This week is graduation. While not all of the contributors to this blog were seniors in college this semester, enough are graduating to bring a slightly different tone this semester’s wrap-up (see last semester’s here). Their insights are messages from their present selves to their future selves.
I asked, “What did you learn?”
They answered by describing who they hope to become. Continue reading
Growing up attending a Catholic school, I was always told the story of Adam and Eve. At first, I was taught the tale as a literal transgression which happened in human history. Then sixth grade hit and I was shocked by the news that my teacher, Mrs. Barns, bluntly told me that, “Adam an Eve was not real, but just a story told for us humans to understand the world a little better.”
After questioning Mrs. Barns for quite some time, making sure she really knew what she was talking about, I came to the realization that I too believed the story of Adam and Eve was just that—a story. Continue reading
There’s a newsstand in the West Loop that I sometimes stop to get a coffee at on the way to the office where I work. An older man reads a newspaper, only visible from the chest up because his shelves are packed with glossy magazines that replay similar headlines about the same 20 celebrities that are recycled into our daily consumption.
Last week, one title that caught my eye was called “20 Extremely Religious Celebrities” with featured photos of Mark Wahlberg, Candace Cameron (Full House), and Mel Gibson. It awkwardly stood out from the rest of the headlines. (an abbreviated version of the article is listed here) I began to think about religion in Hollywood, what are the rules? Is there such a fine line between fame and spirituality that can lead to exploitation? Continue reading
I have grown up not having a strong religious faith, but it was always there in some way. I would go to church occasionally, but then it turned into only Christmas and Easter. When first starting Loyola University, I knew very little about the Christian faith. However, I have learned a lot about Christianity just from being at this school. Learning about Christianity and specifically women in Christianity has made be think about my own values. Continue reading
Hi, I’m Rachel and I’m a Catholic (sort of — but we’ll get to that). Growing up, I was highly encouraged to attend mass, get involved in the Church, and generally do my best to be a good person. As a very active child, I found sitting in pews for an hour to be quite difficult and was often too busy squirming in my seat to really focus on the word of the Lord. Granted, it’s difficult to get any pre-school-age child to stay in one place for more than ten minutes, but this kind of set a precedent for church as a place where I would sit silently for an hour brooding about how much I wanted to be playing at home and really only paying attention when it was time to sing hymns and shake hands. Continue reading
As I was reading about Dorothy Day for this week’s class, one passage from our textbook in particular caught my attention for its connection to some of the feminist themes we’ve been discussing. It comes from Day’s book Meditations, published in 1970:
“I know that what I write will be tinged with all the daily doings, with myself, my child, my work, my study, as well as with God. God enters into them all and is inseparable from them. I think of the Lord as I wake and as I think of Teresa’s daily doings.
Perhaps it is because I have a wandering mind. But I do not care. It is a woman’s mind, and if my daily written meditations are about the people about me, of what is going on, then it must be so. It is a part of every meditation to apply the virtue, the mystery, to the daily life we lead.
Because I am a woman involved in practical cares, I cannot give the first half of the day to these things. I must meditate when I can, early in the morning and on the fly during the day. This is not in the privacy of a study — but here, there, and everywhere — at the kitchen table, on the train, on the ferry, on my way to and from appointments, and even while making supper or putting Teresa to bed.”
Here’s what made my ears perk up. What does it mean to have “a woman’s mind”? What does Day mean when she writes, “Because I am a woman involved in practical cares, I cannot give the first half of the day to these things”?
I want to engage in a bit of speculative interpretation of this passage. I’m no Dorothy Day expert — in fact, this class is the first time I’ve really learned about her instead of just hearing her mentioned as a famous Catholic. I’m no gender studies or theological scholar, either. But I think it could be interesting to try to draw some conclusions about Day’s message. Continue reading
I am a hopeless romantic and I always have been. I love romantic comedies of all kinds, I fantasize about the perfect relationship and am always trying to get my friends together who I think are the perfect match. At the tender age of 13, I even started writing love letters to my future husband and I would continue writing letters and short vignettes on love throughout the rest of my life. Continue reading
Let me preface this post with the statement that my title really is a tongue twister. Try saying that second part 5 times fast and I can guarantee that you’ll give your mouth a solid workout. However, I didn’t just choose that whirlwind of words for fun; they actually happen to capture how I felt about Perpetua when I first read about her for this class. However, after much reflection on Perpetua’s story, I have come to hold only respect for a woman who gave every aspect of herself to an unshakeable belief. Continue reading
When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Genesis 3:6-7
This past weekend I attended mass at my Catholic church for the first time in seven years. With everything we have been talking about in class fresh on my mind, my eyes were pried wide open to the imbalance between men and women leadership roles in the church. Continue reading
“I don’t understand it. The least religious person in the family, and yet you study religions.”
My mother quipped this to me on this last Christmas Eve. I’ve noticed myself thinking on her words, and wondering what exactly she meant. In one part I feel that it explains my journey with religion and spirituality. Yet, I find that it lacks the nuances in that journey. Allow me to begin by providing some context about myself: I was born to a Catholic mother and a Jewish father. My father was an avowed Atheist for most of my life, and my mother was frustrated with the church, so she never bothered bringing us to mass. I grew up with the odd sacrament for the sake of my grandmother, and the occasional Tanakh reading or bout of CCD to teach me something about God. For the most part, though, religion was never that important to my family. It still pained my mother when I refused to confirm in the Catholic Church, but mostly because she dreaded having to explain that to my grandmother. Continue reading
Navigating Mansions 