Sister Christa Parra: Accompanying At the Border
| | |

Sister Christa Parra: Accompanying At the Border

Episode 62 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | RSS | More “Whoever is in front of us we are called to love.” -Sister Christa Parra IN THIS EPISODE For this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh chats with an old friend, Sister Christa Parra, IBVM. Sister…

Father Justin Claravall: Being Real Inside the Mess
| | | |

Father Justin Claravall: Being Real Inside the Mess

Episode 61 of Messy Jesus Business podcast, with Sister Julia Walsh. Podcast: Play in new window | Download Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Stitcher | Email | RSS | More “Every time I’ve been raw and vulnerable before God, I’ve been surprised at how Jesus has responded to it.” -Father Justin Claravall IN THIS EPISODE For this episode of Messy Jesus Business podcast, Sister Julia Walsh chats with…

The spirituality of dumpster diving
| |

The spirituality of dumpster diving

I started dumpster diving because of free boxes. I live on the edge of Hyde Park, an affluent neighborhood surrounding the University of Chicago on Chicago, Illinois’ south side. My boyfriend and I used to go for neighborhood walks and stop to pick through curb-side boxes, often left by students moving out of their school-year…

|

On parenting, poverty, and privilege

It’s been two months since our family abruptly said goodbye to the mission we were serving in Honduras. We left because our five-year-old daughter came down with dengue fever, a nasty mosquito-borne illness that becomes even nastier if contracted a second time. In someone who has already had the illness, a second exposure can result…

Breaking down the walls because ‘tú eras mi otra yo’

I once stood near the United States-Mexico border. In the journey to this edge, I witnessed the evidence of militarization: guns, checkpoints, armored vehicles, cameras. The steel fence rose from the sandy earth like a misplaced mountain. I felt my body tense from the feeling of surveillance. I felt the unease and sorrow that seemed…

Christian resistance in the style of St. Francis

It’s indisputable that today’s signs of the times point to heartache, injustice, division and confusion. The truth seems to be debatable. The persecutions of the little ones — from immigrant children, refugees, victims of natural disasters and targets of sexual assault; those who are on the margins — often are the ones who bear the…

The words of Oscar Romero for our Lenten conversion

Around here, deep in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, the signs of spring are starting to emerge — quite appropriately, since Lent means spring. The deep snow piles are gradually starting to shrink and reveal a little green life around their edges. Tiny buds are forming on tree branches. Buckets are lining paths, making more visible the…