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Say Her Name Prayer Service

FutureChurch marks Martin Luther King, Jr. Day 2022 with a prayer service inspired by the “Say Her Name” campaign, remembering the lives of Black women who have been murdered in our streets and in their homes.  While there is an appalling level of violence against women of color by police and others, these crimes are under-reported.  Together, we will remember their names, their stories, and their lives,  as we work together for racial and reparative justice.

Kayla August, a doctoral student at Boston College leads the prayer. Sr. Melinda Pellerin, ssj, a board member of the National Black Sisters’ Conference preaches. Alessandra Harris, Kimberly Lymore, and Vickey McBride serve as readers.

Download the text of this prayer service. 

Permission to stream and reproduce music obtained under ONE LICENSE #A-737115.

Women Erased: The Erasure of Women in Scripture by Complementarianism with Beth Allison Barr, PhD

In this FutureChurch “Women Erased” Series presentation, Dr. Beth Allison Barr explores how complementarianism’s false notions of womanhood are used to erase women’s authority out of the Bible. Dr. Barr focuses on Martha and Junia as two illustrations.

Beth Allison Barr (PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) is associate professor of history and associate dean of the Graduate School at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where she specializes in medieval history, women’s history, and church history.

Sister Helen Prejean accepts FutureChurch’s 2021 Louis Trivison Award

FutureChurch presents Sr. Helen Prejean with the 2021 Louis Trivison Award for her prophetic and persistent ministry to death row inmates, victims’ families, and against the death penalty, which has helped to change Church teaching.

2021 Louis J. Trivison Award Recipient:  FutureChurch presents Sr. Helen Prejean, CSJ,  with the 2021 Louis J. Trivison in recognition her prophetic work and ministry against the death penalty which has led to significant change in Church teaching. Over the decades, Sister Helen has made personal approaches to two popes: John Paul II and Pope Francis, urging them to establish the Catholic Church’s position as unequivocally opposed to capital punishment under any circumstances. After Sister Helen’s urging, under John Paul II, the catechism was revised to strengthen the church’s opposition to executions, although it allowed for a very few exceptions. Not long after meeting with Sister Helen in August of 2018, Pope Francis announced new language of the Catholic Catechism which declares that the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person, with no exceptions. Sr. Helen offers remarks following the presentation of the award.

Chloe Becker Receives 2021 Christine Schenk Award

2021 Christine Schenk, CSJ Award for Young Catholic Leaders Recipient:
FutureChurch presents Chloe Becker with the 2021 Christine Schenk Award for Young Catholic Leaders in recognition of her commitment to creating art that lifts up the lives of underrepresented saints and Catholics of color and calls on all Catholics to engage in the work of racial justice. Chloe Becker is a recent graduate of Magnificat High School in Rocky River, Ohio and a member of the Harvard University Class of 2025. Currently taking a “gap year,” Chloe has created all of the art for FutureChurch’s Women Witnesses for Racial Justice series.  Chloe offers remarks following the presentation of the award.

2021 Keynote Presentation by Massimo Faggioli, Ph.D.

Keynote Presenter:
Massimo Faggioli, PhD is a leading authority on the history and administrative inner workings of the Catholic Church with specific expertise in the papacy, Vatican II, the Roman Curia, liturgical reform, new Catholic movements and on Catholicism and global politics. He is Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University (Philadelphia) and a much published author and commentator.  Professor Faggioli is one of the foremost scholars on the intersection of American Catholicism and the state of democracy in the United States.  He examines and charts both the impact and potential threats to democratic ideals as our increasingly “unique” brand of American Catholicism, embraced by a majority of U.S. Bishops and funded by weathly conservative donors, is wedded to a democracy increasing invested in free wheeling capitalism that eschews social safety networks.

Pope Francis: Meet Your Priest, Ludmilla Javarova with Miriam Therese Winter

As Pope Francis traveled to Slovakia in 2021, Sr. Miriam Therese Winter joined FutureChurch and the Women’s Ordination Conference to recall the ministry and life of Ludmila Javorová, a woman who was ordained a Roman Catholic priest by Bishop Felix Davidek to serve in the underground church there when the church was under threat by the Communist regime from 1948 through 1989. Learn about her life, ministry, and why she is important as the world follows Francis to Slovakia.