My new years review of the past year will first focus on
Catholic Women who write clearly and forcefully about their journeys to and
with the Lord in print and on the Internet. I began with a list of two whose
writing in the past year have been moving and inspiring. However, that list
quickly went to five.These nominees are:
Hallie Lord:''Welcome! My name is Hallie Lord. I’m 33 years old and have been married to Dan (you can learn more about him here) since October of 2001. We have six children under the age of ten (who we happily home school) including a baby boy due in March, a two-year-old girl, a four-year-old girl, a six-year-old girl, an eight-year-old boy, and a nine-year-old boy. Simply put: we’re crazy blessed.
I am the editor of (and contributing author to) Style, Sex, and Substance: 10 Catholic Women Consider the Things that Really Matter." (quoted from the profile on her Blog ''Moxie Wife'')
Jennifer Fulwiler:
''I grew up atheist.
As far back as I can remember, it seemed simply obvious to me that neither God
nor any kind of spiritual realm existed....The first crack in my worldview came
when I met my husband. After we began dating I found out he believed in God....
I started asking questions. Then our first child was born, and I started asking
questions with humility....Research led me to the shocking conclusion that God
exists, and the more shocking conclusion that he became man in the form of
Jesus of Nazareth.'' (An extract from her extensive profile on her Blog
"Conversion Diary'') She is also one of the authors in Hallie Lord's Book
mentioned above. Her memoir about her journey from Atheism to Christianity will
soon be published. A TV show about her faith and family called ''Minor
Revisions'' is on NET-NY a New York City
Christian TV Channel. She and her family live in Texas where she home schools
their children.
Roxane Solonen:
" is a wife and mother of three sons and two daughters.
She also wears the hats of church cantor, children's author, speaker, newspaper
columnist and communications specialist through her business, Beauclair
Communications. Find her musings on faith and family life at Peace Garden Mama,
and ruminations on the writing life at Peace Garden Writer." (From profile
associated with her column on the "CATHOLIC MOM" website.)
'Infinite Grace':
The name of the author of this blog is not published but her
background and ministry is explained by this profile quote. "At the age of
17, I walked across this bridge, alone, into downtown Pittsburgh, with $300 in
my pocket that my mother had given me to get an abortion. I went into the the
Fulton building and did what I was told to do. I didn't have a choice - if I
did I wouldn't have chosen abortion." (From the heading on her blog,
"Post abortion Journey".) Grace is the name of the daughter who died
that day. She is a very powerful pro-life voice in the church and our country.
Dawn Eden:
Dawn is currently studying for a doctorate in Theology and
hopes to be a teacher of Theology in a University or Seminary. Since she and I
were fellow students in a graduate course on 'Theology of the Body' (Biblical
understanding of sex, marriage and family) six years ago, when she was first a
Christian, she is the only nominee that I have met personally. In addition to
her full time studies she is currently speaking around the world about her
second book, "My Peace I give You" dealing with recovery from sexual
abuse with the help of God's love and the example of the saints.
The Winners are:
After due consideration of this amazing group of women I
have decided to highlight two of them
that had the opportunity to talk about their Journey to the Arms of Jesus on
the TV show "Journey Home" this last year and both interviews are
available on YouTube.
In the next two
postings I will embed their interview videos for your viewing. Both their
journeys are so different (Atheist to Christian - Jennifer and Jewish to Christian - Dawn) from
my own (Cradle Catholic to agnostic to born anew Catholic Christian - Joe) that I get
new insights into my own faith every time I hear them speak
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