Giving Voice welcomes Sister Thuy Tran to the Core Team! Sister Thuy is a Sister of St Joseph currently living in Orange County, CA. Her current ministry is Director of Community Relations, at St. Joseph Hospital. Check out her thoughts on Giving Voice & the future of religious life.:
Experience with Giving Voice: Seven years ago, I attended my first Giving Voice gathering in Phoenix, Arizona. I hesitated getting involved with Giving Voice because it would take me beyond my comfort zone. I was quite surprised that many of the sisters at the Giving Voice gathering were women from different Congregations, cultures, and some spoke a second language too. I felt right at home with them.
These past several years, the women from Giving Voice have empowered me in my leadership. They continued to believe in my leadership more than I believed in myself. Two years ago, the leadership from Giving Voice reached out to me and asked if I would be willing to co-author a book with them, “In Our Own Words: Religious Life in a Changing World.” I have never considered myself a writer, and these women saw my potential to be a writer.
My Hope for Giving Voice: My hope for Giving Voice is to have a place with many opportunities of personal growth, leadership development, and sisterhood bonding. I have said, “Yes” to Giving Voice because I see myself in the women that struggle and yet they are empowered to use their voices. As I reflect on the future of religious life, we are very much alive because we are more intentional in collaborating and connecting with one another.