Thursday, September 30th 2004

The Holy Spirit moves in mysterious ways. I volunteered to write a web report for the St. Joan’s website well before I knew that the first Presidential debate would be the same night. If I had known, I would not have volunteered to do the report! Feeling like I was missing something of crucial importance to do a volunteer web report, I was not overjoyed to attend the Elizabeth Johnson lecture. I was in even more of a bad mood, when I arrived at O’Shaughnessy and discovered I had to have a ticket to get in! Lo and behold! I ran into fellow St. Joan’s parishioner, Angela Stanco and she was more than happy to give me a ticket. I discovered she’s a teacher at St. Kate’s. St. Kate’s being my beloved alma mater I was very happy to hear that and even happier that she saved my “bacon”!

I felt like I was “meant” to do this report. I settled into my seat with anticipation and I was not disappointed. I continue to be amazed at the wealth of creative insight the members of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet have in their order.

Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, spoke on the Mystery of God in Our Time for 2 hours on Thursday evening September 30th to a very full O’Shaughnessy Auditorium on the campus of the College of St. Catherine. It was amazing that there was such a turnout considering the Presidential debate! Sr. Elizabeth has written several books including: She Who Is: The Mystery of God in Feminist Theological Discourse. The event was sponsored by Wisdom Ways: a ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet.

God cannot be contained or understood fully in doctrine. If we feel we have reached an understanding of God, what we have understood is not God. We must respond anew to God in each era. God is not static.

There are 4 ways God is revealed:

1. Sense of God in the struggles of the poor and people seeking justice.
   • God is not neutral. He is on every side but not each side in the same way. The companies that pay people less then a living wage will not have God on their side as strongly, or at all; relative to the people they pay low wages.
2. God is rising where women realize they are not the second sex
   • God is widely perceived to be an old, white man because old, white men are usually the most powerful people: economically and socially.
   • Because God is usually perceived to be male, women can only see themselves in God when they pull themselves out of their body and their sexuality.
3. Comparative Theology
   • It’s good that today we are more cognizant of other religions then at any other time in history. However, people can either choose to try and see God in other religions or not.
   • Sr. Elizabeth told a story of an approved Catholic Mass in India that incorporates both traditional Catholic Mass and Indian customs. An Indian Catholic said that the greatness of God requires a variety of religions to reflect His fullness.
4. Respect for the Cosmos and the Planet
   • God is in nature.
   • By creating the cosmos and the planet has God become vulnerable when 10% of the world’s species are extinct and all of God’s creation is usually at odds with each other?
   • Without the planet and its creatures who is left to worship God?

Janice LaDuke was baptized at St. Joan of Arc but her parents left St. Joan's in the early 70's and went to a "less radical" Catholic church instead. She's very glad to have found her way back to St. Joan's in 1994!! Janice is a librarian by profession and has been working in the library of a healthcare consulting firm since 1997. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to all kinds of music and working on her home near Como Lake in St. Paul. Janice is also Echo Thoren's assistant every Sunday at the 11:00 a.m. service.

For more information on Wisdom Ways: www.wisdomwayscenter.org or wisdomways@csjstpaul.org.