Catholic Women Preach

Preaching for the Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Michelle Pérez offers a reflection on global citizenship in light of gospel values of missionary discipleship and servant leadership:

"As I continue to grapple with missionary discipleship and servant leadership in my every day ... I’m going to remember these words, 'and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.'"

Michelle Pérez currently serves as the Cultural Commissions Coordinator for the New Jersey De-partment of State and was former Senior Aide to the Governor in the Office of Intergovernmental Af-fairs. She recently completed a Master of Arts at the School of Diplomacy and International Relations at Seton Hall University, concentrating in Post Conflict State Reconstruction and Sustainability and Latin America and the Caribbean. She is an alum of Saint Peter’s University where she pursued a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, as well as secondary fields of study in Anthropology and Philosophy. 

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/08112019 to learn more about Michelle, to view her video and read her preaching text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Preaching for the Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Meghan Clark offers a reflection on wealth and discipleship:

"Luke’s parables about money are ultimately parables about discipleship... The Rich Fool helps us remember that private property is not absolute. The goods of the earth are never really just 'mine' to do with as I please."

Meghan J. Clark, Ph.D., is an associate professor of moral theology at St John’s University (NY). She is author of The Vision of Catholic Social Thought: the Virtue of Solidarity and the Praxis of Human Rights (Fortress Press, 2014) and co-editor of Public Theology and the Global Common Good: The Contribution of David Hollenbach (Orbis, 2106), both of which were awarded first place prizes from the Catholic Press Association Book Awards.  Active in public theology, she is a columnist for US Catholic magazine and a contributor to America Magazine and Millennial Journal.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/08042019 to learn more about Dr. Clark, to read her preaching text, view her video and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Preaching for the Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Sr. Judgette Gallares, RC offers a reflection on prayer:   "Jesus is teaching us that prayer is first and foremost a relationship between God and us, a relationship built on love and trust, not on fear."  

Preaching for the Feast of St. Mary of Magdala (St. Mary Magdalene), Elizabeth Berne DeGear offers a reflection which explores the meaning of the word "migdala," the subjectivity of Mary of Magdala, and our agency today:

"Now is a time to celebrate. On this Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene 

we can celebrate the power of her experience as good news. She is reminding us that we all have to claim our own experience as the good news. Jesus as rabbouni. 'My' teacher. Your teacher. And we have to go out and live it and preach it and teach it with authority."

Elizabeth Berne DeGear is a chaplain, writer, Bible scholar and Catholic feminist.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/07222019 to learn more about Elizabeth, to read her text, view her video, and for more preaching from Catholic Women.

Lupita Vital Cruz preaches for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, offering a reflection on hospitality:

"I invite you to be hospitable by embracing immigrants, embracing those with no voice, embracing our neighbors, and embracing our families and ourselves. "

Lupita Vital Cruz is currently the director of the Hispanic Apostolate for the Diocese of San Jose, California. She holds a master's degree in catechesis from the University of Santa Clara and has over 25 years of experience in catechesis.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/07212019 to learn more about Lupita, to read her text, to view both her English and Spanish videos, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Preaching for the Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Julie George, SSpS offers a reflection on how the parable of the Good Samaritan calls us beyond our traditional boundaries, laws, and rules with a particular emphasis on how the institutional Church might respond faithfully to the parable:  "Jesus taught us to transform the law as per the signs of the time, and to stand in solidarity with the people in need."  

Preaching for the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Emily Rauer Davis offers a reflection on finding strength, comfort, and hope in God our Mother:

"In spite of the hardships we face, or creeping feelings of despair, we are invited to recall the love of God as Mother: nurturing us, consoling us, and reassuring us of our place in the world. We are called to be a people of hope as we go about our work as disciples in our broken world, with God’s promise of abundant, gratuitous love as our foundation."

Emily Rauer Davis is Assistant Chaplain and Director of Domestic Immersions at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, MA. A 1999 graduate of Holy Cross, she spent a year with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Fresno, CA before receiving her Master of Divinity degree at Weston Jesuit School of Theology.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/07072019 to learn more about Emily, to read her text, view her video, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Preaching for the Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Elizabeth Turnwald offers a reflection on surrendering to God's personal invitation to discipleship:

"We can get so caught up in the preparation that we don’t appreciate the invitation. But the marvelous thing about God, this all-forgiving, all-patient Universal Love, is that even when we don’t answer 'correctly,' she finds a way of repeating herself; and she will continue asking until we’re ready. It’s a cycle, a pattern, and a living relationship. We won’t always get it right the first time, but we will eventually discover that sweet bliss of open surrender."

Elizabeth Turnwald is a current Jesuit Volunteer in New York City and is the Retreat Coordinator and Conflict Resolution Program Assistant at the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. A graduate of the University of Dayton, she holds a B.A. in Music and in Spanish with a minor in Women’s and Gender Studies. She will soon pursue a Master of Divinity at the Boston College School of Theology and Ministry.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/06302019 to learn more about Elizabeth,  to view her video or read her preaching text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Preaching for the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, Rita Ferrone offers a reflection on how "“The Eucharist commits us to the poor:”

"Eucharist commits us to the poor, because Jesus chose to identify himself with them, and he tells us again today: 'Give them something to eat.'"

Rita Ferrone is an award-winning writer and frequent speaker on issues of liturgy and church renewal in the Roman Catholic tradition. She is currently a contributing writer and columnist for Commonweal magazine, and serves as general editor for The Yale ISM Review, an ecumenical journal of worship and the arts for the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. She is a contributor to the Pray Tell Blog, and writes for the Liturgical Press daily prayer resource, Give Us This Day.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/06232019 to learn more about Rita Ferrone, to watch her video or to read her text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.

Preaching for Trinity Sunday, Lynn Cooper offers a reflection on entering more deeply into the mystery of the Trinity:  

"My friends, this Trinity Sunday, I invite you to dwell in this reframing of mystery – the forever understanding –and marinate in one or two of these provocations:    How might unity in multiplicity inspire us to be in solidarity with people of other faiths or no faith?  In the spirit of the liturgical year, which calls us to re-encounter our tradition and story in cycles, how have joy and sorrow from your past year redefined your relationship to the Trinity?  How might we use the Trinity as a way to deepen our work for justice, honoring difference and diversity as holy?  And lastly, how might we make space to listen to and carouse with the Spirit, allowing everyday sacramental moments to break open our faith so we may remember, once again—in body and spirit—that God is a verb?" 

 Lynn Cooper has served as the Catholic Chaplain at Tufts University since 2008. She holds a B.A. from Tufts in Comparative Religion and English, an M.Div from Harvard Divinity School and is currently working on a Doctor of Ministry at Boston University.   To learn more about Lynn, to read her text, and for more preaching from Catholic women, visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/06162019.