Month: January 2025

Embracing Vocation as Environmental Stewardship: A New Year’s Reflection

As the new year begins, the Christine Wilson encourages embracing environmental stewardship through reconnecting with nature, which fosters clarity and purpose. While sharing personal experiences, she emphasizes small daily actions towards sustainability, such as mindful consumption. The journey involves nurturing values in ourselves and our children, promoting a sustainable future together.

As the new year begins, many of us re-evaluate habits and set new goals. Amidst the barrage of “New Year, New You” messages, I’d like to counter with a simpler alternative: “Same Me, More Vitamin D.” Consider spending more time just being outdoors. Immersing yourself in nature can provide clarity, inspire creativity, and align your work with your values, fostering a deeper sense of purpose and sustainability in both your career and personal life.

woman wearing white top and gray framed sunglasses
Photo by Bardo Luna on Pexels.com

The return is tenfold: in addition to gaining deeper insight into our callings, being in nature connects with and impacts our happiness, stress level, and even pro-environmental attitudes and behaviors. To be candid, I hope it’s the latter that sprouts as a byproduct for you and even inspires your vocational calling. As Kathleen Shea writes in “Professing Vocation by Caring for the Land,” “Environmental stewardship should be part of everyone’s vocation. The protection of nature is a universal value.”

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A Pilgrimage of Pain and Hope: Emmanuel Katongole

Emmanuel Katongole, a Catholic priest and theology professor, discusses his vocational journey in the most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings, emphasizing themes of identity, belonging, and the complexities of living a life that crosses boundaries. His experiences illustrate how dislocation can help explore questions of home and community and foster a deeper understanding of self and hope in creating a better world.

Emmanuel Katongole

In the most recent episode of NetVUE’s podcast Callings, our hosts John Barton and Erin VanLaningham speak with Emmanuel Katongole, a Catholic priest in Uganda and a professor of theology and peace studies at the University of Notre Dame. Known for his work on violence and politics in sub-Saharan Africa, Katongole is a theologian of peacebuilding and reconciliation who confronts the complexities of callings in various contexts. He is the author of many books, his most recent being Who Are My People? Love, Violence, and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Hope through Connection II: Called beyond Career

In this post, an English professor and her student reflect on a course in which the professor invited former students to share their vocational journeys, emphasizing the integration of paid work and personal values. Their stories inspired current students to view careers as fluid and shaped by calling, fostering hope and encouraging exploration beyond traditional paths.

A series of posts on integrating vocation into a gateway course for the major, featuring conversations between a professor and her student.

I had invited a panel of three former English majors to attend my Introduction to Literary Studies course via Zoom. They spoke of their job searches and careers, working as paralegals and screenwriters and in other positions at nonprofits, investment banks, and educational software companies.

Deirdre (bottom right) and the panel of former students on Zoom.

But then the conversation shifted into a more authentic register. One panelist leaned toward the camera. The former student admitted that she had always wanted to spend a year volunteering for a service program after completing her degrees, but she couldn’t afford to do so after spending time and money on graduate school. Even so, she said, her work allowed her to live the life to which she felt called.

My students were transfixed.

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Our Students’ Vocations and the Gift of (Un)Gendered Language

This post emphasizes the importance of gender justice in higher education, particularly in language and pronoun use. It discusses the need for inclusive teaching methods that recognize diverse gender identities, while also critiquing traditional practices that may marginalize LGBTQIA+ students, including the compulsory sharing of pronouns. The author advocates for fostering supportive environments that promote vocational exploration for all students.

hands joined against progress pride flag
Photo by Lisett Kruusimäe on Pexels.com

Gender justice—both in and through language—is fundamental to my vocation. As an out queer faculty member, I center the power of language, narrative, and agency in my teaching and in my mentoring relationships. My courses span topics from French language to Francophone world cultures, and LGBTQIA+ literature to queer and feminist theories. Accordingly, gender and sexuality are embedded throughout them as forces that shape our day-to-day lives, the institutions we inhabit, and their linguistic norms. At the same time, my students and I grapple collectively with how we contribute to reinforcing or disrupting these concepts and how we might activate them to empower or to constrain.

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Bonnie Miller-McLemore and the Double Edge of Calling

Episode three of the fifth season of NetVUE’s podcast features Bonnie Miller-McLemore discussing her book, Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling. She delves into the complexities of vocational discernment, highlighting the challenges and conflicts individuals face regarding their vocations. Bonnie emphasizes the need for self-kindness and the enduring pursuit of meaningful callings amidst difficulties.

Bonnie Miller-McLemore

Episode three of this season of NetVUE’s podcast Callings features Bonnie Miller-McLemore, whose new book, Follow Your Bliss and Other Lies About Calling, brings forward the more difficult nuances and complexities of vocational discernment. Bonnie is the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Chair and Professor of Religion, Psychology, and Culture Emerita at Vanderbilt University. Nationally recognized for her leadership in women’s and childhood studies and pastoral and practical theologies, she has published eighteen books in these areas, as well as over a hundred chapters and journal articles. (She has also contributed a post to Vocation Matters: Follow Your Bliss? Bad Advice for Calling.)

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