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For our second “Profile in Holy Courage,” this week we are honored to highlight the Leadership Conference of Women Religious. This week the LCWR released a statement titled "A Response from the Leadership Conference of Women Religious to These Times." The statement reinforces the LCWR's commitment to living out the Gospel by standing up for the dignity of each and every person. The full statement can be read here. We thank the LCWR for their courage, their leadership, and their never-wavering commitment to justice!
Do you have any ideas for people or communities we can highlight as an example of Holy Courage? Send them our way!
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| In hope, |
| on behalf of the FutureChurch staff |
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February 2, 2025 | Feast of the Presentation
Today Jakub Kowalewski invites us to explore prophecy, time, and age with the help of the prophets Anna and Simeon; engage connections between environmental protection and ageing; and embody questions of time and ageing well, with the examples of The Substance and A Bunch of Amateurs.
"In fact, I believe that Anna’s age has a specific function in the passage; I would like to suggest that the figure of Anna offers an accessible exemplification of how the, admittedly, intimidating themes of prophecy and time – an extraordinary gift and an esoteric concept – intersect in the everyday and relatable experience of ageing."
Dr. Jakub Kowalewski is Senior Laudato Si’ Research Fellow at St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London. Jakub works as part of the Guardians of Creation Project – a research programme investigating paths to sustainable and ecologically sensitive change in the Catholic Church. He is the author of A Philosophy of Climate Apocalypticism: In and Against the World and the editor of The Environmental Apocalypse: Interdisciplinary Reflections on the Climate Crisis.
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February 2, 2025
Preaching for the Feast of the Presentation, Anna Robertson offers a reflection on how the Prophet Anna's role in the readings informs our faith lives today:
"[Anna] went forth preaching, carrying the Good News of the Light of the World beyond the walls of the temple to those who yearned for salvation. When we leave Mass on Candlemas, it is not enough to return to our homes with our candles, cozy in our assurance of our private salvation. Rather, Anna reminds us that we must bring the Good News out into the world, particularly to those who are suffering and longing for consolation."
Anna Robertson is Director of Distributed Organizer at Discerning Deacons. In the past, she has served as Director of Youth and Young Adult Mobilization at Catholic Climate Covenant and Campus Minister for Retreats at Seattle University. She has a Master’s of Theological Studies from Boston College Clough School of Theology and Ministry and a Bachelor of Arts in Theology from Xavier University in Ohio.
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| Feast of St. Brigid of Kildare |
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February 1, 2025
Today Elizabeth Gross invites us to explore faith, and a return to earth-centered faith practices with the example of St. Brigid of Kildare; engage Brigid as an example of creating and maintaining embodied faith in a time of great disembodiment; and embody Brigid’s example with the help of the celtic prayer Carmina Gadelica.
"With both the earth and St. Brigid as our guides, we can better understand how nature is fertile ground for establishing a well-rooted faith practice, how institutional religion has become impoverished by the loss of this perspective, and how honoring nature is an integral way of honoring the ancestors and actively restoring their presence back into our lives as ever-present reminders for how to live in faithful ways."
Elizabeth Gross is a cradle Catholic from Flushing, Queens who found her way back to Catholicism as an adult by centering the mystical and contemplative teachings, practices and experiences steeped within the tradition. Her background in yoga and Buddhism also greatly influences her spiritual praxis. Elizabeth teaches and writes about ecofeminism, herbalism, holistic reproductive and sexual healthcare, end of life care, and contemplative spirituality. Her BA is in both Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Italian Cultural Studies from SUNY New Paltz. You can learn more about her work at www.selkiemedicinals.com.
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| Pentecost Project- New Highlight! |
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| Mature, Humble, and Generous: Ignatians West Leaves its Mark on Los Angeles and Beyond |
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With the fire of Pentecost and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, we at FutureChurch are engaging in a new project to recognize and celebrate communities that are embodying the mission of Pentecost. Over the next several months, we will be highlighting communities that have been emboldened to live the Gospel in new and creative ways. Today we introduce you to Ignatians West.
Excerpt:
“It’s not rocket science,” Anne joked about the mission of Ignatians West. “It’s very simple. It’s bringing together mature adults (we don’t use the word retire anymore, we use the word mature!) who have life experience they’re willing to share, invite them to share those experiences with others who are in need, and then encourage them to honestly examine their faith.”
Read More...
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| Upcoming FutureChurch Events |
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| February 5, 2025 | 7:00pm ET |
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Book Club Conversation on “The Mystics Would Like A Word”
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FutureChurch welcomes those who have read or are reading The Mystics Would Like a Word by Shannon K. Evans to join with others via Zoom as we discuss the six women presented. After beginning with prayer, attendees will have the opportunity to choose a small group based on the particular mystic they would like to discuss with others. After small groups, we'll come together for a large group conversation to share insights and thoughts from small groups.
Please note: those who registered for our conversation with author, Shannon Evans, have been preregistered for this discussion. To view a recording of that event, click here.
About the Book:
Is there a Christian spirituality that embraces the entire reality of womanhood? In her new book, Shannon K. Evans suggests the answer is an emphatic 'yes.' There is a spirituality that meets us in every part of our lives, developed by the women who came before us. Six mystics—Teresa of Ávila, Margery Kempe, Hildegard of Bingen, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Siena, and Thérèse of Lisieux—revealed a faith big enough to hold the female experiences of sex and desire, the yearning for bodily autonomy, the challenges of motherhood and identity, as well as life with male authority and—sometimes—violence. These women, self-determining, stubborn, and unapologetically themselves, asked questions in their time that are startlingly prescient today, and fought for women’s experiences to be heard, understood, respected, and recognized as holy.
Shannon K. Evans is the spirituality and culture editor at the National Catholic Reporter and the author of the books Feminist Prayers for My Daughter: Powerful Petitions for Every Stage of Her Life and Rewilding Motherhood: Your Path to an Empowered Feminine Spirituality.
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| February 12, 2025 | 7:00pm ET |
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“Catholics for the Common Good” with Daryl Grigsby
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Join FutureChurch as we welcome Daryl Grigsby for a conversation on living for the Common Good.
“Why am I still Catholic in light of the clergy abuse crisis, the Church’s teachings about and practices toward women and members of the LGTBQ+ community, the Church’s own complicity in and inadequate response to societal racism, and other scandals and issues?”
Author and commentator Daryl Grigsby set out to answer this question for himself by writing his newest book, Catholics for the Common Good: An Eternal Offering (Paulist Press, 2024). In it, he profiles 36 contemporary Catholics who have worked for justice and human dignity. He features Catholics from diverse national and racial backgrounds; religious, lay, and ordained.
This event will take place on February 12th at 7:00pm ET. Then, on February 26th at 7:00pm ET, FutureChurch will host a follow-up group discussion on the text.
Daryl Grigsby is an author and commentator on contemporary Catholic issues. A retired public works director, he also holds a Master’s Degree in Theology and Pastoral Studies from Seattle University and is a graduate of the Sabbatical Renewal Program at the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University. He is a board member for Leadership Foundations, which resolves critical urban challenges around the world, and for FutureChurch. Grigsby is the author of In Their Footsteps: Inspirational Reflections on Black History for Every Day of the Year and is a frequent contributor to National Catholic Reporter and Black Catholic Messenger.
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| March 27, 2025 | 8:00pm ET |
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“Bending Toward Justice: Sr. Kate Kuenstler and the Struggle for Parish Rights” with Sr. Christine Schenk, CSJ.
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Join FutureChurch as we welcome Sr. Christine Schenk for a conversation about her newest book!
Bending Toward Justice (Rowman Littlefield, 2024) tells the story of the rampant closings of Catholic parishes across the United States and documents the courageous advocacy of Sr. Kate Kuenstler and hundreds—indeed thousands—of ordinary Catholics whose persistence charted a new course in canon law. Sr. Kuenstler's expertise eventually gave increased leverage to the laity—and their parishes—in the struggle to preserve their parish homes, especially in ethnically diverse and poor neighborhoods.
Christine Schenk, CSJ has worked as a nurse midwife to low-income families, a community organizer, an award-winning writer-researcher, and the founding director of an international church reform organization, FutureChurch. Her first book Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity (Fortress Press, 2017) received a first place in history from the Catholic Press Association and her most recent work, To Speak the Truth in Love: A Biography of Sr. Theresa Kane RSM (Orbis Books 2019) received first place awards from The Association of Catholic Publishers and the Catholic Press Association.
Schenk also writes a regular column for the National Catholic Reporter and is one of three nuns featured in the award-winning documentary Radical Grace. Schenk graduated Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University and holds two masters’ degrees, one in science from Boston College and an MA in Theology "with distinction" from St. Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in Cleveland.
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| Wednesday, Feb 5th | 3:00pm ET via Zoom | Association of U.S. Catholic Priests |
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| Women and Priests-Conversations in the Spirit: Understanding and honoring the lived experience of our LGBTQ+ Catholic siblings, parents, family, priests, and allies |
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Event hosts, the Women in the Church Working Group of the Association of U.S. Catholic Priests (AUSCP), seek to give space for listening deeply to the testimony of sisters and brothers who sometimes experience a judgmental Church instead of a listening and welcoming Church. This call is being hosted in memory of Alana Chen. Our speakers are Yunuen Trujillo, Rev. Bryan Massingale, and Joyce Calvo. Bishop John Stowe will join us for Q and A and prayer.
Yunuen Trujillo is a Catholic lay minister, faith-based community organizer, and an immigration attorney with more than 15 years of experience in young adult ministry and a leading figure for inclusive Catholic LBGT Ministry in the United States. She is a Religious Formation Coordinator (Spanish) with the Catholic Ministry with Lesbian and Gay Persons of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles and author of the book LGBT Catholics: A Guide for Inclusive Ministry.
Bryan Massingale is a Catholic priest, author, activist, and professor in Applied Christian Ethics at Fordham University. Fr.. Massingale has authored two books and more than 200 articles, book chapters, and book reviews. He is a co-editor of , All of Us: A New Agenda for Catholic Theology from Queer Catholics of Color (Fortress Press, 2024). He is a leading voice among Catholics advocating the full inclusion of LGBTQ persons in both society and the faith community.
Joyce Calvo’s daughter Alana Chen died from suicide on Dec. 8, 2019. Calvo continues to urge all to “stop rejecting LGBTQ+ children” She hopes her advocacy “will alert Catholic parents to beware of the devastating impact the Church can have on their LGBTQ+ children” and “persuade people speaking for the Church to abandon their misguided and dangerous attempts to alter what God has made.”
Register Here.
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| Wednesday, Feb 12th | 12:00pm ET via Zoom | Association of Pittsburgh Priests |
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| The Synod: Hope for a Disintegrating World, or Just Another Document? with Cardinal Timothy Radcliffe, OP |
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Timothy Radcliffe gave the opening retreats to the Synod Delegates in both sessions, setting a positive tone for the proceedings. Shortly after accepting the APP offer to speak, Pope Francis named him a Cardinal! Among his books is the collection of his first Synod conferences: Listening Together: Meditations on Synodality. If his presentation to us is anything like these talks, we will be overwhelmingly grateful. An example: “Renewing the Church, then, is like making bread. One gathers edges of the dough into the center, and spreads the centre into the margins, filling it all with oxygen. One makes the love overthrowing the distinction between edges and the centre, making God’s loaf, whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere, finding us.”.
Timothy Radcliffe, a member of the Dominican community at Blackfriars, Oxford. He has been a retreat master and was master general of the Order of Preachers from 1992 to 2001. He has traveled extensively in visiting Dominican communities around the world, gathering poignant experiences that he weaves throughout his preaching and writing.
Register Here.
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| Saturday, Feb 22nd | 10:00AM CT | Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet Motherhouse |
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| Art for the People: Laura James and The Book of the Gospels |
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Artist Laura James is a self-taught painter and illustrator whose work transcends boundaries between the sacred and the everyday. Inspired by the richly symbolic and narrative tradition of Ethiopian Christian art, while inviting new, contemporary perspectives, Laura reimagines traditional Christian iconography, infusing it with diverse representations that resonate with people across cultures.
Join the Sisters of St. Joseph Carondelet as Laura shares about her illustrations in The Book of the Gospels, one of her most well-known contributions. In it, she cultivated this visual dialogue that speaks to the timeless desire for spiritual expression and belonging, blending history with modern identity.
Learn more about the artist and view her artwork at laurajamesart.com.
Register here to attend in-person or via livestream.
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| We seek changes that will provide all Roman Catholics the opportunity to participate fully in Church life and leadership. |
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FutureChurch is a national 501(c)(3) organization and your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
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