Do you remember your first childhood loss? A missing or broken toy? Perhaps a pet that died. What was your parent’s response? “Don’t cry. We’ll get another one!” I do remember the consolation of mom replacing a little flower that I nurtured after the dog dug it up. But my first remembrance of a deep…
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Written by WS alumna Cathy Baldizon, MA When we returned to the US after 20 years overseas I was confident that once I graduated from Western with a Masters in Pastoral Care to Women, the degree and what I had learned would ensure that the next time we were posted abroad a new paradigm of…
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Carol, I, as a member of Christ’s body, apologize to you and the many women like you  who have experienced incredible pain, marginalization and loss from the church because we have not reached out to you in your pain with understanding and compassion. I am so sorry! May you find it in your heart to…
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Yes, yes, yes, Carol. I DO see hope in the church! I too dream of the church becoming a place where people understand pain like yours and express care to people in your situation. Certainly a new focus—a new understanding of ministry is needed. What could that look like? In two previous blogs, (please see…
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Carol’s own personal pain (see previous blog, Do You See Any Hope in the Church?) generated a penetrating question that required more than a trite response: Bev, do you ever see the church becoming a place where people understand pain like this and express care to people in my situation? Frankly, I rarely go to…
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I sat across the lunch table with a former key staff member of a well-known Christian ministry. We briefly exchanged stories and then Carol (not her real name) said, Bev, tell me the truth.  Do you see any hope in the church? Hope? I asked. Carol continued. After my husband, a committed church leader, walked…
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Tears filled our eyes. The loss of a child. How does a loving parent ever recover? Our dear, dear friends were walking this painful path of life. Clearly the props of life were knocked out from under them. We arrived at their home on what would have been Kelly’s 41st birthday. They embraced us with…
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