The podcast relaunches with an interview with Sisters Theresa Aletheia Noble and Danielle Victoria Lussier. They are the Sisters of the Little Way of Beauty, Truth, and Goodness, a new, “Private association of the faithful intending to become a religious institute.” (That’s church language for, The Sisters are in the yearslong process of officially being recognized as a new order of nuns.) The Sisters’ stated mission focuses on, “Listening and solidarity with people on the fringes of the Church, especially those who have been wounded, scandalized, or abused by members of the Church.”

I wanted to interview them for many reasons: I was struck by their courage in speaking out about the grooming and abuse they experienced at the hands of a spiritual director. The power of their new audio documentary podcast “Descent into Light”-- which draws on their experiences as survivors to illustrate the broader picture of how adult abuse unfolds in spiritual settings– has hooked me and Bethany as we consider how to build a ministry and small organization with transparency and accountability.

On an even more universal level, I was drawn to their perspective on finding vocation and belonging within an institution that has harmed them. How do you relate to an institution, even after it has harmed you? Can you stay with integrity, without your presence tacitly supporting the systems and leaders that failed you?

I believe their reflections about hearing a call - in the darkness of their suffering and as a response to the harm they endured - is a beacon for all of us who wonder how to follow Jesus within the church. I believe their reflections on choosing to remain in the church, even after its flawed systems enabled abuse against them, are valuable to hear for all of us wondering if and how to find our place in the ancient and imperfect institution.

At the website Sisters of the Little Way you can read more about their journey to leave their former order and start a new one, including time spent ministering to the homeless on the streets of Portland, Oregon, and studying at the Gregorian in Rome to receive a diploma in Safeguarding; learn how to support their mission; follow their writing on Substack; and listen to their podcast.

I hope you find in this interview new understanding about abuse in spiritual settings, practical suggestions for helping survivors and preventing future abuse, and a doorway to the Sisters’ beautiful and important podcast and ministry.

The Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf is Senior Pastor of Lake Street Baptist Church in Evanston, Illinois as well as the author of Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically About Whiteness and Sanctuary.

In a moment when the question of how the church supports the immigrant community is of utmost importance, I wanted to speak to him because of the many perspectives he holds on that question. As a pastor he can speak about his church’s successes and shortcoming providing sanctuary to an immigrant family for the last ten years. As an academic and ethnographer who has studied the sanctuary movement he can speak to the opportunities and dangers of partnerships between predominantly White faith communities and immigrants. What are the difficult power dynamics? Can they be avoided or worked with in healthy ways?

We talked about Michael’s joint call to ministry and ethnography; the racial dynamics of Sanctuary; the screening process for taking in recipients of Sanctuary and the ethics of raising the voice of the “ideal migrant”; if and how Sanctuary as a tactic might still be effective in 2025; what his congregation loves most about hosting a Sanctuary family; Michael’s own prayer practice for examining his conscience around Whiteness; and how Michael became the rare White Baptist pastor from Alabama with a primary ministry focus on racial justice.

If you want to read more of Michael’s writing there are links to his book and numerous articles here:

- Michael’s webpage with links to his writing and sermons

- Sanctuary and Subjectivity: Thinking Theologically About Whiteness and Sanctuary

For any person of faith troubled and outraged by President Trump’s promise to deport 11 million people and wondering “What can I do?” “How can I be effective?” “How do I plug in?” listen to the Rev. Dr. Alexia Salvatierra. In this interview I talk about these questions and more with the organizer, author, Lutheran pastor, and professor.

Alexia’s lengthy list of books and articles can be found at the Fuller Seminary website where she has taught since 2014 and is Academic Dean for Centro Latino and Associate Professor of Mission and Global Transformation. I reached out to her, however, not primarily because of her academic accolades but because of her extensive experience leading faith-based organizations for immigrants rights. As it says in the introduction of her newest book, God’s Resistance, “Salvatierra offers a firsthand and behind-the-scenes glimpse and understanding of the inner workings of the U.S. Sanctuary Movement. Dr. Salvatierra was a young member of one of the first congregations to declare sanctuary in 1980, a founding member of the New Sanctuary Movement in the 2000s, and an ongoing leader in the development of other faith-based approaches to the immigration crisis.”

We talk not only about ethical and effective support of migrants in the US at this moment but also about her formation and call as madrina, or godmother, of faith-based movements for immigrant rights; the theology of the border and the limits of Christian love; her involvement in the Sanctuary movement of the 80s and how that experience shaped Alexia to lead the New Sanctuary Movement beginning in 2007; the divide between Right and Left in today’s media environment around immigration and the role of immigrant churches in bridging it; the tactics she expects Trump to take against migrants and which will be most pernicious; how White churches can support immigrant churches; and how as Christians “all children are our children”.

You can see a reference list of legal terms, organizations, and leaders in the movement in my post about the episode at duncanhilton.net

Have you ever sensed something true and beautiful in the words and witness of the likes of Martin Luther King Jr, Cesar Chavez, or Dorothy Day – Christians who believed that the gross inequality in America was sinful; that the inequality had more to do with sinful societal structures than with individual behavior; and that Christians bear responsibility for resisting and reforming those systems? Have you ever wondered about the history of this theological tradition which scholars call “social Christianity ”, and what knowing that history can teach us about how to keep the tradition alive today?

I talked about these matters with Heath Carter, Associate Professor of American Christianity at Princeton Theological Seminary and its Director of PhD studies. Heath is the author of numerous books and articles, including Union Made: Working People and the Rise of Social Christianity in Chicago (Oxford University Press, 2015). We talked about: his call as a professor writing at the intersection of Christianity and American public life; why he thinks we’re living in a “New Gilded Age” and what that means for the direction of the social Christian tradition today; understanding the place of the Catholic Worker in the social Christian lineage; and why he’s an “evangelist for institutions.”

Beyond just the pleasure of learning more about the history of the social Christian tradition, I enjoyed Heath’s honesty and optimism about the decline of mainline Protestant churches. Speaking about Princeton Seminary he said, “We've been in the past a finishing school for elite Presbyterians, and all these worlds that we've long served are now going away. And so, what new life will come up in the midst, even as this thing that is definitely dying is dying, and in my lifetime will be mostly gone?” I appreciated how Heath could hold two things to be true, in a single sentence and in a whole interview: the reality of the breakdown of the “ecclesiastical machinery”, and the simultaneous possibility for the emergence of creative and daring new ministries, and important and long-lasting institutional reforms.

Go to duncanhilton.net or https://duncanhilton.substack.com/ for a post about this podcast and more links to Heath's work and background related to the interview.

In the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus’s followers express worry about having sufficient food, drink, and clothes, Jesus answers, “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you” (6:33). What if you decided to wager your life on Jesus’ claim? What if you decided to live as if those words were just as true today? Where would God lead you? What would your days look like? How would you provide for your children?

Tensie Hernandez and Dennis Apel decided almost thirty years ago to wager their lives on those words of Jesus. They left Los Angeles with just $300 to their names, drove up the coast of California, and found themselves led to Guadalupe, a town of 8,000 people, mostly undocumented farm workers. “The Spirit just kept opening doors,” said Tensie. Those doors led to creating a Catholic Worker house of hospitality called Beatitude House, as well as a free medical clinic, a food distribution center, and a clothing distribution program. Doors also opened to parenting two children and decades of monthly non-violent resistance or “vigils” outside the gates of the nearby Vandenburg Air Force Base. That led to a four-month prison sentence for Dennis, and a supreme court case.

How did their call unfold? What have been the blessings and challenges of raising kids while living a life of voluntary poverty?1 Reflecting on nearly three decades in Guadalupe, what are they most proud of? What have they learned about drawing on the wisdom of Dorothy Day without making an idol of her or the Catholic Worker model? What is their advice for others feeling drawn to create similar communities?

I talked about these questions and more with Dennis and Tensie. Having made that wager thirty years ago, I was struck by Dennis and Tensie’s gratitude and sense of abundance. I hope your heart will be touched, too.

Helpful Links

• If you want to support Tensie and Dennis’ work, you can write a check to “Beatitude House” and mail it to Beatitude House Catholic Worker, 267 Campodonico Ave, Guadalupe, CA 93434. If you want to receive their newsletter, drop me a note in the Substack comments with your email address (or through my website contact page) and I’ll pass along your info to them.

• Read more about Dennis’ decades of nonviolent resistance at the Vandenburg Airforce Base and the ensuing Supreme Court case

• Listen here to Tensie share more on the “Coffee With Catholic Workers” podcast about her call to be a Catholic Worker and the ministry at Beatitudes House

• Listen here to “Worker Kids”, including Dennis and Tensie’s daughter Rozelle, share about their experiences growing up in Catholic Worker communities. You can hear parents reflect on raising kids in community in part two of the episode

• In this podcast Dennis talks about the inspiration of Ched Myers’ writing. Here is a link to Ched’s books, articles, classes, and blog.

How do you respond when you feel called to center your life around an ancient rhythm of prayer, and care for the land? The obvious option is to become a Benedictine monk or nun. But what if you also feel called to marriage and raising children?

Seven years ago Lisa and Mark Kutolowski created Metanoia Vermont in Strafford, Vermont to live out these multiple calls. (In full disclosure, I am a friend of Mark and Lisa’s and a former board member of Metanoia). On a few dozen acres they welcome guests and interns, and seek themselves, to “live the Way of Christ through prayer, work, and study in relationship with the land.”1 This means raising livestock, growing a garden, tending a woodlot, caring for children, and, in between all that, praying six times a day (see their typical daily schedule).

What led them to create Metanoia? How are they up to something beyond, in Lisa’s words, “doing monasticism poorly with kids running around”? How have their young children enhanced the community’s prayer life? What have been the blessings and challenges of the ministry on their marriage? What are the “shadows” of Metanoia, the temptations and dangers of a life of prayer and work on a Vermont hill farm? How do they think about wealth and poverty and their choices around money? At the cost of inclusion, what have been the benefits of creating a community that is not interfaith, but specifically rooted in the Roman Catholic tradition? As they reflect during their sabbatical after the start up chapter of Metanoia, what are their hopes for the next chapter? I talked about these questions and more with Mark and Lisa this past week.

Helpful Links

• Learn more about Metanoia, including how to visit, at the Metanoia Vermont website.

• The Metanoia ministry relies on donations. You can donate here.

• You can read Mark’s regular reflections from the homestead and ministry on Substack. His Ash Wednesday Post, “The Gift of Ashes”, reflects on the “task of living into something good, true, and beautiful in an age of upheaval, dislocation and loss.”

• Lisa mentions the work of Sister Mary Margaret Funk as helping her think about money and possessions.

• Mark and Lisa refer to the “Liturgy of the Hours”, the daily prayer of the church. Specifically they mention the services of “lauds” and “vespers”, morning and evening prayer respectively. Read more about this ancient rhythm of prayer here.