MASS, MATRIARCH AND MEANING

Virgin Adoring the Host, Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, 1852

This week we begin a new topic in the series of interviews from The Life of Meaning. We leave the section on I'm Spiritual, not Religious and enter full forward into I am Religious with the interview of Eileen Durkin. 

A Catholic with a capitol "C," Durkin descends from generations of Irish Catholics. Her uncle is a priest and her mother a theologian. Some might consider that between a rock and a hard place. Durkin, however, embraces her faith with all her vitality. Her faith reflects that of Jesus, the Virgin mother, the Mass, and the sacrament of marriage and family. But not so much the institutional construct presently exported via Rome. Below are several statements regarding her faith and its experience.

"The Catholic world view is that grace is everywhere...everything has the potential for being holy..."

Raising her five children, Durkin speaks of instilling in them the moral, "we have the duty to do our small steps along the way..."

I have great respect for church leaders, but no reverence...for me the biggest issue is with women's ordination...we're losing the wisdom of half the human race."

Parsing The Mass: Stories, Music, Homily, and Eucharist...the broken meal...you have to take a journey, you have to go forward."

The Virgin Mary as suffering but expressing love. An eternal matriarch?

For Durkin, the Mass as joyful and empowering.

Walter Morton for Terra Incognita