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Sister Maureen Sullivan Accepts the 2022 Louis Trivison Award

Written on November 4, 2022. Posted in Fall Event.

The Louis J. Trivison Award is given to a Roman Catholic who exhibits outstanding leadership in advancing FutureChurch’s Vatican II mission or vision in one or more areas of teaching, administration, research, publication, advocacy, and pastoral care.

FutureChurch is honored to present Dominican Sister of Hope, Sr. Maureen Sullivan, with the 2022 Louis J. Trivison award, for her life-long efforts educating Catholics about and instilling in them a love for the Second Vatican Council.

In the past few years, Sr. Maureen has been instrumental in advancing FutureChurch’s mission of reviving our Vatican II church. Offering several FutureChurch series on the revolutionary importance of Vatican II, Sr. Maureen has earned the love, trust, and devotion of many Catholics who share the goal of making the Spirit of Vatican II come alive throughout the church. Her work has helped us arrive at this moment where synodality, a radically new way of being church, is being shepherded forward by Pope Francis.

As world renown church historian and theologian Massimo Faggioli told us,

Sister Maureen Sullivan is not only a dear friend, but also a scholar and a teacher from whom I have learned a lot, especially during my first years in the USA. There is no doubt that Maureen is one of those American scholars and teachers of Vatican II who kept the light of Vatican II aflame. She is one of those who made possible the comeback of the theology of the council today, in the context of Pope Francis’ pontificate and of Synodality. We as a church and as a scholarly community are indebted to her for helping American Catholicism prepare for a new phase in the reception of the council.

Theologian and Ecclesiologist Richard Gaillardetz agrees:

For decades now, few if any have matched the zeal of Sr. Maureen Sullivan in championing the continued relevance of the Second Vatican Council. Her deep knowledge of the council and her pastoral perspicacity have fueled her many writings and speaking engagements. Her work wonderfully supports Pope Francis’s own commitment to the council. She continues to be an extraordinary gift to the life of the church.

Catholic Women Preach Book Launch

Written on October 26, 2022. Posted in Catholic Women Preach, Women In Church Leadership.

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.

A Study of Synodality

Written on October 4, 2022. Posted in Justice In the Church, Synod on Synodality.

Join us as we discuss synodality, what it means for each of us, our communities and parishes, and the wider church. Our main text will be “Synodality: A New Way of Proceeding in the Church” authored by Vatican Synod consultant Professor Rafael Luciani.

We will gather for three weeks in October (4, 11, 18) at 12noon ET for prayer, expert guidance, small group discussions, and actions we can take to make synodality a greater reality.

[caldera_form_modal id=”CF631a6db3d8663″]Register for These Sessions [/caldera_form_modal]

Session One: From Pastoral Conversion to Synodal Conversion

Read Chapters 1 – 4

According to Prof. Luciani, We are experiencing a crisis in the transformation of faith because we are still mired in a clerical institutional model.

As he notes, Yves Congar was one of the giants at the Second Vatican Council who understood most clearly that the clericalist institutional church desperately needed reforming. And Pope Francis has made overcoming it a cornerstone of his papacy saying to priests, “Clericalism is a true perversion in the Church…Clericalism condemns, separates, frustrates, and despises the people of God.”

Synodality is the re-structuring principle that transforms the Church from a Western, monocultural Church, centered on Rome and its primacy, to a global and intercultural Church, opening the way to recognize the authority of the local church.

Additional Media

Session Two: Synodality and the People of God

Read Chapters 5 – 8

The Second Vatican Council reinscribed the centrality of the church as thee “People of God.” Cardinal Leo Joseph Suenens, the principal architect of Lumen Gentium, described it as a rediscovery of the people of God as a whole, as a single reality” with each member of the church sharing co-responsibility for the life and work of the Church.

However, in the 1980s the blossoming of this newfound way of being was thwarted by a pope who, once again, emphasized the primacy of the hierarchy subordinating the “sense of the faithful.” Regressive policies and teachings undercut the reformist principles of Vatican II.

With his constant emphasis on synodality, Pope Francis wants to make take the church forward making this exercise of authority as the work of the entire People of God a constitutive ecclesial dimension and way of proceeding for this third millennium.

FC Powerpoint for Chapters 5 – 8

Kelly Meraw’s synod resources (click below)

Synod 2021 – 2023

Session Three: Synodality and the Local Churches

Read Chapters 9, 10, & Conclusion

Although, under the papacy of John Paul II, there was a progressive deflation of the value of the local church as normative for interpreting tradition, theology, and faith, Pope Francis has emphasized that we become a “listening church” so that the People of God can be heard in their ” particular place and time” in order to know what the Spirit is saying and how to proceed.

In order to allow the Spirit to move us into this new phase of synodality, we must move into a new creative phase of receiving and implementing the Second Vatican Council.

How will this principle translate into new realities? That is the work we are undertaking today!

The video for this session will not be posted here at the request of our speaker. It has been sent to all the participants signed up for this study. To learn more contact debrose@futurechurch.org.

FC Powerpoint for Synodality Book Study Part III, Chapters 9, 10 & conclusion

Synodality study – Participant responses to what they learned

Women Erased: Women’s Authorship in Jewish and Christian Literature

Written on September 21, 2022. Posted in Women Erased, Women In Church Leadership.

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

Written on August 27, 2022. Posted in Women In Church Leadership, Women Witnesses for Racial Justice.

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

Written on August 17, 2022. Posted in Justice In the Church, TalkUp Tuesday.

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

Written on August 3, 2022. Posted in Women Erased, Women In Church Leadership.

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:

Books for Further Reading:

Women at the Cross by Amy-Jill Levine

2022 Mary Magdalene Virtual Liturgy

Written on July 22, 2022. Posted in Mary of Magdala, Women In Church Leadership.

FutureChurch celebrates the 2022 Feast of St. Mary of Magdala. Our virtual liturgy, “Confronting Gun Violence” was led by Crystal Catalan with preaching from Kimberly Lymore, D.Min.

Dear friends, as we gather today
to celebrate the Feast of St. Mary Magdalene,
we do so in a world plagued by horrific violence of every kind
and still in desperate need of the Easter Good News
first proclaimed by Mary Magdalene some two thousand years ago.

Today, as we reckon with the violence raging around us,
and especially the gun violence that day after day, night after night,
claims lives, shatters families, and terrorizes communities, we remember that Mary – along with other women – remained with Jesus, keeping vigil as he suffered the horrific violence of the cross and left the safety of the upper room to anoint his broken body, and was blessed and sent forth to share the news of Resurrection.

And we pray for the same faith, strength, and courage to
bear witness, to stand vigil,
and to confront evil and violence in our midst.
That we too might become bearers of the Good News:
That light dispels the darkness, that truth exposes the lies,
That love conquers hate, that hope overcomes despair,
That death gives way to new life.

View/Download the Worship Aid

Plaque Replicas of Bronze Relief by Sister Margaret Beaudette, SC (1928-2017) available for purchase here.

Media Type: Video