The Edith Stein Project talks online

My summer continues to be rich and full of dear visitors (my sister came this past weekend!), new volunteer activities, and a busy work slate. Lots going on, but I still enjoy my periodic downtime when I can surf the blogsphere...although I usually don't have enough energy by that point to actually post something!

Something that I thought you readers might enjoy is checking out the talks from the 2011 "Edith Stein Project" held at Notre Dame, February 11-12. I had heard about this conference last minute thought it sounded really neat. The topic for this year's conference was "Irreplaceable You: Vocation, Identity, and the Pursuit of Happiness." Since I wasn't able to go in person, I was thrilled to find that some of the talks online. I would love to make my way through all of the talks. So far have listened to two, which I would love to share here.

The first one is a talk by Dorothy Cummings McLean (aka, "Seraphic Singles author): “Waiting for Your Marching Orders: Staying Sane while Single." I am a huge fan of her blog, and thorough enjoyed watching her talking online! It was delightful! She is just as good of a speaker as she is a writer. I would recommend this talk to any of you singles out there, wondering how you can live your life fully as beautifully while you are in the single state. I would also recommend it to anyone who knows single people. (Translate, everyone). It will help you understand the unique struggles that the single person faces and in turn, how you can best encourage them and challenge them along their current journey.

Dorothy Cummings McLean: “Waiting for Your Marching Orders: Staying Sane while Single" from NotreDameIdentityProject on Vimeo.

Additionally, the other day I watched the talk by Catherine Pakaluk: "Being Mary in a Martha World: Edith Stein on What Women Want." I thought that this provided an exceptional analysis of the vocation of women and the question of careers, motherhood, and vocation discernment. Dr. Pakaluk discusses Edith Stein's writings the vocation of women and the nuances involved in considering work/life balances for women. One of the best discussions of this topic that I have heard yet!

Catherine Pakaluk: "Being Mary in a Martha World: Edith Stein on What Women Want" from NotreDameIdentityProject on Vimeo.

I hope some of you find the time to watch some of these. I would love to hear your feedback, too! There is lots of fodder for discussion within both of these videos!