Happy National Catholic Sisters Week, 2018!
This year, Giving Voice is celebrating National Catholic Sisters Week by promoting a collaborative series of video interviews called #SisterSpeak!
#SisterSpeak features Sister Maria Cimperman, RSCJ, Giving Voice Core Team member Sr. Adriana Calzada, CCVI (in Spanish) Giving Voice participant Sr. Kelly Moline, OP, Sr. Gerardine Doherty, OLSH and Sr. Ellen Dauwer, SC.
It didn’t matter if this was a sister’s first Giving Voice retreat or their tenth, if a sister was a novice or temporarily professed -- every person was fully accepted into the group and in the end: we are all sisters to each other. This warm welcome and comfort allowed space for deep faith sharing and conversation throughout the weekend.
National Catholic Sisters Week is almost here! March 8-14 Giving Voice will partner with National Religious Vocation Conference (NRVC), Communicators for Women Religious (CWR), Religious Formation Conference (RFC), and the Center for the Study of Consecrated Life at Catholic Theological Union to host a prayer service and reception to honor and celebrate Catholic sisters!
This February, Sophie Vodvarka began serving as Giving Voice’s new Communications Coordinator. Sophie is originally from Nebraska, and has experience working with Catholic organizations in Poland and Kenya, and with several organizations in Chicago, most recently, in immigrant and refugee advocacy.
Born out of Giving Voice sisters’ current writings about religious life as it's lived in today's reality, In Our Own Words, is a collection of essays by a diverse group of sisters, focusing on vows and community life, individual identity and congregational charisms, and leadership among younger members leading into the future.
Giving Voice is hosting a 40’s retreat this Memorial Day weekend in Seal Beach, CA. Space is limited so please register as soon as possible!
For more information and to register click here!
One of the greatest festive traditions in my native country, Mexico, is the celebration of Our Lady of Guadalupe on December 12, just a few days before Christmas. Ever since I was a little girl, I use to listen to the Guadalupe Event narrated in the "Nican Mopohua", which means in Nahual "Here it is told" and how in 1531, Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to Juan Diego (now Saint Juan Diego), on the hill of Tepeyac, when he was searching for the things of God.
When I taught in Catholic elementary schools, I would don all my Happy New Year gear and stand in the hallway blowing my noise maker and shouting “Happy New Year!” to the students as they arrived the Monday morning after the first Sunday of Advent.
Well, it’s happened. I knew that it would, sooner or later: I missed the chance to attend a funeral back home, because I am here as a novice at the CDN. The funeral was for a loved one of someone to whom I feel deeply connected through a ministry we shared for many years.
Join with other sisters in their 40s to explore our call as pioneers, facing the unchartered land of religious life, and forging ahead to carry our charisms into the new future!
