Media Type: Video

Black Catholic Women have been instrumental in shaping the life and faith of the Church, yet, our collective memory of their work, courage, challenge, generosity, and faith is too often made “invisible” in our Catholic education, Catholic liturgy, and Catholic art. Sr. Anita Baird, a native of Chicago, IL, and a member of the Religious Congregation of the Society of the Daughters of the Heart of Mary shares the stories of some of the Black Catholic Women who challenged the Church, challenged their communities, and brought enormous change to this country as they stood against racism and for a more just Catholic Church and world.

Throughout the early (2nd-6th) Christian centuries, the lives of most women were lived in silence, while the few elite ascetic women got at least some attention. What about the rest? Dr. Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ, Catholic Professor of New Testament emerita at Brite Divinity School and past president of the Catholic Biblical Association, explores the lives of these early Christian women we know little about.

Carol Dempsey, OP, PhD explores new ways of reading the Scripture “against the grain” and offers us new understandings of many of the stories and poems can become uncanningly “prophetic” to move us forward in our work for global justice. Included in our discussion is the topic of the gendering of “God” as we explore hegemonic power.  Professor Carol J. Dempsey, OP is an internationally recognized and award-winning scholar who teaches courses in Biblical Studies, specifically in Old Testament/Hebrew Bible. With particular expertise in the Prophets, Professor Dempsey’s interests lie in a feminist and liberation approach to biblical texts, gender studies, biblical theology, literary and rhetorical criticism, and environmental/ecological studies.

FutureChurch welcomes Michael Peppard, PhD, associate professor of New Testament Studies at Fordham University, who discusses how Biblical women are disproportionately underrepresented in the assigned Scripture readings for the Church year: some women are omitted entirely, others are only read at weekday mass, and still others are made “optional.” Providing examples from both the Hebrew and Christian Scriptures, Dr. Peppard covers just the tip of the iceberg in this presentation.