The Meaning of Encounter

As part of The Art of Encounter: Catholic Writers from the Margins Conference on October 21st, Angela Alaimo O’Donnell presented her talk “The Out-cast & the Dis-Understood: Poetry & the Practice of Love.” Professor O’Donnell’s talk was part of a multitude of speakers seeking to respond to Pope Francis’ call to “widen the tent” in order to welcome individuals and groups marginalized within the Catholic community because of gender, sexual identity, and

ecclesiastical political identities, through encountering the stories told by poets and writers.

Angela Alaimo O’Donnell, Ph.D is a professor, poet, and writer at Fordham University and

serves as Associate Director of Fordham’s Curran Center for American Catholic Studies. She

has published two chapter books and eight collections of poems.

In her writing, Professor O’Donnell strives to follow Christ’s example in “accompany[ing] disenfranchised people.” She explained that she encounters people best through portray, saying, “We are better people when we are artists.” For example, reflecting on the U.S.-Mexico Border crisis, she decided to write a collection of “Border Songs” in her book, Holy Land. These were triolets that reflected on the anguish and heart-wrenching conditions families who are migrating face. She carefully chose the triolet structure because of its incantatory effect and the power of repetition it has when read aloud. Along with each triolet was a photo that accompanied the narrative of each poem.

Professor O’Donnell also shared an endearing account of the experience of taking care of her ill mother through her poems in “Waking My Mother.” She described the resilience her mom had in being part of the Church despite being “virtually excommunicated” for being a divorcée. The poem “Real Presence” is written as a conversation between her and her mother after she

received Last Rites in her hospital bed. It details the admiration her mother held for Christ and

their close-knit relationship. Throughout her talk, Professor O’Donnell drew from Flannery O’Connor’s thoughts and petitioned for a Church that is more loving towards women. She recounted the ways in which Christ encountered women such as Mary Magdalene, the Samaritan Woman at the Well, and the Woman Suffering Hemorrhages. Their experiences, according to Professor O’Donnell, shows the extent to which Jesus did not exclude women because of their sins.

She persisted by heeding a broader call for the Church to follow in Christ’s footsteps, and open its mind and heart to groups that are marginalized based on their respective ethnic group and sexuality. She concluded, “We cannot be [deprived] of the Kingdom that belongs to us, and we will not take no for an answer.”

From Waking My Mother

Real Presence

The priest came this morning

and gave me Holy Communion,

she said, as if we ought to be

impressed that Christ

was at her bedside,

in her hand,

on her tongue

an hour before and gone.

He keeps coming and going,

she said, from room to room,

the Indian River Nursing Home

become Jesus’ favorite haunt

according to our mother,

a lapsed Catholic

school-girl forever

seeing God.

Then he walked in again,

wearing a skirt, a black jacket,

and sling-back high-heel shoes,

looking remarkably like my sister.

He sat with her for hours,

heard her litany of fears,

fed her dinner,

adjusted her Depends.

They watched Moonstruck,

then danced a brief

wheel-chair dance,

a final Tarantella for the road.

I’ll always love you,

Johnny Cammareri,

Mom confessed and kissed

Christ on the lips.

He cried with her when she cried

for her dead friends.

He stroked her ancient face,

called her beautiful, and meant it.

He promised not to leave her.

He never did.