January 14th, 2023

Leadership and Politics

Far should it be for me to comment on religious life as explained to NCR’s Global Sisters Reportby the sisters who lead the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and the International Union of Superiors General (UISG), but that has never stopped me from noting what stands out to me. In this case, each group…
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January 10th, 2023

Can I Be Wrong About My Vocation?

[Editor’s note: Sara Conneely is joining “The Table” as a Tuesday guest blogger for the month of January.] When I discovered that the Women’s Ordination Conference exists, I was delighted that a space I had been hoping for was real and active. I am a Catholic minister with a background in catechetics and education. I…
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January 7th, 2023

Mourning Benedict XVI

Let us pray for the repose of the Augustinian soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI. I have learned a lot of theology in the last week – but more of that later. I had decided to start this blog as young Patrick Hudson started the Tablet weekly online update this week. I know he’s young…
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January 3rd, 2023

Making Altars out of Stumps

The first person who taught me how to make altars out of stumps may have been Mary Oliver. Oliver’s poetry is known for its compelling mix of spirituality, natural imagery, contemplation, and sensuality. She is able to see the sacred in the world around us in a way that helped me redefine and reorient church…
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December 20th, 2022

Prophetic Witness during Pope John Paul II’s 1979 Visit to the U.S.

Beginning on Saturday, October 6th, 1979, on the eve of the last day of Pope John Paul II’s visit to the United States, members of the Women’s Ordination Conference held an all-night vigil in Washington, D.C. They were there to greet the pope as he arrived to conduct Mass at the National Shrine of the…
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December 17th, 2022

Multi-Media Excisions—and Surprising Inclusions

It seems almost surgical, the excision of women’s ordination from the conversation. This week, when I watched the BBC documentary “The Women Fighting to be Priests” on YouTube, I was thrilled with the stories of two Roman Catholic Women Priests, Fr. Anne and Olga Lucia Alvarez. Then Kate McElwee of WOC calmly presents the Vatican situation,…
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December 13th, 2022

Tired of Waiting

My family’s tabletop nativity set is a hodgepodge of figurines. Some were gifts to my parents for their wedding, others are from both of my grandmothers’ sets, the angel is an ornament that has sentimental value. I have always loved that these pieces don’t match. They are made of different materials and their sizing is…
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December 10th, 2022

Representation Matters

One comment I understood in all the World Cup coverage this week was that “representation matters” on the French team. The players of color represent France as would any white team member. Colonials are fully incorporated into the citizenry when it comes to soccer. I heard the same phrase from a woman who is a…
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December 6th, 2022

My Moment of Reflection

Coming into this position of being an intern for the Women’s Ordination Conference and taking part in being a blog editor, I was excited yet nervous. I will admit that my knowledge of certain topics in Catholic news was hazy. This sparked the nervousness I felt in the beginning. However, that soon changed. The more…
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December 3rd, 2022

The Pope on Women’s Ordination

“Francis is Stuck. Let me count the ways.” That was my first title for this blog. I saw no change in what he said to a gathering of people who work at America magazine. Deliberately diverse, the group posed questions one after another. Executive editor Kerry Weber was third and set up her first question:…
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