Sisters Speak in the #BISsisterhood

Let’s get to know each other a bit more, as sisters in Christ.

Feel free to share your answers to these questions in on our Instagram post and/or your own Instagram post, tagging #BISsisterhood.

Laura Kelly Fanucci is a writer and mother to three little boys who never stop talking. She works part-time from home for the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University and just published Everyday Sacrament: The Messy Grace of Parenting. Laura and her husband live in the suburban wilds of Minnesota and you can find her at Mothering Spirit, talking about parenting as a spiritual practice.

What is your favorite religious text or book?

The Psalms. It's all in there: joy, anger, hope, despair, fear, love, praise, and lament. The Psalms remind me that God wants - and can handle - the whole of our lives. And I love all the images of God in the Psalms: mother, father, shepherd, midwife, healer, rock, redeemer, creator, refuge...

Do you have a special Saint that you feel a strong connection to? How so?

Lately I can't stop thinking about Mary Magdalene - what it meant to be the apostles to the apostles and one of the women to whom it was given to see the Resurrected Christ first and proclaim him to the world. What does it mean to each of us as women to be called to share Christ's good news - especially in a world that will misunderstand us as much as it misunderstood her?

Which virtue do you find yourself working on the most throughout your day?

Patience. Parenting is a refining fire, but wow, do I need my selfishness burned off each new morning.

What part of your walk with Christ is the biggest struggle?

Keeping hope. Trusting that resurrection is real and that God will always bring light from darkness.

What keeps you Catholic?

The Eucharist. The community of the Church. Scripture. Sacraments.

Do you have a motto / quote / saying you live by?

I always go back to the wisdom of Blessed Mother Teresa: "Let nothing so fill you with sorrow that you forget the joy of Christ risen."

What do you find yourself continually praying for?

Couples experiencing infertility, miscarriage, or the loss of a child. People with broken hearts. Reconciliation within families. Those living in poverty.

How do you "walk the walk"?

One stumbling step at a time. Trying to teach my kids that forgiveness is one of the biggest parts of the Christian life - so it's okay if we keep messing up and having to ask each other for forgiveness.

How does Christ call you to serve - is it prayer/contemplation/acts of service, etc.?

I think through writing as prayer. I feel tugged towards a more contemplative view of the world: to try and see with new eyes all the small or surprising moments of grace that the world overlooks. And to share them with the ones who are hungry to hear that their lives are holy, too.

Your turn! Answer this on Instagram or in the comments:

sisters speak pt 3 (1)