St. Joseph Sr. Christine Schenk, an NCR board member, served urban families for 18 years as a nurse midwife before co-founding FutureChurch, where she served for 23 years. Her recent book Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity (Fortress, 2017) was awarded first place in History by the Catholic Press Association. She holds master's degrees in nursing and theology.
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Book Review
Meticulous scholarly book on women's role in early church has a few sketchy claims
Ally Kateusz command of early texts does a fine job of uncovering gender balance in second to 10th-century Christian leadership, but her analysis of visual evidence offers only thought-provoking speculation.
Column
'Little Women' unwraps foibles of the human heart
Simply Spirit: I had the pleasure of taking my niece and grandnieces to see the movie "Little Women." Growing up, Louisa May Alcott's classic was my all-time favorite book. Love is central to the work.
Column
Indigenous people can teach us about divine maternal power
Simply Spirit: People who live close to the earth have much to teach us about living in harmony with a fractured world beloved by God, who, to quote Pope John Paul I, is "our father; even more he is our mother."
Column
Francis' biggest reform is to shift church from Eurocentric to universal
Simply Spirit: Speaking to FutureChurch, veteran Vatican journalist Robert Mickens asks progressive Catholics "to push and support the pope" — and have patience with the slow pace of reform.