Charlotte Ostermann

Catholic Speaker

I write, speak, invest, network, and question to stimulate fruitful conversation. Let's talk about human flourishing! It begins with freedom. Holy leisure is the key to human being, freedom and generativity.  Please join me in the adventure of realizing Christ!

  • Catholic Speaker
    • About Me
      • Speaker Bio
    • My Talks
    • Events
    • Testimonials
    • Media Kit
      • Topics for Podcasts & Talk Shows
      • Audio & Video Samples
        • Events
  • Catholic Author
    • Books
    • My Poetry
    • Motherheart Press
  • Catholic Contributor
  • Catholic Creative
    • My Projects
      • News
    • Welcome to Bright City
    • Support for Art and Artists – Not as Expensive as You Think!
    • Talks for Writers and Artists
    • The JOY Foundation of Kansas
  • Catholic Poet
    • My Poetry
  • Catholic Educator
    • My Reading
    • Talks for Parent Educators
    • Talks for High School & College Students
    • Talks for Book Study Groups
  • Contact Me
  • My Blog

On Censorship for Catholic Writers Guild

roosterThe most interesting thing I have to tell fellow writers this month is about being censored.

I bought a “self-publishing” contract with a reputable firm connected to a major Christian publisher. For help with margins and a cover design, the price was right. I excitedly hit “send” and waited for my volume of poetry to be available in print. Imagine my surprise when I was asked to make some revisions to reduce “violence and gore”!

The problem? Christ’s blood kept pouring, oozing, weeping, seeping and condescending through my poetry. The firm was unmoved by my pleas that, in truth, His Precious Blood is the very fountain of life, of anti-violence, of beauty. These images were connected to mother’s milk, waterfalls, abundant life and glorious freedom – how could they offend anyone? I realized I was dealing with people who were not likely interested in arguments from the realm of artistic truth, but when capital “T” Truth failed, I tried that next.

What about the need to tell the truth in art…the whole truth…the truth of blood and violence and evil and ugliness? God seems to have thought it important enough to fill His narrative of history with such realities. The Bible couldn’t have made it past their censor. This contrast between whitewash and the whiteness of garments washed in the blood of the Lamb, between propaganda and truth had to do with another of their quibbles. One of my characters in a poem – a plucky rooster, defending his territory – mentions “that damned dog,” but the d-word is out unless it is God actually damning someone to hell. (And ‘hell’ is only okay in that context, I suppose.)

I wondered how they expected non-Christians to believe we have a faith that can face reality, tell the truth, embrace actual people who speak with actual expletives, if we are this queasy about a rooster with an attitude. They remained unmoved and were not receptive to my suggestion that I cite passages from great Christian writers in my own defense. No replacement words were acceptable, so even if I tamed it to ‘=”drat,” “darn,” or “dang,” that poem was out. Perhaps if I hadn’t used an even worse profanity, we could have come to terms.

Alas, my use of the phrase “in gay abandon” was the third nail in my coffin. Nothing could convince them that this was not a reference to homosexuality, and they – non-literate types, or at least, non-poet types – actually suggested I replace the word “gay” with “wanton,” or “reckless.” I pointed out that the word “gay” has meanings that people of the Word should be fighting to recall, and that neither of their substitutes either scan, or mean the same thing as I meant by it. To me, the word adds, literally, “bright, cheerful color” to the “delighted, happy feelings” I meant to convey.

Well, now you know: your fellow Guild member is violent, gorey, and profane. Strangely, though, my poetry is also worshipful, prayerful, sacramental and sane. You can see it, if you want to double-check! For violence, see Love, With Blood. For my favorite fowl, see Rooster. For that abandon clothed in color, see Avian Medley.

I’ve just published the volume of poetry mentioned here. Look for the violence and gore in A Destiny to Burn!

Click here to buy a copy...THANKS!
Click here to buy a copy…THANKS!

Related

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

Blogging About My Talks

A is for Atmosphere

A is for Atmosphere

A mom is the caretaker of a huge, wonderful, potentially beautiful, critically important place! She, herself, this actual, unique person, is the single most important ‘environment’ in the lives of her children. Like Mary, like the Church, she is an atmosphere. She is an atmosphere of affection. This is not just warm, fuzzy feelings, but […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Building the Bridge

Building the Bridge

This is my most-requested audio – about how we can educate our children well, despite our own inadequacies. The Problem – We must get kids from where they are, to where they need to be; from ‘uneducated’ to ‘educated’. Given the poverty of our own education, we feel asked to do the impossible: build a […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Putting Down Sabbath Roots

Putting Down Sabbath Roots

Some audiences want to cut right to the chase: “Give us practical applications of all your ideas about Sabbath-keeping.” OK – here you go: In this talk I do just that – give concrete, practical ways to dip into the kind of leisure that brings  interior equanimity and leaves you more whole, more human, more […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Women on the Way to Healing

Women on the Way to Healing

I prepared this talk for the Heart of a Woman group, in Kansas City, shortly after the suicide of a Catholic mother of ten. It was a shock to me, but not entirely unexpected, as I had known her during the years she struggled with depression and disintegration, despite her devotion to the Church, Christ, […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
High Resolution Beauty

High Resolution Beauty

For an Apostles of the Interior Life Women’s Retreat, where the theme was “The King Desires Your Beauty,”  I prepared this truly interesting talk. Will you believe me when I say that this is another of my favorites?!?! I know, I’ve said that about a  lot of these talks, but revisiting them to give a […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Sabbath is a Woman

Sabbath is a Woman

I once asked a friend who calls herself a Jewish-Catholic if it had been hard for her to accept Mary’s role in Salvation History. She laughed and said, “Heck no! Every Sabbath was begun by a Jewish mama’s prayers! I’d have been suspicious if Lord Sabbaoth hadn’t come through a woman.” Jewish women welcomed Sabbath […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

More Posts About My Talks

Explore Posts by Category:

Search this site:

About a Landscape

About a Landscape

In “Stour Valley and Dedham Church”  Constable has painted the Vale of Dedham – a familiar and beloved area of his native England.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
A Merry Drinker

A Merry Drinker

 “The Merry Drinker,” by Frans Hals This is a portrait of an unnamed man, called in the title only ‘a merry drinker’.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
A Wedding Feast

A Wedding Feast

Giotto’s painting, The Wedding Feast at Cana, portrays the literal and spiritual senses of this story.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
St. Francis Altar

St. Francis Altar

Berlinghieri’s St. Francis  appears behind the altar of San Francesco in Pescia, Italy. It is an excellent example of art ordered to divine worship.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

More Posts About Art

Tags

art artist Beauty Brick capacity Chesterton Christ Church communication community conversation Creation creativity culture dialogue disintegration Education Eucharist evangelization fear form formation freedom friendship fun healing imagination intellectual life interior life leisure love motherhood Parenting person Personhood play Poetry prayer reading reality response Sabbath senses Women writing

I’m a Member:

Family – Apostles of the Interior LIfe

Communion & Liberation

Association of Catholic Women Bloggers

Catholic Writers Guild

Catholic Creatives Salon

Northeast KS Chesterton Society

Sursum Corda Polyphony Ensemble

St. Lawrence Catholic Campus Center

Friends of Most Pure Heart of Mary Schola Cantorum

Well Read Mom

The Table – Christian Writers in Conversation

A is for Atmosphere

A is for Atmosphere

A mom is the caretaker of a huge, wonderful, potentially beautiful, critically important place! She, herself, this actual, unique person, is the single most important ‘environment’ in the lives of her children. Like Mary, like the Church, she is an atmosphere. She is an atmosphere of affection. This is not just warm, fuzzy feelings, but […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Building the Bridge

Building the Bridge

This is my most-requested audio – about how we can educate our children well, despite our own inadequacies. The Problem – We must get kids from where they are, to where they need to be; from ‘uneducated’ to ‘educated’. Given the poverty of our own education, we feel asked to do the impossible: build a […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Sabbath is a Woman

Sabbath is a Woman

I once asked a friend who calls herself a Jewish-Catholic if it had been hard for her to accept Mary’s role in Salvation History. She laughed and said, “Heck no! Every Sabbath was begun by a Jewish mama’s prayers! I’d have been suspicious if Lord Sabbaoth hadn’t come through a woman.” Jewish women welcomed Sabbath […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Three-Dimensional Transcendentals

Three-Dimensional Transcendentals

Benedictine College hosted a Symposium for Advancing the New Evangelization in 2014. The theme was Transcendentals as Preambles to Faith, and I got to propose my take on that as a paper. Anyone who knows me could probably have bet good money I’d do something ‘three dimensional’ with that, and they’d have won those bets. […]

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)

More Posts About Education

  • Charlotte Ostermann on Creativity
  • What About Gaudi?
  • Enchanted Education
  • Poetry Workshops
  • Stratford Caldecott Bibliography
  • Welcome to Bright City

Copyright © 2019 · Executive Pro Theme On Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in