This week I've been thinking a lot about Catholic women, the ones I know a little about, such as Dr. Mary McAleese (former President of Ireland), Dorothy Day, the poet Fanny Howe, the theologian M. Shawn Copeland, Sister Stan Kennedy and Sister Corita Kent (whose artworks are featured here -- and thanks forever to É. … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 2 May, 1-2pm IST →

As people learned about Chauvin's guilty verdict and Ma'Khia Bryant's death nearly simultaneously, I saw how it takes a lot of courage to hope, to feel that all the small and massive actions matter, and that that courage can break and reconstitute itself, and I don't feel able to name the source of love -- … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 25 April, 1-2pm IST →

Settler colonialism displaces people (and other creatures) and ruptures their relationships with land, other beings and within themselves. One of the reasons religion (I am thinking about Christianity, specifically, but it could be other religions) seems to be such an effective tool for colonisation is that it is the dimension where these relationships are simultaneously … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 18 April, 1-2pm, IST →

As someone who struggles with routines, I find it slightly astonishing that, with the exception of 2-3 Sundays, I have managed to be in this Coffee Hour space every week since we first began in March of 2020. This is in part because there is something in me that needs the space -- but this … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 11 April, 1-2pm Irish time →

"Later I discovered stories that centered on people on the margins — Black, queer, women and others. These theologies radicalized my faith; I saw myriad possibilities of God in the world. When I looked in the mirror, I saw the divine in myself and in the faces of those around me. This changed everything. The … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 4 April, 1-2 Irish time →

This week is Palm Sunday for many Christian-identifying people around the world, and I am holding the words "triumphant entry into Jerusalem," as many texts describe this event, with the image of Jesus on a donkey's colt, flanked by people waving palms and yew branches. Without the weight of tradition built up around this story, … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 28 March, 1-2pm Dublin time →

Kwok Pui-lan "Using an embodied ritual and liturgy allows participants free expression for prayer... This embodied ritual is also an actualization of the call to reconstruct the meaning of a woman's body, which is the seat or locus of exploitation, and reclaim it as hallowed ground and a temple of the spirit." Carmelita M. Usog, … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 21 March, 1-2pm IST →

A conversation between four theologians (two of whom have been my professors) who are important to my doctoral research set my mind on fire this week. I am linking the whole thing here, but if you only have a little time, you can go directly to approximately minute 42, where Dr. JoAnne Marie Terrell talks … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 14 March, 1-2pm IST →

How to write so that the poem is as close as possible to silence? Zen—to play on the lute without strings.--Anna Kamienska, trans. Clare Cavanagh After nearly 7 years of reading poetry theologically and theology poetically, I still can't say exactly what the two -- poetry, theology -- have to do with each other, except … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 7 March, 1-2pm IST →

I love to get outside early Sunday mornings in Dublin. Even in lockdown, when things are meant to be quiet most of the time, there is a marked difference in movement and sound. And on mornings like today, when the sun is really out and the sky is a solid block of blue, I walk … Continue reading Coffee Hour ~ 28 February, 1-2pm IST →