tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22900796090198897542024-03-05T00:31:35.236-08:00Mission and Ministry in the 21st Century - Giving Voice 2013Blog for participants of the National Giving Voice Gathering held in Belmont, California July 2013. We will use this platform to share insights from our conversations at the gathering.Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-57808832966717582852013-07-17T10:42:00.003-07:002013-07-17T10:42:49.377-07:00Catholic San Francisco Article<div style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px;">
Younger nuns envision a future much smaller, but still bright</div>
<small style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;">July 17th, 2013</small><small style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif;">By Valerie Schmalz</small><span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;"><br /><a href="http://www.catholic-sf.org/ns.php?newsid=27&id=61606">Catholic San Francisco</a></span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Some of Sister Chero Chuma’s friends back in Kenya think she wasted her visa to the United States – becoming a religious and joining an order of mostly elderly nuns in the Seattle area. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">“It is amazing when you feel a call and you respond to a call. It is not that you choose to do that,” said the Sister of St. Joseph of Peace who recently enrolled in the nursing program at Seattle University. “You want to say we are crazy joining right now,” said Sister Chero, whose order has a peace cross but no formal habit. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Sister Chero was in California for a Giving Voice national gathering of about 75 religious from 30 different congregations at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont over the July 4 weekend. Giving Voice was created by women religious in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are members of orders with diminishing membership – orders they feel they were called to join despite that demographic decline. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">Giving Voice “provides a peer group in religious life for women religious who probably don’t have a lot of peers in their own congregations – strengthening their own sense of call in religious life,” said Sister of Notre Dame de Namur Kristen Mathes, 47, a founder of the group that began in 1997. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">“When I was discerning religious life, somehow through the Internet, I found out this group existed. The fact there were enough young nuns to form this group gave me the freedom to listen to the Holy Spirit,” said Sister Susan Francois, 41, a Sister of St. Joseph o f Peace, who entered at 34. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">A 2009 study by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate found just 1 percent of all perpetually professed religious women were under 40. Five years ago the most common median age of religious women’s congregations was 76, according to the study commissioned by National Religious Vocation Conference.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">“They’ll pray, and at 8 o’clock they go to bed,” said one young religious. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">The future is likely to be “inter-congregational” living, with religious from different orders sharing both living space and spirituality with each other, said Sister Susan, organizer of the Belmont event. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">The key is “being open to whatever God can reveal to us. We can’t imagine yet what new things are to come,” said Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration Julia Walsh, a 31-year-old blogger and religion teacher at Aquinas High School in La Crosse, Wis. Her order will celebrate 135 years of perpetual eucharistic adoration in August, she said. While her congregation’s average age is in the 70s, there are eight in their 30s, 10 in their 40s and 10-15 in their 50s, she said. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">However, most of those in Giving Voice are one of two or three below 50. The CARA study found approximately half of U.S. vocations were to traditional congregations that make up less than 20 percent of orders and affiliate with the Council of Major Superiors of Women Religious. The other half were to some of the 400 orders affiliated with the Leadership Conference of Women Religious – most of which do not have habits and have much less structured community prayer. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">“I think the Holy Spirit knows we need both because both are a valid way,” said Sister Susan. “One is a more devotional, pious way, meeting that traditional religious need. Some are called the way I am called to be in the world for the world but to live simply.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">For St. Joseph of Carondelet Sister Sarah Heger: “When I decided to enter, that was home, that was where I belonged.” The fifth grade teacher, who graduated from Fontbonne University run by her order in the St. Louis area, and entered in 2005, says Giving Voice provides a peer group she can call on around the country. “Religious life is going to look so different,” said Sister Sarah. “To know there are people in that place of transition with me is just awesome.” </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 15px;">From July 19, 2013 issue of Catholic San Francisco. - See more at: http://www.catholic-sf.org/ns.php?newsid=27&id=61606#sthash.KBUqbmBx.dpuf</span>Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-30861753847279846072013-07-14T19:54:00.001-07:002013-07-14T19:58:04.170-07:00Burning Questions from the Opening Ritual<div class="MsoNormal">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCw0MWu9goCBMEuf23jwtU25zXzsK6oMN5yWnOQci6yGjNQu8gniSxu7IPKEhy9wfcSDv3oYkEU0h_bwfUrRruxkq2L1_hgD363ZAaWKtx-LpLYupIFQf1hR9U7I5wMt3tgYzwpMjklE0D/s1600/IMG_1894.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCw0MWu9goCBMEuf23jwtU25zXzsK6oMN5yWnOQci6yGjNQu8gniSxu7IPKEhy9wfcSDv3oYkEU0h_bwfUrRruxkq2L1_hgD363ZAaWKtx-LpLYupIFQf1hR9U7I5wMt3tgYzwpMjklE0D/s200/IMG_1894.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We posted our burning questions<br />in our meeting space</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">On Friday night we were invited to reflect on the following questions: </span></div>
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<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What burning questions about mission and ministry do we need to ask at this time?</span></li>
<li style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">¿Cuáles preguntas referentes a la misión o al ministerio debemos hacer en este momento?</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20px;">We then wrote our questions on index cards and offered them in our opening ritual. What follows is a collection of these questions. </span>Thanks to Maria Cimperman and Juliet Mousseau for grouping
the questions by common threads.</span></div>
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<b>Directions and Practicalities</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>How are we to realize our ministry in the future if we are so concerned with bringing in a “good” salary to our congregations?</li>
<li>¿Somos realmente un testimonio vivo, un evangelio encarnado y una esperanza en medio de donde estamos? ¿Por qué cada vez es más difícil tener vocaciones y deserciones?</li>
<li>Se tiene un límite de edad para ingresar más vocaciones que surgen ser mayores. Algunas son indocumentadas. Tienen deudas grandes por la Universidad. ¿Cómo hacer o qué hacer con ellas?</li>
<li>Como iglesia, ¿cómo acompañamos a los más pobres en nuestras comunidades y no solo los invitamos hacer voluntarias o dar un servicio, donde algunas veces se sienten criticados?</li>
<li>Do I have enough love for my ministries? Do I become a witness among people I work with? Does my mission bring me close to God’s people?</li>
<li>Where are we most needed as young women religious? How can we work together in those spaces?</li>
<li>How can we as women religious become core communities for the people of God, energizing us all for the mission of Jesus?</li>
<li>Which lines are necessary to be crossed for us to continue living the gospel truth?</li>
<li>How to discern ministry from my gifts, my needs, my timing, and at the same time fit the community’s mission (which we often can’t articulate)?</li>
<li>The mission before Vatican II Council was to those who did not know Jesus. That is not the same right now. What is our mission now to the people in the diverse environment?</li>
<li>In light of the complexities of our world today, how do we strive forward in the liminal space (the dawn of the future) responding to our communal desires? (mission~ideal, ministry~reality, mission~ministry)</li>
<li>How are we called by the future to live the Gospel in response to both the needs of the present and future?</li>
<li>How much am I willing to compromise for the sake of the mission? Do I need to be more intentional?</li>
<li>How do we balance ministry to self, ministry to our sisters, and ministry to all God’s creation?</li>
<li>How can we build up support when we are so few younger-newer members?</li>
<li>How do we balance our desire to devote ourselves to ministry with the needs of our aging communities?</li>
<li>How can we minister together with different communities and share resources?</li>
</ul>
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<b>Mission and Vision</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>Jesus is the Mission…How can we younger/newer members envision and live out his mission without feeling overwhelmed by the decline and loss related to decreased membership in our communities?</li>
<li>How can we find the Spirit of God at work amidst the changing reality (and decreasing #’s) of religious life and how can we vision with and follow the Spirit?</li>
<li>¿De qué Dios hablamos a nuestro pueblo hoy?</li>
<li>In a time of ever increasing human need for God, for justice and peace, how do we go about it, both locally and globally, with the few people we are? How do we continue what has begun? How do we focus on mission?</li>
<li>Whose voices do we welcome in the inner most heart of our hearts?</li>
<li>Where is the place that God calls us today in our world? What are some needs in developing countries when a group of community or religious women want to serve?</li>
<li>How do we keep alive our missions and ministries as we journey into the future of religious life?</li>
<li>What does it mean to be prophetic?</li>
<li>As a newer member, how can I encourage my sisters to dream new dreams and visions with me? (considering age/fewer new women)</li>
<li>“The mission has the church/congregation, not that the congregation has a mission.” 1. How does this statement resonate with those present here? 2. What does the new universe story have to do with mission?</li>
<li>What is our mission today at this time in the midst of many things going on in our world? How can we join together in being today’s mission the Holy Spirit is calling forth?</li>
<li>Where is the Spirit moving our hearts to be?</li>
<li>Is our mission evident? If not, how can we make our mission manifest?</li>
<li>How are we called to bring a deeper awareness for the need for a strong spiritual foundation and fill the needs of those who thirst for that spiritual fulfillment?</li>
<li>What needs in our world are calling for our attention? How are we going to address them?</li>
<li>How are we to live (which includes ministry but also community and prayer) in a way that best responds to the cries of this our time?</li>
</ul>
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<b>Identity</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>¿Cuál es el lugar de la vida religiosa hoy? ¿Cuál es el papel de la mujer consagrada en la iglesia hoy y del futuro?</li>
<li>¿Sigue siendo la vida religiosa significativa para el mundo hoy? </li>
<li>¿Estoy consciente del llamado en vida? ¿Cómo vivo la gracia en medio del pueblo de Dios? ¿Cuál es mi posición delante de Dios en este llamado?</li>
<li>¿El lugar en el que estoy (estamos) responde a mi llamado inicial?</li>
<li>¿Cuál es la misión para la que Dios nos preparó ahora, en estos tiempos de cambio y nuevas ideologías?</li>
<li>¿Cómo encontrar el camino donde se viva la misión profética de la vida religiosa en un ministerio que la Iglesia institucional “Jerarquía” no acepta?</li>
<li>Tomando como ejemplo de Papa Francisco, ¿qué re-ajustes o cómo podemos recrear nuestra misiones y ministerios como vida religiosa?</li>
<li>¿De qué forma debemos vivir nuestro profetismo hoy para transformar nuestra realidad de pobreza y violencia en el mundo?</li>
<li>How can we become more about mission and focus less on the ministry (the work) that we do? And how can we let people see that we are women of mission and not just focus on the work we do?</li>
<li>How can I be contemplative and active in these days? How can I speak about God when God seems so far?</li>
</ul>
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<b>Challenges</b></div>
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<ul>
<li>Where in the world would we not go?</li>
<li>How are we called to use our treasure (time, talent, property, financial resources) for the kin-dom of God—those in poverty and the margins?</li>
<li>In our increasingly polarized society and Church, how can we continue to be the prophetic voice/presence while also working towards healing the divides? Or at least bring people to a greater ability to listen with respect?</li>
<li>How do we engage mission in the 21st century in REAL collaboration with our lay partners?</li>
<li>As our urban centers continue to grow, it seems so does the spiritual hunger and thirst of the laity. How can we retell the Gospel in a way that resonates with those needs?</li>
<li>With our numbers decreasing, how can we as women religious enlarge our circles of “membership” to meet the needs of those we are called to serve?</li>
<li>How do we form sustainable models of ministry, which creatively meet the needs of the world today? How can we change or begin to change the mind set of society from individualism to a real sense of community—with all in mind?</li>
<li>How will our Church honor the call to ministry of women, laity, those who are different or oppressed?</li>
<li>What is the space of intersection between: What gifts/passions/resources do we/I have to offer? And What are the human/Church/world needs where I/we are?</li>
<li>How can we do our ministry, according to/reading the signs of the times or signs of the market? Como vamos a hacer maestro ministerios de acuerado a los signos de los tiempos o del Mercado?</li>
<li>Does the church need us to step back so others may grow and lead and serve?</li>
<li>How do/can we really reach out to those most in need?</li>
<li>How can we (continue to) keep ourselves open to the desires and invitations of God heard through the most vulnerable and respond wholeheartedly in an ever-changing world?</li>
<li>How can the Church be relevant for young people today?</li>
<li>How can we make an impact/change in today’s reality? How can we work more together with other religious denominations and rejected people such as gays, lesbians, and divorced?</li>
</ul>
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Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-4650984508483752762013-07-12T12:05:00.003-07:002013-07-12T12:05:49.293-07:00Harvests of the GatheringOn Monday morning, our speaker, Yolanda Tarango, CCVI, and Giving Voice Core Team member Susan Francois, CSJP offered harvests of our four days together.<br />
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Yolanda Tarango, CCVI Harvest of Conference:<br />
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Susan Francois, CSJP Harvest of Conference:<br />
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Susan used images as part of her talk in a PowerPoint. <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0pSnPIvzy4">A video of her harvest is also available.</a>Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-89137501439974101832013-07-12T11:54:00.002-07:002013-07-12T11:54:54.648-07:00Sunday Afternoon Witness TalksAt the end of our program on Sunday, three Giving Voice Sisters--Renee Kettering, RSM, Julie Christensen, CSJ, and Kristin Matthes, SNDdeN--shared what was emerging for them in the form of witness talks. Listen to two of the talks below by clicking on the arrow/play button.<br />
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Julie Christensen, CSJ<br />
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Kristin Matthes, SNDdeN<br />
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Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-44886366689701097982013-07-12T11:26:00.000-07:002013-07-12T11:55:29.700-07:00Saturday Afternoon Witness TalksWe ended our program on Saturday by listening to witness talks by two GV Sisters as they shared what was emerging for them through out time together.<br />
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Adriana Calzada, CCVI Witness Talk<br />
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Anna Keim, SNJM Witness Talk<br />
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<br />Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-92062519883947103792013-07-12T11:05:00.001-07:002013-07-12T11:11:07.545-07:00Intercultural PanelOn Saturday afternoon, three Giving Voice Sisters--Lourdes Gomez, CCVI, Chero Chuma, CSJP, and Julia Walsh, FSPA, shared their reflections on living the mission in our intercultural reality. Listen to the talks by Chero and Julia below by clicking on the play/arrow buttons.<br />
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Chero Chuma, CSJP on Intercultural Reality<br />
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Julia Walsh, FSPA, on Intercultural Reality<br />
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Yolanda Tarango, CCVI also offered a response to the panel.</div>
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Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-33537201058002031522013-07-12T10:33:00.002-07:002013-07-12T10:33:47.349-07:00Saturday morning podcasts on Charism<span style="font-family: inherit;">Saturday morning Yolanda Tarango, CCVI shared her reflections on charism. Her sharing set the stage for our creative and energetic conversations throughout the weekend. Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ and Xiomara <span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Méndez-Hernández, OP offered responses to her reflections.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Yolanda Tarango, CCVI on Charism:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ Response:</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Xiomara </span></span><span style="background-color: white; white-space: pre-wrap;">Méndez-Hernández, OP Response:</span><br />
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Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-86096731825736862892013-07-12T10:05:00.000-07:002013-07-12T10:08:30.531-07:00Friday Night Podcasts: Yolanda Tarango, CCVI and Leslie Keener, CDPThanks to the wonders of technology, you can now listen to the opening reflections in Mission and Ministry by our wonderful speaker Yolanda Tarango, CCVI and Giving Voice Core Team member Leslie Keener, CDP. Simply click on the arrow/play buttons below!<br />
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Yolanda Tarango, CCVI on Mission & Ministry<br />
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Leslie Keener, CDP - GV Response<br />
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Listen to more talks from our 2013 and 2011 National Gatherings by visiting our <a href="http://givingvoice.podbean.com/">GV Podcast Channel.</a><br />
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Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-77070910325232331092013-07-10T21:49:00.000-07:002013-07-10T21:49:06.713-07:00Sarah Heger, CSJ - Ministry Story Telling<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>On Saturday Sarah Heger, CSJ shared stories from teaching under resourced middle school girls in the inner city as part of our morning prayer.</i> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Did Jesus Poop?
Questions Fifth Graders Ask.”
This is going to be the title of one of my first books.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It will be filled with questions ranging from the scholarly
and profound, to the insane and silly.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Do venus fly traps excrete?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Can plants have twins?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“If God created everything, did God create the devil?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">And my favorite from this year, asked on multiple occasions,
believe it or not, “And, Sister Sarah, what does that look like in the
transgender population?” How, may I ask,
do they manage to fit these questions into the fifth grade curriculum?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I teach very obviously, curious, fifth grade girls at an all
girls middle school in the city of St. Louis.
Our mission is to break the cycle of poverty by providing a holistic
education for under-resourced urban adolescents. More simply put, our goal is to offer
students whose families fall below the poverty line a chance at a college
education starting with a solid middle school base. Our graduate support program follows them
with educational, financial, and other supports through high school and into
college. Our girls are at school from
7:30 in the morning until 5:30 in the evening.
They get breakfast, lunch, and snack, mandatory study hall staffed with
teachers and volunteers, and enrichment programs ranging from culinary arts and
hip hop or praise dance, to media club and basketball. The girls put in a very long day, as does the
staff.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">When I first interviewed for the job, and the interview
committee was describing the work load, I thought, “Okay, no problem.” I had taught everything from kindergarten
through high school, English as a second language, special education, I’ve got
this. No college class could have prepared
me for that first year. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had kids rolling around on the floor in the back of my
room, students who wouldn’t come in from the hall. My birthday in mid-September started with a
girl getting punched in the stomach in the middle of the classroom. It wasn’t as if they were unattended—I was
standing right there. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every day for the first three months of that year, I felt
like I had done nothing but fight all day.
My body literally ached. By
mid-October I was sure I was either going to quit or get fired before
Christmas. I just wasn’t sure which was
going to happen first.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">That same year I had a student named Melissa. My heart will always have a little place that
belongs to Melissa. Well, Melissa was
one of those students who wouldn’t even come into the classroom to start the
day. She was a bully of bullies and
never doing what she was supposed to.
Because she was so defiant, she was one of those kids that maybe a
little reverse psychology would have worked on, except that she was so
smart. She was a born leader, but she
was never leading anyone in a very positive direction. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Teachers use this great thing called proximity control as a
classroom management tool. It basically
means, when a student is off task, when I, as the authority figure in the room,
walk close, my proximity should be enough to stop the behavior. I’m sure it works in some buildings, but my
girls are more apt to continue yelling at each other right around me. I was ALWAYS walking near Melissa. When I would get near Melissa, though, she
would physically flinch and pull away.
I’m very confident that she thought she was going to get hit. I imagine that corporal punishment was the
norm at home. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One day, in September, we were in the middle of our week of
standardized testing, filling in all of those little bubbles, and here’s
Melissa with her head down, not doing anything.
Well, she had been removed to the office to test most of the other
sessions already, so I was ready to remove her again. But, I went over and crouched by her desk,
“Melissa, I notice you have your head down.
Are you feeling okay?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“No, I’m not,” she said.
“I have a terrible headache.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Now my head is going in a million directions because I have
this thought, but I’m not sure how it’s going to go. “Did you know,” I ask, “that there are these
spots on your hand that you can rub, and it will help your headache go
away? I rub my hands when I get a
headache and it really helps. Would it
be okay if I try it on your hands?”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">She slouched back in her desk and put her hands out. I sat and rubbed her hands for a minute or
two, after which she said she felt better and started working on her test. From that moment of that day, she never once
pulled away from me again. I don’t think
she had ever been touched in a way that was intended to heal. Not only did she not pull away, she totally
had my back. I remember a couple of
months later we were taking a class field trip.
“Sister Sarah,” she asked, “Are you sure that jacket is going to be warm
enough?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Unfortunately, Melissa was asked to leave our school the
next year. But, I still keep tabs on
her. I don’t know if that moment, that
year, meant anything to her, but I know it totally changed me.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know that how I greet each student as they come into my
room in the morning, makes all the difference in the world. Even if a student is totally out of uniform—wearing
the same neon knee socks I’ve asked to her to leave at home for the past three
days—without homework, and cussing as she comes down the hall—the first thing that
she needs from me is a smile, a high five or a hug, and a, “Good morning. How are you today? How was breakfast?” We can deal with the other things later.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I know that if a student has her head down, it might be
defiance. Or, it could be that she is tired
since her family was evicted from their home last night and they were out until
2:00 a.m. trying to find somewhere to stay.
Or maybe the student is worried about her alcoholic mom who is home
alone all day without anyone there to make sure she is safe. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I teach tough kids with tough lives. I can’t imagine growing up the way these
girls do. And I can’t usually change
what they are going to go home to on any given night. But, I can make sure that they have the best
chance at providing something different for themselves when they have a
chance. I can make sure that for the ten
hours a day that they are with us, they have a safe place to be a kid, to play,
to laugh, to take risks that are safe, to ask questions, to know compassion, to
be told that they are smart, and capable, and most of all, that they are loved.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Every Friday, before the girls go home, I give them a
blessing. When they are all packed up
and ready to go, I put my hands on each girl’s shoulders. I thank God for some gift she has, ask for
some blessing that she might need. I
pray that the angels keep her and her family safe over the weekend. And I end by telling her that I love her and
that I already can’t wait to see her on Monday.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">My second year there, first Friday of school, I had just
blessed all of the fifth graders and sent them home when in came some of the
sixth graders. “Sister Sarah, we’re here
for our blessings.” At some point in the
year, inevitably some of the students start giving me blessings, too. Trisha every week would put her hands on my
shoulders and say, “Sister Sarah, you’re awesome and amazing, awesome and
amazing, awesome and amazing, awesome and amazing.” She’ll be an eighth grader this year, and we
still call each other awesome and amazing when we pass in the hallway.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I’ve learned that I am both the sower and the seed. I’ve learned as the sower that just as every
seed has specific planting instructions, so does every child. I can’t scatter the seeds and hope for the
best. I have to study each little seed, and
what it needs to grow to its potential.
To think about soil depth and sunlight, water and temperature. I have to teach math to Ana this way and to
Abby this way. I have to call Alyssa’s
mom every time she forgets her homework, but only call Crissie’s mom when it’s
really necessary to do so. Sometimes the
plants grow on the first try. Sometimes
I have to replant. And replant. And replant.
<b>Always</b> I have to believe that
they will grow.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As often as I am the sower, I am also the seed. Children don’t know what they’re doing when
they’re planting seeds. The fifth
graders and I are in charge of our gardens at school—we replant A LOT. When I give them bits of myself to plant, I
end up in places I never would have planted myself, in situations where I’ve
been pecked at and stepped on and choked.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">But, I end up in some pretty cool places, too. Sometimes I end up in good soil, growing
right next to a student who is in exactly the right place, reaching for the
sun, and shining brilliantly.
Remembering that one plant is enough to get me up in the morning,
excited to stand at my classroom door, and to greet each child with a handshake
or a hug and a, “Good morning. How was
breakfast?”</span></div>
Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-38642217521078815462013-07-10T19:26:00.000-07:002013-07-10T19:26:13.100-07:00Introducing ... GVTV! (and video of harvest by Susan Francois, CSJP)One creative idea that came out of the Open Space on "visibility" from the National Gathering was to create a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC450XIDiOky3LWrm15MR9Rg">Giving Voice YouTube Channel called GVTV</a>.<br />
<br />
The first video has already been posted. You can now watch the PowerPoint and listen to the recording of the Harvest of the conference offered by GV Core Team member Susan Francois, CSJP on Monday morning on the last of our four days at the gathering.<br />
<br />
<br />
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<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param>
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<br />
Stay tuned for more GV videos to come!Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-13408915947883589982013-07-09T23:41:00.000-07:002013-07-10T21:50:21.829-07:00Keep Checking the BlogThe conference planning team will continue to sort through and post pictures, talks, podcasts, etc... from the gathering over the next week. Be sure to come back and see what other amazing things happened in California!Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-46149308719634923912013-07-09T23:40:00.004-07:002013-07-09T23:40:47.207-07:00GV Harvest of National Gathering - Susan Francois, CSJPOn Monday morning, GV Core Team member Susan Francois, CSJP gave a Harvest of the fruits of our four days together. <a href="http://www.giving-voice.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=87">Click on this link to read her words (and see the pictures she reflected upon).</a>Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-8851374340804150862013-07-09T22:41:00.001-07:002013-07-09T22:41:51.721-07:00Anna Keim, SNJM - Witness Talk<span style="font-family: inherit;">Each day we asked a few Giving Voice Sisters to share how they were experiencing the national gathering and what was emerging for them in a short "Witness Talk." On Saturday afternoon, Anna Keim, SNJM gave the following Witness Talk:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm struck by the notion that we are called to be with Jesus at the cross and at the rising. Mary Magdalene was at both places. I find it especially significant that Mary Magdalene is the first person, a woman, to be missioned by Jesus after the resurrection. Mary Magdalene, one of my favorite saints, has unfortunately been misrepresented by early scholars who mistook her for the woman of ill-repute who washed the feet of Jesus with her hair, the woman who is introduced the chapter before Mary Magdalene is introduced. Whether this was an honest mistake, or a premeditated expression of misogyny, we'll never know. These unfortunate circumstances undermine the fact that Mary Magdalene was a significant leader amongst the disciples and a dear friend.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I believe Mary Magdalene is a great example of leadership for us as women in the church and whatever our charism, or "gift," we are all called to share in the mission of bringing the good news to all those whom we serve. As previously stated, we share a common mission of bringing the kindom of God. Most of us have a good grasp of our own charism of our respective communities thanks to Vatican II.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white;">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;">I think a relevant question for today is how do we as sisters continue the mission of Christ through our charism as leaders in our church, our world, and our communities? In a time of great suffering, uncertainty, and turmoil in our church and in our world, women religious who are already adept at walking on the margins of society, have an opportunity to bring healing, reconciliation, and justice to others like never before. Mary Magdalene probably suffered as a woman leader amongst the disciples. not unlike many of our own women religious of past and present. She was a woman before her time who struggled against the socio-cultural paradigm of 1st century Palestine. I think women religious struggle today with patriarchy but also struggle with how to make our charisms visible and relevant to an ever changing church and world in chaos. But if charism is energy, then we should allow that energy to flow freely. Letting go of the old structures and habits is part of that free flow of energy, a firing and melting of all that which no longer serves us. Combining our energies is also </span><span style="color: #222222;">allowing</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"> that energy to flow freely. what would it look like if we combined and collaborated more in our ministries? What if we combined more living arrangements? I think sometimes we like to reinvent the wheel. How many religious congregations have produced identical documents on human trafficking? Maybe it is through collaboration that we can finally rid ourselves of hierarchical models and mind sets and demonstrate new models of leadership for our church and for our world.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">All of our charisms are immensely beautiful. Once people are touched by them, they become mesmerized and inspired. Indeed, our charisms are inflamed with the Holy Spirit. The foundress of my congregation, Marie-Rose Durocher, had a favorite scripture passage from Luke. I have come to cast fire on the earth, how I wish it were already kindled. If that isn't energy, I don't know what is. How can we cast fire through our charisms as women leaders In our church and in our world?</span></div>
Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-75286044354488148112013-07-09T22:11:00.000-07:002013-07-09T22:11:42.804-07:00Julia Walsh, FSPA - crumpled (poem)At the end of her talk as part of a panel on our intercultural reality on Saturday, Julia Walsh, FSPA shared this poem as a reflection on her ministry at an all boys predominantly African American inner city high school.<br />
<br />
<u>crumpled</u><br />
<br />
<div class="BodyA">
chiseled like 24,</div>
<div class="BodyA">
sounds like 13</div>
<div class="BodyA">
he is light, no dark</div>
<div class="BodyA">
mission made home stand
up</div>
<div class="BodyA">
flat,
soaking hair</div>
<div class="BodyA">
qualified,
hidden pride </div>
<div class="BodyA">
love,
firm, consistent, kind</div>
<div class="BodyA">
glares, eyes rolled</div>
<div class="BodyA">
glazed, head tilts</div>
<div class="BodyA">
another awkward body </div>
<div class="BodyA">
sits like stew on a desk know
this because</div>
<div class="BodyA">
some
people decided </div>
<div class="BodyA">
it’s
very IMPORTANT</div>
<div class="BodyA">
outsider,
no click out- attitude</div>
<div class="BodyA">
flaming-hots litter</div>
<div class="BodyA">
weeds waste round</div>
<div class="BodyA">
astroTurfed field</div>
<div class="BodyA">
but no books or machines a
phone call home for cheaters</div>
<div class="BodyA">
so
lift every voice and sing</div>
<div class="BodyA">
the
bible: not a pillow </div>
<div class="BodyA">
books
of Tubman, Tutu, and King</div>
<div class="BodyA">
homework, undone</div>
<div class="BodyA">
sun-faded dreams</div>
<div class="BodyA">
lockers flood forgotten </div>
<div class="BodyA">
sexting, phones, gum inculturation,
weird recognition</div>
<div class="BodyA">
street-tough
division five hoops recruit-</div>
<div class="BodyA">
i
see you: playful, inner child. i feel you: perfect joy.</div>
<div class="BodyA">
songs
with Thea and to Christ, prayers</div>
<div class="BodyA">
heating that swag</div>
<div class="BodyA">
boy, girl. G. </div>
<div class="BodyA">
plagiarized promises</div>
<div class="BodyA">
just a typical teen sheets
of paper, cloth</div>
<div class="BodyA">
between
both, tired work lives</div>
<div class="BodyA">
body,
shudders through night</div>
<div class="BodyA">
crumpled
by questions, concerns</div>
<div class="BodyA">
wad
up</div>
<div class="BodyA">
the
note</div>
<div class="BodyA">
book
paper</div>
<div class="BodyA">
and
air </div>
<div class="BodyA">
ball
toward the </div>
<div class="BodyA">
can</div>
<div class="BodyA">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div align="right" class="BodyA" style="text-align: right;">
<i>By Julia Walsh FSPA<o:p></o:p></i></div>
Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-79086140094186134532013-07-08T16:47:00.004-07:002013-07-08T16:47:58.885-07:00Press Release: Young Nuns Imagine Ministry with the Poor and Marginalized<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst">
Press Release </div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
July 8, 2013</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Young Nuns Imagine
Future Ministry With Poor and Marginalized</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
BELMONT, CA—Just two
weeks after the “Nuns on the Bus” national tour ended in San Francisco, another
group of Roman Catholic Sisters—these Sisters of the younger variety, aged 25
to 49—gathered in the Bay Area for the Giving Voice National Gathering. These “young nuns,” most of whom are the
youngest members of their religious orders, prayed and reflected on the future
of mission and ministry in the Church and society in the 21st Century. </div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Sister Yolanda Tarango,
CCVI—Congregation Leader of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word and a
renowned Latina theologian—shared her insights on the conference theme of
“Mission and Ministry in the 21st Century.”
“This is a beautiful and challenging time in religious life,” Sister
Yolanda told conference participants on Saturday morning, “because we can be
part of this transition time. The challenge is to read it right, with the eyes
of faith and the strength of history.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“Throughout our
history, Sisters have been called to work with people living on the margins of
society,” said Sister Jessi Beck, a 32 year old member of the Presentation
Sisters of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Dubuque, Iowa. Sister Jessi teaches 2nd grade at an inner
city Catholic School in Chicago and is a member of the conference planning
team. “Today the needs are growing as
the gap between the rich and the poor expands. Having the wisdom of my sisters
in community and a support group of peer age sisters in Giving Voice helps me
to respond to the needs of our day.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
The four-day national
gathering brought together Sisters from more than 30 congregations of women
religious from across North America. “We
love our Sisters in our own communities, but having time with peers who
understand what it is to live in similar circumstances affirms and strengthens
us in our vocations,” said 32 year old Sister Sarah Kohles, a Sister of St.
Francis and a member of the Giving Voice leadership team. </div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
“Mission and ministry
is both one of the most challenging and most rewarding parts of religious
life,” said 31 year old Sister Sarah Heger, a Sister of St. Joseph of
Carondolet from St. Louis, Missouri. In her daily ministry, Sister Sarah
teaches fifth grade girls at an all girls middle school for under-resourced
students in St. Louis with the goal of breaking the cycle of poverty through
education. About the Giving Voice
gathering, she said: “The opportunity to come together as young, excited,
professional sisters, to share our stories, to buoy each other's dreams, to
pray together about the ministries God would invite us to pursue into the
future is a conversation aching to be lived.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Conference participants
creatively imagined what the future ministry of Catholic Sisters might look
like given the growing number of people living in poverty. “In today’s society, the needs of the
marginalized are being left out and services are being cut,” said Sister
Jessica Taylor, a 41 year old Sister of Providence from Seattle,
Washington. Sister Jessica professed
perpetual vows last year and is earning a graduate degree in Pastoral
Counseling. “It is our mission to be the
voice of the voiceless and to help those in need.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Participants also
pondered the gifts and challenges of our increasingly intercultural reality.
The Sisters themselves represented this reality. Simultaneous translation allowed English and
Spanish speaking participants to share in their own language making this a
bilingual conference.</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Throughout the four
days Sisters shared insights gained from a wide variety of ministry
experiences. 31 year old Sister Chero
Chuma, a Sister of St. Joseph of Peace and nursing student at Seattle
University, co-hosts a weekly radio program in her native language (Kalenjiin)
with other Kenyan women living in the United States. Their program is broadcast
globally via the internet and on radio in Kenya on KASS FM. “We use the radio
program to engage issues of justice, especially those impacting women and
people who are living in poverty,” said Sister Chero. This innovative ministry is in addition to
her ministry of health care. “As a
caregiver, I am called to promote holistic care to individuals and families,
relieving pain and suffering, and treating each person in a loving and caring
way.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Roman Catholic vowed
religious life is in the midst of a paradigm shift, as the large novitiate
classes of the 1950s and 1960s age and fewer women enter religious life
today. “I sense that the paradigms of
religious life are shifting right around us and we have a unique and sacred
role to play in building the reign of God,” said 31 year old Sister Julia
Walsh, a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration living in La Crosse,
Wisconsin. “The world needs us to be prophetic mystics and spiritual social
justice centered midwives and mentors to all of God's children as they give
birth to many new forms of Gospel living.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
The four day gathering
was filled with energy as Sisters renewed connections and continued to build a
support network of age peers in religious life.
“Religious life offers a support system for full engagement in the
mission of Jesus, reaching out to those living on the margins of society,
living in poverty, living in violent and dangerous circumstances across the
globe,” said 47 year old Sister Kristin Matthes, one of four Sisters who
founded Giving Voice. Sister Kristin is a Sister of Notre Dame de Namur living
in Washington D.C. She has been
perpetually professed for 22 years. “We
leave the conference energized for our ministries that help to bring about the
Reign of God, the reign of justice and peace, in our world today.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
Giving Voice is a peer
led grassroots national organization of Catholic Sisters under the age of 50
that creates spaces for younger women religious to give voice to their hopes,
dreams and challenges in religious life.
The July conference is the seventh national gathering of younger women
religious organized since 1997 and the first to take place on the West
Coast. Previous gatherings have taken
place in Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee. </div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
NOTE: Contact Sister Susan Francois at
425.233.7280 to arrange a phone
interview with Sisters in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.</div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
###</div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-91650289139029568202013-07-07T12:00:00.000-07:002013-07-07T12:00:02.615-07:00Sunday Morning PrayerOur theme for Sunday is Incarnating Ministry.<br />
<br />
We began our prayer with a reflective reading of the Parable of the Sower:<br />
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea. Such large crowds gathered<br />
around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore. And<br />
he spoke to them at length in parables, saying: “A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seed fell on the path, and birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky ground, where it had little soil. It sprang up at once because the soil was not deep, and when the sun rose it was scorched, and it withered for lack of roots. Some seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it. But some seed fell on rich soil, and produced fruit, a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold. Whoever has ears ought to hear.”<br />
<br />
He said to them in reply, “Because knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been granted to you, but to them it has not been granted. . . . “Hear then the parable of the sower. The seed<br />
sown on the path is the one who hears the word of the kingdom without understanding it, and the evil one comes and steals away what was sown in her heart.The seed sown on rocky ground is the one who hears the word and receives it at once with joy. But she has no root and lasts only for a time. When some tribulation or persecution comes because of the word, she immediately falls away. The seed sown among thorns is the one who hears the word, but then worldly anxiety and the lure of riches choke the word and it bears no fruit. But the seed sown on rich soil is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields a hundred or sixty or thirtyfold."<br />
<br />
We then heard ministry stories from Giving Voice Sisters. We responded to the Scripture reading and the stories by saying:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>We persevere because we love.</li>
<li>Respuesta: Nosotros perseveramos porque amamos.</li>
</ul>
<div>
Sisters were then invited to reflect and share around the following question:</div>
<br />
<div>
<ul>
<li>When have you experienced ministry like the birds, rocks, thorns, and rich soil? Are there other images that come to mind to describe challenges that you face in ministry?</li>
<li></li>
<li>¿Cuándo haz experimentado un ministerio como las aves, rocas, espinas, y suelo rico? ¿Hay otras imágenes que se te ocurren para describir los retos que enfrentas en el ministerio?</li>
</ul>
</div>
Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-15039159133121311642013-07-07T10:00:00.000-07:002013-07-07T10:00:00.787-07:00Monday PrayerWe began Monday morning in contemplative silence reflecting on this prayer poem by Anne Siddal, PBVM.<br />
<br />
Let us give space<br />
to what has not yet<br />
been seen, to what is<br />
waiting for our hospitality.<br />
Let us trust ourselves<br />
into the chaos out of which<br />
the Spirit creates,<br />
forms beyond our imaging.<br />
Here, in the community<br />
of uncertainty, we may hear<br />
the whisperings of the mystic,<br />
gaze in wonder at the artists’ work.<br />
Here is a time, and a space<br />
to be present to what<br />
Mother God struggles to birth: an invitation<br />
To watch and wait with hope.<br />
<br />
We then listened to "By Breath" by Sara Thomsen<br />
<br />
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<embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/5HgOJiJRKMM?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="360" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-39793647178517249902013-07-07T07:28:00.001-07:002013-07-07T07:28:13.586-07:00Breaking Open the Word: Nicole Trahan, FMIDuring our Saturday evening liturgy Giving Voice Sister Nicole Trahan, FMI shared here beautiful heart and mind provoking reflections on the Scripture readings.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.giving-voice.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=85">Read the text of her homily here.</a>Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-87025035612022037062013-07-07T07:25:00.002-07:002013-07-07T07:26:23.013-07:00Saturday Evening Update: Liturgy and Fun<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After a very full and fulfilling day on Saturday, we joined together in prayer during our liturgy with Ricky Manalo, CSP as our presider. Nicole Trahan, FMI broken open the Scripture readings for us. After dinner, we danced, laughed, played kick ball, croquet, and cards, joined in conversation, and took silly photos in an old fashioned photo booth.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">GV liturgy with Ricky Manalo, CSP presiding </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9LBS7R47SDImddjzgZChepcVbheq4DVpJ6C3QLtdWx2OZ5deyK2HSKtOjalhLNulpSxHSDy9tDAxlLZtiSrWECCh5NLT8kbCimTFeZ5X62i7E9wSQfVjJKfjC4Ct3rGZN0535_7Qa3LQE/s1600/Nicole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9LBS7R47SDImddjzgZChepcVbheq4DVpJ6C3QLtdWx2OZ5deyK2HSKtOjalhLNulpSxHSDy9tDAxlLZtiSrWECCh5NLT8kbCimTFeZ5X62i7E9wSQfVjJKfjC4Ct3rGZN0535_7Qa3LQE/s320/Nicole.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nicole Trahan, FMI breaks open the Scripture readings for us</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHu_zMCK86bJ7i-LnUMQ2-99N2QUVFpKpNJpHPPJ9IWH1BY3HPdd7mvDv7Rji6dDq9fgQ-x7Bxs1rJIg15I1cgl29z_vgJFHrZ1a8W6SVMVMpa0l68CKswU270fwNRWJ3s5xVVJt7vJeq/s1600/musicians.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihHu_zMCK86bJ7i-LnUMQ2-99N2QUVFpKpNJpHPPJ9IWH1BY3HPdd7mvDv7Rji6dDq9fgQ-x7Bxs1rJIg15I1cgl29z_vgJFHrZ1a8W6SVMVMpa0l68CKswU270fwNRWJ3s5xVVJt7vJeq/s320/musicians.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.499999046325684px;">Lynn Mousel, HM on piano and Krystal Funk, ASC on the flute</td></tr>
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<tr><td><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcYzI1Xs9bf0j7tgiqfeWmzv3n7RFSUoi6EEDxhJSSKzrKGmfeoAJ9N7LscY4BTracYR_amqf2aj8jab2Ec13e5CggfdISfPrbBekIv3R2Qd3LwSncTEOAypS_LAFF8a4g9QXDRnxGeJT/s1600/SND.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPcYzI1Xs9bf0j7tgiqfeWmzv3n7RFSUoi6EEDxhJSSKzrKGmfeoAJ9N7LscY4BTracYR_amqf2aj8jab2Ec13e5CggfdISfPrbBekIv3R2Qd3LwSncTEOAypS_LAFF8a4g9QXDRnxGeJT/s320/SND.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 12.499999046325684px;">We were joined at our social by some of the Sisters of Notre<br />
Dame de Namur who live on the campus</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">and of course ... young nun dancing</td></tr>
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Last but not least, a few choice photos from our photo booth extravaganza!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jessi Beck, PBVM and Chero Chuma, CSJP</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Susan Francois, CSJP, Jessica Taylor, SP, and Anna Keim, SNJM</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sinsinawa Dominicans Christin Tomy and Priscilla Torres</td></tr>
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Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-27559188839063029262013-07-07T07:04:00.000-07:002013-07-07T07:04:32.795-07:00Saturday Afternoon Update: Intercultural Reality & Going on a MissionAfter lunch on Saturday, we heard from a panel of three Giving Voice Sisters (Lourdes Gomez, CCVI, Chero Chuma, CSJP, and Julia Walsh, FSPA) about the gift and challenge of living the mission of our congregations in our intercultural and diverse reality. These three women spoke deeply from the heart and sparked a wonderful response from Yolanda Tarango, CCVI and a large group conversation.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chero Chuma, CSJP shares about her ministry in health care<br />and with the Kenyan community in the United States</td></tr>
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We then headed outside for an interactive adventure we called: "Going on a Mission." Participants were broken into groups of three and randomly assigned one of three roles. One was blindfolded so that she could not see. Another had a cloth tied around her mouth indicating that she could not speak. And the third had a cloth tied around her legs so that her movement was limited. The groups of three were then given a mission: to cross the parking lot, step up a ledge, make a figure 8 around a group of trees, and then return to their starting place ... as a group!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-1TuSzbkuW2NbOkKTpdlZ5P28S7WLDoPJ4KHQJDj6UUPadPSZxRiWcM1uP98-0BZsVwp0NiOXWK_SZj5f7EC8FWdVf_cs6z5SY5cw-n5n_4UScbz4_JnLmevUZp2W-k8HTZ7n8b9Wlo-/s1600/GoingOnMission3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF-1TuSzbkuW2NbOkKTpdlZ5P28S7WLDoPJ4KHQJDj6UUPadPSZxRiWcM1uP98-0BZsVwp0NiOXWK_SZj5f7EC8FWdVf_cs6z5SY5cw-n5n_4UScbz4_JnLmevUZp2W-k8HTZ7n8b9Wlo-/s320/GoingOnMission3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trio on a mission</td></tr>
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After witness talks by Adiana Calzada, CCVI and Anna Keim, SNJM about what is emerging for them so far through the conference, we ended our day with liturgy, dinner and a social.<br />
<br />Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-65527278630532543412013-07-07T06:41:00.001-07:002013-07-07T06:41:27.133-07:00Saturday Morning UpdateWe gathered again on Saturday morning to launch into our theme for the day, Mission and Charism. As part of our <a href="http://givingvoice2013.blogspot.com/2013/07/saturday-morning-prayer.html">morning prayer</a>, we shared our founding stories and reflected on a wordle made from combining the mission statements of each religious community represented at the conference.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1cO68Py95pdJgj-KtN4Hi907nKkysCf-YMgAqQCqRfnBw0RscXsZ4kZWXmYNVGvAPA2zZio2f-ADiI3ZaDDCD90__yzpAX-KfW9j1TM5rjN4M1cHXYI4WA_aFVNMeSGUyYJYZkkXwq3C/s1600/assembly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiy1cO68Py95pdJgj-KtN4Hi907nKkysCf-YMgAqQCqRfnBw0RscXsZ4kZWXmYNVGvAPA2zZio2f-ADiI3ZaDDCD90__yzpAX-KfW9j1TM5rjN4M1cHXYI4WA_aFVNMeSGUyYJYZkkXwq3C/s320/assembly.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gathered together for prayer</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reflecting on the mission statement wordle</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Alison Green, SSMO shares the story of the<br />
Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon</td></tr>
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<span style="text-align: left;">After morning prayer, Sister Yolanda Tarango, CCVI helped us to break open the concept of charism as something that happens, an energy that comes out of our founding stories into today and the future. We continued the conversation in our small circle groups and then closed the morning by listening to two Giving Voice Responders, Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ and Xiomara Méndez-Hernández, OP.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUbNSOpwRMeACGfNh5CkvDWC8w1pQWVp484moga4zXBzNeWGzqX2v19o9IrL2eFsmFPVyoFxTUnjXlKadOy7MGQm8QWStE_saJYomwuHV1UiFPI5d1b4R39ryBP-p4LD0pflrhJ8Lw-8v/s1600/Yolandashares.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcUbNSOpwRMeACGfNh5CkvDWC8w1pQWVp484moga4zXBzNeWGzqX2v19o9IrL2eFsmFPVyoFxTUnjXlKadOy7MGQm8QWStE_saJYomwuHV1UiFPI5d1b4R39ryBP-p4LD0pflrhJ8Lw-8v/s320/Yolandashares.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yolanda shares her insights with the group</td></tr>
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<br />Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-15635462879085505482013-07-06T12:00:00.000-07:002013-07-06T12:00:03.286-07:00Saturday Morning PrayerOur theme for Saturday is Mission and Charism. We began our morning with a prayer service focused on the founding stories and different charisms of the 30 congregations attending the gathering.<br />
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We listened to the song "Standing Before Us" (<a href="http://www.utexas.edu/gtw/standing%20before%20us.php">listen here!</a>)<br />
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We then reflected on this wordle picture created from the mission statements of our congregations.<br />
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<ul>
<li>How does it speak to you? To what does it invite us?</li>
<li>¿Cómo le habla a usted? ¿A qué nos invita?</li>
</ul>
Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-37589127068511906222013-07-06T07:51:00.000-07:002013-07-06T07:51:06.145-07:00Leslie Keener, CDP on Mission and MinistryRead the<a href="http://www.giving-voice.org/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=84"> text of the GV Response on Mission and Ministry</a> by Giving Voice Core Team Member Leslie Keener, CDP from Friday night.Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-29106251492590732282013-07-06T06:41:00.003-07:002013-07-06T06:49:45.966-07:00Giving Voice Gathering - Friday Update<div class="MsoNormal">
Our conference planning team and various GV volunteers
arrived Friday afternoon in Belmont, California at Notre Dame de Namur University to set up and put
our final plans in motion for the Giving Voice National Gathering.</div>
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<i>Our ritual and gathering space awaits participants</i></div>
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<i>Giving Voice Core Team members Sarah Kohles, OSF and </i></div>
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<i>Leslie Keener,
CDP get the snacks in order</i></div>
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<i>Conference planning team member Jessi Beck, PBVM and <br />GV
volunteer Clare Bass, CSJ set up the crafts table</i></div>
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<i>Jessi Beck, PBVM, Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ and </i></div>
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<i>Sarah Heger, CSJ
catch up before the gathering begins</i></div>
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This year the entire conference will be simultaneously
translated so that conference participants can share from the heart in their
own language. All participants have the option of using translation equipment and we have two wonderful women serving as translators, Cecilia Perez and Teresa Maya, CCVI.</div>
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<i>GV Volunteer Chero Chuma, CSJP and conference planning team </i></div>
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<i>member Teresa Maya, CCVI test the translation equipment. </i></div>
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Yolanda Tarango, CCVI will share her insights on “Mission
and Ministry in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century” throughout the conference. On Friday night she started to break open the
topic. Leslie Keener, CDP gave the GV
response. <br /></div>
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<i>Yolanda and Leslie touch
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<i>Participants will share throughout the conference using the
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At the end of our Friday night opening prayer, we we each reflected on and shared our burning question about
mission and ministry. This will help set the stage for the entire weekend as we break open this key topic as younger women religious.<br />
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<i>Xiomara Méndez-Hernández,
OP gathers the questions.</i></div>
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Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2290079609019889754.post-89305103575796001662013-07-05T21:00:00.000-07:002013-07-05T21:00:03.028-07:00Opening PrayerOn Friday evening our National Gathering began in prayer, contemplation and sharing around the reign of God, a fitting beginning for our conference on "Mission and Ministry in the 21st Century."<br />
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We began by listing to images of the kindom of God from Scripture in English & Spanish:<br />
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<ul>
<li>The kindom of heaven is like a sower who went out to sow . . .</li>
<li>The kindom of heaven may be likened to a person who sowed good seed in the field. While everyone was asleep an enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. . . </li>
<li>The kindom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. . . .</li>
<li>The kindom of heaven is like a treasure buried in a field, which a person finds and hides again, and out of joy goes and sells all that she has and buys that field. . . .</li>
<li>The kindom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. When she finds a pearl of great price, she goes and sells all that she has and buys it. . . .</li>
<li>The kindom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. . . .</li>
<li>The kindom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed with three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened. . . .<br /></li>
<li>El reino de los cielos es como un sembrador que salió a sembrar…</li>
<li>El reino de los cielos es semejante a una persona que sembró buena semilla en el campo. Cuando todos dormían un enemigo vino y sembró cizaña en medio del trigo, y se fue.</li>
<li>El reino de los cielos es semejante a la semilla de mostaza que una persona tomo y sembró en el campo. Es la semilla más pequeña de todas, pero cuando crece es la planta más grande de todas.</li>
<li>El reino de los cielos es semejante a un tesoro enterrado en el campo, que alguien encuentra y vuelve a enterrar y lleno de alegría va y vende todo lo que tiene y compra ese campo.</li>
<li>El reino de los cielos es como una red que se echa al mar y recoge toda clase de peces.</li>
<li>El reino de los cielos es como la levadura que una mujer toma y mezcla con tres medidas de harina hasta que todo el lote a fermentado …</li>
</ul>
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We then listened to "We Are" by Sweet Honey in the Rock (<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsEic8ORhqc">listen here on YouTube!</a>)<br />
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We finished our prayer by reflecting and sharing around the following question:<br />
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<ul>
<li>What burning questions about mission and ministry do we need to ask at this time?</li>
<li>¿Cuáles preguntas referentes a la misión o al ministerio debemos hacer en este momento?</li>
</ul>
Susan Rose Francois, CSJPhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09801188192396918147noreply@blogger.com0