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Author: Russ Petrus

Sexism: It’s still a thing, unfortunately

Excerpt:

I was grateful to be asked by the church reform group FutureChurch to speak about the issue of women and Catholic media for their “Women Erased” series this week. Perhaps because I am only the second female top editor in NCR’s history — and because building my team has been such an important part of my first year as editor — I decided to focus on whether Catholic media include diverse voices on their editorial staffs. Spoiler alert: most don’t, especially at the top, and we’re even worse on racial/ethnic diversity.

Progress has been made, of course (and props go to U.S. Catholic magazine for having the largest percentage of women on their staff), but as I noted in the talk, having women on the editorial staff is not the only way to center women, women’s voices and women’s issues in our publications. How we cover things is just as important as who covers them, although an organization with few women in the room when those decisions are made is likely to do a poorer job of covering women and women’s issues.

Women Erased: Women in Catholic Media with Heidi Schlumpf

Heidi Schlump, executive editor for the National Catholic Reporter, joins FutureChurch for this “Women Erased” series presentation to discuss the historically under-represented  role women have played in choosing, reporting on, and analysing Catholic news in the Catholic media landscape. Presenting encouraging statistics, she also offers a path forward and vision for the future.

Biography:  Heidi Schlumpf was named NCR’s executive editor in 2020, after serving as the publication’s national correspondent for three years. As national correspondent, Schlumpf did in-depth coverage on the influence of money in the church, sex abuse, politics, women’s issues, racism and young people in the church. Her work has included investigations into Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) and popular Catholic author Matthew Kelly. She previously wrote an opinion column for NCR for almost a decade.  Schlumpf has three decades of experience covering religion, spirituality, social justice and women’s issues, having previously served as managing editor of U.S. Catholic magazine and as a reporter at Chicago’s archdiocesan newspaper and secular newspapers in California and Wisconsin. Her work has been published by CNN Opinion, Sojourners and Huffington Post. She taught journalism as an associate professor of communication at Aurora University in Illinois. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she also earned a master’s of theological studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, where she studied with feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether. She is the author/editor of three books, including Elizabeth A. Johnson: Questing for God (Liturgical Press, 2016), the Notre Dame Book of Prayer (Ave Maria, 2010) and While We Wait: Spiritual & Practical Advice for Those Trying to Adopt (ACTA, 2009).  Schlumpf is based in Chicago, where she lives with her husband, Edmund, and their two children, and where she is a member of St. Gertrude Parish.

The Art of Women Witnesses for Racial Justice with Chloe Becker

Artist, Chloe Becker, discusses her process and the symbolism in each of the portraits for FutureChurch’s Women Witnesses for Racial Justice series and takes questions from the audience.

Music:

“All Are Welcome.” Text: Marty Haugen. Tune: TWO OAKS with refrain by Marty Haugen. Copyright 1994, GIA Publications Inc. All rights reserved. Printed and streamed under ONE LICENSE #A-737115.

“I’m Gonna Do What the Spirit Says Do.” Traditional African-American Spiritual.

Prayer Service in Celebration of Sr. Thea Bowman

FutureChurch celebrates the life and witness of Sr. Thea Bowman with this prayer service on the eve of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Music:
“Let Justice Roll Like a River” by Marty Haugen. © 1991. GIA Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used and streamed with permission under ONE LICENSE #A-737115.
“Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” – African American Spiritual.
“We Shall Overcome” – Civil Rights Anthem. Reprinted under ONE LICENSE
#A-737115.

Ministers:
Prayer Leader: dr. timone davis
Witnesses: Dr. Kim R. Harris, Kayla August
Musician: Jim Carr
Liturgy: Russ Petrus

The implosion of clericalism dramatized in Leonard Bernstein’s ‘Mass’

Excerpt: 

I find myself again lamenting the abysmal sinfulness of the Catholic clerical system. The long-anticipated release of the McCarrick report sheds harsh light on the failure of complicit bishops and Pope John Paul II to believe then-Archbishop Theodore McCarrick’s victims even after New York Cardinal John O’Connor warned the pope not to make him Cardinal Archbishop of Washington.

The painful mendacity of the clerical system was also on depressing display at FutureChurch’s 30th anniversary celebration, where theologian Doris Wagner Reisinger received the organization’s Young Catholic Leaders Award. Reisinger spoke about her abuse as a young nun and her efforts to bring a prominent Vatican priest to justice. In her experience, Catholic sisters have too often been entrapped in a conspiracy of silence that protects abusing priests.

Prayer Service in Celebration of Mother Mary Lange

FutureChurch marked the beginning of Advent 2020 with a prayer service inspired by the life and witness of Mother Mary Lange, who founded the first school for black Catholic children in the United States and the first religious community for black Catholic women.

Music:
“Find Us Ready” by Tom Booth. © 1993. Published by spiritandsong.com ®. All Rights Reserved. Used with permission under ONE LICENSE
#A-737115.
“I’m Gonna Do What the Spirit Says Do.” Text and music African American Spiritual.
“Lift Every Voice and Sing” by J. Rosamond Johnson / James Johnson.

Ministers:
Prayer Leader: Sr. Mumbi Kiguthi
Lector: Katie Lacz
Witnesses: Sr. Romina Sapinoso, Leslye Colvin, Sr. Melinda Pellerin
Respondent: Sr. Andrea Koverman
Musician: Jim Carr