Giving Voice is hosting a Virtual 20s & 30s Retreat January 15-17, 2021, with the theme “Hope” guiding our planning. Registration is open to any woman in a Roman Catholic canonical institute or society of vowed women religious in her 20s & 30s who has started the state in formation immediately preceding the novitiate.
Recently I attended the National Religious Vocation Conference 2020 Virtual Convocation. Members of the Felician formation team were able to invite guests, and I was one of them. Guests at the NRVC Convocation receive a grant to attend if they fulfill several requirements. One of them is to write a brief essay about being hopeful in religious life. This is in response to the theme of the convocation, 2020 Vision: Focus on Hope. The branded statement that repeated throughout the convocation was “I believe God is still calling women and men to holiness --- and I am filled with abundant hope.”
Looking for prayer resources this Advent season?
“Do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you with my right hand." Isaiah 41:10
Dear Sisters and Friends of Giving Voice,
“We need to see the light of hope and to be men and women who bring hope to others,” Pope Francis has proclaimed. Amid a time of uncertainty, and unprecedented challenges, the Sisters of Giving Voice offer you hope: we hope this letter finds you healthy in body and spirit, and we hope you are feeling courage and love.
On November 5th, 7pm CST, we invite you to join six young Roman Catholic Sisters during National Vocation Awareness Week (Nov. 1-7) for a panel discussion on vocation and ministry! Giving Voice's event is a part of Communicators for Women Religious - Chicago regional member's Meet Our Sisters Tour, a week-long collaborative event celebrating National Vocation Awareness Week.
This fall, 10 Giving Voice participants took part in NETWORK's Nuns on the Bus Virtual Tour. Read two reflections here!
Giving Voice is hiring a social media intern. Please share this job posting with your network!
New Ways Ministry is sponsoring a conference for lesbian religious, congregational leaders, and vocation/formation ministers, Dec. 5, 2020, 12 noon – 4:00 pm, EST. As with other programs because of the pandemic, this conference will be a Zoom meeting.
Ever since the immensity of COVID-19 became clear in the middle of March, I have struggled with one question: What can I do to make a difference? Now it seems I am asking myself that same question, but not just about COVID. Over the summer, as masses of people protested the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and many other people of color who have faced racial violence, I have asked myself: what can I do? With thousands of acres of California and Oregon on fire, I ask myself: what can I do? When faced with the vitriol and partisanship within our nation and our Church, I ask myself: what can I do?
As I was reflecting on what ministry looks like for me right now, the only way I could explain it was through analogy. Imagine that you were in the middle of staging a production of a play right before lockdown, let’s say Romeo and Juliet. Very abruptly you were forced to stop production and you left the sets, costumes, and scripts behind to wait while the world reeled from the events of 2020.