Katie Strike

Katie Strike

What brought you to ISSJ?

Four years ago, I registered as a non-degree seeking graduate student in Xavier’s theology program. As a 60-year-old grandmother and member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints I was an atypical student not seeking a new career path but simply wanting to better understand the history of Christianity, and perhaps become a more informed apologist for the tradition. Theological Imagination, the first college class I had taken in nearly 40 years, was a revelatory experience that launched me on my way toward degree-seeking status.  

What I had most looked forward to studying was the evolution of Christian thought, found in two glorious semesters of Journey Through Christianity with Gillian Ahlgren and Kristine Suna-Koro, and in Liberating Bible with Art Dewey. While I would happily have continued with history classes, the social justice curriculum pulled me back to the present and provided an education in Catholic social teaching’s mission of helping people and relationships to flourish, for which I will always be grateful. Another unexpected blessing has been the remarkable cohort of students and professors who choose theology. The subject matter seems to bring out the best in people and facilitate a respectful intimacy in the small class setting. 

 

What impact has your studies with ISSJ had on you? 

ISSJ has not only given me confidence to articulate my faith, verbally and in writing, but it has motivated me to explore some new paths of discipleship, and confirmed to me the wisdom of different denominations coming together to strengthen one another and seek for the benefit of all what is right, true, good, and just. 

As I approach completion of my final class, the Ethics of Ministry with Marcus Mescher, the refracting light rays of Christian thought, imagination, scriptural exegesis, and contemporary experience are beginning to form an image of how to proceed. While I had not been seeking a new career, I have instead been reminded that there is and ought always to be a new vocation to consider.