2022 Fall Event Program
FutureChurch’s 2022 Fall Event Program includes biographies of our guests, a listing of our event sponsors, advertisements from friends of FutureChurch, and reports and updates on our programming.
Author: Russ Petrus
Catholics Worldwide Express Aspirations for Women’s Full Participation in Ministry and Governance in Synod Document
Release date: October 28, 2022
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts:
Deborah Rose-Milavec, Co-Director of FutureChurch, 513.673.1401 (mobile), debrose@futurechurch.org
Russ Petrus, Co-Director of FutureChurch, 216.228.0869 x2, russ@futurechurch.org
FutureChurch remains hopeful as the “Document for the Continental Phase of the Synod,” released on October 27, 2022, advances reforms within the Church that Catholics have long advocated for, including women’s full participation in ministry and governance in the life of the Church.
Shifting the culture of the Church toward one of “radical inclusivity”(31) and greater participation for women, LGBTQ+ Catholics, young people, divorced and remarried Catholics, married priests, and more, Catholics worldwide shared their hopes for a welcoming church where Catholics “enlarge their tents,” — to become a place of communion, a place of participation, and a foundation for mission (11).
As this consensus document makes clear, the desire for greater roles and equality for women is not limited to Catholics in the global North and West but, “Almost all reports raise the issue of full and equal participation of women” (64).
Specifically, the document reflects the fact that while not all voices are in unison on priestly ordination for women, there is a common discernment that Catholic women should:
- Have an active role in the governing structures of Church bodies
- Preach in parish settings
- Be a part of the female diaconate
As the report shows, “many communities have already understood synodality as an invitation to listen to those who feel exiled from the Church…beginning with many women and young people who do not feel their gifts and abilities are recognised” (38).
Further, the report includes many references to the active and co-responsible role of the laity. Besides “ridding the Church of clericalism, ”(58) many churches also encouraged “the implementation of a synodal style of liturgical celebration that allows for the active participation of all the faithful –rethinking a liturgy too concentrated on the celebrant, to the modalities of active participation of the laity, to the access of women to ministerial roles” (58).
During this Continental Phase, Catholics are asked to review the document and discern if and how it should be amended as synod officials begin writing the working document for the October 2023 gathering. To encourage Catholics to take part in that process, FutureChurch will hold two discernment sessions on Wednesday, January 24 and 31 at 7pm ET. At that time, we will pray and reflect on the document and offer feedback. FutureChurch will gather that feedback and send it to the Synod of Bishops and the U.S. Bishops on March 18th in time for it to be incorporated into the working document for the 2023 Synod of Bishops in Rome.
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About FutureChurch: Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, FutureChurch seeks changes that will provide all Roman Catholics the opportunity to participate fully in Church life and leadership. It is a national coalition of parish centered Catholics striving to educate fellow Catholics about the seriousness of the priest shortage, the centrality of the Eucharist (the Mass), and the systemic inequality of women in the Catholic Church. FutureChurch is a nonprofit organization that makes presentations throughout the country, distributes education, advocacy and prayer resources and recruits activists who work on behalf of its mission.
Catholic Women Preach Book Launch
FutureChurch hosts “a Celebration of Women’s Wisdom and Witness” to launch the first volume of Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing the Church (Orbis Books, 2022).
We are joined by Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ, a leading authority on the role of women in the early church; Nicole Trahan, FMI, vocations director for the Marianist sisters; Virginia Saldanha, a theologian-activist in Mumbai, India; and Kerry Alys Robinson, founding executive director and partner for global and national initiatives at Leadership Roundtable.
Visit the Orbis Books Website to purchase your copy. Also available on Amazon as a paperback and digital (Nov. 3) for those residing outside of the United States as well as many other booksellers.
New book focuses on women preaching
Excerpt:
FutureChurch, a Cleveland-based advocacy group, will host an Oct. 25 launch of Catholic Women Preach: Raising Voices, Renewing the Church, the first volume of collected essays and reflections.
In an Oct. 7 statement, FutureChurch said the series of three books, a project of Catholic Women Preach, focuses “on the readings for Sundays and other feast days [and] offers an invaluable resource for weekly meditation, an inspiration for homilists, and an aid to enriching the church with diverse voices and experiences.”
Women Erased: Women’s Authorship in Jewish and Christian Literature
Professor Ross Kraemer joins FutureChurch for this “Women Erased” presentation which explores a few texts that may have been composed by women, ending with a conversation about why and to whom this matters in the 21st century. Was authorship of Jewish and Christian texts from the Greco-Roman period a “male only” enterprise? Or did Jewish and Christian women also shape the writings that are foundational for Christians today? Since a significant portion of early literature is either anonymous or pseudonymous, past assumptions of male authorship are rightly subject to new lines of feminist inquiry.
Ross S. Kraemer is Professor Emerita of Religious Studies and Judaic Studies at Brown University, where she specialized in early Christianity, Jews and Jewish religion in late antiquity (especially the Mediterranean diaspora) and other religions of the Greco-Roman Mediterranean, often with an emphasis on issues of women and gender. She’s the editor of Women and Christian Origins (Oxford, 1998, with Mary Rose D’Angelo), and the New Testament editor for The Dictionary of Women in Scripture(Houghton-Mifflin, 2000). She’s also the author of Unreliable Witnesses: Religion, Gender and History in the Greco-Roman Mediterranean (Oxford, 2011), Her Share of the Blessings: Women’s Religions Among Pagans, Jews and Christians in the Greco-Roman World (Oxford, 1992) and many articles on Jewish and Christian women in antiquity. Her most recent book, The Mediterranean Diaspora in Late Antiquity: What Christianity Cost the Jews (Oxford, 2020) examines what happened to Jews living in the late antique Mediterranean diaspora in the wake of Christianization.
Texts for Further Exploration
- “Women’s Authorship of Jewish and Christian Literature in the Greco-Roman Period” in Women Like Us (used with permission of Prof. Kraemer): Ross Kraemer Chapter
- Philo: On Contemplative Life: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/yonge/book34.html
- The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/maps/primary/perpetua.html
Subversive Habits Book Study
Join us as we take a deep dive into Dr. Shannen Dee Williams groundbreaking research, Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. We will explore the lives, experiences, struggles, and advances Black Catholic women religious made in the long struggle for freedom. This series will include prayer, study, and guest speakers. Please join us for an exciting exploration of our Catholic history and the women who changed the course of our faith.
Session One: Preface and Introduction
This first session covers the preface and introduction to Dr. Williams’ book. Deborah Rose, co-director of FutureChurch, provides a summary of the material and our guest, Sr. Anita Baird, DHM, offers her personal reactions.
View the Prayers, Questions, and Large Group Responses
Session Two: Chapters 1 & 2
Chapters 1 and 2 trace the emergence of Black Catholic communities; the struggles and barriers they faced and overcame; and, the unwavering commitment they made to education as a path to liberation in their formative years.
Here are resources that may be useful to you as you read each chapter.
- An article about the founding of St. Augustine, Florida, where African descended people, free and enslaved, first came to the U.S. The Settlement of St. Augustine
- An article about the Haitian Revolution which was a turning point for abolition and the influx of refugees that prompted the growth of communities of Black Catholic women religious. The Haitian Revolution
- A timeline the early years of the Transatlantic Slave Trade and the ties to the Catholic Church. Timeline Transatlantic Slave Trade: 1400s – 1600s
In this Second Session, we welcome Sr. Marcia Hall, OSP, who offers her insights and reactions as a member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence – the first successful community of Roman Catholic sisters of African descent in the United States.
View the prayers, questions, and large group responses from this session.
Session Three: Chapters 3, 4, and 5
Here is an excellent resource from PBS with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. that offers two minute videos on various aspects of Black history. The series is called “Black History in Two Minutes (or so)” with dozens of videos that will help you contextualize Dr. Williams’ book, “Subversive Habits.” https://blackhistoryintwominutes.com/
Also, please view the website of the National Black Sisters’ Conference to get a more thorough understanding of this historic organization. https://www.nbsc68.com/
In this session, we welcome Sr. Josita Colbert, SNDdeN, a founding member of the NBSC, who shares their important work with us.
View the prayers, questions, and large group sharing for this session.
Session Four: Chapters 6, 7, and Conclusion
We are joined this week by the author, Dr. Shannen Dee Williams.
To see the full documentary (at no charge through Avila University), Sisters of Selma: Bearing Witness for Change go to https://www.avila.edu/avila-archives/sisters-of-selma/
Pope Francis’ Trip of Reconciliation in Canada
Christopher White, Vatican correspondent for National Catholic Reporter, joins FutureChurch to discuss Pope Francis’ long overdue, yet historic, penitential pilgrimage to apologize to the Indigenous peoples of Canada for the role the Catholic Church played in their forced assimilation, genocidal violence, and physical and spiritual abuse, especially in residential schools.
Christopher traveled with the pope and shares what saw, heard, and experienced and shares his insights on what he thinks will likely happen next.
Slide show photo credit: Catholic News Service.
Christopher White is the Vatican correspondent for NCR. His e-mail address is cwhite@ncronline.org. Follow him on Twitter: @CWWhiteNCR.
Prior to moving to Rome in August 2021, he served as NCR’s national correspondent, where his award winning reporting included coverage of the Catholic vote during the 2020 campaign and the election of President Joe Biden. He holds a master’s degree in ethics and society from Fordham University and a bachelor’s degree in politics, philosophy and economics from The King’s College. His work has appeared in Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, Forbes, Foreign Policy, New York Daily News, International Business Times, among many other print and online publications. He has regularly appeared on television and radio programs, including CBC, CNN, NPR, RTE and BBC, and is a Vatican analyst for NBC and MSNBC News.
Women Erased: Women in Second Temple Judaism
Dr. Amy-Jill “AJ” Levine presents this FutureChurch “Women Erased” session to clear up the popular, but false and toxic, perception that Jesus was a first-century feminist working to liberate Jewish women from an oppressive Judaism that made the Taliban look progressive. Professor Levine digs into the sources and what they reveal about women in Second Temple Judaism, reconstructing the lives of these women, and offering good news for women today.
Amy Jill Levine is Rabbi Stanley M. Kessler Distinguished Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies at Hartford International University of Religion and Peace and University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies Emerita, Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies Emerita, and Professor of New Testament Studies Emerita at Vanderbilt.
Articles for Further Reading:
- Jewish Women in the New Testament by Amy-Jill Levine
- Witnesses, patrons, faithful disciples: The women at the cross and the tomb by Amy-Jill Levine
- Five Christmas sermon blunders that get Judaism (and Jesus) wrong by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler
Books for Further Reading: