Christine Schenk
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sister Christine Schenk | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Jim Metresin, provided by FutureChurch | |
| Personal life | |
| Born | January 20, 1946 |
| Religious life | |
| Religion | Catholic |
Christine Schenk CSJ (born January 20, 1946) is an American Catholic nun and author.[1] She is the founding director of FutureChurch, an international group of Catholics affiliated with parishes focusing on full lay participation in the life of the Church, from which she stepped down in 2013.[2] Among other books, she is the author of Crispina and Her Sisters: Women and Authority in Early Christianity (Fortress 2017).[3] Although she has published other books, the latter established her authority on women in the early church, taking first place in history from the Catholic Press Association.[4] She is a columnist for National Catholic Reporter, and serves on its board.[5]
She was born in Lima, Ohio, to Joan Artz Schenk and Paul Anthony Schenk, and she is the oldest of four daughters.[6] Her father, an insurance salesman, received the Purple Heart for his service in World War II, having spent 33 months in the Southwest Pacific.[7][8] She attended Lima Central Catholic High School, graduating first in her class.[9] In 2007, she was inducted into the Hall of Fame for her high school.[10]
Schenk went to Washington, D.C., to attend Georgetown University, a Jesuit campus, on a full scholarship. During her first year, which was the 125th anniversary of the university, she attended a symposium featuring the Swiss Catholic theologian Hans Küng, the German Jesuit theologian Karl Rahner, and American Jesuit philosopher John Courtney Murray, an event that influenced her decision to study theology as well as nursing, and to pursue religious life.[11] She earned a bachelor's of science degree in nursing and graduated at the top of her class.[11] Her graduating class of 1968 included future president of the United States Bill Clinton and musician Bill Danoff. They were invited to celebrate their 25th reunion at the White House.[12] She was inducted into Gamma Pi Epsilon, a national women's honor society for women at Jesuit colleges and universities.[13][11]
She received a Master of Science degree in nursing education from another Jesuit campus, Boston College, in 1971. She joined the Medical Mission Sisters in 1972, and taught nursing for one year at Temple University. She then acquired community organizing skills while working for two and a half years as an interfaith coordinator with the Philadelphia United Farm Workers union during the grape and lettuce boycotts.[14][15] She then earned a certificate in midwifery and family nursing from the Frontier School of Kentucky (now Frontier Nursing University).[16][17] Eventually, she left the Medical Mission Sisters for health reasons.[18] After a period of contemplative prayer, she decided that she was not well suited to foreign missions, so she left the MMS in 1977.[19] She earned a second master's degree in theology, with distinction, at Saint Mary Seminary and Graduate School of Theology in 1993.
Work as a nurse-midwife and Sisters of St. Joseph
After two years of clinical training at the Frontier School, she stayed for another year to teach. In 1978, Schenk moved to Cleveland to serve low-income families as a nurse midwife for 16 years.[20] From 1984 to 1993, she worked with the Sanctuary Movement, and also with the Prenatal Investment Program (PNIP), a group trying to expand Medicaid to working-poor mothers and their children.[21] Ultimately, she returned to life as a Catholic sister, choosing to work with the poor in the United States rather than going to the foreign missions as she had previously. She entered the Congregation of Saint Joseph, a group she admired for their work with the poor.[22] Schenk professed her final vows in 1993.[23]
