My heart swelled with resonance as I listened to the 2017 LCWR Presidential Address and heard Mary Pellegrino name the need to shift our language, attitude and living to create space for the “emerging narrative of communion" of religious life. If you haven’t read her talk, I encourage you to do so. As with all things that are emerging there are glimpses of clarity, moments of deep knowing, and many questions.
Like many people in the United States, my heart has been hurting a lot lately. There have been so many senseless deaths and divisive responses. We seem to keep talking past each other. The divisions, oppression, hatred, and disdain feel so overwhelming.
In the coming weeks, Giving Voice will reach out to Catholic sisters under fifty years of age who are in a Roman Catholic, canonical institute or society of vowed women religious to invite participation in the first-ever online directory of Giving Voice participants. The online directory will enable younger women religious to better connect, network and collaborate. Please be on the lookout for more information soon.
In religious life, leadership has a very specific understanding. It is the name we give those few sisters who have been elected to make decisions on behalf of the whole. We can no longer afford for this to be our understanding.
Leadership for our world and for religious life cannot wait for an election, a time or a term. It must move from decision-making to invitation and collaboration. Leadership cannot be a job for a few but a mandate for us all.
Almost a month ago I and about 20 others attended our first Giving Voice National Gathering. The topic of the conference was very promising as it was one very relevant to my formation as a “young” sister. As I pulled into the parking lot at Iona College, I felt anxious about who I would meet and the discussions that would take place. Little did I know that my attendance at the National Gathering would energize me, grant me new insights, and allow me to meet a dynamic group of women whom I am proud to call sisters!
Several Giving Voice participants have been working on writing a collaborative book of essays on religious life. The book, In Our Own Words: Religious Life in a Changing World, is now available for pre-order via Liturgical Press and on Amazon.
We are excited to partner with the National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC), Communicators for Women Religious (CWR), the Center for the Study of Consecrated Life at Catholic Theological Union, and the National Catholic Sisters Project (NCSP) to offer a presence at this year’s LCWR assembly.
If you’ve been following our Facebook page or Twitter feed, you know that Giving Voice has been in the news a lot lately. We are thrilled so many are interested in our work!
40s Retreat
May 25-27, 2018 (Memorial Day Weekend)
Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange Vacation Houses
Seal Beach, CA
National Gathering
Summer 2019
More information will be posted on Giving Voice’s website as the events near.
This is a place where we can come together and really bond over our love for Jesus, our care for the Gospel, our care for the poor and our own experiences of being a sister as a younger woman,” Sister Susan said. “We get to talk about the longer future, and to build, to dream and to listen to what the Holy Spirit is calling forth for religious life in the future.
