Living and Giving to Community

Living and Giving to Community Through the Appropriate Life Stage

In women’s religious communities, our evolving nature has brought us from Women of Integrity (the Good Sisters) to Women of Justice (Post Vatican II) to the Next (Postmodern/post-postmodern Global Society). With this evolving view comes transition and some need to look at what stages of life are best suited to what tasks of the community. The tasks include caring for aging sisters; divesting of property and ministries; investing in mission leadership for those who will lead continuing ministries; and whether to die or to continue on. For those communities continuing to the Next, there are also the tasks of creating appropriate governance structures for those that will remain in religious life with very few members. Those appropriately assigned with the Next have the tasks of retaining members through the diminishment phases; bringing forth the next iteration of religious life and creating a foundation for future generations (read new membership) to have religious life as an option.
In thinking about appropriate tasks and life stages I wondered, what would a view of community through an ecologically informed (clearly part of the Next) human development model look like? I found such a thing in Nature and the Human Soul: Cultivating Wholeness and Community in a Fragmented World by Bill Plotkin.
Dr. Plotkin, a psychologist was drawn to connect the psychological journey with the soul journey he experienced as a wilderness guide. He eventually developed the eight stages of eco-soul-centric human development centered on discernment rather than strictly chronological life stages.
While full chapters are available in the book describing each stage, here is a glimpse of the last four stages which have significance for adult communities.

Community Life through an Eco-Soul-Centric Lens

Dr. Plotkin, a psychologist learned to connect the psychological journey with the soul journey he experienced as a wilderness guide. He eventually developed the eight stages of eco-soul-centric human development centered on discernment of gifts rather than strictly chronological life stages. The last four stages have significance for adult communities.

• Stage 5: Early Adulthood - The Wellspring (Soul Apprentice)
  Gift to Community: Visionary action, hope, and inspiration

• Stage 6: Late Adulthood - The Wild Orchard (The Artisan)Gift to Community: Seeds of cultural renaissance

• Stage 7: Early Elderhood - The Grove of Elders (The Master)Gift to Community: Wholeness

• Stage 8: Late Elderhood - The Mountain Cave (The Sage)Gift to Community: Grace

See the link for more detail.

Questions for consideration:

• Is there a stage that resonates for you? 
• Am I engaging with community from my appropriate life stage?  
• If I understand my life stage in relation to the others, can I give my gift to the community more fully and let others give their gifts?

--Contributed by Susan Wilcox CSJ

Awkward in-between time

Susan Francois shares some reflections on religious life in the early 21st Century.
Thanks Susan for sharing your experience that resonates with my own in this 'awkward in-between time' that is also a time of grace and joy.

Habits of Love

Susan Francois, in a thoughtful essay about religious life writes:

Our attitudes of respect and inclusion affirm the both/and nature of the question today. Left to our own devices, over time, I believe we can heal this polarized division and in turn help heal a rift in religious life and the church. We find our common ground in the habits of love we develop, which form us as religious and shape the witness of our very lives as ones who follow Jesus in a particular way. Read more....

Susan describes her multivalent experience of religious-life 'habit', and that resonates with my own experience.
In my 30+ years of religious life, I have been in-habit for about half, and out-of-habit for the other half. I have embraced the challenges of authentic gospel living while wearing a veil, and while wearing a hoodie. I acknowledge some value in each experience, and some challenges in each. In neither case did what I wore touch the core experience of religious life or my commitment to Gospel living.
I think that wearing regular clothes allows me to be myself and to identify with others and with people I serve. Wearing a sign of my commitment in religious life allows me to identify with something larger, to witness the presence of God and of the people of faith into the present situation where I am living and working.
We can wear a pin or cross, but there is something profound about putting on clothing that represents who I am and what I stand for. I wonder about adopting the roman-collar as that symbol that can be worn as a widely-recognizable public witness.

Spirit Freely Flowing...

Just an update on the ecovillage, house, community.

Ecovillage: I'm enjoying the ecovillage community and our shared interest and enthusiasm in building community, growing natives and edibles and in practical sustainability. Regular gatherings, both formal and informal, planned and spontaneous, shared meals and shared fruits of the harvest.

House: Our rental house is for sale by the landlord, I'm meeting with the landlord next week to find out more about the status of the space and whether or not I can stay. The soil and biodiversity here is so much better than when I came. I identified 30 species when I arrived, mainly of the weed variety. I've added almost 50 perennials, mainly natives and edibles, and another 30 annuals, veggies, herbs and flowers. I would love to stay, but not sure if that will be possible.

Community: I have had several sisters express interest in joining in an intentional inter-congregational community of sisters. Some great women and great energy. I look forward to further conversations with them and others who may be interested. I also hope that some of them will be ready and able to join me in this project, wherever we may eventually land.

So though there is a lot that is up-in-the-air, I believe that the Spirit is flowing and hope and pray that I can flow with that energy as we live into the future of religious life.

I also have to thank and share the article of Sr. Susan Francois on the shifting conversations.

Peace,
--Amy

Sisters 2.0 Quarterly Phone Call

We gathered for our regular quarterly call to share the Spirit that is stirring among us, and to talk about future oriented initiatives for religious life.

• Summer Sisters - plans are underway for a few sisters and a few young lay women to share the values of religious life in intentional community this summer. 
• Vision Space will be a gathering of young and middle aged sisters to share the experience of religious life today. 
• Sisters 2.0 is being launched as a Facebook page for post-Vatican II sisters to network, envision and live into the religious life of the 21st century. If this is your conversation - contact me for details.
• Mapping We have a proposal to reach out and identify the sisters in the post-Vatican II cohorts of religious life so that we can network for mutual support and build relationships.
• We will check out Sisters of Earth to see where their vision and goals may intersect with ours.
• We are still thinking of how to celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life in 2015.

The call was energetic and hopeful as we shared where we come from, and where we are going in this great adventure we call religious life.

I Spent Good Friday at a Trial

For many years Good Friday has been a special part of the Holy Days for me. I live in the privilege of the Western world which is deeply resistant to discomfort. And Good Friday seems like the only day in the liturgical calendar where we acknowledge suffering and do prayerful actions in solidarity. I’m often with some of my favorite people on this day. 

This year, however was very different.
On this Good Friday, I had several choices of observances. In particular, there was the Pax Christi Metro New York Good Friday Way of the Cross. Always a moving experience as a crowd proceeds prayerfully along 42^nd St. beginning at the United Nations and ending at Port Authority, stopping at relevant sites of corporate and militaristic injustice. Many of the sisters in my community make this an annual event. Many of my faith based activist friends were at The New Sanctuary Coalition’s event, Stations of Deportation- An Immigrant Crucifixion. Considering the stalling on immigration reform legislation that has frustrated so many of us in the Catholic community this would have been a very intentional way of commemorating Good Friday. But instead I chose to go to a trial along with two other clergy friends, both women priests in the Episcopal tradition. It seemed like a really original way to observe Good Friday. But I wasn’t prepared for how dissimilar it would be. 

It was the trial of Cecily McMillan who is being accused of felony assault of a police officer. Cecily does not deny injuring the police officer when he grabbed her breast from behind and she flung her elbow back as a reaction. The prosecution argues it was intentional, so this is the point of dispute. Doing an online search of Cecily McMillan will garner you pages of sources of details of the trial including many pictures of her injuries from that night. I had attended previous days of the trial and even brought students from our Criminal Justice major. It had always been quite interesting, but this day was different. It was the end of the questioning of the officer. It was hours long, remaining seated on wooden benches; no electronics allowed; listening and listening to deconstruction of the events of March 17, 2012 in excruciating detail. Each piece of evidence having a memory and emotion tied to it. Some in the court room had documented evidence of being beaten by NYPD on that same night although the ADA clearly stated in pre-trail motions that, “what other officers were doing on that night has no bearing in this case”.

So here’s the part that was different. All those other wonderful events have always left me with a sense of self-satisfaction. They have a cleansing effect, in a strange way absolving me of my complicity as US citizen. This did not. It was actually traumatizing in itself. This was going over and over the violence of the night with those who experienced it first hand in the room. And here’s where I think choosing the trial was really different. Most of our Good Friday events rarely include those who are actually suffering from state sponsored injustice even remotely akin to Jesus. This did and it felt terrible, all day. It has me asking myself, should I really feel good on Good Friday?

--Susan Wilcox

Giving Voice to the Importance of Peers

Musings of a Discerning Woman: Giving Voice to the Importance of Peers: Me with some of my GV Sisters at our 2013 National Conference Regular readers of the blog know that I am involved with (and presently o...

I can see more and more how my life as a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace will be strengthened and supported by my Giving Voice peers across congregational lines well into our shared, if unknown, future. When I dream and pray about the future of religious life, I know what I knew at that first retreat as a novice. My Giving Voice sisters and their passion for God, life, religious life, and their own communities will help create that future even as we live it now. God is in the mix, and all shall be well.

Thanks Susan for sharing your experience of life and your wisdom with us.

Peace,
Amy

LivingVoice - SistersRising

A group of us have been exploring relationships and pro-actively engaging the next 20-30 years of religious life. Many things will happen, many things will change. We will grieve the loss of most of the women religious alive today.

We Are...

• A peer-led, self-organized space for visioning and fostering future oriented initiatives for religious life 
• Inspired by Giving Voice and its circle process 
• Established and committed finally-professed women religious 
• Born after 1955 and generally born before 1975 
• Trusting the spirit to gather the women who are meant to join this movement.

We will welcome new paradigms, new models and new energies that are emerging.
We are also continuing to search for a name, for now, we're using a lot of tentative names, and we can see what sticks: LivingVoice, SistersRising, VisionSpace... any other ideas?

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Among the projects we are envisioning are:

• VisionSpace July 5-7, 2014 @ Marcella House/New Beguines, St. Louis, Mo.
• A national gathering for women religious, on-ground and on-line. 
• Continuing the work of the 2012 Online Symposium on Consecrated Life, and the 2012 Occupy Religious Life action.
• Co-lead by those who gather on-ground. 
• (Those participating can stay over till Sisters of Earth July 10-13 @ Kansas City.)
• Email for more information or to register.
• Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed. Jn. 20:29 - Guided Retreat
• This Guided Retreat is an opportunity for women religious who entered after Vatican II to reflect on their call to consecrated life in a time of tremendous change, experimentation, uncertainty, and diminishment.  
• Presenter: Janet Gildea SC
• Sunday, June 29th – Saturday, July 5th, 2014
• Maris Stella Retreat Center
• Summer Sisters
• Inviting women religious to form intentional community with women interested in religious life for 3-5 weeks over the summer. Living, Working and Praying together. 
• Community practices include: shared meals, shared prayer, large active organic garden, sustainability practices, justice actions. 
• Summer 2014 @ Marcella House/New Beguines, St. Louis, Mo.
• Email for more information or to register.
• On-line forum 
• To be determined
• Quarterly Conference Call
• Next call is March 18, 2014 - (between St. Patty and St. Joe), 6pm Central
• Email for more information or to register.

Occupy Religion

In Occupy Religion: Theology of the Multitude, authors Kwok Pui-lan and Joerg Rieger seek to convey the "subversive and transforming power of the God incarnate" at work in the midst of 21st-century income inequality. Think of it as liberation theology 2.0.

True to the theology it proposes, this book does not take a top-down view, but rather observes how the divine is emerging from the ground up. The authors provide an offering for our own reflection, resonance and participation. Because much of the content is experiential, readers without a formal theological background will find the language and ideas accessible. Having participated in the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York City with other people of faith, I found the reading a helpful articulation of my experience, both historically and theologically. Read more...

Musings of a Discerning Woman: FiveYears Ago ... My First Big Yes

Musings of a Discerning Woman: FiveYears Ago ... My First Big Yes: My novitiate classmate reminded me that it was on this day five years ago that we professed our first vows, our "Yes!", as Sisters...

Since that day of course I've professed perpetual vows and sought to live out this call each day to seek justice, to love tenderly, and to walk in the way of peace.  I feel very very blessed and grateful to my loving God for managing to break through all the noise and help me find the way I am best able to be the me God created me to be.

Thanks Susan for this reminder of your reminder of the journey we're on.

Musings of a Discerning Woman: Losing Voice

Musings of a Discerning Woman: Losing Voice: Well, irony of all ironies, I am headed to a conference of 800+ women religious leaders to tell them the good news of younger women religiou...

Musings of a Discerning Woman: Sharing Voice: GV Booth at LCWR My 2013 visit to the Leadership Conference of Women Religious Assembly representing Giving Voice is complete! And given...

Occupy Religious Life Action - 2013

I'm thinking back to last year's Occupy Religious Life Action in August in Chicago. We gathered in the Federation Novitiate house of the Sisters of St. Joseph to discuss where we are with religious life and what we're seeing for the future and what we can do to make it a reality today. See the post from that gathering here.
At that gathering we had some great conversation and we were able to log in participants from around the country for some conversation as well.
It might be time for a reprise this summer. If people would be interested, I have a house in St. Louis where we have space. I know the Giving Voice gathering for sisters under the age of 50 is being held in California in July. If sisters under the age of 60 are interested in gathering in St. Louis, let me know.
Like last year's event, the time and agenda will be developed by those of us who are interested in coming. But the focus will be around gathering a circle of younger women religious.
Peace,
Amy

How to be a Nun

A Quick Guide for Intrepid Explorers, Scared Survivors and Those Who Don't Know

by the Colletine Poor Clare community
at Ty Mam Duw, North Wales

Please bring:
- the willingness to learn
- to hope
- to trust
- and to live on God's promises
Read on....

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Occupy Catholic

I’m Sister Susan. I am an Occupy Catholic and a nun. Nuns have been criticized lately by the hierarchy of being radical feminists and too involved with social justice. Hmm — sounds like Occupy? … To me it seems that Occupy and nuns are allies in the struggle! And I know many other nuns who were in the encampments all over the country with you! God Bless Occupy. Read more....

I want to go to the novitiate...

I want to go to the novitiate... I stated boldly to my formation director. We both knew these words were coming, but stating my desire forthrightly brought with them a certain fortitude. The words floated with an air of certitude and conviction, unlike the words I had spoken when asking to become a “candidate” with the Sisters of St. Joseph, words I had wished I could put back in my mouth as soon as I spoke them. Now I knew I wanted to enter the novitiate, and I believed Jesus was calling me into a deeper relationship in this time. Read more... --Colleen

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Relevance

SOME CALL ME SIS: Tomorrow the Sisters of St. Agnes celebrates our Founders Day. Today at mass I kept thinking about what it means to be in this community. We were started to assist German immigrants in this area of the country and things have shifted.... --Vicki

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Online Symposium on Consecrated Life

There is still time to register for the final session: October 14, 2012, 2pm ET
Charism: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow - Using oral histories of sisters entering a Benedictine monastery in the early 20th century and interview data from women entering in the last 30 years, the paper will compare and contrast the call to religious life in the pre- and post-Vatican II eras. Discussion will focus on the lessons to be learned as we move into the future.
Presenter: Karen Rose, OSB - Sr. Karen entered religious life in 2007. A British citizen, she has a BA/MA in philosophy and theology from Oxford University. She holds an MSc in social anthropology, PhD in palliative care and has researched extensively on social aspects of health care. Currently, her research interest is in applying the lens of social science to the study of history. For more information or to register...

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Band of Sisters Review:

MUSINGS: Last night I went with a band of sisters--a group of young nun friends from Giving Voice who are living in Chicago--to see the new documentary film, Band of Sisters.  The film by Mary Fishman is premiering this week at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago, where it's been seen by sold out crowds.... --Susan

Reality Check and more....

Reality Check (America Magazine)

The announcement last April of the results of the doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has provoked strong reactions inside and outside the Catholic Church in the United States. In the process, some commentators have made assertions about the demographics of religious life in the United States that are not based in fact. Regrettably, such misinformed statements create dichotomies that not only mask the complexity of religious reality, but are patently false. In an article ... Read more....

Reponse:

Musings of a Discerning Woman: Religious Life ... A Numbers Game?: There's been a lot bandied about of late about religious life and the women who follow Jesus through the vowed life.  In the midst of it all... Read more...

Seed Bed of Evolving Church (NCR)

With the profound abilities and advances of technology and the numerous problems facing the world -- from nuclear accidents to global climate change -- the human race stands at a moment of "evolution or extinction," a keynote speaker told some 900 U.S. Catholic sisters gathered here in conference Wednesday morning.
And one of the best hopes for the continuation of humanity, said Barbara Marx Hubbard, are the women religious themselves. "You are the best seed bed I know for evolving the church and the world in the 21st century.... Read more...

Pathological Altruism (NCR)

This is the state of the psyche when one says, "I have to help someone. It's my identity." This extreme desire to help is often at a profound cost to the helper. Oftentimes, this dynamic looks like a codependent relationship where helpers have a bloated sense of the ego and lack the awareness of their own humanity. In a significant way, the helpers' inability to allow someone to suffer continues to hurt themselves.
Have we depended too much on the work of Catholic Charities and Catholic Relief Service to please our own guilty consciences around inequality, privilege and power? Read more...

We Do Exist

Thanks Susan Francois for this video created by a younger Catholic Sister to tell the story of the women entering religious life today. We Do Exist ... younger Catholic Sisters by SusanFrancois, CSJP on GoAnimate

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