FemCatholic

Tomorrow night inside the FemCatholic Collective! Do you ever feel torn between pursuing your dreams and staying true to your faith? Catholic women like Mother Teresa and St. Teresa of Avila built incredible legacies-but what does ambition look like for us today? Join Taryn DeLong for a fresh conversation on how to balance your goals with your vocation, relationships, and faith. Discover what ambition can truly mean for Catholic women. FemCatholic.mn.co

Nov. 1st is All Saints Day ??

Women looking to integrate their faith with their real life can now join our national virtual community, FemCatholic Collective! ?? https://femcatholic.mn.co/

Do you know the One Big Thing missing from the #WorkingMom debates? ??Men. We act as if women are making decisions about their career and work-life-family balance in a vacuum…. on their own. But the truth is - marriage is a vocation of ??? Couples work *together* to make career and work-life balance decisions based on their gifts, needs, and opportunities - and this mutual discernment only INCREASES if and when kids enter the picture. Which means ?? women need a better model for making career decisions. ????This month, get more clarity, peace and joy in your current season with #CareerClarity, and be part of the program participants said ?10/10 will change the way they discern next steps in their career: https://lnkd.in/eJeGAeYu

“The great majority of the domestic humanitarian work of the Church in the U.S. is directed by and carried out by women,” said Kerry Alys Robinson, the first laywoman CEO of Catholic Charities USA. Robinson spoke to FCNews about women’s role in the humanitarian work of the Church, where she sees room for growth in diversity in the Church, and where she sees signs of hope. Read the full story here:

Butker vs. JP2, and the Maternal Wall ?? I have read and listened to every take I could find on the Benedictine College Commencement speech - conservative Catholic all the way to secular feminist, and everything in between. I am glad there has been so much conversation on the topic of women, and our vocations. But - what happened here? What nerve did a random kicker hit in women? I believe it is this: that society has pitted motherhood against women. Motherhood in America is often seen as a threat, an obstacle, a cage - and this ‘#maternalwall’ has been studied by Harvard scholars for over 2 decades. This is the real lie that women face, and unfortunately, in his attempt to address it, Butker largely reinforced this binary view of women's vocations - that embracing motherhood requires abandoning yourself - your gifts, your dreams, and your focus on anything other than being a "homemaker." I can hear the defenses now - "But that's not what he said!" Technically, no, that's not exactly what he said. But it is what women heard, perhaps because it’s the world we navigate everyday. Don't believe me? Just look at what the founders of theSkimm, a massively popular millennial news brand, hooked onto in their response to Butker. They spoke with confidence that #motherhood is the biggest threat to modern women’s growth, and therefore reinforced that the required ticket to women's participation in society is preventing it: "birth control is... statistically the single most important factor in garnering women financial independence and a role in public life," they said, in a video that has over 40,000 likes on Instagram. JP2, like theSkimm founders, was concerned about women's participation in public life. But unlike Butker, JP2 called on the #CatholicChurch to take action, saying "there is an urgent need to achieve real equality in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with regard to family rights and the recognition of everything that is part of the rights and duties of citizens in a democratic State." He gives us a vision of the world where motherhood is not fundamentally pitted against women; a vision of #equality - "equality in every area” of society. I think the founders of theSkimm would support that wholeheartedly, if they had heard it. It seems this is where the Catholic Church has failed to witness fully to this truth - yet. Society, and women themselves, are crying out for affirmation of this vision - but when they look to Catholics and Catholic Institutions, do they see and hear it lived out? —— P.S. It is so hard to find good advice and encouragement while navigating your real life and career as a Catholic woman - I have BEEN there. If you or a woman you know is looking for more peace and clarity in her vocational journey, join me for a special new program this summer. ?? https://surl.li/tuhav

From religious sisters, to a passionate activist in “Cancer Alley,” Louisiana, to the Catholic Climate Covenant, Catholics across the U.S. are intentionally trying to live “greener” lives in an effort to reduce toxins in the environment. They say if they don’t, human lives are at stake. Read the full story from FCNews:

This Easter, parishes around the world welcomed new converts to the Catholic Church. At a time when many young Americans are moving away from organized religion, others continue to find deep meaning in it. FemCatholic spoke to four Gen Z women to learn about their individual journeys to the Church – and why they decided to become Catholic. Read on to learn what these Gen-Z women were seeking when they found the Catholic Church. https://lnkd.in/e2E5PZDj

At least once a year, Catholic bereavement doula Abby Jorgensen works with a woman who has been told to go to confession because of perinatal loss. Once, she had a client who was told by a priest to go to confession because she had refused to have sex with her husband while recovering from a miscarriage. “Experiencing a miscarriage, stillbirth, or infant loss is no more a sin to confess than experiencing the loss of a parent to cancer or of a spouse to a traffic accident,” Jorgensen writes in her new book, A Catholic Guide to Miscarriage, Stillbirth, and Infant Loss, which will be published through Ave Maria Press on April 19. Read about women’s experiences with seeking pastoral care during their losses, and how Jorgensen is building resources to make that care more grief-informed and accessible at FCNews: https://lnkd.in/eM-q5k8m #fcnews #catholic #catholicnews #miscarriage #catholicmom #grief

If two spouses work for the same diocese, they could face having to split their paid parental leave. There are at least 40 US Catholic dioceses we know of who have a split parental leave policy for spouses who are both employed by the diocese. One couple–Rebecca and Joe Conte–successfully petitioned the Archdiocese of Philadelphia to change the policy. “It is becoming increasingly difficult to love the Church that raised me when I do not feel as if the Church defends me and the Life that grows within me.” Rebecca Gutherman-Conte wrote in a letter to the Archbishop of Philadelphia. Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/ead3cS7v #femcatholic #fcnews #catholic #catholicnews #catholicwomen #catholicmom #paidleave #maternityleave