely focused on a mission to help Jesus and so that’s exciting to be able to have new types of scenes written for Mary challenges.” Movieguide® previously reported on Tabish’s character in the upcoming season 5: “Elizabeth Tabish believes that season 5 of THE CHOSEN is going to show a new side to her character. ‘It’s been an empowering thing because usually a woman that has gone through that sort of trauma doesn’t always have a happy ending,’ she told YouTuber Ruslan of her character Mary Magdalene ‘and I can’t imagine a happier ending than being the first person to witness Jesus resurrected so I just I think hers is such a joyful story and it’s a privilege to get to play her.’ Regarding the season ‘Everything’s just ramped up…like the stakes are so much higher The very first episode Mary really hears what Jesus is saying and is really starting to put pieces together of this puzzle and realizes that He is not making a metaphor; He is going to die I think she starts a grieving process in this season that is sort of preparing her to stay at the cross.’” Read Next: We are only able to make a difference because of your generous support Help host the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly\u2014Sign up to volunteer today What if Christianity held a story of love more radical than we’ve ever imagined A gospel that invites us not to shame but to wholeness Spirit in the Desert’s Spirited Book Club will explore exactly that through Mary Magdalene Revealed: The First Apostle Her Feminist Gospel & The Christianity We Haven’t Tried Yet by Meggan Watterson as ancient and authentic as any gospel in the Bible was hidden away in the Egyptian desert for centuries after an edict sought to destroy all copies we now have access to its message—a message that upends traditional teachings of sin and shame and instead calls us to embrace our full humanity as “true human beings.” the discussion will explore how Mary’s gospel teaches us to turn inward If you’ve ever wondered about the spirituality Christianity left behind—or longed for a deeper more inclusive faith—this is an opportunity to engage with an ancient but profoundly relevant text The Spirited Book Club will meet virtually on Thursday offering space for deep reflection and dialogue 🔗 Register and learn more: Spirit in the Desert Retreat Center BlogFind a ChurchNavajo Lutheran MissionWomen of the GCS Greater ELCAWomen of the ELCALutheran Men in MissionGlobal Engagement ContactEmail: office@gcsynod.orgPhone: 602-957-3223 Grand Canyon Synod Office1819 East Morten Avenue Sexual Misconduct Policy Bishops' Conference of England and Wales Magdalene Lee reflects on racial justice and her hopeful journey navigating different cultures and traditions Magdalene Lee works as the Director of Mission for St Patrick’s Catholic Church in Soho Magda has spent time living and working around the world from Hong Kong and Shanghai to Cambridge and New York and I currently work as the Mission Director for St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Soho My understanding of racial justice has developed and deepened through a range of experiences living and working across the world from Hong Kong and Shanghai to the Middle East and London Seeing the fruits of providence in the enduring value of cultural traditions and customs across different times and places has given me great hope in the possibility of fruitful integration that both honours one’s cultural inheritance and creates space for new connections.  I was born and raised in Hong Kong before moving to Shanghai at the age of 10 I migrated to London to embark on university studies in art history and curating I found a warm welcome at St Patrick’s church in Soho which was home to both a Chinese ethnic chaplaincy and a school of evangelisation The chaplaincy provided a sense of home and cultural familiarity in a new place while the school of evangelisation helped me to grow my faith and explore the desire to spread my faith in a new environment From my time living in quite an international community in Shanghai I had been influenced by strong examples of Catholic women leading full lives of faith and I was grateful to the communities at St Patrick’s for facilitating these aspects of my new life in London.  and the possibility of having multiple different identities was really revealed to me through my work after university for a small Cambridge-based charity supporting Christian minorities in the Middle East during the rise of ISIS terrorism I worked as a project manager to support local Christian communities (Coptic etc.)  to preserve and protect their cultural heritage at a time of conflict and destruction I experienced for the first time the diversity and true catholicity of Christianity I learned more about the possibility of holding multiple identities at once; being both Christian and belonging to a particular cultural tradition with its own unique history and heritage Identity should be a both/and embrace of our unique backgrounds Central to my experience of racial justice and integration has been a great love of the English Catholic church and history particularly a devotion to the English martyrs When spending some time working in Hong Kong a few years ago I came to know a charity connected to the Catholic secondary school Ampleforth College which supports Hong Kongese families with children studying at Ampleforth I learned more about Benedictine spirituality This sense of a suffering Church and the sacrifices of a Christian community facing persecution really spoke to me particularly given my experiences supporting threatened Christian minorities in the Middle East and the history of Christian persecution in China my own racial and cultural background helped to create space for new and fruitful connections with English Catholic culture seeing both the similarities and the differences in the historical experiences of both communities I would like to highlight the important role that chaplaincies and evangelisation missions can play in fostering racial justice chaplaincies can be effective landing zones for those arriving in England and Wales providing a familiar space to support the introduction and integration to a new place evangelisation missions offer an opportunity for those from different places to share in the life of the local Church and make new connections between their past and the present chaplaincies can run the risk of becoming too insular and isolated from the surrounding community and I would strongly encourage in the Jubilee Year theme of ‘Pilgrims of Hope’ that all members of the Catholic community in England and Wales keep and foster that sense of mission and evangelisation Father Valentine Erhahon reflects on what Racial Justice brings to his parish A personal reflection on how we can be agents of change Cornelius Ndubuisi a reflection of past experiences and what racial justice means to me today   A reflection on the welcome extended to Ukrainians fleeing to the UK after the full-scale invasion An advocate for racial justice and a Permanent Deacon for the Archdiocese of Southwark This site is maintained by the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales what3words.com/leader.nodded.tiger You can sign-up to receive regular newsletters from the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales Mary Magdalene “Maggie” Daugherty age 80 of Caryville entered into the presence of her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Saturday November 30 Maggie was a member of Central Baptist Church Maggie enjoyed being with her family and friends and entertaining her “Grandkids” She was a social butterfly that never met a stranger Hope and Conversion: The Teaching of Mary Magdalene at the Jubilee Audience Pope Francis invites us to refocus our lives and discover our mission Pope Francis offered a profound catechesis on hope and conversion the Holy Father explained that to hope is not just to wait passively The Pope used the figure of Mary Magdalene as an example of authentic conversion He recalled how she went from a life of darkness to becoming the first witness of the Resurrection of Christ “Mary Magdalene teaches us that the encounter with Jesus changes the heart and reorients existence,” said the Pontiff This transformation was not simply an external change but a true inner renewal The Pope explained that Christian hope does not consist in waiting for things to change on their own but in being willing to change our lives and aligning ourselves with God’s dreams The Holy Father invited the faithful to ask themselves if they are open to this conversion To discover what mission God has entrusted to me?” were some of the questions he posed Each person has a unique role in the history of salvation and the Jubilee 2025 is an opportunity to rediscover it The Pope encouraged everyone to allow themselves to be transformed by divine mercy and to be witnesses of hope in their surroundings Francis’ message resonates like a call to the heart of every believer: conversion is not a one-off act but a continuous journey of encounter with Christ we can learn to see life with new eyes and discover our mission in the world Pope Francis to young couples in an unpublished text: believe in the “joy of love” Cardinal Parolin at the Novendalia Mass: “Mercy leads us to the heart of faith” Pope Francis’ Tomb in Santa Maria Maggiore Tweets by Pontifex Small Things Like These (opening film of the 2024 Berlin Film Festival) is based on the novel of the same name by Claire Keegan and deals with the painful story of the Magdalene Laundries which were Irish religious institutions run by nuns where girls considered “immoral” were locked away and consequently the screenwriter Enda Walsh decide not to tell the story through the experiences of the victim (as many other films and TV series on the same topic have done) but rather through the eyes of a family man one of which is destined for the convent of the nuns He enters the building to deliver the invoice and here he meets a girl who desperately asks him to take her away from there it will be during his last delivery before Christmas that Bill will find he realizes that within the Convent of the Good Shepherd Challenge the code of silence that prevails in the village and rebel against the Catholic Church (which is itself protected by the Irish state) with all the economic and family consequences or turn a blind eye and look the other way the cast chosen by Tim Mielants also features the extraordinary Emily Watson in the role of the strict and powerful Sister Mary to dissuade Bill from his attempt to help the young women escape from the convent Small Things Like These is a film that delves into the depths of our daily choices which seem small in the face of the evil and horrors we see and know Murphy returns to his beloved Ireland to try to heal a wound that is still open on the island and delivers a performance with a delicate without ever having the courage to go against things...?” manages to convey a universal message and reveal a devastating relevance almost emphasizing that sometimes a courageous act can change our existence and that of others by Patrizia Rossi National Delegate of the Salesian Youth Cinemas and Socio-Cultural Circles L'Osservatore Romano00120 Vatican City.All rights reserved Executive Director Jodi Mason says that the Magdalene Project has a warming shelter open at the Knights of Columbus Hall It is a 24/7 shelter with three hot meals and will be open until noon on Sunday A key point is that this is for anyone without heat (ie: utilities are off), not just those that are unhoused.  They are also looking for more 6-hour shift volunteers.  The link to sign up to volunteer is: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0B48A5A62 Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed Small Things Like These is a novella by Claire Keegan that centers around Bill Furlong an Irish coal merchant who discovers exploitation at a local convent The story is based on the real-life history of the Magdalene Laundries workhouses where Irish girls and women were forced into unpaid labor we revisit a conversation between Keegan and Here & Now's Deborah Becker They discuss the author's interest in the novella form and why she chose to write a women-centered story with a male protagonist To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday Become an NPR sponsor she was the daughter of the late Quentin Floyd Sneed and Laura Ghaston Dyer Sneed.  Frances dedicated her career to General Electric where she exemplified a work ethic that mirrored her goal-oriented personality Her commitment extended beyond her professional life as she held her family at the core of her being loving them dearly and nurturing their bonds with great care Frances was an active member of Piper's Chapel Missionary Baptist Church where she connected with friends and neighbors She also found joy in the beauty of the outdoors creating serene spaces that mirrored her nurturing spirit she was preceded in death by her husband Chester "Wayne" Dean and her sister Betty Jo Mars Michael (Jennifer) Brummett; her great-grandchildren and Emily; and her great great granddaughter Olivia Binkley These family members will carry forward her legacy of love A graveside service to honor Frances will be held on Tuesday at 11:00 AM at Sumner Memorial Gardens in Gallatin This gathering will provide an opportunity for family and friends to come together and celebrate the life of a remarkable woman who touched the hearts of many Frances will be remembered not only for her steadfast devotion to her family but also for the warmth she brought into the lives of those she encountered Her spirit will undoubtedly live on in the many lives she influenced and cherished This document may not be reprinted without the express written permission of Chattanooga Times Free Press own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment Trinity College Dublin provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK View all partners delivered a formal apology to the survivors of the Magdalene laundries The laundries were religious institutions where unmarried mothers and other “fallen” women were forced into slave labour “It struck me,” he said “that for generations Ireland had created a particular portrait of itself as a good living God-fearing nation Through this and other reports we know this flattering self-portrait to be fictitious … by any standards it was a cruel pitiless Ireland distinctly lacking in a quality of mercy.” His words might well serve as a prologue to the new film adaptation of Claire Keegan’s 2020 novella, Small Things Like These. So too might a brief moment in the equally excoriating, if less nuanced film, The Magdalene Sisters (2002) one of the young women begs a local delivery boy to help her escape History films work in various ways. One is to comfort the viewer that such a time is consigned to the past. Melodramas like The Magdalene Sisters and that other notable Magdalene story, Philomena (2013) find a form of closure when their victims confront their oppressors to force us to imagine what might happen in the lives of the protagonists after the final credits have rolled who finds himself inexplicably troubled as he is finishing off his delivery business in the days before Christmas 1985 where his five daughters quarrel amicably around the kitchen table as they do their homework under the eye of his wife The discovery sets off his own memories of being brought up by a single mother The film confronts kindly Bill with a dilemma: to shut his eyes knows that the stooped coal-man standing uneasily in her office is no match for her the future education of his younger daughters in the school adjacent to the convent is not guaranteed even as she doesn’t fully understand what is going through his head is horrified by the merest suggestion that he will disrupt the status quo this advice might prompt the viewer to further empathise with Bill the suffocating moral blanket that lies over the city – visually rendered as a thick fog that merges into a drizzle and occasional snow constricting streets through which he moves – remind us that nonconformity comes with a heavy price The community may pile into the church for Christmas mass but there is no point in helping the starving child he meets on the road with the spare coins from his pocket – his father will only drink the money What small closure comes at the film’s end is fragile and contingent Another risk of telling stories from history is to sacrifice the particular for the universal through its visuals and its achingly believable performances (Murphy’s most of all) to be a film rooted in the Ireland that Kenny evoked in his speech it prompts us to question the limits of compassion – how much easier is it to conform to social norms than step outside them The film ends fittingly with a tribute to the more than 56,000 young women who were sent to Magdalene institutions for “penance and rehabilitation” between the years 1922 and 1996 It is not history’s job to impose lessons on the present it would be inadequate for viewers not to ask what we would have done in Bill’s place faced with the knowledge of the multiple injustices of our own society Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. Sign up here Elizabeth Tabish is sharing all about the story of her character, Mary Magdalene, on THE CHOSEN “My name is Elizabeth Tabish,” the actress began in a video on THE CHOSEN’s YouTube channel on Mar She is one of Jesus’s followers and disciples; I mean not officially a disciple but she is… ” “One of the opening scenes is her waking up from a dream of her father when she was a child Wakes up from that dream with blood on her hands as this man is running through town screaming that she has demons in her,” she explained Mary Magdalene is literally fighting her demons before she meets Jesus and she drinks herself senseless,” Tabish explained “Jesus meets her at this bar and follows her outside and repeats the prayer that her father taught her and calls her by her name which is the first time we have audiences get to hear Mary of Magdelene it sets her off on…following Jesus ,and in that time span showcases a really realistic depiction of what growth really looks like Not simple…She’s triggered sometimes,” Tabish said she even relapses and talks to Jesus deeply about her struggles admits this thing that I connected to so much ‘I’m not good enough and how do I repay you And I threw it all away,’ and of course He jokes that like then it’s not much of a redemption,” she said SEE MORE: THE CHOSEN CAST INVITES YOU TO THE 32ND ANNUAL MOVIEGUIDE AWARDS! “I know that feeling,” Tabish shared late last year and to be completely changed and transformed into a place of real hope and love.” A turning point for Tabish’s character is when she finally becomes vulnerable with Tamar “There are tensions building between Mary and Tamar for like a season or two Mary has struggled so much in her pain that she’s almost been unable to recognize pain in Tamar These tensions just build and build until like they almost can’t even talk.” it allows Tamar to share her own and that is when Mary does say to her I judged your strengths against my weaknesses.’ Tamar even says… ‘Jesus forgave you That interaction is a “pivotal moment” in the show “We see her over time without much fanfare,” Tabish said “just like slowly dropping that shame and those fears and her past the more she starts focusing on the people around her and those who need her and those who need her advice or her insight to what’s going on because she’s gone through so much.” and also to darkness and knowing that life is bittersweet and those bitter moments…they’re going to be there but aren’t we lucky now that we also have the light?” she finished The thing Tabish loves most about playing the character is Magdalene’s deep devotion to Christ “The thing that I keep returning to every time I get to play [Mary Magdalene], is just this deep, deep love for Jesus,” she told Catholic Weekly “Being there for him [supporting his ministry] and being there for him at the end as he is crucified and then resurrected and overwhelming that I can hardly process it.” “In my own faith and my own connection to her it’s been very touching and sort of a sacred experience to be able to portray someone who was so close to Jesus and loved him so much.” THE CHOSEN has won several Movieguide® Teddy Bear Awards® for its inspiring and faith-filled content THE CHOSEN Season 5 Episodes 1 and 2 will premiere in theaters on Mar. 28 READ MORE: THE CHOSEN ACTOR DETAILS HIS CHARACTER’S ‘REAL GROWTH’ IN SEASON 5 Her vessels are often inspired by people’s gestures in the supermarket – and have sold for six-figure sums why she hated making ads – and the spiritual significance of cooking pots and she showed at this year’s Venice Biennale Her work set a new record price for a living ceramicist when one of her vessels sold for £200,000 in 2020 If Odundo’s professional life is at a high her personal life has been difficult in recent months but adds with a laugh: “I’m still standing – just about.” Her mobility has been affected and she thinks it will be another few months before she can get back to her clay “Not very well,” she says with a smile – we’re talking over Zoom Exquisite … Odundo’s current exhibition Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane GalleryOdundo’s work is physical the dialogue you have while you’re making – it’s very difficult to replace,” she says sit out and enjoy the shapes in the sky and the forms of trees and things like that But until I transfer that energy into my material one doctor said that her desperation to get back to work will probably help her recovery “You mean start trampling on it and making ‘art’?” She laughs it didn’t work with me.” Of course not – Odundo’s work is too exquisite for such silliness “I’ve always wanted to do semi-political or a kind of civic her vessels look both organic and otherworldly Never have I wanted to touch an exhibition piece more Does the feel of the pieces change according to where they are and the body language – my work is very bodily orientated – changes a bit.” In museums “you’re coming across other associations and so there’s a comparative nature to settings like that.” In a solo show It’s like a dancer being left on stage to do their solo who was one of Odundo’s teachers] used to call things other people want and not what you have trained for I’ve taken the fact that I’ve been able to live off my work for all these years as an endorsement of my convictions and a testament of staying true to who you are.” A talent for drawing … sketches of works in progress Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane GalleryOdundo was born in Kenya “the schools were very oriented to apartheid and for most Africans there wasn’t an opportunity to be in well-endowed schools We were taught needlework because it was thought that we’d end up being housemaids “So it was a devastating time.” Looking back I think the most difficult bit was that we were separated because we couldn’t be kept together.” Odundo was sent to live with relatives in Mombasa one teacher realised Odundo had a talent for drawing “so she made me sit in the biology room on weekends to draw charts for her.” The nun would sometimes take her to galleries in Nairobi “I think it was to keep me out of trouble,” she says with a laugh Odundo’s art career started in design for advertising which she didn’t love: “You had to sell soap to poor people who couldn’t afford soap.” Moving to the UK in 1971 for a foundation course at the Cambridge School of Art Odundo discovered ceramics and found herself so engaged that she would lose all sense of time “They used to have to chuck me out of the studio.” She went on to study at what is now the University for the Creative Arts (later she would be a professor there for many years) studied traditional techniques in Nigeria and Kenya and did a master’s at the Royal College of Art Body-ness … Untitled Photograph: David Westwood/© Magdalene A.N Courtesy the artist and Thomas Dane Gallery.As a child she had been taught that art originating from her continent was “primitive” Things hadn’t changed that much in the 1980s and 90s Did she get the impression that people in the art world were trying to marginalise her work but I think it’s been impossible for them,” she says Much of her inspiration has come from her wide-ranging travels and influences her childhood not just in Kenya but in India too they instilled in us an expansiveness in our thinking and a spirituality that lends itself to a perception that we are part and parcel of humanity.” She has often talked about the importance of the interiors of her pots and how it is just as vital to her as the burnished lustre of their exteriors It’s that spirit that is of interest to me.” She enjoys the fact that her art connects her to millennia of humans who have made clay vessels “A cooking pot is there not just to contain nourishment People have always made beautiful pots to enhance that humanity People want to eat and cook from beautiful vessels meditation – are associated with the inner part of ourselves.” Odundo says she has a general idea of what a vessel will look like but foremost in mind is an idea of what “movement” she is aiming for “It might be somebody I saw in the supermarket holding a basket in a certain way and it’s that space that they create that I might want to shape.” Then it’s a relationship with the clay “and what I’m feeling at that particular time” that shapes the piece “where you can work it and rework it.” But ultimately “it’s that search of simplicity of form that dictates what I make.” and maybe that’s what allows me to continue making – because I know I haven’t finished that last piece.” Magdalene Odundo is at Thomas Dane Gallery, London SW1, until 14 December