WATER on Vacation
July 30, 2025
Dear WATER friends,
After a year filled with joy, work, meaningful experiences, and uncertainty, WATER will take a month to reflect and rest as we always do in August.
This year, we persisted, resisted, prayed, strategized, and continued to build the Alliance in the pursuit of social justice. We are deeply grateful for your continued participation and support and look forward to being with you in the Fall.
WATER will be closed from July 31, 2025 to September 1, 2025. We will be back on September 2, 2025, refreshed and motivated to continue our work with you all! WATER programs will begin in October. In case of emergency (only), please contact Mary E. Hunt (240-472-4587, mhunt@hers.com.
We bid adieu to Wed Naji and Magdalena Müller, our EIRENE/Brethren Voluntary Service colleagues as they return to Germany to continue their studies. We will welcome the next Brethren Voluntary Service person, Vera Logose, in the fall.
We hope you have time to enjoy your summer/winter!
All the best and many thanks,
Mary E. Hunt, Diann L. Neu, Magdalena Müller, Wed Naji
Wed and Magdalena’s Intern Reflection
The world has drastically changed since we walked into the WATER office for the first time. We remember arriving hopeful in the nation’s capital, thinking we could estimate the upcoming election’s impact on everybody’s lives. But like the famous German saying, “If you want to amuse God, make a plan,” our expectations were exceeded in many ways; some good, some rather unexpected.
Mary and Diann welcomed us with open arms and a cup of tea or coffee and biscuits, a hospitality that set the precedent for our work at WATER. As a former intern, Brooke did a phenomenal job training us before going on to do greater work. At WATER, we acquired administrative and archival work, in addition to program planning skills. The WATER community was eager to get to know us and made us feel at home, being very supportive throughout the process.
11 months at this internship made it possible for us to become acquainted with the great feminist and theologian minds of the past and today who have shaped the way we know and define feminist theology. WATER has taught us that feminist issues can be observed in every life circumstance possible, and that each one of us can contribute with our own motivations and skills to resolve those issues.
Meeting and working with all those wonderful people that we have met was seriously life-changing. WATER invited us to sit at a table hosting all these people, enabling us to pitch our own ideas as well as listen and learn from the people who have persisted in this work for decades.
In these tough and fraudulent times, WATER became a centre of hope and resistance, not only for us, but for the Alliance. In the last months of being in the U.S., we experienced the impact of decisions made in Washington and how those decisions ultimately impact the countries around us. We were inspired by resistance groups, knowing that these people persevere in the work they do, no matter how challenging the times may be. They provided us with a new sense of optimism and drive. Working in such a connected and engaging environment cultivated a stronger sense of responsibility to persist in our efforts to make change, and at the same time, this provided us with new ideas and perspectives for implementing those changes.
We learned that you can not always measure the impact of justice work, but we experienced ourselves that the smallest actions can impact others and the world more than we expect. So our take is: Just try. We were encouraged to ‘just try’ and implement our ideas, no matter what the expected result was. This work culture provided us with great opportunities to grow and develop our knowledge, opinions, and dispositions.
Every single person we encountered and interacted with at WATER inspired us to keep trying and to not only dream big but also pursue those dreams. As we always say now, what makes WATER epic is not the people that work here, but each and every person in the Alliance.
Mary and Diann have been more than solely bosses to us, but first and foremost mentors and inspirations. We will forever cherish their patience, support, and faith in us and a better future. Thanks to you, we will return to Europe with knowledge, wisdom, and skills that we can take on in our future social justice work and share with people all over the world.
Upcoming Programs
WATERmeditation on Monday, October 13, 2025, at 7:30 pm ET
“Shaping a Full Life” with Mary E. Hunt
Mary E. Hunt will lead off this year’s sessions with the lovely poem by Mary Oliver, “When Death Comes.” This will not be a morbid, morose reflection on death, nor a denial of the inevitability of death. Rather, it is a welcoming invitation to ponder our full vigorous lives and how we wish to shape them, beginning to end. All are welcome. No previous meditation experience is needed.
WATERtalk on Wednesday, October 15, 2025, at 1 pm ET
“Bending Toward Justice: Sr. Kate Kuenstler and the Struggle for Parish Rights.”
Christine Schenk, CSJ, founding director of an international church reform organization, Future Church, will discuss her most recent book, Bending Toward Justice: Sr. Kate Kuenstler and the Struggle for Parish Rights (Sheed and Ward, 2024). Kate was one of the unsung heroes of American Catholicism who toil in the weeds of Canon Law to alert parishioners to their rights and help them claim them. Chris Schenk captures Kate’s story in vivid, well-informed prose, opening imaginations to other such people who make change happen.
WATERritual Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at 7:30 pm ET
“Remembering What They Want Us to Forget: LGBT History Month” with Diann L. Neu
The current administration is trying to eradicate and nullify queer history and achievements, be it by renaming ships, deleting things from the government’s website and worse. While queer people’s lives and rights are threatened yet again, we join to celebrate how far we’ve come, building community, and saying “Never Again Is Now.”
WATER in the Media
Introducing “Kwok’n Roll” – The Podcast That Sparks Bold Conversations!
Join the incredible Kwok Pui Lan as she kicks off her highly anticipated podcast, Kwok’n Roll! In each episode, Kwok Pui Lan dives deep into captivating conversations with some of the brightest minds of our time—trailblazing intellectuals, fearless religious leaders, passionate activists, and groundbreaking artists. Together, they explore the pressing political, cultural, and religious issues shaping our world today, all while examining the vital role people of faith play in these pivotal conversations. Listen to the podcast on Podbean.
Catholic Feminist Meets the Moment with Mary E. Hunt
Kwok Pui Lan sits down with renowned theologian and feminist scholar, Mary E. Hunt, to explore the intersection of faith, feminism, and social justice.
In this discussion, Mary E. Hunt shares her insights on the evolving role of women in the Catholic Church, the pressing need for gender equality, and how feminist theology is shaping the future of religious discourse.
Don’t miss out on this rich blend of intellectual depth, humor, and passion. Kwok’n Roll – a discourse that makes a difference.
Canadian Broadcasting Cooperation (CBC) Interview:
In an interview with the CBC, feminist theologian Mary E. Hunt urged urgent reform of the papal election process. Co-founder of the Women’s Alliance for Theology, Ethics, and Ritual (WATER), Hunt explained that the process lacks transparency and needs to be more inclusive. With concern growing about Pope Francis’ health, she stressed the importance of including a far more diverse group of electors, including young people and women. She also commented on the movie “Conclave” lest viewers think they know much more about the secret process. Women were portrayed accurately in the movie as only one had real voice. Surely change is needed.
Intern at WATER
Be a Part of an Action-based Community
Become a WATER Intern
for Winter or Spring!
WATER welcomes students from seminaries, universities, colleges, volunteer programs, and more to work in the WATER office.
Interns at WATER engage in the full range of activities from office work to program planning. They learn how a small non-profit is run and what it takes to nurture an Alliance.
Those wishing to do their own research will have a chance to utilize WATER’s constantly growing Resource Center as well as consult with our experienced staff through in-house seminars.
Interns must commit to a minimum of six weeks and can stay as long as a year or two. The internship is an on-site internship at the WATER office in Silver Spring, MD. All participants are encouraged to apply for academic credit from their home institutions for their work at WATER. We are delighted to work with programs that sponsor volunteers with expenses shared by WATER as the on-site placement.
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Land Acknowledgement
WATER, located in Silver Spring, Maryland, acknowledges that it sits on the traditional and contemporary homeland of the Piscataway and Nacotchtank (sometimes known as the Anacostan) people, the original stewards of this land.
We are committed to lifting up the names of these lands and the community members from these nations who reside alongside us and who were here long before we were. We affirm WATER’s intention to promote healing, respect, and love for all people through our work, with special indebtedness to Native people whose lands we are privileged to share.