Introducing the Awake Blog

Hello, all,

We warmly welcome you to the Awake Blog, a place where Milwaukee-area Catholics can stay informed about the twin crises in our Church—the crisis of sexual abuse and the crisis of leadership failures in responding to that abuse.

Since the Awake organization launched in the summer of 2019, our leadership team has devoted itself to learning about the crises by listening to and talking with a host of people in the Church community, including fellow Catholics in the pews, abuse survivors and people committed to walking alongside them, lay ministers, clergy, and many others. And we’ve heard over and over again about the real need for trustworthy information on these topics.

This blog is designed to help fill that information gap. Each week we’ll bring you thoughtful content to help you stay informed and knowledgeable, including “explainers” that explore Church news, stories from abuse survivors, Q and As with Church thinkers and leaders, and personal reflections from Milwaukee Catholics revealing how this moment in our Church’s history is shaping their personal faith journeys.

A word about my own journey: I’m a wife, mom of two, and a parishioner of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Milwaukee. I’m also a journalist by training and have written for many years on topics including health and science. The Awake Blog will include posts from me and other members of Awake’s Leadership Team, and from an array of guest columnists.

To start, we’ll offer a new post each week. If you find these posts useful, make sure you don’t miss out by subscribing to Awake’s weekly newsletter. Please consider sharing the posts with other interested Catholics. And if you have questions on these topics that you’d like us to address in future posts, send us a note at awakemke@gmail.com, with “Awake Blog” in the subject line.

Thank you for reading.

With hope,

Erin O’Donnell
Editor, Awake Blog