May 17, 2020: A Reason for Our Hope with Mary Ann Hinsdale, IHM

Preaching for the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Mary Ann Hinsdale offers a reflection on hope, particularly at a time of pandemic:   "...these precarious situations caused by the Coronavirus pandemic: joblessness, food insecurity, our elders and veterans dying alone in nursing homes and hospitals, exhausted parents trying to balance working at home and overseeing their children’s education, seeing the future plans we have made or the provisions for our retirement collapse and disappear.  All of these are stressors and have a bearing on whether we are able to 'give an accounting for our hope.'  At best, we may feel resigned; at worst, we simply feel paralyzed. And yet, for me, the reading from John’s Gospel for this Sixth Sunday of Easter offers us some 'good news,' – and a reason for our hope, even though we are living  with painful situations."    Sr. Mary Ann Hinsdale, a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (Monroe, MI), is an Associate Professor of Theology at Boston College.  She received her B.A. from Marygrove College (Detroit), her M.A. in religious education from the Catholic University of America, and her Ph.D in Systematic Theology from the University of St. Michael’s in Toronto. Her academic specializations are in theological anthropology, ecclesiology, and feminist and ecological theologies.    Visit www.catholicwomenpreach.org/preaching/05172020 to learn more about Sr. Mary Ann Hinsdale, to view her video or read her text, and for more preaching from Catholic women.