Franciscan Studies

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright

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Table of Contents

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Biographical info

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pp. v-vii

Introduction

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pp. 1-2

The Franciscan Institute is happy to collaborate once again with the Franciscan Center of the Washington Theological Union by the presentation of the proceedings of the 1998 Spring Symposium entitled Franciscan Studies: The Difference Women Are Making. A providential design allowed the event to be celebrated on the...

Pentecost Still Happens

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pp. 3-5

I am exceedingly fascinated by the image of the fountain in St. Bonaventure. He comments on St. Francis’s image of God as an overflowing fountain of goodness. In this Pentecost poem, recounting a Franciscan event, I’ve combined the overflowing fountain image with that of fire. The force of the two images serves...

Roots of the Tradition

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pp. 7-20

Just a few days ago, I was telling a former Minister of my province, himself well-versed in Franciscan studies, that I was very much looking forward to participating in a symposium this weekend. When he inquired about the theme, I replied “Franciscan Studies: the Difference Women Are Making.” He responded simply...

The Renaissance of Franciscan Thiology: Retrieving the Tradition of the Good

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pp. 21-41

When I first proposed a conference on the impact of women in Franciscan studies, I found the idea exciting. However, several of our young student friars thought the idea was a waste of time. As one said: “Women in Franciscan studies? The whole thing should be over in fifteen minutes!” I think this young man’s response sums up a general...

Speaking a Woman's Vision: Feminist and/or Franciscan?

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pp. 43-56

I count myself fortunate to have never been without these voices and to have had the fertile possibility of fashioning a feminist voice of my own. To use the term “feminist” now requires careful explanation and attention, lest the voices of the many different and hard-won perspectives of women be arrogantly blurred once again...

Studies of Medieval Franciscan Women: Current Franch and Italian Scholarship

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pp. 57-85

Franciscans, by vocation, are meant to be part of secondary America, the roads not taken, where those “by the wayside” live. In my own case, it is certainly while erring in the back alleys of my own life that the salutation came to work on Angela of Foligno, or more appropriately to let Angela weave her spell over me: “You will be...

Women and Franciscan Studies: The State of the Question

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pp. 87-103

In 1994 Kenan Osborne, OFM, invited me to prepare an essay on women’s contribution to Franciscan theology for the volume ultimately published by the Franciscan Institute entitled The History of Franciscan Theology. In that essay I explained why it was impossible to single out women as leaders in the various epochs of...

The Franciscan Federation as a Promoter of Women's Scholarship

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pp. 105-112

The Franciscan Federation of the Brothers and Sisters of the Third Order Regular had its roots in movements taking place among United States religious even before Vatican Council II. The Sister Formation Conference in the fifties and sixties was especially effective in raising the consciousness of religious women, impelling...

A Personal Experience

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pp. 113-116

I am here today as the latest recipient of the benefits of the trajectory begun with the Franciscan Educational Conference. On the list of the participants from 1960, which Margaret Carney has shared with us, the first four names are those of the Superior General and three Provincials of the Bernardine Sisters. I am very...

Bonaventure's Trinitarian Theology as a Feminist Resource

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pp. 117-135

My work in Franciscan theology deals primarily with using Bonaventure as a resource for feminist Trinitarian theology. I am immeasurably and profoundly indebted to the scholarly work of the late Professor Catherine Mowry LaCugna for giving me a direction in which to take Bonaventurian theology. Two of her works have...