Monica Clark was West Coast correspondent for National Catholic Reporter for several years following her retirement as editor of The Catholic Voice in Oakland, California. Currently, she is a freelance journalist. She is a member of the Oakland Diocese's committee of the Catholic Campaign for Human Development and sings with the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra.
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A Place to Call Home: Convert the convent, invite families to stay
Yellow Hallway residence at the San Rafael Dominicans property is one of two convent conversions in California and a successful example of how dioceses and religious communities might repurpose unused space to offer housing to otherwise homeless individuals and families, especially in partnership with local experienced agencies.
Legal moves stall San Rafael convent's plan to take in mothers
The Dominicans at Lourdes Convent want to convert a corridor of bedrooms into a temporary housing unit for two women who are homeless and their young children. But their lawyer next-door neighbor has taken his objections to City Hall.
Six California hospitals to cease being Catholic
The struggling Daughters of Charity Health System, which owns six hospitals in California, has accepted a proposal by BlueMountain Capital Management to provide over $250 million to “recapitalize” the hospital chain. In doing so, DCHS will transfer control of the hospitals to an independent board of directors and to Integrity Healthcare, which BlueMountain has formed to manage and operate the facilities.
An opera for Dorothy Stang: Concert honors life of murdered nun
A hushed audience of more than 300 witnessed a musical tribute to the late Sister Dorothy Stang on the 10th anniversary of her murder in Brazil, Feb. 12, 2005. Gathered in the Cunningham Memorial Chapel of Notre Dame de Namur University for a concert version of Evan Mack’s 2011 opera “Angel of the Amazon,” they hear Dorothy (mezzo soprano Caitlin Mathes) in an anguished cry, “How can I raise the poor from the dust if they see me as a hand of the wicked?”