Heidi Schlumpf

Heidi Schlumpf is NCR senior correspondent. Her email address is hschlumpf@ncronline.org. Follow her on Twitter: @HeidiSchlumpf.

Schlumpf was previously NCR's executive editor and a national correspondent. As national correspondent, Schlumpf did in-depth coverage on the influence of money in the church, sex abuse, politics, women's issues, racism and young people in the church. Her work has included investigations into Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN), Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS) and popular Catholic author Matthew Kelly. She previously wrote an opinion column for NCR for almost a decade.

Schlumpf has three decades of experience covering religion, spirituality, social justice and women's issues, having previously served as managing editor of U.S. Catholic magazine and as a reporter at Chicago's archdiocesan newspaper and secular newspapers in California and Wisconsin. Her work has been published by CNN Opinion, Sojourners and Huffington Post. She taught journalism as an associate professor of communication at Aurora University in Illinois.

A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, she also earned a master's of theological studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary at Northwestern University, where she studied with feminist theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether.

She is the author/editor of three books, including Elizabeth A. Johnson: Questing for God (Liturgical Press, 2016), the Notre Dame Book of Prayer (Ave Maria, 2010) and While We Wait: Spiritual & Practical Advice for Those Trying to Adopt (ACTA, 2009).

Schlumpf is based in Chicago, where she lives with her husband, Edmund, and their two children, and where she is a member of St. Gertrude Parish.

By this Author

Jeannie French, a former board member of Democrats for Life and a longtime pro-life advocate, has opened a combination resale shop/pregnancy help center in downtown Pittsburgh. (Courtesy of Jeannie French)

In a post-Dobbs world, helping women in crisis is key

An upscale resale shop in Pittsburgh offers free maternity wear, baby clothes and referrals to other resources for women facing crisis pregnancies. Owner Jeannie French says the project combines her love of thrifting and pro-life advocacy.
 

Kristin Colberg, associate professor of theology at St. John's School of Theology and Seminary, speaks at the Women of the Church conference in Collegeville, Minnesota. Her July 19 presentation was titled "Fruit and Seed: New Roles for Women in a Synodal Church." (Courtesy of Janet Millen)

Joy and hope amid struggle at Women of the Church event

Participants at a recent women's conference expressed hope and optimism about the upcoming synod on synodality and what it might mean for women's leadership in the church, reports NCR Executive Editor Heidi Schlumpf.  

Members of the Catholic Theological Society of America mingle in the exhibit area during the June 8-11 convention in Milwaukee. (Courtesy of Catholic Theological Society of America/Paul Schutz)

Anxiety at annual Catholic theology meetings amid higher education closures

Despite news of closures and cutbacks at Catholic colleges and universities, theologians from three theological societies met this month and found hope in facing a time of transition for their profession.

Jesuit Fr. Roger Haight received the highest honor from the Catholic Theological Society of America at its June 8-11 convention in Milwaukee. (Paul Schutz/Catholic Theological Society of America)

Theologian Roger Haight honored with CTSA's John Courtney Murray Award

A theologian and Jesuit priest whose writings had previously been censured by the Vatican was recognized with the highest award from the Catholic Theological Society of America at its June 8-11 conference in Milwaukee. The society also honored two women scholars with awards for their work.

Cecilia Gonzalez-Andrieu (second from left) receives the 2023 Ann O'Hara Graff Award June 8 at the annual convention of the Catholic Theological Society of America. Among those honoring the theologian at the award ceremony were (from left) Susan Abraham of the Pacific School of Religion, Layla Karst of Loyola Marymount and Jennifer Owens Jofré of St. Louis University. (NCR/Heidi Schlumpf)

González-Andrieu honored for scholarship, mentoring undocumented students

Feminist theologians honored Cecilia González-Andrieu of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles with this year's Ann O'Hara Graff Award at the Catholic Theological Society of America convention in Milwaukee.

The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence show their support during the gay pride parade in West Hollywood, California, June 12, 2016. (AP/Richard Vogel,File)

Actual sisters react to LA Dodgers and Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

Much ink has been spilled over the Dodgers honoring a charity group that dresses in drag and habits. NCR Executive Editor Heidi Schlumpf asked sisters who have ministered in the LGBTQ community what they thought.

Rainbow streamer (Pixabay/burin kul)

The Francis Effect podcast, live at St. Mary's College: Pride, elections and pop culture

Listen: Heidi, Father Daniel and David go on the road for a live taping at St. Mary's College in Notre Dame, Indiana, where they look ahead to Pride Month and to next year's elections, and share a pop culture roundup.

Speaking about nonviolence to mark the 60th anniversary of Pacem in Terris are (from left): Ken Butigan from DePaul University; Marie Dennis of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative; and Loreto Sr. Teresia Wamuyu Wachira of St. Paul University in Nairobi, Kenya. Wachira is also co-president of Pax Christi International. (NCR photo/Heidi Schlumpf)

Are more Catholics embracing nonviolence? Pax Christi panelists say yes

"Gospel nonviolence" is moving from the margins of the church to its center, said panelists at a webinar marking the 60th anniversary of Pope John XXIII's landmark encyclical Pacem in Terris.

Ellen Koneck, executive director of Commonweal magazine, speaks April 14 about young people in the church at a lecture sponsored by the Catholic Common Ground Initiative and the Bernardin Center at Catholic Theological Union in Chicago. (Courtesy of Catholic Theological Union)

If church membership is not the metric for young people, what is?

Executive editor Heidi Schlumpf heard two compelling speakers in one week — one about young people and another about synodality — and wonders if they might be related.

"The Francis Effect" podcast co-hosts David Dault, Heidi Schlumpf and Franciscan Fr. Daniel Horan talk during the latest episode. (NCR screenshot)

The Francis Effect podcast: Tennessee Three; Clarence Thomas; Doctrine of Discovery

Listen: Heidi, Father Daniel and David discuss the Tennessee Legislature, the potential scandal brewing around Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and the Vatican's repudiation of the "Doctrine of Discovery."

Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky talks with students from Loyola University Chicago after the bishop's talk on "Synodality and the Common Good" April 11. (NCR photo/Heidi Schlumpf)

North American synod gathering focused on concerns about pope's process, says participating bishop

Among the concerns of the synod delegates, who were handpicked by bishops, were restrictions against the Latin Mass, possible changes to doctrine, and the synod process itself, said Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky.

Bishop makes sign of cross on forehead of young woman, while another woman looks on.

New book offers feminist prayers for daughters of all ages

Shannon Evans' new Feminist Prayers for My Daughter makes a great Confirmation gift — or really one for women of all ages, says executive editor Heidi Schlumpf.

Free home COVID-19 self-testing kits provided by the District of Columbia government are seen in this illustration photo Jan. 11, 2022. (CNS/Reuters/Evelyn Hockstein)

The Francis Effect podcast: End of COVID public health emergency; bishops' transgender guidance

Listen: Heidi, Father Daniel and David discuss the upcoming end of the state of public health emergency, as well as the U.S. bishops' recent guidance document about health care for transgender people.

The "Francis at 10: A Papacy of Possibilities" conference at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, concludes on March 18 with a panel of all eight keynote speakers. (Courtesy of St. Ambrose University)

Iowa conference celebrates Pope Francis

Speakers and attendees at a three-day conference at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, praised Pope Francis, but several called for more movement on women's roles in the church.

A headline about then-President Donald Trump is displayed outside Fox News studios in New York on Nov. 28, 2018. Documents in a defamation lawsuit illustrate pressures faced by Fox News journalists in the weeks after the 2020 presidential election. The network was on a collision course between giving its conservative audience what it wanted and reporting uncomfortable truths about then-President Donald Trump and his false fraud claims. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

The Francis Effect podcast: Fox News defamation case; heresy among bishops

Listen: Heidi, Father Daniel and David discuss Dominion Voting Systems' lawsuit against Fox News, Bishop Thomas Paprocki's accusations of heresy against other bishops; and an exploration of the Holy Spirit.

Timothy Matovina, left, and Hosffman Ospino give a workshop on ministry for young Latinos and Latinas during the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress Feb. 25 in Anaheim, California. (NCR photo/Heidi Schlumpf)

LA Religious Ed Congress: A 'here comes everybody' vibe

Has the annual Catholic-fest become less progressive? Executive editor Heidi Schlumpf found speakers talking about LGBTQ and women's issues, and people in the crowd wanting more.

Migrants who arrived on a bus from Arizona step into the parish hall at St. Peter's Church on Capitol Hill in Washington Aug. 5, 2022. The local church, partnering with SAMU First Response, began offering hospitality in late July to migrants arriving on buses sent to Washington by the governors of Texas and Arizona. (CNS/Catholic Standard/Andrew Biraj)

Let's do mercy for Lent this year

Having received God's mercy, Christians must become merciful, Pope Francis reminds us. It's a good plan for our Lenten discipline, says executive editor Heidi Schlumpf.

"The Francis Effect" podcast co-hosts David Dault, Heidi Schlumpf and Franciscan Fr. Daniel Horan record the latest episode. (NCR screenshot)

The Francis Effect podcast: DeSantis vs. AP African American studies; anti-LGBTQ policies

Listen: Heidi, Father Daniel and David discuss anti-Black-studies legislation in Florida; parallels between policies at U.S. dioceses and anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation in many state houses; and the beginning of Lent.

Pope Benedict XVI in Rome in January 2010 (CNS/Paul Haring)

The Francis Effect podcast: Pope Benedict's death; Cardinal McElroy's essay; women preaching

Listen: Heidi, Father Daniel and David look at the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, and his legacy. They also explore the many facets of synodality, as they consider a recent essay by Cardinal Robert McElroy.

The Catholic Women Preach website is seen in a screenshot taken on Jan. 25. (NCR screenshot)

Pope Francis wants better homilies. Find them at Catholic Women Preach.

Women aren't inherently better preachers than men, but many of them have the gift and the vocation, says executive editor Heidi Schlumpf.

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