Benedictine Sister Christine Vladimiroff, prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie, Pa., will speak at the Second Ecumenical Gathering of Women June 19 at First United Methodist Church.

Sister Vladimiroff and her community received worldwide attention in 2001 for opposing a Vatican directive that one of its members, Sister Joan Chittister, not participate in a conference on women's ordination. The Vatican decided not to punish Sister Chittister for her attendance.

Sister Vladimiroff's June talk will center on women's need to retrieve the prophetic tradition and understand the radical meaning of Jesus' message and acts in Scripture.

"Prophetic means taking a risk and hopefully trying to turn that risk into perceiving the will of God in a particular instance," Sister Vladmiroff told The Tidings. "There's tension between doing the politically correct thing or being so outside an institution you're no longer relevant to it."

The challenge of the modern world, said Sister Vladimiroff, is to "to make community or communion with the diversity of our thoughts, our ideas and our positions."

Sister Vladimiroff said the difficult events of 2001 --- during which she could not know the final outcome --- challenged her to put all her hope in God.

"It changed me because I really wanted to act out of prayer. It forced me to reflect and to take God's word that God is our refuge," she said. "Our faith is about becoming holy. Being just, truthful and kind has to do with the holiness we're called to."

The ecumenical gathering, "Who Is God? Who Is God for Women?", also will feature a talk by Phyllis Trible, professor of biblical studies at Wake Forest University Divinity School in Winston-Salem, NC. The 8 a.m.-3 p.m. event --- held at 500 E. Colorado Blvd. in Pasadena --- is organized by several Christian denominations under the leadership of the Immaculate Heart Community. Registration fee is $30. Call (323) 466-2157.

-- Ellie Hidalgo and CNS