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Mary Magdalene: Her Easter Proclamation and Why It Matters

Written on . Posted in Mary of Magdala, Women Erased, Women In Church Leadership.

FutureChurch Program Associate, Olivia Hastie, moderates an intergenerational panel of women in scholarship and ministry to explore how Mary Magdalene continues to inspire us today, why it is important that we reclaim and tell her true story, and what difference it would make in the lives of people of faith to hear the full story on Easter Sunday.


About our Panelists:

Carolyn Osiek, RSCJ was professor of New Testament at Catholic Theological Union at Chicago for 26 years, and is professor emerita from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. She is the author or editor of many books and articles on topics of New Testament and Early Church.

Laura Boysen-Aragón is the Development Director at the Loyola Institute for Spirituality (LIS) in Orange, CA where she brings to her work a deep commitment to Ignatian spirituality and a faith that seeks justice. Laura has felt a strong call to the priesthood for many years. She continues discerning how to live out that call.

Molly Cahill is an assistant editor at America Media, where she previously completed a one-year media fellowship after her graduation from Boston College. She is passionate about theology, activism, journalism, and the arts.

Martha Ligas is a spiritual director, lay minister, preacher, and educator. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Ministry at Fordham University, serves as pastoral minister at the Community of St. Peter in Cleveland, OH, and is communications coordinator for FutureChurch.

Resources Mentioned in This Presentation

“Mary Magdalene Goes to the Synod” Project to Expand the Lectionary

Most Catholics, including Catholic bishops and priests, do not realize that many important stories of our foremothers in faith are excluded from our lectionary.  For instance, the full story of Mary Magdalene’s Easter proclamation of the Risen Christ is NEVER heard on Easter Sunday (John 20: 1 – 18).  Thus, Catholics are deprived of learning about the gifts, grace, courage, and ministry of women such as Mary Magdalene.

As we head towards the 2024 Synod, help us to share the Good News that women have been integral to shaping our Christian tradition and their inspirational stories should be included in our lectionary!

Learn more

Lenten Fasting and Body Hatred with Jessica Coblentz, Ph.D.

Written on . Posted in Respect Women Series, Women In Church Leadership.

Jessica Coblentz joins FutureChurch to present on her article “Catholic Fasting Literature in a Context of Body Hatred: A Feminist Critique” in which she argues that the social conditions of misogynistic body hatred and the culture of fasting during Lent perpetuates disordered eating.

Jessica Coblentz, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Religious Studies and Theology at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where her research and teaching focuses on Catholic systematic theology, feminist theologies, and mental health in theological perspective. She is a graduate of Santa Clara University and Harvard Divinity School, and received her PhD from Boston College. She was previously a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute in Collegeville, Minnesota, and has taught at Saint Mary’s College in Moraga, California.

From Unfathomable Grief to Unsurpassed Joy: Women of Lent and Easter with Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman

Written on . Posted in Women Erased, Women In Church Leadership.

Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman joins FutureChurch to offer this beautiful time of reflection on the Women of Lent and Easter: Mary and Martha of Bethany; Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Mary Magdalene.  Accompany them as they each offer gifts: sheltering Jesus, standing with him at the Cross, and witnessing the greatest miracle of all — the Resurrection.

About our leader: Writer, storyteller, mother and Episcopal priest, the Rev. Lindsay Hardin Freeman is committed to freeing Bible women and other Bible characters from the dusty, dry literary caskets in which they seem to have been trapped for centuries. A North American Ministerial Fellow and Cox Fellow, she received her Master of Arts in Theological Studies and Master of Divinity from the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, and is the author/co-author/editor of ten books and over 100 articles on faith and church life. She and her team of researchers were the first to count and profile all the women whose words are recorded in the Bible, resulting in the publication of Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter (Forward Movement). Learn more at https://www.lindsayhardinfreeman.com/ 

Chat Transcript: Rev. Hardin Freeman made use of the chat to interact with participants throughout our time of reflection. Women Of Lent And Easter Chat.

Co-Creating Beauty: Queer Bodies and Queer Love with Craig Ford, Jr.

Written on . Posted in Justice In the Church, Respect Women Series, Women In Church Leadership.

Dr. Ford’s presentation, “Co-Creating Beauty: Queer Bodies and Queer Loves Beyond the Anathemas” explores how our roles as co-creators with God allows for new ways to understand the truth revealed by sexuality and gender identity beyond the boundaries of heteronormativity. Such redeployment of this theological status as co-creator, Ford argues, may provide a pathway beyond the impasse currently experienced at the level of official church teaching with respect to these topics.

Craig A. Ford, Jr., Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Saint Norbert College, where he teaches courses in Christian Ethics, Ecclesiology, and on Race, Gender and Sexuality while also serving as Co-Director for the Peace and Justice Interdisciplinary Minor. He is also on the faculty at the Institute for Black Catholic Studies—hosted at Xavier University of Louisiana, the nation’s only Catholic HBCU— where he teaches courses on Black Theology as well as on Topics in Moral Theology from a Black Perspective. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Yale Divinity School, and Boston College, Dr. Ford writes on topics at the intersection of queer theory, blac studies, and the Catholic moral tradition. His most recent book project, All of Us: The Future of Catholic Theology From the Perspectives of Queer Theologians of Color is a co-edited volume with Bryan Massingale and Miguel Diaz, drawing scholars and activists from North and South America, the Pacific Islands, Australia, and Europe who seek to chart new directions for Catholic theology when the oppressive realities of racism, heteronormativity, and sexism within church and world are engaged equally and fiercely. This volume is currently under contract with Fortress Press.

How Americans (Don’t) Talk about Abortion with Tricia C. Bruce

Written on . Posted in Respect Women Series, Uncategorized, Women In Church Leadership.

FutureChurch welcomes sociologist, Dr. Tricia C. Bruce, Ph.D., to present on the findings of her qualitative study of American views on abortion. Using data from in-depth interviews with hundreds of everyday Americans, Dr. Bruce underscores the imperative of productive conversations about abortion in a post Roe v. Wade era. Her research exposes the limitations of available labels, assumptions, and boundaries separating Americans’ moral and legal views. Study insights help to forge pathways beyond polarization, making room for greater complexity, ambiguity, understanding, and cross-cutting collaborations. Learn more about and read the study here. 

 

Tricia C. Bruce, Ph.D. (University of California Santa Barbara) is a sociologist of religion with expertise in organizational, attitudinal, and generational change. Her award-winning books and reports include Parish and Place: Making Room for Diversity in the American Catholic Church(Oxford University Press, 2017), Faithful Revolution: How Voice of the Faithful Is Changing the Church (Oxford University Press, 2011/2014), and How Americans Understand Abortion (also forthcoming as a book with the University of California Press). She is also coeditor of Polarization in the US Catholic Church (Liturgical Press, 2016) and American Parishes: Remaking Local Catholicism (Fordham University Press, 2019). Her writing has appeared in Time Magazine, Science Advances, The Wall Street Journal, the LA Times, Religions, Journal for the American Academy of Religion, Review of Religious Research, and more.

She is an affiliate of the University of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Religion and Society and Director of Springtide Research Institute. Previous appointments include tenured associate professor of sociology at Maryville College and research assistant professor with Georgetown University’s Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA). She serves as President-Elect for the Association for the Sociology of Religion and as Past-Chair of the American Sociological Association Religion Section.

 

Gospel Women of Advent Retreat

Written on . Posted in Women Erased, Women In Church Leadership.

FutureChurch welcomes award winning author and speaker, Kathy Coffey, who leads this beautiful afternoon of reflection to begin Advent. Using an ancient Midrash technique, we imagine the lives of women in the infancy narratives. They invite us to see the scriptures differently, with possibilities beyond the familiar. To what might they call us today?
Art Used:

About our Retreat Leader: 
Kathy Coffey is the author of many books such as Hidden Women of the Gospels, More Hidden Women of the Gospels, A Generous Lap: A Spirituality of Grandparenting (Orbis) and When the Saints Came Marching In (Liturgical Press).

She taught for fifteen years at the University of Colorado, Denver, and Regis Jesuit University. She has won sixteen awards from the Catholic Press Association, the Foley Poetry Award from America magazine, and several others. She has spoken at national conventions such as the LA and East Coast Congresses, NCCL, NCEA and many diocesan gatherings.

Her own spirituality has been shaped by 50 years of parenting and 12 years of grandparenting. A widow, the mother of four and grandmother of six, she lives in the Bay area, CA.

For more information, see her website: kathyjcoffey.com.

Dr. Phyllis Zagano Accepts 2023 Fr. Louis Trivison Award

Written on . Posted in Fall Event.

FutureChurch is honored to present Phyllis Zagano, Ph.D. with our 2023 Fr. Louis Trivison Award in recognition of and immense gratitude for her ground-breaking work researching the history of, promoting discussion and discernment about, and advancing the cause for women in the diaconate.

The Fr. Louis 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.

 

Kate McElwee Accepts 2023 Christine Schenk Award for Young Catholic Leaders

Written on . Posted in Fall Event.

FutureChurch is honored to present our 2023 Christine Schenk Award to Kate McElwee in celebration and admiration of her uncompromising advocacy for women in the Church and, in particular, for her leadership on the successful “Votes for Catholic Women” campaign, which certainly played a significant role in achieving a historic first for our Church – 54 women participating as equals – with a vote – in the October Synod Assembly.

Named for FutureChurch co-founder and founding executive director, the Christine Schenk Award for Young Catholic Leaders is given to a young Roman Catholic who has demonstrated promising leadership in advancing FutureChurch’s Vatican II mission in one or more areas of social justice, pastoral care, ministry, advocacy, teaching, researching or publishing.