March 14th, 2020
You may have realized that we were away for a few weeks. I am very grateful to the writers who contributed to this blog and encourage them and others to share their thoughts more frequently. Ellie and I love writing – but we are not the only voices that should be heard. We were on…
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March 10th, 2020
The following book review originally appeared in the Fall 2019 issue of New Women, New Church. Forty years ago, Theresa Kane stood up in the Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, DC, to greet Pope John Paul II on behalf of the sisters of the United States and spoke the truth in love,…
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March 7th, 2020
Marguerite Porete, 14th-century heretic and author of The Mirror of Simple Souls, lived a rather enigmatic life. Little is known about her except that she wrote a work that is dizzying in its refusal to abide by dualistic ways of knowing and that she was burned at the stake for it. She refused to speak…
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March 3rd, 2020
A couple of weeks ago, after Sunday liturgy, I attended a panel consisting of young women about their experiences, their needs and their hopes for the future of the church. These women ranged in age from early twenties to mid-forties. The one idea that has stuck with me is one woman’s call for Holy Impatience.…
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February 22nd, 2020
The recent papal letter “Querida Amazonia” has left many of us puzzled, disappointed and frustrated in varying degrees as we try to understand what this response – or lack of response – means in both the short and long term. Much has already been written about this and I don’t want to belabor the issue: …
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February 15th, 2020
Reading the first three dreams of Francis’s apostolic exhortation on the Amazonian Synod, I am inspired enough to be merciful when I read the fourth. Those of you who are more concerned for the future of the earth than you are for women’s ordination – and I know you are out there – will be…
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February 11th, 2020
Evocative or inspiring? Edgy or lofty? Both/And? These are sometimes tough choices to sort through for all of us who want to get our messages of equality, justice, fairness, and inclusion across. What will resonate and how? I struggle with this problem all of the time. I suspect you might, too. I found two examples…
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February 1st, 2020
Russ Petrus, in FutureChurch’s newsletter, draws our attention to the readings for this Sunday, the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. There’s an option: to leave out the widow and prophet Anna. She “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child,” as did Simeon, but only he is quoted in Luke 2:22-40. Why did…
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January 28th, 2020
You have probably heard of Brian D. McLaren, especially if you follow Richard Rohr’s postings. I had not. But as I started to read more of his writings and consider his ideas as a resource for envisioning a renewed, inclusive, vibrant Church, I found many (although not all) of his overall concepts intriguing and invigorating.…
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January 25th, 2020
Today is the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. Paul is a conflicting figure for many feminist women of faith because his letters have often been used to reinforce gender roles and stereotypes. Be that as it may, today I want to consider what Paul’s conversion story has to offer women fighting for ordination. …
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