Masculinity and Spirituality

We are going to talk about gender and spirituality in class on Tuesday. Over the next few days, I'm going to put up a few videos that explore this topic. In particular, there is a rising interest in what some people are calling "fight church," which includes a new documentary.

At this point, I don't want to critique or advocate any stance on this trend. I would like to say that this demonstrates something of a crisis of masculinity within American culture. If not these voices speaking up for men, then whose voices should we be listening to?

Here are a few videos and news reports that discuss this growing trend:


World News Videos | US News Videos



Here is the official trailer for "Fight Church":



Here is a scene from the film:

The Songs We Sing

Today, in one of my small Reading Seminars, we were discussing Psalms, liturgy, and the songs we sing - all within a context of the real stories of trauma and life. Here are a couple of different links about worship, church, hymnody, etc. that were inspired (came to mind) as we talked...

• Pop Quiz: 50 Shades of Grey or Contemporary Christian Music
• Hymnary.org: A resource for hymns, hymn tunes, and history
• The Bad Vicar: That Mitchell and Webb Look (A sarcastic video about Church and Tradition)
• Ann Hamilton: "The Event of a Thread" (My ideal model of congregational play)

I'm sure more will come to mind, but I'll leave it at this for now...

Sister Joan Chittister

On the way to work last week, I heard a fun interview on NPR "Here and Now" with Benedictine Nun, Sister Joan Chittister. She was commenting on the current place of women in the Catholic Church and the call by Pope Francis for a theology of women. This is a far cry from Pope Benedict XVI's investigation of American nuns for being too feminist and progressive. Instead, Pope Francis has called for more female theologians - even if he refers to them as "strawberries on the cake." He believes that women are able "to take up ... certain unexplored aspects of the unfathomable mystery of Christ."

I enjoyed hearing Sister Chittister's take on the role of women in the Catholic Church. It seems there is progress for our Catholic sisters, but still more need for equality.



In case you are interested, here is an earlier interview with Chittister if you want to get to know this fascinating woman a bit better, especially about her call to her vocation as a nun. Are nuns necessary for today? She seems to think so. It is enjoyable to hear someone really advocate for the Catholic Church. She has a great love for the Church. In this interview she details why she stays ...

• Interview with Chittister