Women's Spirituality in Global Context

One of the gifts of Christian feminist spirituality is to look at the global community as brothers and sisters. In a global society, women educated at the College of St. Catherine should have the opportunity to gain first-hand, on-site experience of women’s spirituality that has transformed cultures and social structures in many areas of the globe. The way spirituality has informed the lives of women around the world who are now leaders can influence CSC students to the broader horizons of Christian challenge today.

January-term and summer courses are being developed and will be offered, through which students and alumnae will study and work at women’s spirituality centers on four continents. Each course will be taught by CSC faculty members and an additional on-site faculty member who lives and works in the local context. The courses will either be offered through Theology and Women’s Studies or as Global Search for Justice courses in the Core Curriculum.

Future courses in Women's Spirituality in Global Context:

India/Tibet
July 2007
Prof. William McDonough and Prof. David Schmit, CSC
Dharamsala, India
This course is being designed as a Core Curriculum course, Global Search for Justice: Spiritual Voices of Dissent. Students will interact and learn with the Tibetan Nuns community in exile in India and visit various non-governmental organizations. They will learn of the Buddhist nuns’ experiences of repression in Tibet, their valiant stories of escape and resettlement in India, and their work for peace and justice.

Northern Ireland
January 2008
Prof. Roisan McDonald (on site)
Prof. Shawn Madigan, CSJ, CSC
Belfast, Northern Ireland
Still in its early development, this course will be set in two locations: Ulster and Belfast. A highlight of this experience will be the training students will receive from Peacemakers, an organization that works with children to build bridges between the Catholic and Protestant divide so that children will resist violence as they grow up.