tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66197302011-04-21T16:21:50.641-07:00An enlightened weblog from from the paradigm of religious community. Sister Mary Biko PhD guides you along the way of traditional deconstruction.Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comBlogger231100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1115179431505315162005-05-03T19:04:00.000-07:002005-05-03T21:26:15.786-07:00

Some have emailed me asking if I was alright since I have not posted for a while. To tell you the truth I have been a little depressed for a period of time. I had such high hopes to be living under a President Kerry, a Catholic after my own heart. The joy I felt at hearing the first exit polls only to be crushed as state after state fell into the red zone. This was bad enough and I tried to cheer

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1087060277853830072004-06-12T10:02:00.000-07:002004-06-12T10:11:17.853-07:00

I found this article here and while they tried to paint this in a negative light, I saw it as nothing but positive. The Canadian Religious Conference (CRC), the organization that oversees and directs orders of nuns and brothers in Canada, has released its annual list of priorities for 2004. ...The list includes two general goals to which the organization "recommits" itself: "To speak with a

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1085072906741849862004-05-20T09:55:00.000-07:002004-05-20T10:13:09.193-07:00

Sometimes I force myself to read blogs from those conservative minded Catholics. We are all so welcoming here in our worship space that it is easy to forget about those paleo-Catholics. It is good to be reminded that all has not changed to the good from the Spirit of Vatican II. That if we are not careful we could slip back into the unenlightened dark ages. On one of those conservative

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1083538081643717462004-05-02T15:48:00.000-07:002004-05-02T15:56:51.686-07:00

This story about Sister Maximillian is just so sad. We have worked so hard to dispatch the habit and to be able to wear clothes to blend into normal society. To walk down the street without people fussing over you or having any kinds of expectations for your behavior. Our strategy to blend into the world has worked so well that many nuns left those confining convents and became part of the

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1082161957125738932004-04-16T17:32:00.000-07:002004-04-16T17:36:36.780-07:00

This article is very interesting. A convert to the faith has combined liberation theology and feminism and her experiences to create Womanist Theology. Diana L. Hayes was a lawyer in New York and is now a theologian at Georgetown. Q How does womanist theology deal with Mary, Mary Magdalene and Eve? A: They're all given a very different perspective on how they can be seen. There's that dualism

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1081540500676859122004-04-09T12:55:00.000-07:002004-04-09T12:58:50.043-07:00

Llen Ryan of Marietta, Ga., washes a man's feet outside the Cathedral of Christ the King, Thursday, April 8, 2004, in Atlanta. A group of people gathered outside the church to pray and wash each other's feet in protest of Archbishop John Donoghue's ban on Atlanta's Roman Catholic churches from including women in Holy Thursday's foot-washing rite. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1081475710888323942004-04-08T18:55:00.000-07:002004-04-08T19:04:42.513-07:00

I just got back from Holy Thursday Mass and I am so mad I can hardly think. I have heard of liturgical abuses yet I thought I would never have to see one. This was even worse it was liturgical gender abuse. It came to the time for the foot washing and up come twelve men. At first I thought that my eyes deceived me and what I was witnessing couldn't be happening, that maybe there would also be

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1080501604585660852004-03-28T11:20:00.000-08:002004-03-28T11:24:59.543-08:00

Here is a community that could become a teaching moment for all of us To enhance the life of the St.F.X. community through a welcoming Martha presence conducive to the development of persons. Wellspring offers an oasis experience to students, staff and faculty who come for quiet reflection and study, to eat lunch, to make and meet friends. All events and activities held at Wellspring are in

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1080274240088093432004-03-25T20:10:00.000-08:002004-03-25T20:16:55.530-08:00

My Sisters and I were doing some spring cleaning as is our habit (sorry habit jokes die hard even though we have long since given them up) and going through some storage we found some old prayer books. We sat around reading from them and had a good laugh at all the "boys in Rome" had previously tried to play upon us. We came upon the "The Spiritual Works of Mercy" which some of us still

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1080175181414688852004-03-24T16:39:00.000-08:002004-03-24T16:44:19.250-08:00

WAYNE, N.J. -- The Rev. Janet Nohavec, wearing a long purple velvet dress and a strand of pearls, is doing what she does every Sunday. During the Journey Within Spiritualists' National Union Church's weekly service, the former Sister of Charity demonstrates her power as a medium, after three decades of hiding it. After prayers, hymns and a homily, the demonstration begins. Nohavec

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079750353978997172004-03-19T18:39:00.000-08:002004-03-19T18:56:55.076-08:00

I found this blog by someone who I believe is a kindred sister, Sister Christer. She is a Dominican Sister of San Rafael, Ca. Don't be put off by the picture of what might at first glance look like her praying the rosary, it is actually a picture of her knitting. Even though this activity is a traditional and normally oppressive feminine stereotype; she seems to have integrated it well into her

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079747904835385722004-03-19T17:58:00.000-08:002004-03-19T18:03:13.233-08:00

Now married and no longer a priest, Woolever remains a communicant at St. Andrew, which bolsters his faith as a community activist. The parish has become a comfortable space for former nuns and priests, including Bill Cuddy, director of the Jail Ministry. "As a lighthouse to spiritual wayfarers, our parish has tithed on a relatively meager income for almost 40 years to support the works of mercy

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079654644848904192004-03-18T16:04:00.000-08:002004-03-18T16:07:24.903-08:00

I have had a change of heart with regards to commenting. I saw the hypocrisy of my desiring equality and at the same time to deny others the rights to interface in my mission sphere. So I will keep an open mind to any comments and will ask the feminine wisdom of Sophia to inspire my commenters.

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079652939099093682004-03-18T15:35:00.000-08:002004-03-18T15:39:35.796-08:00

BOTHELL, Wash. (AP) - A minister being tried by the United Methodist Church for being a lesbian said Thursday that her case could be a turning point for the church. As she entered a church in this Seattle suburb for the start of the second day of her trial, the Rev. Karen Dammann said she feels no animosity toward her church or her jury of fellow pastors, who will determine whether she should

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079325779948971592004-03-14T20:42:00.000-08:002004-03-14T20:48:12.060-08:00

I was chosen by my community to be the guinea pig to go and see Mel Gibson's the Passion of the Christ to determine if it might possibly have any redeeming value. It was no surprise to me that it did not. Not only does it cast the devil in the shape of a women it goes downhill from there. Pilate's wife is shown in the role of giving towels to Mary. Could they not have dignified her with some

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-107932369284007262004-03-14T20:08:00.000-08:002004-03-14T20:13:53.890-08:00

Rachelle Linner a writer at Commonweal has done an article on St. Blogs Church subtitled "America’s most vibrant parish?" Finally a view of common sense view I can agree with on the weblogs that pass themselves off as Catholic thought. St. Blog’s, with some exceptions, tilts decidedly to the conservative side of the Catholic culture wars. The tenor of a site can frequently be ascertained from

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079322209288214672004-03-14T19:43:00.000-08:002004-03-14T19:46:43.716-08:00

In the tradition of the church during the time of Lent the Gloria, Alleluia and the Te Deum are not said. Since we never do these in our faith community anyway, this was not much of a penitential act. One of our sisters jokingly said that we should give up saying "affirming" during Lent. This would be a very harsh penitential act. But if this will help us to be better sisters in the pursuit

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079321749965386762004-02-20T22:13:00.000-08:002004-03-14T19:39:04.466-08:00

Unfortunately the prospective postulant did not turn out to be at all what we hoped. The interview went badly. It started out with her making the statement "I am loyal to the Magisterium of the Church" as if she expected that we would want her to even say such a thing. We let this go by at first as possible interview jitters. Later she said that she looked forward to long hours of prayer in

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079320267796409192004-02-18T18:57:00.000-08:002004-03-14T19:16:54.420-08:00

Our faith community surprisingly has suffered from a dearth of vocations to the religious life. Our Christianity should not be offensive to anybody of the modern persuasion. We are life-affirming to all and are not judgmental on anything they might done previously to entering our order. Even a previous tendency toward conservatism and old-church modal thinking could receive a dispensation from

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079318313947337772004-02-14T18:38:00.000-08:002004-03-14T18:42:05.373-08:00

Some have emailed me asking why I do not have comments on my site. There are various reasons for this being the case. For one thing I don't like the judgmental and non-affirming saint logo-type that appears in the name of the dominant commenting software Halo-Scan. What about commenter's that don't have a positive halo-image of themselves? Second, I have a Type 9 Enneagram personality "The

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079317322997963582004-02-06T18:18:00.000-08:002004-03-14T18:25:48.293-08:00

I found these thought provoking words by Sister Rita Larivee of the National Catholic Reporter. Second-tier thinking must move us from relativism to holism, from pluralism to integralism. Differences and pluralities must be integrated into interdependent and natural flows. Egalitarianism must be complemented with natural degrees of ranking and excellence. Knowledge and competency must exceed

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079315587476010672004-01-29T17:53:00.000-08:002004-03-16T09:24:55.106-08:00

I had thought that I might have found a comrade when I found The Theoscope, a blog by a woman preparing for the religious life. Unfortunately not only does she have a quote of the pope at the top but even a rather triumphal picture of him. In a post she even makes fun of communities with a "more enlightened mindset." She speaks negatively of those like use who have eschewed the habit, as if

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6619730.post-1079294392074261982004-01-14T11:59:00.000-08:002004-03-15T15:23:18.496-08:00

Hi I am Sister Mary Biko and this is my first entry into the world of the electronic parish. In my research on the existence of Catholics participating in the community of amateur writers in what is known collectively as the blogosphere, I have found some surprising results. The term blog is a shortening of the term web log and is the main term employed for these electronic diaries or what is

Jeff Millerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03892529674664589034noreply@blogger.com