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Monthly Archive for April, 2012

A Tribute to my Sisters

The boys in the Vatican are picking on the sisters again. When I read that the male officials in the Vatican were investigating an organization of 57,113 U. S. nuns, I laughed. It seems the church hierarchy has run out of important issues to focus on like preventing child sexual abuse by priests. Now they must keep busy by investigating an organization of U.S nuns for “serious theological errors.”

As a woman reared by Catholic sisters throughout 13 years of my education, I was intrigued to find out what these errors might be. While the Catholic sisters have been focused on assisting those whose lives are threatened by the effects of poverty, educating children, meeting the health and social service needs of immigrants and other disenfranchised people, and conducting parish ministries, they are being called out for “remaining silent on the right to life.”

It made me smile to think about other things the sisters don’t do, like serving as priests, bishops, or cardinals, or sitting at the tables where important theological matters are discussed. I consider myself a post-denominational Catholic, and like the universities where I am an alum, I am most grateful for what I have learned in these organizations, and for what I am able to use in my present life. I’m especially grateful to the sisters and the lessons they’ve taught me that I have finally mastered. In my younger years, I would become angry with the male leaders of the church over their disrespect and mistreatment of women.

But now I collapse into nearly hysterical laughter when I read that the U.S Bishops’ doctrinal conference offered a formal critique of theologian Sister Elizabeth A. Johnson, accusing her of over-emphasizing feminine descriptions of God in her new book. The fact that I am able to laugh shows how far I’ve come. As the sisters’ taught, we must love our enemies and do good to those who would harm us. We must find compassion for those who do not know what the prophecies of First Peoples worldwide have predicted. The Divine Feminine, which has been missing from the altars of churches everywhere, is being returned to a place of prominence and respect.

“I think we scare them, “ Simone Campbell, a lawyer and executive director of  NETWORK, the sisters’ lobbying group. Perhaps the real newsflash for the boys in Rome is this; 5000 years of patriarchal rule is ending and we, the women are no longer afraid of you. The sisters have already been re-formed by their deeply spiritual good works, their brilliant educated intellects, and their relationship to God the Mother of us all, who I’m imagining, isn’t very proud of you.

Published on Sunday April 22, 2012 in Women, Girls & the Feminine. 6 Comments Tags: , , .

The Medicine and Magic of Objects

 My friend placed the music box on a blanket in the center of the room, displaying it with reverence for all to see. Running the palm of her hand across its shiny surface, she told the story of how it came to her. According to a cousin, her grandmother gave it to her, a favorite grandchild, in her will.  She starts the music and it’s song transports us all to a time before any of us were born.

I noticed the familiar statue on the bookcase. Memories of the occasion when our friend Jyoti first brought it to this space, fill the room. An insipid disease has stolen her memories from her, but we stand together, remembering on her behalf. I see again her sly smile as she told us what she said to the shopkeeper where she first saw it, “I must have this warrior goddess for my women’s group. I hope it isn’t too expensive, but even if I have to refinance my car or house, this archetypal image of the courageous invincible woman must be there.”

One summer, when my daughter was being treated for breast cancer at a major medical center, she presented me with a special, now most treasured gift for my birthday. Knowing that butterflies were special to me,  she purchased a butterfly pin at the hospital gift shop. The piece had been produced by an artist from the drawing of a child being treated for cancer, a portion of the proceeds going to fund the hospital’s family support program.  Nine years later, as I wear the butterfly on a chain around my neck, I’m reminded that to secure the pin, she had walked nearly a mile through the corridors of the medical center while pushing the infusion therapy pole to which she was attached.

Published on Tuesday April 17, 2012 in Personal Stories and Women, Girls & the Feminine. 2 Comments Tags: , .

The Business of Healthcare

After writing a letter to the editor of our local paper, in response to the downgrading of Highmark by the ratings firm Moody, http://tinyurl.com/d67964d I awoke with a strong memory from my own career in the health care field.  Between 1987 and 1997, my husband Richard and I fulfilled a dream of cofounding and co-directing a behavioral health care group practice, Iatreia, (named at our son’s suggestion, for “a place for healers” in ancient Greece.)

Not unlike what’s happening currently on healthcare’s medical side, by 1993, the number and complexity of third party payers, extended waits for reimbursements, increased paper work and requirements for quality assurance due diligence, and the refusal of some of our providers to accept the new financial realities of the marketplace, made running the business operations of our clinic a nightmare.

In 1995, in analyzing the clinic’s workflow, I identified 42 steps that were necessary, from the client’s first call for an appointment to the clinic eventually getting paid for services provided. If any of the steps were missing or done out of order, we would not be paid. In this environment where, as some friends suggested, “You’re doing everything right. It just isn’t working,” we began to entertain the possibility of being purchased

One of our first meetings with the company that did eventually purchase us, was held in their offices. The male executives of the company, whom we were familiar with, took this occasion to introduce us to their mid-level managers who were all women. In the opening remarks and introductions, one of the executives kept referring to our clinic as “Richard’s Place.” After his reference to “Richard’s Place” was repeated a half dozen times, the large group meeting broke into smaller groups and I could finally stop biting the inside of my mouth and exhale. One of the women in the smaller group turned to me and asked, “And what do you do at Iatreia?” I responded, “You’ve probably been in health care long enough to appreciate this – I am the co-founder and co-director of “Richard’s Place.”

Published on Sunday April 8, 2012 in Health, Personal Stories and Women, Girls & the Feminine. 1 Comment Tags: , .

The Politics of Dress

A young Indian woman in my neighborhood is expecting a baby. I know this because the smock she is wearing no longer hides this fact, though I’m sure it did throughout the winter months. When I was pregnant nearly half a century ago, a loose fitting maternity top like she was wearing was the fashion imperative in this country.  Sold in maternity shops, this garment allowed a woman to kept her secret socially for five or six months. Only in the last trimester could anyone make out the silhouette of her bulging pear-shaped belly. At that point, for me, when I could no longer fasten my coat around me, I experienced myself as uncomfortably “fat” and freezing cold in the wintertime.

A century ago, the word “pregnant” was never used and there was little need for special clothing since women who were “in a family way” were confined to their homes. According to one of my great aunts, it was considered poor taste to speak publicly of a woman being “in a family way.”  She maintained she never knew of her older sister’s condition before each child was born, until she would be asked to come over to assist her with the older children during her “confinement.”

Fast forward to today’s expectant mother – She seems to be making a political statement as well as a fashion one. She’s likely to be wearing the most figure hugging, spandex-type tank top she can find, over shorts or jeans. She walks proudly through the grocery store parking lot, seeming to enjoy the fact that the entire community can track the progress and stages of her growing belly. Other women her age and older, as their biological clocks tick on, look on in envy at one who has achieved this blessed state, something that perhaps may still be eluding them.

I’m amazed at what messages about our larger world we can get by paying attention to what people choose to wear. I’d love to hear what you’ve learned from “people watching” the fashion get-ups in your neighborhood.

 

Published on Wednesday April 4, 2012 in Personal Stories and Women, Girls & the Feminine. 0 Comments Tags: , .