Category: Uncategorized

So many people responded “what’s the big deal” to Pope Francis’ change to Canon Law allowing all laypeople to be acolytes and lectors that I am going to say it IS a big deal.  I’ve edited what I wrote to my grandson: “This is so important to me right now because it’s a chink in…
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Actually, it may be fewer than that today, more like six miles. I’m speaking of the distance to Bethlehem from Jerusalem. Even I could walk that distance if need be. And I think the time has come. In fact, it came a long time ago and has now become urgent.  When I visited pre-pandemic Bethlehem…
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Whenever I would go to meetings in DC, including the WOC Board, I would get a thrill seeing the Capitol dome, as I see it tonight. I remember being inside with a class I took to Washington near the end of my teaching career. We took photos and listened for echoes in statuary hall.  We…
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I remember chastising my children (and, at times, husband), “It’s not what you say; it’s how you say it,” of course in a tone of voice that completely nullified what I had just said forcing me to follow with, “And do as I say, not as I do!” (So humbling.) But the point of my…
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I suddenly realized that I haven’t written much about the rest of the world, even though I’ve tried not to write about the elections in the United States. They have absorbed my energy and my waking hours for several months. So, I will use two stories about women from foreign sources to bookend the story…
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This morning I am reading for and writing this blog in an unusual silence. There is no electricity in my building, so I hear the rain on my windows from no-longer fierce hurricane Zeta and the sloshing of the traffic in the street below. No radio. No mechanical or electronic hums. Just quiet. Somehow the…
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Did you notice the witnesses representing Women’s Ordination Worldwide outside the Amazon Synod last week wore not only purple for gender justice but green for environmental justice?  In fact, to emphasize how connected these two issues are, their banners and chants proclaimed: “Empowered Women will Save the Earth. Empowered Women will Save the Church.”  …
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October 14 was a significant day for Vatican-watchers, Catholics, the long-suffering people of El Salvador, and people of all religious faiths or none who have been inspired by the life, words, courageous witness, and ultimate martyrdom of Archbishop Oscar Romero. That day, Archbishop Romero was finally formally proclaimed a saint and martyr by the Catholic…
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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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[Editors’ note: Due to the sensitive nature of this post, the writer has requested to remain anonymous.] “Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. It has been three months since my last confession.” There I sat in a dimly-lit room in the back of my church, trying to think of how exactly to phrase my…
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