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Say Her Name Prayer Service

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

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

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

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.

Sisters lead discussions on upcoming synod on synodality

Written on . Posted in In the News.

Excerpt: FutureChurch, the Catholic Reform organization, is offering a four-part series examining the synod on synodality.

Dominican Sr. Maureen Sullivan will use the four video sessions to examine Vatican II, the synod, and the future of the Catholic Church. FutureChurch calls the upcoming synod most important gathering in the recent history of the church and the most promising since the Second Vatican Council.

Does Catholic media represent you?

Written on . Posted in In the News.

Excerpt: 

In March 2021 FutureChurch hosted a talk on women in Catholic media, hosted by Heidi Schlumpf, executive editor of the National Catholic Reporter. Schlumpf called attention to a lack of diversity in Catholic media leadership. Out of more than a dozen prominent Catholic media outlets, six have no women in editorial positions. Others heavily tilt in the direction of male leadership. At the time of the talk, only three—National Catholic Reporter, Our Sunday Visitor, and this publication, U.S. Catholic—had more women than men in leadership. Schlumpf also noted the absence of Catholics of color from these positions.

This lack of representation in leadership is not simply a symbolic problem. It has a trickle-down effect, since those in power decide who gets to write, who gets interviewed, and whose stories matter.

As Catholic bishops gather, so do protesters on right and left

Written on . Posted in In the News.

Excerpt:

On the first day of the meeting, a coalition of liberal-leaning Catholic groups protested outside the hotel where the bishops were to meet in a closed, executive session. Calling their demonstration “Bread, not Stones,” about 50 participants marched, prayed and gave speeches expressing disapproval with what they describe as efforts by bishops to politicize the Eucharist.

The demonstration was focused on a planned debate at the U.S. bishops’ meeting over a document on Communion. Although the document is expected to be less political than some critics originally feared, the controversy surrounding its creation drew international attention after some bishops suggested denying the Eucharist to Catholic politicians who support abortion rights.

Signs included messages such as “Who would Jesus deny?”; “Communion is for all”; and “Eucharist: food for a hungry soul.” Organizations helping to assemble the protest include Catholics for Choice, Women’s Ordination Conference, DignityUSA and FutureChurch.