Tom Roberts

Listen: Being a woman in the Catholic Church, a nun who insists on asking difficult questions and holding those in power to account for what they say and do, can make for a sometimes lonely, difficult life. So why does Sister Joan stay?

Listen: In this episode Sr. Joan Chittister describes how she came to understand the significance of other traditions. Her understanding of the world's wisdom carries practical implications for each of us.
 

Listen: Sr. Joan Chittister still feels the negative effects of being a woman in the Catholic Church, but she also thinks on many levels and in society, things have changed for the better.
 

Childhood memories became a significant force behind Sr. Joan Chittister's relentless advocacy for women in all circumstances, in the church, in society, across cultures.
 

Listen: Sister Joan recounts an incident of struggle in her early life and the lifelong insights that emerged from it.

Listen: Sr. Joan Chittister talks with Sr. Valerie Luckey, a 36-year-old who entered the Erie Benedictines in 2016. The two provide a look at where tradition sparks and a new, engaging future emerges.

Listen: The much smaller and aging corps of women religious may suggest that this way of religious life is over. "Wrong," says Sr. Joan Chittister, in episode 3 of her podcast, "Risking the Questions."
 

Listen: Benedictine Sr. Joan Chittister has a reputation as one who dares to ask big, bold questions. Explore them with her in this podcast conversation with her friend and biographer, former NCR editor Tom Roberts.

Benedictine Sr. Mary Lou Kownacki, a major force behind the ministries and outreach that shaped the Benedictines of Erie, Pennsylvania, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, died Jan. 6 at age 81.