Sr. Colleen Gibson, S.S.J., writes about St. Phoebe, the deacon whom St. Paul commends to the Church in Rome. (Global Sisters Report)
Growing up, I never heard about St. Phoebe. She, like so many women of the early church, was lost to me for a long time.
The female doctors of the church — Catherine, Teresa, Thérèse, and, later, Hildegard — were beacons whose wisdom, faith and example I was drawn to. As a young adult, I grew to know and love Mary Magdalene, the apostle to the apostles, as well as a number of other women saints, who, each in her own way, invited me to be more fully myself and more fully engaged with my faith.
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Witness
“If women were able to serve as deacons, it would magnify the grace and love of God and make it more widely available.”
Judith Oberhauser
Retired Chaplain, St. Paul/Minneapolis, MN
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Witness
“I was not raised Catholic but converted in my adult life. As a child, Mother Mary would appear to me often…I believe Mary appearing to me as a child who knew nothing about the Catholic Church was more than her wanting me to find Christ through the Church. I believe she came to me because I was meant to do more for the Church.”
Christina Kovar
Adult Faith Formation Leader, Chicago, IL
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Witness
“I felt seen in my call to pastoral care, to teaching, to preaching—just as clearly as my ordained colleagues are seen in theirs. I felt valued. Not invisible. Not dismissed. I don’t know what the future holds—for me, or for the role of women in the Church. But I know this: I have hope.”
Jolaine M.J. Liupakka, PMin
Coordinator of Middle School & Confirmation, St. Thomas Becket, Eagan, MN
