Edith Stein Project: Report 2

The dynamism of this conference came from a blending of academic discourse, reports on direct action, and personal testimony.  Even the more academic talks had components of either direct action or personal testimony.  The direct action and personal testimony allowed us (the participants) to descend from the ivory tower with hope that the ideas presented could be implemented.

• Jennifer Kenning and Brandi Lee explored the problems associated with the false image of the “ideal” woman portrayed in women’s magazines like Cosmo, Seventeen, etc.  In addition to the critique, they shared with the audience their responses, which are aimed at helping transform and heal the culture. 
  • Jennifer, an ND grad, used her senior project - a pilot issue of “Wirl,” a magazine for teenage girls, as a positive and healthy alternative to the fare available at the grocery store checkout counter.   
  • Brandi’s talk, “Young Women & the Media:  Fighting Back Against a Beauty Obsessed Culture” and her commercially successful “True Girl” magazine are powerful examples of how each of us can use our unique gifts to heal a wounded culture.
• Beth Bauer, who works with Rachel’s Vineyard post-abortive healing ministry spoke on “Trauma and Healing after Abortion:  ‘Neither Do I Condemn You.’” 
• Caitlin Shaughnessy, a recent ND grad who helped plan the 2006 Edith Stein Project, works at the Women’s Care Center of South Bend and spoke on “Healing Our Culture:  Planting the Seed.”
• Cathy Nolan, also of the Women’s Care Center, spoke on “The Healing of the Feminine, A Case in Point.”
• Danielle Haley who is at home with her one year old spoke on “Calling All Homegirls:  Exploring True Femininity and True Friendship.

Perhaps the most moving talks at the conference came from several Notre Dame students who were courageous enough to speak about brokenness and healing in their own lives.  A panel of young women discussed the experience of being raped and the painful process of healing afterwards.  Two young women spoke about their eating disorders and the importance of community - family and friends - in the struggle to overcome the problem and to begin to face and heal the underlying cause of the disorder.  And, two young men spoke about the destructive effects of pornography in their own lives (one of the students had overcome an addiction to pornography), and the problems associated with the relative silence (as compared to alcohol and assault) about the issue on college campuses.

One of this year’s conference organizers wrote that she felt “tremendously blessed to have, quite literally, stumbled across the Edith Stein conference last year.”  “Fascinated by the personalistic-norm paradigm,” she “dove excitedly into planning” the 2007 conference.   Drawing from the Edith Stein Project, this same young woman is currently piloting an outreach initiative for high school aged girls in her the South Bend-Ft. Wayne Diocese.

My hat’s off to this group of 19 to 22 year old women and men for a fantastic job in putting on such a rich and thought-provoking conference.