August 17th, 2019

The Tipping Point

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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August 13th, 2019

The Largest Crucifix in the World: Is This What We Need?

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

Toni Morrison, Catholic?

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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August 6th, 2019

Finding God in Unexpected Encounters

[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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August 3rd, 2019

A Transgender Catholic and Resigned Priest, Loved By God

[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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July 30th, 2019

Actively Waiting

[Editors’ note: Maryclare O’Brien-Wilson is a 2018 awardee of the Lucile Murray Durkin Scholarship for Women Discerning Priestly Ordination. This is the second of three 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.] “I found…
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July 27th, 2019

Hospital Chaplaincy as a Catholic Laywoman

Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) is a common summer undertaking for seminarians. Many large hospitals offer the intensive summer program, which challenges us to put all those lofty ideals into action. At Bellevue Hospital in New York, I spend three days a week offering pastoral care to some of the most underprivileged patients in the city.…
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July 23rd, 2019

Living the Contradictions

[Editors’ note: Allison Connelly is a 2018 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 2018 awardees on how the scholarship impacted their journey over the academic year.] “While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in…
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July 20th, 2019

Deacon Distinctions

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 16th, 2019

“The Earth is Hiring”

I’m still in “commencement speech” mode. Please bear with me. It’s just that at this time of the year so many extraordinary people are giving us – or, in the case below, have given us  – so much extraordinary inspiration and encouragement, I cannot resist passing it on. Paul Hawken, author and “visionary environmental activist”…
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