Attorney and canonist Sister Amy Hereford combined work and pleasure this summer on a whirlwind trip that took her to Rome and across Ireland for six weeks. In Rome, S. Amy participated in an international canon law conference and other meetings before heading out to Ireland, where she met up with travel companion Sister Mary Louise Basler. Her work continued as she facilitated meetings and workshops with congregations of women religious in Ireland. Read about S. Amy’s recent journey and the cultural influences she experienced.Q: How did this trip come to be?
A: It started when a community in Ireland invited me to come for a reflective workshop on the future of religious life. After that invitation came, another group invited me to work with them in Ireland. Since I would already be there, I said yes to them too. I also needed to attend some meetings in Rome and the canon law conference was in the same timeframe. It just unfolded piece by piece.
Q: What has impacted you the most from your experience?
A: The differences in the ways people think and believe shapes their culture, and I loved learning about these differences, because talking about the future of religious life and how it unfolds is impacted by culture. Having time to do some traveling, talk to sisters, learn about the similarities and differences in cultures and their experiences has been so rewarding. I learned so much about how the lives we live are very similar, even when our cultures differ.
Q: What was your favorite part of this trip?
A: When you walk down the streets here in America you pass a Taco Bell, a post office, maybe a coffee shop. When you walk down the streets in other countries you also pass a Taco Bell, a post office, a coffee shop, and then a giant castle. The history is so embedded in the culture, that eventually you think “Of course there’s a castle there.” The difference in culture was evident, yet there were also so many similarities.
Q: Were there any challenges you faced through this experience?
A: Because I have talked about the topic of the future of religious life before, I understand that each group is different. I can bring insight which can bring people together. But when I start to talk about the future, each group has something they specifically need to hear. It’s challenging to know what this particular group needs to hear, what insights it needs, what will spark their hope and their imagination. For me, it is a humbling challenge of asking God to work through me, and to allow these people to hear what they need through what I say.
Q: What’s next for you?
A: Right now, I am teaching a course at the University of Dayton. I continue to write, speak and reflect on the future of religious life; every time I have a conversation I gain new insights. When I present, people bring up things I may not have realized or thought about before. There is also more
writing coming for me. There is a possibility of another book and a few articles.
Q: What takeaways did you gain from this trip?
A: I continue to sit with the particular situation of a local church, and the ups and downs they go through. It makes me realize even though different churches in different places will have different challenges and different situations, they are still similar. There is a connection; no matter how different the underlying issues might be, we are all facing these things together. Making connections and building relationships plugs me into the global evolution taking place in religious life.
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