Women in Conversation meets bimonthly Saturday mornings to consider theology, scripture, spirituality, and Church issues from women’s perspectives, to deepen prayer and discernment practices, and to support one another as women in the Church.
For more information about the group or a specific program,
contact Susan Grant or Jean Molesky-Poz
Coming up May 18, 2024
Women and Liberation Theology in Latin America During the Cold War
Speaker: Mary Jo McConahay
We encourage women of all ages to join us on Saturday morning, May 18th, for the program at 9:30, or come a bit earlier, at 9:00 a.m. for coffee, treats, and social time. Bring something delicious to share!
2023-2024 Theme
Romans 16:1-2 - “Receive her in the Lord” :
Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Sept 10, 2023 - Honoring St. Phoebe, Deacon of the Church (Rom 16:1-2)
Nov 11, 2023 - Women’s Perspectives from the 2023 Synod - Deborah Rose
Jan 13, 2024 - So, What is Discernment? Receiving God! - Beth Liebert
Mar 9, 2024 - Biblical Women Who Changed the World - Gina Hens-Piazza
May 18, 2024 - Women and Liberation Theology in Latin America During the Cold War - Mary Jo McConahay
2022-2023 Theme: The Culture of Encounter
The 2022-2023 theme was on the Culture of Encounter as discussed by Pope Francis in his Oct. 2020 encyclical, Fratelli Tutti.
2021-2022 Theme: The Earth Crisis
Beginning with the “big picture,” that is, the dialogue of emerging theology and science, we moved eight months later to practical and local projects in the East Bay. Aware that the gravity of today’s cultural and economic crisis must be translated into new habits, we asked what kind of conversion we need to take up in terms of our lifestyles, our spirituality and ways we relate with the Earth. What is ours to do? How can we care for creation?
What is Women in Conversation?
What is it that you like about Newman Hall-Holy Spirit parish? What keeps you coming? Is it attending a good liturgy with prayerful music, a thoughtful homily, and a chance to mix during donuts and coffee afterward? More than this, are you hoping to make friends, to grow spiritually and intellectually, to find a real community where you can share your joys as well as your sorrows, your beliefs as well as your doubts in a setting of mutual acceptance?
In our parish, we have a wonderful venue for women of all ages to share experiences of faith and to build a vibrant spiritual community. Women in Conversation (WiC), co-founded in 2011 by Kaya Oakes and Jean Molesky-Poz, offers opportunities to consider theology, scripture and spirituality from women’s perspectives, deepen prayer and discernment practices, and to support one another.
We meet bi-monthly on the second Saturday, September to June. Not only are we treated to lectures, small group discussions and prayer, but we value getting to know each other over coffee and snacks, making friends with women of diverse ages and backgrounds. At a meeting, participants can number from thirty to sixty women.
Over the course of nine years, Women in Conversationhas considered topics such as “Women Seeking the Sacred” and “Transitions: From Who We are to Who We Are Called to Become,” as well as inquiring into more public roles of Catholic women’s leadership, including women’s ordination. Feminist biblical scholars have examined overlooked stories of women in the Bible with us and provided skills to reconstruct biblical history in which women were central and active agents. Muslim women dialogued with us on their faith, and undocumented mothers shared their stories, as have women ministering to girls who have been sex trafficked. We inform one another of needed social actions that reflect Catholic social teaching.
At our autumn event on September 14th one of our favorite biblical scholars, Gina Hens-Piazza of the Jesuit School of Theology, presented: Silence Breakers: Woman Zion and the #Me Too Movement: Lamentations 2:20-22 as Path to Resilience.
In an earlier session, women students led the group through a meditation on the visit of the young pregnant Mary who “set out with haste to a Judean town in the hill country” to stay with her aunt for three months (Luke 1:39). In small groups of students and regular parishioners, we asked, “What can we, as women of faith, learn from one another across the generations here at Newman?” Students said they were glad to “get out of their bubble;” a parishioner said to the students, “I am amazed at the depth of your spirituality, your freshness,” reflecting thoughts of many. We also sponsored a treasured event, “Women Resting in the House of God” an all-night vigil, praying and resting together in the quiet of the candle-lit chapel until daybreak.
As in the early church, we are women “of the Way,” searching, desiring to build a beloved, inclusive community. In Spring 2019, Sandra Schneiders, I.H.M., S.T.D. Professor Emerita from Jesuit School of Theology opened our eyes to the early church in the Gospel of John: “A Response for Renewal Thinking of the Church Jesus Brought to Us.” And in June, Elizabeth Johnson C.S.J. in her lecture, Your One Wild and Precious Life: Women on the Road of Ministry,advocated for “courage and hope,” that women’s voices and wisdom be recognized in the Church
All women are welcome -- students to boomers -- that we might dialogue across generations and enrich one another in faith and our experience of the Living God.
This was brought to you by the Women in Conversation planning team. For more information contact Susan Grant or Jean Molesky-Poz
