Women of the Church – Spirit-filled, lively, inspiring

DD staff were delighted to participate in the recent Women of the Church national conference in Collegeville, MN. We are grateful to conference organizers Meg Payne Nelson, Kelley Deshler, Donelle Poling, and Angela Dimler who worked behind the scenes for over a year to prepare a Spirit-filled, lively, and inspiring event.

Heidi Schlumpf, Executive Editor of NCR covered the historic gathering in her recent story Joy and hope amid struggle at Women of the Church event. She highlighted keynote speakers Dr. Kristin Colberg, Gloria Purvis and Casey Stanton. And we think she put it best when she wrote: “Discerning Deacons, a group that advocates to reopen the diaconate to women, had a strong presence.”

So we want to give a shout out to all the Discerning Deacons and friends from across the country who traveled to be bear witness to the synodal path we are walking together: Bridget Deegan Krause, Kelly Adamson, Christine Delp, Katie Dorner, Jane Egan, Anne Garrido, Jazmin Jimenez, Sarah Probst Miller, Carmen Ramos, Fr. Jim Radde, SJ, Fr Steve Newton, Fr. Michael Hickin, and of course the Minnesota DD circle – Lisa Amman, Anne Attea, Jane Leyden Cavanaugh, Mary Lamski, Cynthia Bailey Manns, Rhonda Miska, Catalina Morales, and Sr. Carolyn Puccio.

What a gift it was to break bread and be in real-life conversation walking together on the beautiful St. John’s University campus… a living witness for a synodal church!

While at the conference, NCR also published a piece I wrote about a recent journey Casey and I took to the Amazon region of Brazil to witness women engaged in prophetic diaconal ministry.

And we are thrilled to announce that 100+ parishes, schools and retreat centers have registered their Phoebe Day celebrations in September! If you’ve yet to register yours, click here.