William Newton and I welcome Pat Gohn to this episode of Catholic Weekend, direct from a cozy porch down a country lane.
We catch up with Pat, and launch into discussions about Pope Francis’ encyclical, Lumen Fidei, and his recent comments about a theology of women.
Check out the show notes, listen to the podcast, or watch on the Catholic Weekend page.
Welcome to Day 6 of the Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious Blog Tour: Ten Bodacious Basics…Ten Minutes at a Time! Listen to today’s Audio Boo and enter to win your own copy of the book by leaving a comment, and then go visit the other blogs participating to get more great content (and chances to enter!).
Ok ladies — and guys, too, this is an equal opportunity opportunity. If you’re anything like me, the idea of taking a week, or even a weekend for a retreat or personal reflection on themes that are so important to our lives as women is crazy. We’re busy. Or so we say.
But that’s precisely why we need to take time to nurture our spirituality — whether we’re champion church ladies that can whisper a rosary in 5-minutes flat, or we’re curious about some things we’ve heard — perhaps a terminology we’re not familiar with. Or, like me, yearning to know more but not quite knowing where to get started.
If any of these scenarios apply to you, then you’ve come to the right place! Let me introduce you to my friend, Pat Gohn. Wife. Mother. Daughter. Catechist. Writer. Skilled Scrabble player, connoisseur of chocolate, chatty girlfriend, and author of a magnificent little book with a sassy title:
That title caught your attention, didn’t it? I know! What’s inside is even more amazing! Listen to Pat read this excerpt from the book. Her words will move you as she shares about the gifts of prayer in her life and love in action when a group of women respond tenderly to her needs during a difficult time in her life.
Now reflect and share on this quote from Blessed John Paul II…
“Perhaps more than men, women acknowledge the person, because they see persons with their hearts. They see them independently of various ideological or political systems. They see others in their greatness and limitations; they try to go out to them and help them.” (Letter to Women, par 12)
I want you to read the book. Pat wants you to read the book. And the good people at Ave Maria Press want you to read the book, so I’m giving away a copy right here. Just leave your thoughts about Blessed John Paul’s quote in the comments below. The contest ends at 11:59 PM, EST, on April 26, 2013. I’ll pick one winner by random drawing during the live recording of Catholic Weekend on April 27.
Until then, you might want to ponder this:
Here’s a book challenge to get you thinking about some themes important to me, and, indeed, important to many of us — the dignity, gifts, and mission of women.
My dear friend, Pat Gohn, just released her first book, Blessed, Beautiful, and Bodacious: Celebrating the Gift of Catholic Womanhood.
I promise you, you’re going to want to pick up a copy of this book for yourself, and an extra copy to give away to a woman you love: maybe your sister, your daughter, or your best friend.
Pat is a wonderful writer…a real wordsmith with a gift for clear thinking, easy communication, and distilling complex themes into easy to digest thoughts. That’s reason enough to reach for the book, but the truth is that Pat has the heart of a catechist — she loves Jesus and wants you to love him, too!
She shares her faith journey with us like a beloved friend, a sister in Christ, and a spiritual mother.
I know you’ll love the book, but remember I said Pat is a catechist? Let her introduce you to the beauty of the book in her words and her voice as she explains a fun way to dig deeply into the book. Join me and nine other bloggers as we host a bodacious blog tour over the next ten days and give away copies of the book, too. Think of it as a do-it-yourself retreat!
Listen to the audio clip embedded below, and then go to Pat’s blog for more information on Ten Bodacious Basics…Ten Minutes at a Time!
I often use this blog to post silly videos and random by-the-seat-of-my-pants entries to laugh a little at life. It’s a good outlet for me, and while I’m not necessarily interested in growing a huge readership, I know that I have a nice little group of stalwart followers (thanks, y’all!).
Every once in a while, though, I do get serious, and it’s always about something that’s close to my heart. If there’s one thing that my vocation as a teacher has exposed me to, and that I’ve taken absolutely to heart, is that each of us has a story that’s yearning to be told. Our lives are unique — filled with many joys, but also pains. They go hand in hand with this thing we call the human condition.
Bloggers are sometimes guilty of always presenting the best side of our lives. It’s lovely to share photos of family get-togethers that look like Norman Rockwell paintings, and I’ve been guilty a time or two (ha!) of taking a picture that is cropped just right so you don’t see the laundry basket or the pile of papers that gets moved from the table to the counter, and back to the table. It’s all about illusion, isn’t it?
While I love to get hilarious comments from readers over fun posts, it’s actually the serious disclosures, like this one, that get feedback. Why? Because we are all suffering in some way. Each of us, and we so often miss opportunities to connect with others and share these hurts. We can find much healing in the simple act of sharing and discovering that we are not alone in our suffering. Both empathy and sympathy are gifts.
Karen Edmisten, author of After Miscarriage: A Catholic Woman’s Companion to Healing and Hope talks with Pat Gohn this week on a special two-part edition of Among Women Podcast on a subject that is dear to my own heart. I experienced two miscarriages early in my marriage. Twenty-five years ago, the subject was not brought up in polite company. The doctors were horrible to me … one dismissed my second, very early miscarriage, as nothing more than a chemical pregnancy. I don’t even know what that’s supposed to mean. Needless to say, the scars from such an experience go beyond grieving for a lost child.
Pat and Karen discuss this topic with tenderness and honesty, two essential qualities that go a long way in helping women heal, connect, and hope. I hope you pass this along to other women. If we haven’t experienced miscarriage first-hand, the odds are very high that someone close to us has. Share it.
another cup of coffee 