A Virtual Roundtable email conversation has led to an article in this week’s America magazine. After a dialogue among Roundtable members about Amnesty International’s new policy regarding abortion, members shared how their dioceses are responding. Roundtable Secretary Jeffry Odell Korgen followed up with the diocesan social action director participating and interviewed their sources in parish, universities, and dioceses.

The result was an article in the June 23 issue which can be viewed by clicking here.

Citing her contributions to staffing the USCCB Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship document and resources, and her efforts to promote collaboration among Catholic educators and activists, the Roundtable Board voted to award the 2009 Harry A. Fagan Award to Joan Rosenhauer, Associate Director of the USCCB Department of Justice, Peace, and Human Development. Joan will receive the award at the February 21-22 Roundtable Symposium.

Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? Not Suzanne Belongia, social action director for the Diocese of Winona, who is building a straw-bale house in the picturesque lakes region of southern Minnesota with housemates from a Catholic Worker community. Suzanne began volunteering with the Catholic Worker ten years ago and later moved into a Catholic Worker community. Friends have pitched in on the construction, and the home will be ready to move into in the Fall. The house will be spacious but quite efficient, taking advantage of passive solar heating of living space and geothermal heating of water. Suzanne explained the construction process during a tour earlier this week prior to the diocesan Ministry Days. On a day like the one we toured (75 degrees and partly cloudy), home construction sounded like fun!

Below: Suzanne with mud plaster mixer and a close-up of a wall shows how the mud and straw adhere to make a strong bond. It was solid, I can testify to that!

From the outside, the house looks like many houses under construction in the U.S.

And on the inside, too.

Suzanne and her housemates camp out at a field nearby when they work on the house.

Tricia Hoyt of the Diocese of Phoenix is a believer in lifelong faith formation—and not just for others! Tricia has enrolled in a PhD program in Biblical studies at Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. Is it hard for her to find the time? In her first year, the night and weekend work she performed for the Diocese of Phoenix allowed her to jet to Fort Worth for classes and return to her ministries with no reduction in weekly hours. One of her favorite classes, with Dr. Warren Carter, “takes seriously that economic and social concerns are everywhere in the Gospel According to Matthew,” she said. Dr. Carter is known internationally for locating “strategies of resistance” to the Roman Empire within the text.

Tricia explained that she has a special interest in “how Biblical texts have been used to disenfranchise people.” We all will recall wincing when culturally-bound Biblical texts are read (e.g. “Wives obey your husbands”), but Tricia’s aim is not to excise such texts from the Bible. Rather, she aims to “deconstruct and reconstruct” the texts so that they may come to be “heard in such a way as to be revelatory,” through new “hearing strategies.” “We must stop the misuse of a text,” she said.

Soon, Tricia will identify a dissertation topic—a completely original contribution she will make to Biblical studies. At this time, she feels especially drawn to humor in the Bible. Mind you, when Tricia speaks of humor in the Bible, she is not referring to knee-slappers (although the image of Zacheus in the tree gets me every time). Instead, she is looking at irony rooted in the context of the lives of the people who are hearing the message of Christ. For example, the term “savior” takes on an ironic meaning among a people accustomed to being told that the Roman Empire is their savior.

Marco Raposo made a name for himself leading the Justice for Immigrants campaign in the Diocese of San Bernardino, working alongside Jeanette Arnquist, office director. Now the master of four languages turns his attention to leading the justice and peace office in the Diocese of El Paso, replacing the retiring Sr. Kathleen Judge. With others heading up Justice for Immigrants, Marco will focus on fighting poverty and promoting social justice ministries in parishes. Marco is an exponent of the “Fowler Flower Model” (clickhereforimage) of parish social ministry, a reimagining of the vision of Communities of Salt and Light utilizing the image of the parts of a flower developed by Rich Fowler of the Diocese of Stockton. He seeks to implement this vision in the diocese over the coming months.