Karen Doherty
I’m a reflective Catholic who loves books, nature, good conversation and the quiet time found in retreat and prayer. I live ten minutes from my church, bookstore, coffee place and nature preserve. All are necessities in my life. I am a pro-life feminist, married to a wonderful woman for over 35 years. I had many happy years as a hockey mom and teaching our son a love for the outdoors and the spirituality we find there.
I believe in “big tent” Catholicism. Our Church is home to all, not just welcoming people from one viewpoint or another. Although I identify as a liberal Catholic, I appreciate and respect the efforts of conservative Catholics to instill reverence and beauty in our liturgies and encouraging people to discover or rediscover the practices of fasting, prayer and observing the sabbath. They have also kept the issue of abortion in the public eye for almost 50 years, pointing out the incongruity of saving baby seals but not human fetuses.
At the same time, I value and admire what liberal and moderate Catholics have brought to the Church and wider world: their example of tenacity and resilience in holding fast to the faith in a hostile age; emphasizing Christ’s teachings of love, justice and mercy vs. Magisterium rules; and acting as the conscience of the Church in confronting and bringing to light the crimes of clerical sexual abuse, all forms of discrimination, care for the environment and the need to be truly pro-life, not just pro-birth.
If we believe we belong to a universal Church, it is vital that different groups get to know each other as people–not representatives of hostile ideologies or strangers. Jesus took a risk and stepped outside his society to encounter the Samaritan woman and Roman centurion–why can’t we follow in his footsteps?
Feel free to contact me – censorlibrorum5@gmail.com
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