Tag: catholic

September 27th, 2022

It Just Might Have Changed Everything

“What difference would it make?” Professor Emerita Ross S. Kraemer asked this question both before and after presenting her analysis of women’s authorship in Jewish and Christian literature in the Greco-Roman period (ca 400 BCE to 400 CE) on September 20 as part of FutureChurch’s Women Erased series. Since hard evidence supporting women’s authorship is…
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September 24th, 2022

Synod: USCCB Gathers Voices of the Church

Maybe you’ve seen this already, but read it again: There was a desire for stronger leadership, discernment, and decision-making roles for women – both lay and religious – in their parishes and communities: “people mentioned a variety of ways in which women could exercise leadership, including preaching and ordination as deacon or priest. Ordination for…
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September 20th, 2022

What Is The Matter with Us?

You know how you’re not supposed to discuss religion, politics, or sex if you want to have a peace-filled and conflict-free gathering among friends? Well, the other day, a group of us were talking about a book we had all read about modern Irish history which included as a predominant topic the collapse of the…
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September 17th, 2022

Synods Again! How Long, Oh God?

Do you say this to yourself when you see another blog from me about the Synod? I have to confess I think that myself. What you need to know is that Southeastern Pennsylvania Women’s Ordination Conference, myself included, has demonstrated for forty years outside the Cathedral. While we know that we have caused some people…
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September 13th, 2022

Thought Control? – Aha, Foiled Again!

Here are two books I would love to see taught in all middle schools but especially Catholic ones.Both (almost) made me want to start teaching again – even in middle school! One is called Attack of the Black Rectangles by Amy Sarig King. The menacing “black rectangles” of the title attack pre-teen’s schoolbooks, first encapsulating…
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April 16th, 2022

Limbo

This is not going to be what you expect. Holy Saturday is Limbo. It’s between the sorrow of Good Friday and the joy of Easter. Thereare no rituals except to prepare for tomorrow, or, nowadays, to pretend that 8 pm is reallymidnight. Limbo is more than not knowing. It is fearing and anticipation, wanting and…
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April 9th, 2022

Synod Questions and Answers

The blue suit said it all. When Sr. Nathalie Becquart addressed the vast audience gathered by New Ways Ministry, she wore a blue suit. Immediately, there was no clerical barrier confronting those who might be less receptive yet who had decided to participate. When she spoke to Global Sisters Report, she was more casually dressed,…
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April 5th, 2022

Walking with “The Walking Madonna”

We have just celebrated the feast of the Annunciation. A submissive Mary or a courageous Mary – depending on your take on the story or perhaps on women, themselves – has just said either: “Let it be done unto me” or “Yes”. Most of us, I hope, prefer the latter. In any case, Mary did…
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April 2nd, 2022

Three Valiant Women

There is only so much room in a single blog, so that’s why I am focusing on three women among the excellent articles that have arrived on my desk this week: Soline Humbert, Joan Chittister, and Christine Schenk. First, Soline Humbert. If you attended the wonderful WOW liturgy last Sunday and hung around for the…
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August 14th, 2018

The Deep, Healing Waters of Discernment

[Editors’ note: Sarah Holst is a 2017 awardee of the Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship for Women Discerning Priestly Ordination. This is the first of three in a series of reflections from our 2017 awardees on how the scholarship impacted their journey over the academic year.] There is a story in Revelations about a portent of…
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