Catholic Sensibility
June 30, 2012 at 9:30 am by Fran Rossi Szpylczyn
I’m still really “away” but stopping by for a moment…
My friend Todd Flowerday, an accomplished liturgist and musician, writer and so much more, is running a series on his great blog, Catholic Sensibility. The series runs as a counterweight to some other Catholic proclamations of these weeks. Todd has called the series, Two Weeks of Worthy Women, with posts focusing on the accomplishments of women religious, many of whom were in trouble with authority, or even excommunicated in more than one case. Some are now saints however. When I was away, Todd posted something that I had written about Gertrude of Helfta. Today he has posted my essay on Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA, and I share it here as well.
No review of worthy women of our Church can exclude the woman who would not be excluded at any cost – Sister Thea Bowman, FSPA. As a woman religious who stated that she wanted to “go home like a shooting star,” she also lived that way; her life was like a blazing tale of God’s glory, against the sky of her life.
Born to a teacher and a doctor in Yazoo City, Mississippi on December 29, 1937 and named Bertha Bowman, she was reared as a Methodist in Canton, Mississippi. Her beginnings were humble but noble, given that her grandparents were slaves. An only child who was extremely bright. At the age of 9 asked about becoming Catholic, which her parents agreed to. Bertha’s, (soon to be Thea’s) vocation began like the birth of a star, with various elements coming together to create a unique light.
http://blog.timesunion.com/bread/catholic-sensibility/2016/
