What is Recovering?
Recovering is written by Lauren Barbato, a writer, Catholic organizer, and Ph.D. student in religion and gender studies. This newsletter will feature essays and shorter posts on how we recover and what we recover in the process.
What do we mean by “Recovering?”
“Recovering” may take on many forms, narratives, and ideas.
“Recovering” can be interpreted broadly. As an emerging religious historian, I’m interested in how history is recovered and how narratives shape themselves in this recovery.
“Recovering” can also be taken more literally. As a person in recovery, I navigate the world from this sense of both wonder and bemusement as I work to explore, uncover, and define my life and spirituality.
“Recovering,” too, can apply to the challenges that many face as “recovering Catholics.” How do we recover from abusive or toxic theologies and the authoritarianism of the Catholic hierarchy? How do we “do theology” from this place of recovery?
And, of course, as my doctoral research and longtime professional writing have focused on reproductive rights and justice, this newsletter will include much of my thoughts and findings on the intersections of religion, medicine, and gender.
Why subscribe?
Subscribe because you want to read, contemplate, and follow along!
I will post at least once every two weeks. Subscribe to get full access to the newsletter and website. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox.
More info about Lauren:
Lauren is a Ph.D. student in religion and gender studies at Temple University. The author of Faithful Providers: Stories and Reflections from the Frontlines of Abortion Care (Catholics for Choice, 2019), Lauren has had fiction and nonfiction in The Georgia Review, The Hopkins Review, Blackbird, North American Review, Religion Dispatches, Cosmopolitan, Ms., Bustle, and Modern Language Studies, among others. She has received scholarships from the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center, the Virginia Center for Creative Arts, and the Community of Writers at Squaw Valley. She also holds an MFA in creative writing from Rutgers–Newark and a BFA in screenwriting from the University of Southern California.
Lauren currently serves as Executive Director of the Catholic church-reform nonprofit Call To Action and teaches religion and gender studies courses at the University of Delaware. She also sits on the Young Adult Advisory Committee for the Center at Mariandale and clinic escorts on the weekend.
