August 13th, 2019
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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August 10th, 2019
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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July 20th, 2019
Since I’m writing this blog early this week, I am hoping that there are no news flashes that I wish I had covered. Instead, I am going back to two articles I have saved on women deacons. They came to mind because of articles in NCR about a talk by Ally Kateusz that looked for…
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July 6th, 2019
Hum this to “America the Beautiful.” It’s my favorite line from Miriam Therese Winter’s version of this classic: “Indigenous and immigrant, our daughters and our sons, O may we never rest content till all are truly one.” I am inspired to write about “indigenous” by the July page in the calendar of the National Museum…
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June 29th, 2019
Just thinking – what would happen if leadership Catholics, 10 at a time, were able to be on a national stage and asked hard questions that revealed what they are passionate about? How do we get our information about church issues that matter to us? The written word. NCR, America, Commonweal – all have podcasts,…
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June 25th, 2019
We talk about – or more often mourn the loss of – the gifts of women to our Church. Last week I wrote about an article touting women’s gifts as a resource to “save the world” and added, “and also the Church.” The reach and vision was universal. Now I’d like to focus on some…
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June 22nd, 2019
When Frank DeBernardo of New Ways Ministry and I first discussed expanding this blog to be more regular, we joked that not much is happening about women’s ordination – not like the many bishops leaping into the fray to condemn, fire, and otherwise attack LGBTQ people. Well, the latter has not abated and Bondings 2.0…
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June 18th, 2019
“Can Women Save the World?” an author of a recent New York Times article asked. Wow, I thought. I was just hoping they could save the Church! Tina Brown, founder of the Women in the World summit, former New Yorker editor-in-chief, and host of a podcast TBD, argues that “a new paradigm of female leadership…
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June 15th, 2019
“Sexism masquerading as theology” is what I’ve always said about the church’s position on women’s ordination, and I see no reason to modify my position based on the new document from the Vatican Congregation for Catholic Education, which presents itself as a “Path of Dialogue.” “Male and Female He Created Them” is a really useful…
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June 8th, 2019
The New York Times last Sunday featured “The Sisters Project” about the “Nuns and Nones,” previously reported on by the NCR. , I mention the latter only to give us some insight into what is considered news by the broader journalistic community. This project is so hopeful: young, self-identified non-religious people live in convents where…
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