Connecting the learning community and vocation in the public world

Faith communities have become privatized and secluded from the daily lives of parishioners. Meanwhile secular media raises religious questions. When learning communities visit the vocational worlds of people in the parish, they can listen and learn in the languages people speak there: architecture, real estate, medicine. What are their worldviews, values, belief systems, joys, and struggles? A nurse anesthetist in Eau Claire, a librarian in Colorado Springs, a firefighter in Syracuse reflected theologically on the issues they face and more clearly discerned their callings. Listening to people speak about their faith and life in their terms on their turf helps develop a multilingual learning community.