In Walk the Land, I address how chasing God’s purpose led me to walk away from my twenty-year career as an attorney in the criminal justice system. When was a time in your life when God asked you to walk away from something you loved in order to follow Him? What was the outcome?
I think up to the present moment, Ive never had an experience remotely like your own.
The most difficult tragedy I’ve experienced was the sudden loss of my Dad to a car wreck. I’ve reflected on it for over ten years now. I remember saying during the whole funeral, “ I don’t blame God.” The truth is I didn’t blame God because at the time I had no relationship with God, so there was only apathy to the Lord.
Over the years, especially with becoming a Father, I’ve thought a lot about my Dad and how to be a Dad. I wish my Dad could know my kids, but the truth is that before my Dad died I was a procrastinator and slothful. In some ways, I think my character fundamentally changed because of this tragedy because I’ve had to think about what it means to be a Dad for the past decade.
The whole thing makes me fully understand the notion that God can bring about a greater good out of evil.
The story of Joseph in the Old Testament is a case study of God leading someone through several trials for the greater purpose of His glory. In fact, throughout biblical literature, to be favored by God means times of trials.
We live in a world that operates under a notion of chance or coincidence, but underlying points of suffering throughout Sacred Scripture, the Lord reveals that times of trial if we cooperate with His grace in the end will be for both our own good and those that we love--even if we cannot fathom it.
We are called to live a life of holiness and to be holy we must either enter purification here or later.
I very much loved being a teacher and I left my career to give myself completely and totally to God as a religious sister. The outcomes unfortunately resulted in me being back out in the world due to abuse in the two different convents that I entered over a period of four years in total. But despite the incredible cruelty that I endured, I have remained active in the Church, especially in my parish due to the incredible support that I receive from my parish family, which included all of our priests. And I have been lead to work at an solid and authentic Catholic school, where I can actually teach the faith as a theology teacher. I can teach the truth without having the fear that I can lose my job, which unfortunately is what is taking place in way too many Catholic schools within my diocese. But I consider myself to be truly blessed because this it seems is where God wants me to be at this point in my life, where I can honestly live my faith so much more deeply as a lay woman than I ever was permitted to live in a religious community.
So much I am still trying to figure out, but I believe God allowed this to happen so that I could help to inform Catholics about what is taking place in many convents, monasteries, and seminaries across various dioceses. It has led me to co-lead a ministry for women and men who have been abused in religious life. There does not seem to be many if any support groups through the Church for men and women who are no longer in religious life, and who are trying to re-adjust back into the world. I was blessed to have my pastor who truly showed concern for me, and wanted to make sure that I was OK, but this is not the case for so many men and women who have left the religious life. This has led to many former religious going down a deep and dark path, and even leaving the faith completely. God has given me the opportunity to become a voice for those who have been abused in religious life, and to help those who have had a similar experience. I was fearful at first of retaliation from my former religious community. I very much wanted to try somehow to enter into another community because I wanted to believe there had to be at least one healthy community, but they blocked me anytime I would contact another community since communities will always call one's previous community. The time I feel is now for the truth to be told, not only for me, but for others. I am not afraid anymore.
I think up to the present moment, Ive never had an experience remotely like your own.
The most difficult tragedy I’ve experienced was the sudden loss of my Dad to a car wreck. I’ve reflected on it for over ten years now. I remember saying during the whole funeral, “ I don’t blame God.” The truth is I didn’t blame God because at the time I had no relationship with God, so there was only apathy to the Lord.
Over the years, especially with becoming a Father, I’ve thought a lot about my Dad and how to be a Dad. I wish my Dad could know my kids, but the truth is that before my Dad died I was a procrastinator and slothful. In some ways, I think my character fundamentally changed because of this tragedy because I’ve had to think about what it means to be a Dad for the past decade.
The whole thing makes me fully understand the notion that God can bring about a greater good out of evil.
The story of Joseph in the Old Testament is a case study of God leading someone through several trials for the greater purpose of His glory. In fact, throughout biblical literature, to be favored by God means times of trials.
We live in a world that operates under a notion of chance or coincidence, but underlying points of suffering throughout Sacred Scripture, the Lord reveals that times of trial if we cooperate with His grace in the end will be for both our own good and those that we love--even if we cannot fathom it.
We are called to live a life of holiness and to be holy we must either enter purification here or later.
I very much loved being a teacher and I left my career to give myself completely and totally to God as a religious sister. The outcomes unfortunately resulted in me being back out in the world due to abuse in the two different convents that I entered over a period of four years in total. But despite the incredible cruelty that I endured, I have remained active in the Church, especially in my parish due to the incredible support that I receive from my parish family, which included all of our priests. And I have been lead to work at an solid and authentic Catholic school, where I can actually teach the faith as a theology teacher. I can teach the truth without having the fear that I can lose my job, which unfortunately is what is taking place in way too many Catholic schools within my diocese. But I consider myself to be truly blessed because this it seems is where God wants me to be at this point in my life, where I can honestly live my faith so much more deeply as a lay woman than I ever was permitted to live in a religious community.
So much I am still trying to figure out, but I believe God allowed this to happen so that I could help to inform Catholics about what is taking place in many convents, monasteries, and seminaries across various dioceses. It has led me to co-lead a ministry for women and men who have been abused in religious life. There does not seem to be many if any support groups through the Church for men and women who are no longer in religious life, and who are trying to re-adjust back into the world. I was blessed to have my pastor who truly showed concern for me, and wanted to make sure that I was OK, but this is not the case for so many men and women who have left the religious life. This has led to many former religious going down a deep and dark path, and even leaving the faith completely. God has given me the opportunity to become a voice for those who have been abused in religious life, and to help those who have had a similar experience. I was fearful at first of retaliation from my former religious community. I very much wanted to try somehow to enter into another community because I wanted to believe there had to be at least one healthy community, but they blocked me anytime I would contact another community since communities will always call one's previous community. The time I feel is now for the truth to be told, not only for me, but for others. I am not afraid anymore.