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I had no intention of becoming a priest. My first "real job" was teaching
philosophy at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. Working with nursing
students in "Ethics of the Helping Professions" made me decide to go to
seminary, so I could help students name and claim the faith dimensions of their
work. At Harvard Divinity School in the early eighties it was fun to introduce
women's issues to a rather reluctant institution. Yet one of their Women's
Scholar in Religion professors showed me a way of doing ethics that was exciting, and led
to a Ph.D. Program in Social Ethics at Boston University. In the middle of that
program my husband and I moved to New York, and I began volunteering at a
battered women's shelter. I wrote my dissertation about the social,
psychological, and economic limits women must overcome to establish safe lives
for themselves and their children away from their abuser. I was an active member
of St. Clement's Church in Manhattan--I needed an encouraging, Eucharistically
centered community to find strength to listen to horrible and wonderful
stories. The shelter was militantly secular, because religion has often
encouraged women to stay with abusive men. But we started doing some clergy
training about the needs of battered women who are religious. Some of the
residents needed to talk about God, and how Jesus was helping them--staff kept
referring them to me because they knew I went to church. That combination of
listening and teaching led me to seek ordination in 1991.
I still love the combination of parish work and social service work. I find
signs of God's transforming and healing power in trying to alleviate some of the
suffering that happens in a society and nation
that haven't yet learned to treat all people with dignity and respect,
and to make resources (jobs, education, health care, housing, and so
on) accessible for everyone. Church worship, planning, and pastoral
care help me notice when and where God is moving, and share with others
the joy I find in a life of faith.
I like Good Shepherd because there is a level of acceptance for
everyone, "as they are." You can come without having to bring a spouse
or partner and children--you don't have to have a partner or spouse or
children. People have come struggling with addictions and have found help. People have come with gifts of pastoral care, teaching and music
and found a venue. People have come hurting and found strength; they
have come with strength and found a place to deepen their faith life in
and through participation in the community. There's a depth of
spiritual authenticity that is exciting and challenging and very
supportive.
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