Voices from the Margin

Around 70 young women in all stages of initial and ongoing formation gathered at Kansas City Mo this weekend for the 2015 Giving Voice Conference. Sisters travelled from all over the country for this special national event. Some travelled for hours, others experienced all types of cancellations and delays, but all have come to celebrate the sisterhood we share in the Lord. 

From their meeting:  

This is what we're clear about:    
Our future is unknown.

This is a little of what we're talking about:
Revelation happens.
The Stranger scares us.
The Divine is in the Other.
Borders are arbitrary.

Read more: http://giving-voice.weebly.com/blog/reflection-questions-from-sophia-park-and-teresa-maya

Never Doubt!

A variously attributed phrase comes to mind:

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.

Last week, I gathered for three days with 33 Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet under the age of 60. We prayed, we shared experiences and dreams, and we celebrated! After two days, I thought: Great! This is another good experience but nothing will change. And the next morning, everything shifted. The Spirit was powerfully at work among us and we came up with several very concrete steps. Some were action plans to keep our conversations going and deepen our networks. Others were statements to our congregation and leadership that we are ready and willing to take responsibility in our congregation, particularly around vocation and futuring.
As we were finalizing our document, one among us asked: Do we really want to take this responsibility? Do we realize what we are committing to? After a moment of reflection, several sisters spoke to their conscious commitment and to the urgency of this moment. We resolutely affirmed our commitment.
This has yet to be shared with our sisters in the larger community and with leadership, but I believe it was an amazing step and I thank God for the grace of this moment and the courage, wisdom and creativity of my sisters.
Peace,
Amy

Leadership Collaborative 2.0

We held our regular quarterly call for Sisters2.0 and as usual, it was a great call and great experience.

We do these quarterly calls as ways to connect and collaborate as women religious under the age of 60. We are a minority in each of our home communities, and we find that this is an opportunity to share experiences and to offer mutual support and a forum to explore the current trends and challenges in religious life and to support future oriented initiatives. 

This call followed closely on the heals of a gathering of nearly 100 women religious from our cohort. That gathering happened in Chicago, and some of the participants on the call had been at the Chicago gathering. While the Chicago gathering was great, we found ourselves wanting to provide that same type of experience to those of our cohort who never had the opportunity to participate. And we then began to dream of providing an on-line, grass-roots, self-organized leadership collaborative. 

We are planning to have our next quarterly call on October 23, 2015 7pm Central, and we will explore this matter further. If you have ideas or would like to help, plan to be on the call, and/or message me for more details.

The Spirit Lives!!!

Amy

Despite Me…Miracles

The wind could have blown the seed
in a million places more nurturing.
Yet, it knows not the difference.
It is a seed.
Life lives inside it.
The roots push forth.
Tiny leaves emerge
and find the sun.
Somehow—
in a crack—
a tree grows.
--Sarah Heger, 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.

How Nuns Spend their Summer Vacation

to every thing there is a season, 

    and a time to every purpose under heaven.

Summertime is a time of relaxation, barbecues and pool parties. If you are in religious life, it is also a time for chapters, community meetings and retreats. These are times of spiritual renewal and of connecting with the sisters and brothers and a celebration of the community's spirituality, life and mission. It is a particularly grace filled time for me since my ministry affords me the privilege of joining communities during these kairos times.
I have had the occasion to examine the official chapter documents of several communities, for a period of time running over the last 50+ years. The exercise reveals some common trends. When I have shared this information with religious, they often say that it rings true with their experience of their own communities as well.
Examination of the official Chapter documents of several religious communities reveals this interesting trend. In the 40s and 50s, the years before the Second Vatican Council chapters were often focused on details of habit, schedule and finances.
In the tumultuous 60s and 70s, following the Council, communities were charged to renew their lives and revise their Constitutions, which set out their fundamental way of life. Thus for the space of a decade or so, the Chapters invited participants into a dialogue about the identity of religious life and every aspect of how it was lived. There was wide participation in these discussions both in chapters and in their preparation and follow-up.
In the 80s and 90s, the chapter discussions turned outward to issues of mission and social justice. During these decades and into the 2000s, there was comparatively little discussion of the internal matters of religious life and spirituality.
Now as we come to the 50th anniversary of VCII, we are beginning to see yet another shift. Some communities turn back to their own life. Many communities are coming to realize that they are in their final decades; they realize that these may be the last decades of their community's life cycle. This is a time to reflect, give thanks and make some important decisions. During this year of consecrated life, it is a great opportunity to reflect on the great gift that we have received and all that we share with the people of God.

Laudato Si

The long-awaited encyclical on Creation is finally out. Pope Francis has certainly created a stir by inviting us all to reflect on care for our common home.
I am grateful to find an expression of the importance of reflecting on this theme in relation to other themes of justice and care for one another, especially those who are most fragile and marginalized.
I have two simple reflections on my first read of the document.
1. I was struck by the range of voices and points of view that are brought into the conversation. True, one will search in vain for a single woman's voice. However, in addition to citing scripture, early Christian writers, popes and councils, the pope also cites current statements from bishops conferences and leaders from the orthodox churches. There is even a reference from a Sufi mystic. This is our common home. All of us, women and children, rich and poor, north and south, east and west, all of us live together on this earth. It is a beautiful and resilient home, but it is at risk from our abuse of its abundance.
2. The second point that struck me was the acknowledgement that the endangered state of our common home puts pressure on many other social, economic and political issues. It reminds me of my own house or office. When they are in disarray, it is harder to address any of the other issues that need attention. Likewise environmental decline means less usable water, less abundant and less nutritious food, increased disease pressure, more desperate people with 'nothing to loose'. So environmental decline also increases poverty, hunger, sickness, racism, gender inequality and violence. All of these issues are interrelated.
This can seem overwhelming, and in one sense it is. But it also empowers each of us to take up the cause. Each choice I make has an environmental impact:

• what I eat
• what I wear
• what I buy
• what I throw away
• how I set my thermostat
• where, how and how often I travel
• what I plant

Each of us can make choices today that will effect us all. I am grateful for a small space of earth to plant natives, perennials and edibles, so that I can begin to be part of the solution and begin to invite others into this movement.
Is this related to the theme of this blog: the future of religious life? I believe that it is. I believe that sisters and brothers join together to face the biggest challenges of society. Historically, we have nurtured and healed and educated in the most dire and overwhelming situations. Now we have a new challenge. As we come together in communities of praxis, let us listen attentively, live simply and love freely, in our common home, and for the sake of our common family.
Amen.
Amy

Read it here.