GV Harvest of National Gathering - Susan Francois, CSJP

On Monday morning, GV Core Team member Susan Francois, CSJP gave a Harvest of the fruits of our four days together.  Click on this link to read her words (and see the pictures she reflected upon).

Anna Keim, SNJM - Witness Talk

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:

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.

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.

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 allowing 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.

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?

Julia 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.

crumpled

chiseled like 24,

sounds like 13

he is light, no dark

mission made home                              stand up

                                                            flat, soaking hair

                                                            qualified, hidden pride

                                                            love, firm, consistent, kind

glares, eyes rolled

glazed, head tilts

another awkward body

sits like stew on a desk                   know this because

                                                            some people decided

                                                            it’s very IMPORTANT

                                                            outsider, no click out- attitude

flaming-hots litter

weeds waste round

astroTurfed field

but no books or machines              a phone call home for cheaters

                                                            so lift every voice and sing

                                                            the bible: not a pillow

                                                            books of Tubman, Tutu, and King

homework, undone

sun-faded dreams

lockers flood forgotten

sexting, phones, gum                     inculturation, weird recognition

                                                            street-tough division five hoops recruit-

                                                            i see you: playful, inner child. i feel you: perfect joy.

                                                            songs with Thea and to Christ, prayers

heating that swag

boy, girl. G.

plagiarized promises

just a typical teen                             sheets of paper, cloth

                                                            between both, tired work lives

                                                            body, shudders through night

                                                            crumpled by questions, concerns

                                    wad up

                                    the note

                                    book paper

                                    and air

                                    ball toward the

                                                            can

By Julia Walsh FSPA

Press Release: Young Nuns Imagine Ministry with the Poor and Marginalized

Press Release

July 8, 2013

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Young Nuns Imagine Future Ministry With Poor and Marginalized

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. 

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.”

“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.” 

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. 

“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.”

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.”

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.

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

NOTE:   Contact Sister Susan Francois at 425.233.7280 to arrange a phone  interview with Sisters in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.

###

Sunday Morning Prayer

Our theme for Sunday is Incarnating Ministry.

We began our prayer with a reflective reading of the Parable of the Sower:
On that day, Jesus went out of the house and sat down by the sea.  Such large crowds gathered
around him that he got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd stood along the shore.  And
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.”

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
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."

We then heard ministry stories from Giving Voice Sisters.  We responded to the Scripture reading and the stories by saying:

• We persevere because we love.
• Respuesta:  Nosotros perseveramos porque amamos.

Sisters were then invited to reflect and share around the following question:

• 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?
• ¿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?

Monday Prayer

We began Monday morning in contemplative silence reflecting on this prayer poem by Anne Siddal, PBVM.

Let us give space
to what has not yet
been seen, to what is
waiting for our hospitality.
Let us trust ourselves
into the chaos out of which
the Spirit creates,
forms beyond our imaging.
Here, in the community
of uncertainty, we may hear
the whisperings of the mystic,
gaze in wonder at the artists’ work.
Here is a time, and a space
to be present to what
Mother God struggles to birth: an invitation
To watch and wait with hope.

We then listened to "By Breath" by Sara Thomsen

Breaking Open the Word: Nicole Trahan, FMI

During our Saturday evening liturgy Giving Voice Sister Nicole Trahan, FMI shared here beautiful heart and mind provoking reflections on the Scripture readings.

Read the text of her homily here.

Saturday Evening Update: Liturgy and Fun

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.

GV liturgy with Ricky Manalo, CSP presiding 

Nicole Trahan, FMI breaks open the Scripture readings for us

Lynn Mousel, HM on piano and Krystal Funk, ASC on the flute

We were joined at our social by some of the Sisters of Notre
Dame de Namur who live on the campus

and of course ... young nun dancing

  Last but not least, a few choice photos from our photo booth extravaganza!

Jessi Beck, PBVM and Chero Chuma, CSJP

Susan Francois, CSJP, Jessica Taylor, SP, and Anna Keim, SNJM

Sinsinawa Dominicans Christin Tomy and Priscilla Torres

Saturday Afternoon Update: Intercultural Reality & Going on a Mission

After 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.

Chero Chuma, CSJP shares about her ministry in health care
and with the Kenyan community in the United States

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!

Trio on a mission

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.

Saturday Morning Update

We gathered again on Saturday morning to launch into our theme for the day, Mission and Charism. As part of our morning prayer, we shared our founding stories and reflected on a wordle made from combining the mission statements of each religious community represented at the conference.

Gathered together for prayer

Reflecting on the mission statement wordle

Alison Green, SSMO shares the story of the
Sisters of St. Mary of Oregon

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.

Yolanda shares her insights with the group

Saturday Morning Prayer

Our 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.

We listened to the song "Standing Before Us" (listen here!)

We then reflected on this wordle picture created from the mission statements of our congregations.

• How does it speak to you? To what does it invite us?
• ¿Cómo le habla a usted? ¿A qué nos invita?

Leslie Keener, CDP on Mission and Ministry

Read the text of the GV Response on Mission and Ministry by Giving Voice Core Team Member Leslie Keener, CDP from Friday night.

Giving Voice Gathering - Friday Update

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.

Our ritual and gathering space awaits participants

Giving Voice Core Team members Sarah Kohles, OSF and 

Leslie Keener, CDP get the snacks in order

Conference planning team member Jessi Beck, PBVM and
GV volunteer Clare Bass, CSJ set up the crafts table

Jessi Beck, PBVM, Juliet Mousseau, RSCJ and 

Sarah Heger, CSJ catch up before the gathering begins

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.

GV Volunteer Chero Chuma, CSJP and conference planning team 

member Teresa Maya, CCVI test the translation equipment. 

Yolanda Tarango, CCVI will share her insights on “Mission and Ministry in the 21^st Century” throughout the conference.  On Friday night she started to break open the topic.  Leslie Keener, CDP gave the GV response.

Yolanda and Leslie touch base before the gathering opens Friday night.

Participants will share throughout the conference using the circle process.

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.

Xiomara Méndez-Hernández, OP gathers the questions.

Opening Prayer

On 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."

We began by listing to images of the kindom of God from Scripture in English & Spanish:

• The kindom of heaven is like a sower who went out to sow . . .
• 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. . . 
• 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. . . .
• 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. . . .
• 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. . . .
• The kindom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea, which collects fish of every kind. . . .
• 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. . . .
  
• El reino de los cielos es como un sembrador que salió a sembrar…
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• El reino de los cielos es como una red que se echa al mar y recoge toda clase de peces.
• 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 …

We then listened to "We Are" by Sweet Honey in the Rock (listen here on YouTube!)

We finished our prayer by reflecting and sharing around the following question:

• What burning questions about mission and ministry do we need to ask at this time?
• ¿Cuáles preguntas referentes a la misión o al ministerio debemos hacer en este momento?

Press: Catholic San Francisco

Young sisters to gather in Bay Area for national convention

July 3rd, 2013

Under-50 Catholic sisters will gather at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont July 5-8 for the Giving Voice National Gathering. The sisters, most of whom are the youngest members of their religious orders, will pray and reflect on the future of mission and ministry in the church and society in the 21st century. Sister Yolanda Tarango, congregation leader of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word and a renowned theologian, will share her insights on the conference theme of “Mission and Ministry in the 21st Century.”

The four-day national gathering will bring together vowed women religious from across North America representing more than 30 religious orders. Participants will pray, reflect and creatively imagine what the future ministry of Catholic sisters might look like given the growing number of people living in poverty or on the margins on society as well as the increasing intercultural reality. The sisters themselves represent this intercultural reality, and simultaneous translation will allow English- and Spanish-speaking participants to share in their own language.

Religious life is in the midst of an historic shift, as the large novitiate classes of the 1950s and 1960s age and fewer women enter religious life today. On July 8, the sisters will participate in an outdoor interactive exercise to imagine “going on a mission” in smaller numbers in the future.

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.

For more information, visit www.giving-voice.org.

From July 5, 2013 issue of Catholic San Francisco.

- See more at: http://www.catholic-sf.org/ns.php?newsid=27&id=61576#sthash.2Dwfakgz.dpuf