A Time Like No Other

The 1960s, like 2020, was a time like no other. There was assassinations, urban unrest, Civil Right marches, a focus on racial injustice. What had been before was eroding and who knew what the “after” would look like. All of society was being shaken up. The Church was part of this; Vatican II had put church function and routines into the blender. There was a loosening up of rules such as wearing the habit, times for prayer, and how the clergy would interact with the “world.”

In this turbulent time Sister Corita Kent made friends with another clergy renegade, Father Daniel Berrigan—the priest poet. He started the Ploughshares Movement during the Vietnam War of which he was an outspoken critic. Sister Corita designed many book covers for his books and in turn integrated his quotes into her art.

“It seemed as though in her art the juices of the world were running over, inundating the world, bursting the rotten wineskins of semblance, rote and rot.” Daniel Berrigan

2020 has been a slow crawl over glass. I’ve been challenged in so many areas of my life—both interior and exterior. I’m feeling that I need to step away. That was a big part of my motivation to ride my bike across the country this summer. Now I’m thinking of something more intentional: a tertianship, a time of intense examination. To re-think my thinking. I might not know the next turn in the labyrinth, but I know there is a center and an eventual way out. That is reassuring.

 

My series on Corita inspired by:

CORITA KENT. ART AND SOUL. THE BIOGRAPHY.
By April Dammann
Published by Angel City Press, 160 pages, $40


To read the entire series, Search Corita Kent or click on tags.