[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: FutureChurch Weekend Bulletin - August 19, 2023

Sun Aug 20 06:36:49 PDT 2023

In case you don’t subscribe to Future Church I thought you might like to
read this update. It’s truly inspiring. Blessings, Catherine

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: FutureChurch <russ at futurechurch.org>
Date: Sat, Aug 19, 2023 at 9:19 AM
Subject: FutureChurch Weekend Bulletin - August 19, 2023
To: <catherine.walther at gmail.com>

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August 19 & 20, 2023 | 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
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Blessing of the Week

*Image: Sr. Anita Baird, DHM (L) and Deborah Rose (R) pose for a "selfie"
at the 2023 LCWR Assembly. *

As I attended the annual gathering of the Leadership Conference of Women
Religious in Dallas, Texas this past week, I was reminded of prophetic
power of faith-filled women. Courageous and tough-minded, the women of LCWR
serve as CEOs, CFOs, presidents, and more - building and guiding
communities, organizations, and institutions to carry out the work of the
Gospel in our broken world. While Wall Street erects and sustains
institutions for profit, these women of the Good News build and sustain
structures that serve those who are left behind, disdained, and excluded
from the social, religious, political, and economic goods of our society.
They are, without a doubt, Christ’s heart and hands in this world.

Yet, surprisingly, not everyone has been pleased with the work of LCWR over
the years. Like all good prophets, LCWR members have challenged the hard
hearted and even called the bishops to task when they have acted unjustly.
Most of the time though, it is not their words, but their simple ministry
to those who are spurned that riles up the holier-than-thou class. Their
prophetic vision for ministry to LGBTQ+ people and for women’s full
participation in the Church and world left some bishops crying foul over
their “radical feminist themes.” And their public support for governmental
healthcare for all in 2008 drew such ire that certain bishops sought to
silence them. In 2009 and 2012, churchmen, under Pope Benedict XVI,
investigated and cracked down on the nuns.

It was at the 2012 LCWR gathering, that a woman of extraordinary faith and
vision, Sr. Pat Farrell, OSF, spoke to a hurting, wounded church. Her words
flew far beyond LCWR participants to thousands of Catholics who had been
saddened and angered by the accusations and the actions of the Pope’s men.

In that painful moment with the doctrinal assessment looming, Farrell was
faithful and fearless. Looking for the deeper meaning of the hurtful events
she told us there was no “reason to be fearful of the cataclysmic movements
of change swirling around us. We only need to recognize the movement, step
into the flow, and be carried by it. Indeed, all creation is groaning in
one great act of giving birth. The Spirit of God still hovers over the
chaos.”

Throughout my days at LCWR, I reflected often on the caliber of these
Jesus-like “troublemakers.” I had the opportunity to talk with
congregational leaders Sr. Anita Baird, DHM, and Sr. Terry Rickard,OP, both
preachers for Catholic Women Preach, and was reminded again of why they are
so beloved and respected by Catholics everywhere.

I bumped into Sr. Sally Hodgdon, CSJ, who currently serves as the General
Superior of Sisters of St. Joseph of Chambéry. In 2018, Hodgdon was on the
leadership team for International Union of Superiors General and
participated in the Synod on Young People as a non-voting member. Disturbed
by the blatant sexism on display when it came to voting rights for male and
female religious superiors, she was instrumental in planting seeds for
change. As we talked, we rejoiced in the fact that our “Votes for Catholic
Women”
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campaign resulted in women voting for the first time at a Synod this year!

Each speaker, Sr. Rebecca Ann Gemma, OP, Sr. Barbara Reid, OP, and Sr. Jung
Eun Sophia Park, SNJM, inspired me to open my heart and mind more
courageously to God’s call to be radical in my love for the least among us.

And although I was only able to view the 2023 Outstanding Leadership
Awardee, Sr. Donna Markham’s witness via video, Sr. Markham’s words rang
with the same faithfulness and fearlessness as Sr. Pat Farrell’s in 2012.
Another prophetic visionary in our church, the former director of Catholic
Charities, USA, Sr. Donna Markham, OP, knows what it is like to be the
target of ire of a different kind.

S. Markham faced down angry congresspeople who claimed Catholic Charities
was breaking the law with their humanitarian efforts at the border. When
the epidemic was taking millions of lives including the lives of immigrants
and humanitarian workers, she reached out to religious sisters who, despite
the dangers, came to the border by the hundreds to carry out the mission.
When faced with an epidemic, hostility and threats from politicians, S.
Markham remained resolute in her determination to continue the work. From a
lifetime of doing God’s work, she told those who gathered:

*…I am no longer afraid of what may become of me in speaking truth or doing
what I know to be right. I know you understand this and live it with me. We
will allow absolutely nothing to prevent us from reaching out in
compassion. This is the gift and the hope I believe we women religious
leaders offer to our broken, angry world today.*

We live in a world where living, breathing prophets and giants live and
work among us. When we are disappointed with the bland leadership of male
leaders, we can turn to our true teachers, the religious sisters who have
faced down hostility, indifference, and hatred and have taught us, by
example, how to love in the midst of darkness. I, for one, want to follow
their lead as faithfully as I can.

Co-Director
Deborah Rose
[image: Deborah Rose]
This Week's Scripture
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The Just Word "A Culture of Encounter and Women of Great Faith" with Adam
Beyt
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Writing for the Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Adam Beyt, Ph.D. invites
us to explore the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman with the help of
feminist theologian Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza and the kingdom of God on
earth; engage Catholic Social Teaching with papal calls to a “culture of
encounter”; and embody these ideas with the help of theologian Nontando M.
Habede and Catholic Women Preach.

*Returning to the Canaanite woman, we find much to admire: her persistence
in speaking truth to a man, requiring nerve; her wit at turning an insult
into a challenge for Christ. We can also model how Jesus himself is
challenged and grows from her persistence. We might note that Jesus
demonstrates a willingness to change and reimagine what his mission looked
like, and just how radical the basileia movement really is.*

*Adam Beyt, Ph.D.*, is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Theology and
Religious Studies at Saint Norbert College. He works on political theology,
theological anthropology, and queer theory. He is currently working on a
manuscript engaging the theology of Edward Schillebeeckx and the philosophy
of Judith Butler tentatively titled *Remaking Humanity: Embodiment and Hope
in Catholic Theology*.
READ
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Catholic Women Preach "Persistence and Great Faith" with Margaret Susan
Thompson
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Preaching for the 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Margaret Susan Thompson
offers a reflection on persisting in pursuit of God's promise for all:

*[This gospel] resonates especially with me because I’m a woman, but it has
much to say to all of us who feel like we don’t fit into a box, and who
sometimes feel tormented by a demon, like the daughter in need of healing.
In other words, it speaks to us all. And so it calls us all to be dogged,
persistent—and, like the Canaanite woman, "of great faith."*

*Margaret Susan (Peggy) Thompson* is a professor of History and Political
Science at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public
Affairs. She is also a Senior Research Associate at the Campbell Public
Affairs Institute, and holds courtesy appointments in the Departments of
Religion and Women & Gender Studies. Recently, Professor Thompson’s work
has focused on the history of American Catholic nuns. She has written and
lectured extensively on the subject, and has an 18-lecture audio series
available through Learn25.com. Her research is from an explicitly feminist
perspective, emphasizing the agency and social significance of sisters to
American religious and secular history.
READ/VIEW
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FutureChurch Resources
Celebrating Women of Great Faith
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Women Witnesses for Racial Justice
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Women Witnesses for Racial Justice, is aimed at bringing Catholics together
in community, to learn, pray, and take action for racial and reparative
justice in the Church and in the world. The project focuses on racial
justice through the lens of Black Catholic Women who have powerfully shaped
Catholic tradition in ways that challenged racist structures and broke down
racial barriers.

Art by Chloe Marie Becker
View Resources
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Women Witnesses of Mercy
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To celebrate the 2016 Extraordinary Year of Mercy promulgated by Pope
Francis, FutureChurch highlighted 12 women throughout the year whose work,
ministry, and witness are models of mercy for the whole Church.Each
resource contains a brief biography of the woman of mercy, educational
resources related to her ministry, discussion/reflection questions, and
resources for individual or community prayer.

Art by Marcy Hall
View Resources
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Celebrating Women Witnesses
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Many women saints have been falsely stereotyped as passive, obedient, sweet
and silent before male leaders. Celebrating Women Witnesses, FutureChurch’s
resource packet contains essays and prayer services about historic women of
faith, emphasizes how belief in the Gospel impelled them to resist
patriarchy and lead radically counter-cultural lives.

Art by Eileen Cantlin-Verbus
View Resources
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Sign Our Petition
-- 

*May you walk in joy as love calls us on.*
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