Media Type: PDF

Learn more about Sr. Christine Schenk, CSJ, FutureChurch co-founder, whose efforts whose work in Church reform and renewal calls the Church to become a fuller witness of God’s mercy in the world.

Before joining the Cleveland Congregation of Saint Joseph, Christine Schenk confessed “that my whole life I seem to end up getting into these causes that can be edgy, and if that was a problem, we had better talk about it.” Born in Lima, Ohio, Schenk grew up in a devout Catholic family. And she credits much of her involvement in these “edgy” causes to an experience she had in her Catholic high school:

I went to a Catholic high school with a very progressive principal who was very social-justice oriented. Senior year, we went on a trip to teach catechism to farm workers…it ended up being a huge wake-up call about people who didn’t have nearly as much as we did. We were eating the food, but the people harvesting it didn’t have enough food for themselves. It was a foundational moment. That kind of experience at that young an age was really germane to how I thought about social justice and what it meant to be a Catholic going forward. It eventually led me to where I am now.  

After high school, Schenk went on to earn her undergraduate degree from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in science from Boston College. After college and graduate school, Schenk worked as an interfaith coordinator with the United Farm Workers Union in the early 1970s in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During this time, Schenk learned the community organizing skills from Cesar Chavez that would become so vital to her work as co-founder and founding executive director of FutureChurch.

Resources Included in This Download:

• Educational resources: A Biography of Sister Christine Schenk with discussion guide; In Her Own Words (Schenk’s Reflection for the 2016 Mary of Magdala Celebration in Cleveland) with discussion guide; Radical Grace  Film Discussion Guide
• Be a Witness of Mercy: Resources for learning and doing
• Prayer Resources: Prayer Service for Church Reform and Renewal by Russ Petrus and Jocelyn Collen.
• Original Art by Marcy Hall, commissioned by FutureChurch

Download

In 1971, while engaged in study for her doctoral degree at the University of Pennsylvania, Sr. Jeannine Gramick was invited to attend a monthly dance hosted by the campus’s Episcopal church. The associate rector of the church had convinced her to come simply to sell soda and other concessions, but accepting the invitation would place Gramick’s life and ministry on a new trajectory. It was at that dance that Gramick first met Dominic Bash, a gay man.

A few weeks later, the two met again at an interfaith service and Gramick came to learn more about the pain her new acquaintance was carrying. Bash had been raised Catholic. He even entered the Franciscans with the intention of becoming ordained. Yet, he left the order early because he was concerned that being gay would prohibit him from being ordained a priest. In time, Bash became a hairdresser and joined the Episcopal Church.“[He] had been thrown out of the confessional one too many times,” Gramick says.

Learn more about and be inspired by Sister Jeannine Gramick’s advocacy for justice for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community and for reconciliation between the church and LGBT Catholics.

Resources Included in This Download:

• Educational resources: A Biography of Sister Jeannine Gramick with guide for discussion and reflection; In Her Own Words (Sister Jeannine Gramick discusses the violence of silence) with guide for discussion and reflection; Finding our way in the troubled church we love: lessons we can learn from the witness of Sr. JeannineGramick, by Bob Shine
• Be a Witness of Mercy: Resources for learning and doing
• Prayer Resources: Praying Psalm 139 by New Ways Ministry
• Original Art by Marcy Hall, commissioned by FutureChurch

Download

National attention was directed to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in 1979 when Sister Theresa Kane, president of the LCWR, addressed Pope John Paul II at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Her words are still pertinent: “We have heard the powerful message of our church addressing the dignity and reverence of all persons . . .  The Church must respond by providing the possibility of women as persons being included in all ministries.” As a result of the greeting, a few congregations withdrew from the Conference, but the LCWR became more public and the membership gained new responsibilities. The LCWR president’s message in 1982 called attention to two realities

Learn more about the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and their work to renew the Church and world since Vatican II.

Resources Included in This Download:

• Educational resources: A History of the LCWR; In Her Own Words: “Navigating the Shifts” address of Sr. Pat Farrell, OSF at the 2012 LCWR Assembly with discussion guide; Benchmarks for Church Leadership Roles for Women by the LCWR with discussion guide
• Be a Witness of Mercy: Resources for learning and doing
• Prayer Resources: Prayer Service for the Church and Women Religious
• Original Art by Marcy Hall, commissioned by FutureChurch

Download

Elizabeth Ann Johnson, more fondly known by her family and friends as Beth, was born on December 6, 1941 to Walter Johnson and Margaret Reed Johnson. The oldest of seven children, she was known to take charge of the kids in her Brooklyn neighborhood to coordinate softball games, to put on plays, and even, some days, to do a few chores. Beth is remembered to have been a serious child, disciplined from a young age, and a natural leader. Her self-confidence would serve her well through the trials and challenges that were to come as she pursued a life of faith and study.

Educated by the Sisters of St. Joseph at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Johnson was familiar with the life of women religious. Following the example of the energetic, youthful, and dedicated teachers she knew throughout her education, Johnson chose to enter the Sisters of St. Joseph of Brentwood after graduating high school. Putting her remarkable intellect to work, she received a degree in education and went on to teach amongst the same sisters who had first empowered her voice.

Learn more about Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, a theologian, whose efforts to uncover an inclusive language for God have a profound impact not only one’s personal relationship with God but on the way the Church, society, and community act in the world.

Resources Included in This Download:

• Educational resources: A Biography of Sister Elizabeth Johnson; In Her Own Words (Elizabeth Johnson’s Acceptance Speech for the 2014 Outstanding Leaderhip Award from the LCWR ); The Symbol of God Functions: God Language, Catholic Social Teaching, and Community; In Good Company: Other Feminist Theologians writing and working today
• Be a Witness of Mercy: Resources for learning and doing
• Prayer Resources: Prayer Service for New Life written by Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ
• Original Art by Marcy Hall, commissioned by FutureChurch

Download

Sr. Karen Klimczak:

“Dear Brother, I don’t know what the circumstances are that will lead you to hurt me or destroy my physical body. No, I don’t want it to happen. I would much rather enjoy the beauties of this earth, experience the laughter, the fears and the tears of those I love so deeply!… Now my life is changed and you, my brother, were the instrument of that change. I forgive you for what you have done and I will always watch over you, help you in whatever way I can….”

Sr. Jean Klimczak read from a letter she found while going through her slain sister Karen’s journal at the sentencing of the man who strangled Karen to death. Sister Karen Klimczak, a Sister of St. Joseph, had written the letter just before Holy Week in 1991 — fifteen years before she was killed on Good Friday 2006 by the man who was living in the transitional home for former inmates she had founded. Sister Karen wrote the letter after having a premonition that her life would be violently taken from her.

More than a truly moving letter to her killer, it serves as a testament to how Sister Karen lived her life and the kind of life she inspired so many others to live.

Learn more about and celebrate Sister Karen Klimczak, witness of peace and nonviolence:

Resources Included:

• Educational resources: A profile of Sister Karen and her ministry with ex-offenders and advocacy for peace  with questions for reflection and discussion; In Her Own Words: Sister Karen’s letter of forgiveness to her killer– written 15 years before her death– with questions for reflection and dialogue; recent Catholic statements on gun violence in the U.S.
• Be a Witness of Mercy: Resources for learning and doing
• Prayer Resources: Prayer Service for choosing to leave “PeacePrints”
• Original Art by Marcy Hall, commissioned by FutureChurch

Download