Sister Christine Schenk CSJ, Georgetown '68, presents her new book about a nun and canon lawyer who prevailed in Vatican court, winning the right for lay people to protect their beloved churches from arbitrary closure.
About the Author
Sister Christine Schenk CSJ writes a regular column for the National Catholic Reporter and is the author of two award winning books Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity (Fortress 2017) and To Speak the Truth in Love: A Biography of Sr. Theresa Kane RSM (Orbis 2019). She is featured in two award-winning documentaries Radical Grace, and Foreclosing on Faith: America’s Church Closing Crisis.
About the Book
Bending Toward Justice documents the courageous canonical advocacy of Sr. Kate Kuenstler and thousands of ordinary Catholics whose persistence charted a new course in canon law. On March 7, 2012, Rome ordered Cleveland’s Bishop Richard Lennon to re-establish 12 parishes he had wrongly closed and reopen their churches. It was an unprecedented victory. Because of Kuenstler’s creative canonical acumen, Catholics would eventually win 47 canonical appeals in 16 dioceses in the US and abroad, thereby successfully keeping their churches open. This narrative addresses in considerable depth the wholesale closing of too many vibrant Catholic parishes in too many poor neighborhoods. It is told within the context the gifted life of Sr. Kate Kuenstler and the spiritual dynamism that guided her work.
Carole Sargent, PhD, Director
Office of Scholarly Publications
cs432@georgetown.edu