Interact: Inspirational

A spiritual retreat for women who have felt marginalized because of their orientation – is planned for July 29-31, 2011. The retreat begins at 4 PM on Friday and ends at 1 PM on Sunday.  $145 including meals. Sponsored by the Loretto Women’s Network, c/o 4000 S. Wadsworth Boulevard, Littleton, CO.

Space is limited, please register early.  Contact schisselje@aol.com for questions and registration.

Rose Marie Berger is a poet and social justice activist who lives in Washington, DC. Berger speaks frequently on the relationships between faith, art and activism. In her talks, she invites audiences to consider how their faith is enriched by the arts, how daily life in their neighborhoods and cities influences their faith, and how personal faith fuels activism for the common good.

She has a wonderful Advent reflection on hope and small things you can read here. 

I especially enjoyed Berger’s post on  Sr. Joan Chittister’s talk – “To Be A Moral Force in the World.” I found an inspiring Advent message and hope you do, too.

“There are three obstacles to our personal development that would make us a moral force in the world.

First, fear of loss of status has done more to chill character than history will ever know. We do not curry favor with kings by pointing out that the emperor has no clothes. We do not gain promotions by countering the beloved viewpoints of the chair of the board or the bishop of the diocese. We do not figure in the neighborhood barbecues if we embarrass the Pentagon employees in the gathering by a public commitment to demilitarization. It is hard time, this choice of destiny between public conscience and social acceptability. Then we tell ourselves that nothing is to be gained by upsetting people. And sure enough, nothing is.

Second, personal comfort is a factor, too, in the decision to let other people bear responsibility for the tenor of our times. It takes a great deal of effort to turn my attention beyond the confines of where I work and where I live and what my children do. It lies in registering interest in something beyond my small, small world and perhaps taking part in group discussions or lectures. It requires turning my mind to substance beyond sitcoms and the sports channel and the local weekly. It means not allowing myself to go brain-dead before the age of forty. But these things that cost comfort are exactly the things that will, ultimately, make life better for my work and my children.

Third, fear of criticism is no small part, surely, of this unwillingness to be born into the world for which I have been born. To differ from the mainstream of humanity, to take a position that is not popular tests the tenor of the best debaters, the strongest thinkers, the most skilled of speakers. To do that at the family table or in the office takes the utmost in courage, the ultimate in love, the keenest communication skills. And who of us have them?

The process of human discourse is a risky one. Other people speak more clearly or convincingly than we do. Other people have better academic backgrounds than we do. Other people have authority and robes and buttons and titles that we do not now and ever will have, and to confront those things takes nerve of a special gauge. I may lose. I may make a perfect fool out of myself. But everybody has to be perfect about something. What else can be more worth it than giving the gift of the perfect question in a world uncomfortable with the answers but too frightened or too complacent or too ambitious to raise these doubts again?”

In a random seach I came across a very interesting film: In God’s House: Asian Amercian Lesbian and Gay Families in the Church.

You can see the trailer here. 

“Asian American lesbians and gays have been largely invisible in Christian churches…Yet lesbian and gay Asian Amercians and their families worship and serve in church every day. Where are their voices? This honest and thought-provoking film tells a story that the church needs to hear: that of Asian American Christian lesbian and gay people, their pastors, and their parents. The DVD has subtitles in Chinese, English, Indonesian, Japanese, Pilipino and Vietnamese.”

http://www.ingodshouse.com

An athletic director at a high school in Springfield, Mass. says she was pressured to leave her position because she married her wife last month.

Christine Judd, dean of students and athletic director for Cathedral High School, stepped down after meeting with school administrators on Wednesday, according to The Republican newspaper.

Judd worked for the school for 12 years, where she rose from science teacher to dean of students and, three years ago, athletic director. While the state has allowed gay people to marry since 2004, same-sex marriage is still not sanctioned by the Catholic Church.

“Cathedral had nothing to do with this,” she said in the article. “This was a diocesan decision. In the end, the timing of this issue really affects the kids. That is where it has the most effect.”

Note: 40 Cathdral High students held a protest outside of St. Michael’s Cathedral in support of Judd.  Heartwarming.  More here.

Life is though. But Nuns are tougher.  If you need helpful advice, just Ask Sister Mary Martha.

Here. 

Fish Out of Water on July 12th is especially funny.