Join us!

Updates

May 15 Rape Culture, Sexual Violence, and Spiritual Healing by Gina Messina-Dysert

gmd_2948Originally posted on Feminism and Religion.

Recently I had the great pleasure of presenting on the WATER Teleconference Series and dialoguing with women from around the world about how to promote healing in a rape culture. Likewise, in a previous post I discussed rape culture in the Church and its impact on victims of sexual violence and the greater community. Within a rape culture, those who experience sexual victimization endure physical, emotional, and spiritual wounding. It is a victimization unlike any other, and one that we must continue to discuss in search of healing. Read more.

May 14 Courage Needs to Make a Comeback to Create Change by Mary E. Hunt

MEHuntphotoPosted originally on National Catholic Reporter.

Courage is an old-fashioned virtue that comes in many forms: physical, social and political. I have paid attention to it of late — both its absence and presence — in the hope that highlighting courage will make it multiply. A dose of courage would go a long way toward solving many ecclesial and civil problems.

Same-sex love is increasingly seen as part of human diversity, but ugly incidents continue to remind us that courage is still needed to love freely. Nicholas Coppola had been an active parish volunteer at St. Anthony’s Parish in Oceanside, N.Y. He visited the sick, taught, raised money, acted as a lector, even served at the altar as an out gay man. Then someone anonymously reported to the local bishop that Coppola had married his partner. Read more.

April 16 Pope Francis and the American Sisters by Mary E. Hunt

IMG_1277The jury is still out on Pope Francis in a pontificate that may well be shaped by women. A month after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was named Bishop of Rome, his Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Most Rev. Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, met with the presidents of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group of American nuns that had come under doctrinal scrutiny and been found wanting.

Archbishop Mueller claimed that he had “recently discussed the Doctrinal Assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the Assessment and the program of reform for this Conference of Major Superiors.” On the face of it, this means that Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Bishop Leonard P. Blair, and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, who were named to enforce the terms the Congregation’s findings against the LCWR, are given carte blanche to do so. There may be more to this than meets the eye. Read more.

Programs

May 22 Teleconference with Marie M. Fortune, Jeanette Stokes, Mary E. Hunt, and Diann L. Neu

gmd_2948“A Century of Creative Feminist Leadership in Religion”
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
1 pm – 2 pm EDT

• In 1977, Marie M. Fortune founded FaithTrust Institute to mobilize faith communities to address sexual and domestic violence.

• In 1977, Jeanette Stokes founded the Resource Center for Women and Ministry in the South (RCWMS) to support women in and entering ministry and to weave feminism and spirituality into a vision of justice for the world.

• In 1983, Mary E. Hunt and Diann L. Neu founded the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) in response to the need for theological, ethical, and liturgical development for and by women.

Together, these modest non-profit organizations have logged more than a century of progressive feminist work for justice. Read more.

April 24 Teleconference with Gina Messina-Dysert

gmd_2948“In Search of Healing: Confronting Rape Culture and Spiritual Violence”
Wednesday, April 24
1 PM – 2 PM (EDT)

Gina Messina-Dysert, Ph.D., will begin her new appointment as Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies at Ursuline College this July and is currently serving as Visiting Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics at Loyola Marymount University and Director of The Center for Women’s Interdisciplinary Research and Education at Claremont Graduate University.  She is also Co-founder and Co-Director of Feminism and Religion, an international project that explores the “F-word” in religion and the intersection between scholarship, activism, and community. Read more.

May 13 Contemplative Prayer with Geralyn McDowell

Monday, May 13, 2013
7:30 PM (EDT)

WATER offers a regular contemplative prayer opportunity each month. This is a communal meditation, a time of silence and reflection followed by a short discussion. Geralyn McDowell will lead the meditation on the topic: “The Power to Name.”

RSVP by sending an email with the words “Register Me Contemplative” by Friday, May 10, 2013 to waterstaff@waterwomensalliance.org or call 301.589.2509 so that we can expect you. If you wish to join by phone, please indicate that so we can send you the phone-in number. Read more.

April 8 Contemplative Prayer with Cynthia Tootle

Monday, April 8, 7:30 PM (EST)

WATER offers a regular contemplative prayer opportunity each month. This is a communal meditation, a time of silence and reflection followed by a short discussion. Cynthia Tootle will lead the meditation on the topic: “Affirming Healing on All Levels . . .” Read more.

Switch to our mobile site