The Crossing Place

This is a very exciting (if challenging) time to be entering religious life. Some may be surprised by this statement. What about the decreasing numbers? What about the lack of vocations? What about the closing of some institutions and the passing off of others to lay collaborators? What about the unknown future??

Early on in my novitiate, a Sister who has since passed on told me that she thought I was very brave for entering at this point when so much is unknown. I paused a moment and told her, "But really, you didn't know what you were signing up for either, even though you thought you did. Could you have guessed when you entered where Vatican II and the renewal of religious life would take you and the community?." She thought about it quietly and said, "No, I guess you're right. The difference I suppose is that those of you entering today know that you don't know, whereas we thought we had the benefit of surety."

I've been thinking a lot about that conversation as we move towards our General Chapter this weekend. Like most religious communities - especially in this country - we are facing the reality of an aging population. The large groups of Sisters that entered during the boom years of religious life are getting older (and, if I might add, aging quite gracefully). And even though we do have women entering today, the numbers are smaller. Do the math, and you begin to understand the challenges of this time.

But what excites me is that we, like most other communities, are not just standing idly by. Instead, we are gathering to "choose our preferred future," as our Congregation Leader Sr. Sheila puts it.

Other communities with common roots have joined together in an effort to share resources and responsibilities more effectively for the sake of mission, such as the new US-Ontario Province of the Holy Names Sisters, the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas, and the Sisters of St Joseph Federation. (As an aside, even though the CSJPs have "St Joseph" in our name, we do not share their common foundation at LePuy, France but have a unique history.) One of the main agenda items at our General Chapter is becoming "One Congregation Without Provinces." In a sense, we've been moving in this direction already. For example, I've been part of the first "Congregation Novitiate" with novices from across the Congregation.

The theme of our Chapter is "The Crossing Place ... Come." I think Sr. Sheila puts it all in great context in her Convocation Letter, so I'll leave you with her words:

In a real sense our participation is a communal response to obedience. In God's providence we are given this particular time in history as blessing and challenge. Your participation is a declaration of your trust in God's faithfulness to work among us. Your participation is a commitment to the Congregation of your desire to join together to cross over to shape our preferred future. We are confident that the strength of our coming together will be robust enough to risk crossing over into the unknown for the next six years. It is in this time, given our present realities, that we are called to make a difference and to influence what is happening to suffering people around the globe and to an anguished planet so that the good news of the Gospel of Peace may be known and embraced. What more important time in the life of the Congregation than now?

Today as I convoke the Twenty-first General Chapter I invite you once again to look and probe the meaning of the Chapter theme in light of the two critical focus areas that have been named. Let the theme, Crossing Place, reverberate through your present reality through a variety of lenses: the transitions in your personal life; the transitions that are happening throughout the Congregation; and the suffering that continues to escalate in our world and on our planet. May we be united daily as we pray the Chapter Prayer and call on the God of new life to walk with us in the days and months ahead. The Crossing Place - Come!