Catholic Women Preach

Rebecca Muder preaches for the Second Sunday of Advent, offering a reflection on discipleship: "We are called to find and dedicate ourselves to the work that is uniquely ours to do, work that contributes to the creation of a more just and compassionate world."

A self-professed perfectionist, she finds solace in today's readings, saying, "God isn’t interested in perfect. She is interested in our willingness to try."

A native Kansan, Rebecca studied English and Sociology at Emporia State University. As an Amate House Volunteer in Chicago, she worked for the Catholic Charities of Chicago and Heartland Human Care Services. Becca earned a Master of Arts in Theological Studies from the University of Dayton where she also worked as a Residence Life Campus Minister. Following graduate studies, she returned to Chicago to serve Amate House for four years as a Program and Recruitment Coordinator before joining the Maryknoll Lay Missioners in 2016. She recently transferred to El Salvador from Brazil and is currently engaged in the process of learning Spanish. In 2019, she will begin a new ministry at a primary school, Patronato Lidia Coggiola, in Zaragoza, a small town just outside of San Salvador.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/12092018 to learn more about Becca, watch her video, read her text, and for more preaching for the Sunday Scriptures from Catholic women.

Annemarie Paulin-Campbell preaches for the Immaculate Conception, offering a reflection on how we might respond to our own "annunciation moments when our former understanding of our future is shattered and a new one is held out in invitation."

Dr. Annemarie Paulin-Campbell is a South African Catholic laywoman who has been working in the area of Ignatian Spirituality for the past twenty years. She heads up the Spirituality work of the Jesuit Institute South Africa which is based in Johannesburg. She has a Masters degree in Educational Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand and Master of Arts Degree in Christian Spirituality from Heythrop College, University of London. She has a doctorate in the interface between psychology and spirituality from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. Her doctoral thesis was on shifts in image of God and self in women making the Spiritual Exercises. Her primary work in the Jesuit Institute involves the training and supervision of spiritual directors and the giving of retreats including the Spiritual Exercises.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/12082018 to learn more about Annemarie, to view her video, or to read her text. Find preaching for every Sunday of the year and many holy days at www.catholicwomenpreach.org.

Carmen Sammut, MSOLA preaches for the First Sunday of Advent, offering a reflection on recognizing Jesus, the Emmanuel, God-with-us in every person we meet and sowing seeds of hope this Advent.

Carmen Sammut, msola was born and lived her first 22 years on the island of Malta. She was trained as a teacher and taught for 3 years before joining the Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Africa (msola) in 1974. She completed her religious studies and training in London, England and Ottawa, Canada. She obtained a degree in Rome in Arabic and Islamic studies. Apart from 2 years in Malawi, her missionary experience has been in Muslim countries in interreligious dialogue. She lived 15 years in Tunisia, 9 years in Algeria and 3 years in Mauritania before becoming, in 2011, congregational leader based in Rome. She has been President of the UISG since 2013.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/12022018 to learn more about Sr. Carmen Sammut, read her text, and for more Catholic women preaching.

Agnes Brazal preaches for the Solemnity of Christ the King, offering a reflection on making God's reign a reality in our hearts, minds, and society.

Dr. Agnes M. Brazal is associate professor and research fellow at the De la Salle University, Manila. She is past President and founding member of the DaKaTeo (Catholic Theological Society of the Philippines) and one of the first "mothers" of the Ecclesia of Women in Asia (EWA), an association of Catholic women theologians in Asia. Before becoming a professional theologian, she worked as community organizer, campus minister/student organizer, coordinator of the Basic Ecclesial Community Program of the Diocese of Catarman, Samar, and formator of social development workers.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/11252018 for video, text, and more preaching for every Sunday of the year.

Claire Noonan preaches for the Thirty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time, offering a reflection on finding our way in these troubled times: "In times such as these, where do we turn? How do we set our feet, as the psalmist says, on the path of life, toward fullness of joy? Who can show us the way? "

Claire Noonan, DMin, is a practical theologian who brings more than two decades of experience in university ministry, adult faith formation, and social justice education to her work as Vice President for Mission and Ministry at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from The Catholic University of America with a Bachelor of Arts in English and Religion. She earned a Master of Divinity degree at the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, and her Ecumenical Doctor of Ministry degree at Catholic Theological Union with a concentration in spirituality.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org for Claire's text, preaching video, and more preaching on the Sunday scriptures.

Kelly Miguens preaches on the readings for the Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time, offering a reflection which lifts up the women in today's readings as models of discipleship and invites us to ask ourselves, "What must change in my life and heart, so that I too may offer myself generously, from my own poverty, to the work of God in this world.?"

Kelly Miguens currently works as a faculty member in the Religious Studies Department and Campus Minister at a Jesuit high school in California. Kelly is an alumni of the University of Scranton, where she received her bachelors degree and participated in the Casa de la Solidaridad program in the Spring of 2009. Most recently, Kelly received a Masters of Divinity from the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University in Berkeley, CA.

Kelly is passionate about social justice, Jesuit education, and Ignatian spirituality. This passion led Kelly to work as a campus minister at the University of Scranton for a few years. Prior to that she served for two years as a Jesuit Volunteer in San Francisco, CA and Detroit, MI. Through her professional work and service, Kelly has developed retreats, created social justice programs, and has accompanied college and high school students on immersion trips throughout the United States, Central America, and South America. Kelly is also passionate about her time spent teaching classes and ministering to women at a Federal Corrections Institution in CA. Additionally, Kelly serves as a support person for the Berkeley-Oakland Jesuit Volunteers.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/11112018 for Kelly's preaching video and text and for more preaching from Catholic women on the Sunday scriptures.

Preaching on the readings for the Thirty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time, Marina Pastrana asks us to consider how we might go beyond prescribed responses that society and even religion ask of us by responding to our neighbors in need with love.

Marina was born in Chihuahua, Mexico and grew up in the border towns of Tijuana Baja California and Chula Vista, California. Marina graduated from Boston College Carroll School of Management in 2008 with a major in Accounting and a minor in Latin American Studies. She attended the School of Theology and Ministry, graduating with a master’s degree in Theological Studies in 2010.

In 2010, Marina founded the Montserrat Coalition, an innovative and holistic approach to supporting the needs of low socio-economic students beyond traditional models of financial aid.

In 2013, Marina began working at Catholic Extension Society, a national fundraising organization that financially supports mission dioceses in the United States. Marina’s particular focus is on the development of Hispanic lay leaders within the Catholic Church. At Catholic Extension, Marina travels nationally to serve catholic communities in the poorest and most marginalized areas of the United States.

For the past six years Marina has also volunteered her time at her parish St. Mary of the Angels in Jamaica plain. She has served in a variety of roles such as Parish Council Co-Chair and finance council member as a representative of the Spanish speaking community.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/11042018 for Marina's preaching video and text and other preaching.

Kerry Robinson preaches for All Saints Day, offering a reflection on the communion of saints "to which [we] are called and to which [we] belong." She reminds us that "the invitation to sanctity is not for the unattainably pious or impossibly virtuous, but for all of us."

Kerry Robinson is the founding executive director and global ambassador of Leadership Roundtable, dedicated to promoting excellence and best practices in the management, finances and human resource development of the Catholic Church by harnessing the managerial expertise and financial acumen of senior level lay executives.

Kerry is a member of the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities and FADICA (Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities). She has been an advisor to and trustee of numerous grantmaking foundations, family philanthropies and charitable nonprofits since 1990 including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Catholic Campaign for Human Development, America Media, Jesuit Volunteers Corps, and the National Pastoral Life Center.

Kerry served as the director of development for Saint Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University and led a $75 million fundraising drive to expand and endow the Chapel's intellectual and spiritual ministry and to construct a Catholic student center on Yale’s campus.

She is the prize-winning author of Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service and the founding editor of The Catholic Funding Guide: A Directory of Resources for Catholic Activities.

She and her husband, Dr. Michael Cappello, have two children, Christopher and Sophie.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/11012018 for Kerry's video, text, and more preaching.

Jocelyn Sideco preaches from her terrace in Assisi for the Thirtieth Sunday in Ordinary Time, inviting us to contemplate the Gospel reading from three perspectives: that of blind Bartimaeus, of the crowd, and of Jesus. For her, contemplating the actions and words of Jesus proves most fruitful.

Jocelyn is a retreat leader and spiritual director in the tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola. A graduate of 3 Jesuit Schools, formerly and currently employed at 3 Jesuit colleges, 1 Jesuit High School, 1 Jesuit Province, and 2 Jesuit Retreat Centers. Her pilgrim heart and temperament led her to minister to people in New Orleans and the surrounding area immediately after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. She co-founded a relief non-profit retreat experience called Contemplatives in Action (which has since closed).

Jocelyn is an active networker within Jesuit, Ignatian and Ecumenical circles. She serves best when she is able to create a space for individuals and communities to consider their call, their mission, and respond joyfully to the needs of a broken world. She is available for mission-centered, non-profit organizational coaching and consulting.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/10282018 to view Jocelyn's preaching video, read her text, and for preaching for every week of the year.

Maria Cataldo-Cunniff preaches on the readings for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time, offering a reflection on truth and truth-telling.

Maria Cataldo-Cunniff is a person with a disability. She holds Masters degrees in theology from University of Notre Dame and Weston Jesuit School of Theology and is a member of the National Association of Catholic Chaplains. She has served as chaplain at both Phillips Academy, Andover and Boston Children’s Hospital. Her essay, Raise Up the Roof: Families with disabilities belong at the synod too was published in America Magazine.

While she now spends most of her time being a mom to Joseph, age 9 and Margaret, 8, Maria occasionally preaches and leads retreats as well. Through engaging Sacred Scripture, Maria makes meaning out her own experience of disability and suffering and hopes to help others do the same.

Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org for more preaching and to learn more about Maria, read her text, and view her video.