"How Do We Act for the Common Good?" - Faith, Values, Women and Politics Series Krista Tippett

Krista Tippett, host of American Public Radio's Speaking of Faith program kicked off the College of St. Catherine's year-long series on Faith, Values, Women and Politics on Tuesday evening October 11, 2005 at O'Shaughnessy Auditorium. Ms. Tippett's topic was "How Do We Act for the Common Good?"

The event was free but required a ticket to get-in. I heard there were no tickets left but the upper balcony had quite a few seats open. Despite the no-shows, Krista Tippett drew quite a crowd for a Tuesday evening!

Ms. Tippett only spoke for about 1/2 hour and then they opened it up to questions from the audience. I had a head cold most of the week and I was really struggling so I could not stick around for the question period.

Ms. Tippett opened by laying out a few facts/thoughts. Despite the so called "God-gap" most people consider religion an important part of their life. This is true regardless of political affiliation. Ninety percent say they pray. There is a chasm between religion and public life. An argument can be made that religion is at the root of the world's worst problems. Sound bites in the press minimize faith.

Then she spoke briefly about her "method" of creating an atmosphere of deliberation and discussion on her show, Speaking of Faith. She said she asks that her guests speak for themselves. The result is: This is MY truth versus this is THE truth. She has found that bringing what is said to a personal level helps keep the dialog going by creating compassion for the beliefs of us as individuals versus us as members of something.

I found Ms. Tippett to be very honest about the failures of the press regarding faith. She said journalists worry about the separation of church and state but she thinks a larger view is needed. Journalists need to understand that the complexity of our age is causing people to go back to traditions that have been passed down thru the ages. We need meaning in our cluttered, busy lives. Reporters are very good at exposing the bad, not so good at exposing the good.

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.

In her 44 years of life she has witnessed what she considers to be three seismic, world-changing events:

1. Berlin Wall falling on her 29th birthday. She spent much of her 20s in divided Berlin.
2. September 11, 2001
3. Hurricane Katrina. Even though this event is very recent she thinks this the "fall-out" from this will be in our collective psyche for a long time. So far, it has revealed many of our weaknesses as a nation.

1. Hospitality. The belief in hospitality is shared by all three major traditions: Christian, Muslim and Jewish.
2. Humility.