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 l earning communities visit the vocational worlds of people in the parish, th ey can listen and learn in the languages people speak there: architecture, real estate, medicine. What are their worldviews, values, belief systems, j oys, and struggles? A nurse anesthetist in Eau Claire, a librarian in Color ado Springs, a firefighter in Syracuse reflected theologically on the issue s 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.