Women of the Church, a Catholic leadership forum, will launch its first regional gathering for emerging leaders, from young adults to women discovering new directions later in life. It will be held October 22-24, 2021, at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, St. Meinrad, IN.
Women who are new to a leadership role or discerning how to share their gifts in the Church are invited to register for the event. The weekend’s schedule will include presentations, opportunity for reflection and discernment on leadership, as well as space to share your story of leadership in the Church.
Registration is now open at www.womenofthechurch.org and will be capped at 50 participants. Deadline to register is October 1. The fee is $250, which includes room and meals, or $100 for commuters.
Guest speakers will be Kerry Alys Robinson and Dr. C. Vanessa White. Robinson is the executive partner for global and national initiatives at Leadership Roundtable and the executive director-elect of the Opus Prize Foundation.
Robinson has been an advisor to and trustee of numerous grantmaking foundations, family philanthropies and charitable nonprofits since 1990, including the Raskob Foundation for Catholic Activities and Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities. She is the prize-winning author of Imagining Abundance: Fundraising, Philanthropy and a Spiritual Call to Service.
White is associate professor of spirituality and ministry at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and associate director for the Master of Theology degree program at Xavier University of Louisiana’s Institute for Black Catholic Studies.
She is co-editor of the book, Songs of Our Hearts and Meditations of Our Souls: Prayers for Black Catholics, and a contributor to Amoris Laetitia: A New Momentum for Moral Formation and Pastoral Practice. White is currently working on her contribution for the Black Catholic Studies Reader to be published by CUA Press.
Workshops will be led by Dr. Kimberly Baker, Rachel Forbes Kaufman and Sr. Jeana Visel, OSB.
Baker, a co-founder of Women of the Church and associate professor of patristics at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, will lead “Leadership Lessons from One Woman’s Journey.”
Forbes Kaufman will lead “How Purpose Changes Across Your Lifetime: Tools for Discerning Life Transitions.” She is the founding director of The Retirement InstituteTM, a ministry of Forbes Well-Being Advisors. Her ministry is devoted to the discernment needs and life transition support of the healing professionals in medicine and ministry.
Sr. Jeana will speak on “Seeking the Visible Face of God: Praying with Icons.” She is a Benedictine sister of Monastery Immaculate Conception in Ferdinand, IN, and dean of School of Theology programs at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology. She has undertaken extensive study and practice in Eastern Christian iconography.
