At the beginning of the month, Giving Voice Sisters attended Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR), participating in the opening ceremony, exhibiting with other organizations, and partaking in small-group discussions with leadership from LCWR communities.
As a member of Giving Voice invited to be present at LCWR, I thought my role would be to make my voice heard. Giving Voice was among several groups who were requested to be present at the table as LCWR strives to discern how it is called to move into the future and who will move with them. Implicit in the invitation was our job to speak for younger sisters in religious communities--those whose voices are often not heard by leadership because they can be drowned out by the far more numerous older voices.
This summer, I experienced the past, the present, and tasted the future of Religious Life today. I started my journey in June with the Past, through a traditional pilgrimage to Europe which we Dominicans, call Lands of Dominic. Even though it was a short and fast version, as one of my Sisters and I were our own travel agents, it was simple, inspiring and profound.
NETWORK is seeking two Board members to join the NETWORK Lobby and NETWORK Advocates Boards in 2020, and we are inviting all NETWORK members to participate wholeheartedly in a "name-raising" process to help identify potential candidates.