Month: August 2019

I just turned down a ticket to attend the ordination of our next diocesan bishop.  Each parish was given two tickets for members of the laity along with a ticket for each clergy member. Twenty years ago, I would have been honored to be picked to attend such an event. Today, I couldn’t bring myself…
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I came across a piece I saved from the February 19, 2019 issue of NCR about the need for warmth, which, believe it or not, may be even more relevant now that it is summer rather than chilly mid-winter. In August, our warmth is easy to gain; just step outside. We become complacent about how…
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Looming over my August has been the letter Pope Francis wrote to priests on August 4. Apparently this is what he did on vacation. As the organization having its unique purpose to ordain women priests, WOC should know what the Pope is thinking about this role. Not that he’s thinking about women in it –…
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On vacation in northern Michigan (and I do promise this is the end of my musings on how-I-spent-my-summer-vacation!), I visited Mackinac Island. No way could there be anything there relevant to women’s ministry and leadership in the Catholic Church there, I thought. Oh, how wrong. The relevance is truly everywhere we go. Here is a…
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Marie Collins of Ireland will be the speaker for the third Tipping Point tour sponsored by Catholic Organizations for Renewal. Collins was a member of the Vatican’s Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors and resigned because – well, this is the quote used to publicize the tour: “Survivors will not be satisfied with more…
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I just don’t know how I feel about this. What do you think? On a recent vacation, I couldn’t resist visiting what is billed as “the largest crucifix in the world” in the national shrine of The Cross in the Woods in Indian River, Michigan. (And what did you do on your summer vacation? Not…
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After time off devoted to literature, family and friends, place – Maine, new furniture – how can I not mourn the passing of Toni Morrison? She wrote about everything. The Catholic press is debating whether she was a Catholic writer. Thursday, Carol Zimmerman, for Catholic News Service in NCR, summarizes: for those who have sought…
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[Editors’ note: Josefina Gabuya is a 2018 awardee of the Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship for Women Discerning Priestly Ordination. This is the last in a series of reflections from our 2018 awardees on how the scholarship impacted their journey over the academic year. Read the first reflection, from Allison Connelly, here, and the second from MaryClare…
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[Editors’ note: A version of this article was first published on New Ways Ministry’s blog, Bondings 2.0, on July 22.] Last year, Pope Francis deemed July 22nd as a feast day for St. Mary Magdalene. But for years before his decree, advocates for women’s equality in the church have celebrated this “Apostle to the Apostles”…
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