Grace Ji-Sun Kim will be presenting at our teleconference July 10th on “Colonialism, Han, and the Transformative Spirit.” Originally Posted on Feminist Studies in Religion Much of my personal life intersects with race, religion, and gender issues.  In some ways, the word intersects is too gentle.  Perhaps collide better captures what occurs in my life as an Asian North American woman theologian, writer, minister, and mother.  As I try to engage in theological dialogue, live in community with the dominant, unfamiliar culture, and raise my kids with concerns on how to be just in this world, I realize that the lives of all people, especially people of color, collide and clash with others on the critical issues of race, religion, and gender.

The jury is still out on Pope Francis in a pontificate that may well be shaped by women. A month after Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was named Bishop of Rome, his Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Most Rev. Gerhard Ludwig Mueller, met with the presidents of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, an umbrella group of American nuns that had come under doctrinal scrutiny and been found wanting. Archbishop Mueller claimed that he had “recently discussed the Doctrinal Assessment with Pope Francis, who reaffirmed the findings of the Assessment and the program of reform for this Conference of Major Superiors.” On the face of it, this means that Archbishop J. Peter Sartain, Bishop Leonard P. Blair, and Bishop Thomas John Paprocki, who were named to enforce the terms the Congregation’s findings against the LCWR, are given carte blanche to do so. There may be more to this than meets the eye.

WATER wishes Janis Roihl a wonderful 75th birthday. Janis is a networker par excellence whose work on the web keeps many people connected to idea, information, and one another. On this special day, we dedicate our efforts in gratitude for hers. Enjoy, Janis!