Month: September 2018

First of all, I want you to support the effort by WOC to have women participants at the Synod on Youth have a vote. Does it surprise you that two lay religious congregation leaders of men will have a vote in the synod, but those of all the women will not? Sisters are laypeople, but…
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Recently, I have been so overwhelmed by the revelations about our church, I decided to focus on what kind of church I – and maybe you – might really want. Like many of you, however, I am just a layperson, and I know there are many who have more studied and wise ideas on the…
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I was struck by two questions about the political process in the above article by Kai Wright in The Nation (September 24/October 1, 2018): Are we prepared to end the minority rule that white men have wielded over the United States for hundreds of years? Are we ready to tear down the foundation upon which…
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I think you are going to love this. One of our members presented it at our annual Southeast Pennsylvania chapter of WOC full day retreat last week. It is a quote from the book, Holy Rascals, by Rabbi Rami Shapiro. (The book’s title alone enthralls me as does being able to quote such a wise…
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I need a break from the head-spinning chaos of the sex abuse scandal, so I’ve decided to write about something in the church that works: the Catholic Relief Services (CRS). It – and I – were born in the same year, 1943, so we are celebrating 75 years together. The odd name “Relief” relates to…
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September 11: Another anniversary of horror, of incomprehensible destruction and inconsolable loss felt around the world that day – and this day. Horror and destruction and loss which are still happening, as they did that day, and on this day. Somewhere. And then there are personal losses and griefs piled on: to remember, to suffer…
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  I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news of the Pennsylvania Grand Jury hearing, and I expect I will remember for quite some time. Twelve other young women and I had just concluded our initiation ceremony into the Loretto Volunteer Program, surrounded by the Sisters of Loretto at their Motherhouse on…
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I am a recent graduate from Loyola Marymount University, where I received a bachelor’s degree in Theology. I write as a theologian, a convert, a current Catholic volunteer and a concerned member of the Church. This past year I have watched the power of the #MeToo movement, started by Tarana Burke in 2006, create a space…
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Everybody in the church, it seems, is disgusted by clericalism and is blaming it for the sexual abuse and cover-up crisis. Think about it – if the clergy is not to be left to its own devices any more, who will act? Lay people. I’m not blaming lay Catholics for this crisis; too much deliberate…
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