LWN Presents EnCourage

Building on the significant history of the Loretto Women’s Network (LWN), we are once again writing a newsletter for the Community and others about the issues facing women in today’s society. It will be called EnCourage. We hope to publish three-four times a year and welcome any ideas you might have. The inspiration for this new version of the newsletter comes from the strong past of Mary Ann Cunningham, editor of CouRAGE, and others who have challenged the status quo for women in the Church and in society. LWN continues to support women’s equality around the world, and we welcome stories that highlight the good work of so many strong women working for change.

We often get questions about what we mean by a feminist perspective in our work and what we write. For me, it means understanding that each personal story of pain and injustice that a woman may experience is also embedded in a social, economic, cultural and political context — the personal is political. It also means that it is important to raise consciousness, our own and that of our communities, about the internalized and externalized forms of power and privilege that operate in our world. My own work that has focused on the intersection of gender, race/ethnicity, income and trauma and my work on leadership has taught me that being a feminist is not just an intellectual journey for social justice, but also a spiritual one.

Anyone can receive the newsletter, you do not have to be an LWN member. If you have ideas for stories or want to receive the newsletter just email me at [email protected]. Also, we are looking for a few persons to join LWN as coordinators. The current coordinators are Anna Koop, Mary Nelson, Alice Kitchen and I. I love being able to contribute to this work as the editor of EnCourage, and now that I am retired I have more time!