Global Sisters Report: Critical Yeast for this Crucial Time

My latest column has been posted for the Global Sisters Report. The publication schedule means that my columns tend to be published about a month or so after I write them. Consequently, it's always an interesting exercise to re-read now what I thought then, and see what still resonates.

This month's column is religious life focused and offers a metaphor that I have found useful from John Paul Lederach's book The Moral Imagination: The Art & Soul of Building Peace, namely critical yeast.

Often times, when we find ourselves facing supposed impossibility, it is because we do not think that we have the critical mass needed to overcome the situation. ...

Lederach offers an alternative image to critical mass that he names critical yeast.Instead of asking a question about quantity, how many people, Lederach challenges us to ask who, which people, in this situation, “would have a capacity, if they were mixed and held together, to make things grow, exponentially, beyond their numbers?” (pg. 91). Put another way, what mix of people might make the good stuff of life grow and spread?

As I ponder the present reality and my hopes for the future of religious life, I find myself returning again and again to Lederach’s metaphor of critical yeast.  It has been especially helpful in imagining the path forward as we face a time of rapid demographic change and the small-scaling of North American religious life.

You can read my entire column at the Global Sisters Report. I also really recommend Lederach's book. It's almost 10 years old but it is so fresh and offers real creative invitations for thinking and acting in ways that build peace in the midst of our complex global realty.

Re-reading my column now that it's posted, having just come back from an incredible 3 weeks with community where the life, energy, and passion was palpable as we pondered ways to engage the needs of today in new ways through our charism of peace through justice , I find myself smiling.
In many ways, what we were about was embracing the power of critical yeast.

Now, to move forward together as community for mission and make the vision real!

Embodying Hope

I have been privileged to spend the last 3 and a half days in sacred space and in the company of holy women.  At the invitation of our Congregation Leadership Team, the seven Sisters of St. Joseph of Peace who have entered community in the last decade met with some Sisters in leadership, vocation, and formation roles to share our experiences, hopes, and dreams. We had an agenda and a marvelous facilitator, but what happened was beyond our imagining and will, I am sure, lead to some incredible hope-filled dreams becoming reality.

This was the first time the seven of us had all been together. Some of us know each other well, but as there are essentially two main formation groups, we had never before mixed and mingled or even shared our stories.  We come from very diverse backgrounds and experiences, but the common threads were astonishing and deeply moving.

We say in community that something special happens when we come together in person, and this experience was yet another embodiment of that reality. It was also an emodiment of hope. The energy was palpable in the room. Our charism of peace through justice was alive. And on more than one occasion, I felt the presence of Margaret Anna Cusack (known in religion as Mother Francis Clare, our founder).

Our reality is that we are separated on a regular basis by many thousands of miles. But we have a deep connection now to each other that I know will continue to grow and bear much fruit. I'm also aware that as we welcome those who are "yet to come" to our circle, we will be even more enriched, challenged, and inspired.

As we say in our Constitutions .... we face the future with gratitude and hope!

New Global Sisters Report Column: Shifting Conversations in Religious Life

My latest monthly Horizons column on Global Sisters Report was posted yesterday! I actually wrote it last month when I was visiting my CSJP Sisters in Seattle. The topic of this column is one I've been reflecting and writing on for some time now, namely moving away from a focus on "diminishment" in religious life and instead focusing on what I sense is one of the particular gifts of this time in religious life, demographic change.  Here's a snippet:

I’ve been inviting sisters I know, young and old, to abandon the “D-word" in favor of a more descriptive term –“demographic change.”  For one thing, as it is more descriptive rather than value based, the term is less energy zapping than the “D-word." ... 

When we focus on diminishment, we focus on what it is that we think we are losing. When we focus on demographic change, we can look lovingly at our reality and ask curious questions. What might God be up to with this radical shift in the landscape of religious life? What choices, actions, and plans can we make now that might help us to receive God’s gifts for religious life, for the church, and for the world? Are we likely to find easy answers to these questions? No. But I suspect that by shifting our focus to the gift of demographic change, we will be better able to access the creative energy of the Holy Spirit.

Visit the Global Sisters Report to read the whole column.  I'd love to know if this resonates with your experience or if you see this time in religious life differently.

Shining the Lights

Many moons ago, in the early days of this blog, I wrote a little post about the application process for entering the formation process with the Sisters. And, as part of that process, I visited a priest psychologist at a local parish (who happened to be an internationally recognized expert) who did a behavioral assessment for the benefit of the community I hoped to join.

And, after the 3 hours spent answering intimate and personal questions, I went outside to my car to drive the hour and a half back home, and .... my car battery had died.  It had been foggy when I had arrived on windy country roads and I'd left my lights on. I had to take a deep breath, suck in my pride, and head back inside to find someone to help me. As it happened, I wandered the halls of the parish until I found the same priest psychologist who found the parish maintenance man (on his lunch) who helped me jump my car.

Well .... today I will have the opportunity to "look behind the hood" of the process! To shine the lights on how the questions he asked are relevant to the potential to life religious life.

Because you see ... I'm starting a workshop with the SAME priest psychologist on how to do a behavioral assessment with candidates for religious life.

Funny the paths life takes!

Flowers in the Window

I was reminded in prayer this morning of this quote from the founder of my religious community, Margaret Anna Cusack (known in religion as Mother Francis Clare):

For as you know, the religious orders in the Church of God are like the flowers in a garden each has its own use, its own duty, its own special perfume and is own beauty. All are good because all have the Divine sanction. All are useful because each has is own special work. Hence let us love and care for all as far as it is in our power to do so and let us rejoice in their joys and sorrow in their griefs. - Margaret Anna Cusack, General Letter to the Congregation, April 1887

Really, my ENTIRE religious life has been spent both in the "garden of my community," and in the context of the larger "flower garden of religious life." One gift of this time of demographic change in religious life is that I have journeyed with women and men religious from a whole variety of congregations since the very beginning. It started with my religious formation and experience of intercongregational novitiate and has continued with Giving Voice and now my studies here at CTU. The newest generations of religious are inherently connected across congregations. I can't help but think that this is a work of the Spirit.

Yesterday I was privileged to spend the day with new and more seasoned vocation directors from multiple religious congregations to learn together about ethical issues in vocation ministry. In fact, I'll be spending time in this mixed religious life flower garden for the next two weeks!

Because of this time in religious life I just described, I already knew a handful of people in the group. I have friends in common with others. And even though some are new, they will be added to my religious life network by the end of the two weeks. What gift!

After praying with the quote from Margaret Anna, I was reminded of this song by the Scottish indie pop band Travis, "Flowers in the Window."

 

I you just read the lyrics, you'll see why this is a perfect song to pray in gratitude for this time of connection and cross pollination in religious life!

wow look at you now
flowers in the window
it's such a lovely day
and i'm glad you feel the same
cos to stand up
out in the crowd
you are one in a million
and i love you so let's watch the flowers grow
there is no reason to feel bad
but there are many seasons to feel sad glad mad
it's just a bunch of feelings that we have to hold
but i am here to help you with the load
wow look at you now
flowers in the window
it's such a lovely day and i'm glad you feel the same
cos to stand up
out in the crowd
you are one in a million
and i love you so let's watch the flowers grow

Unexpected Joy ... Remembering the Joy of My Call to Religious Life

There's an article in NCR about the Papal letter to religious issued in anticipation of 2015, the Year of Consecrated Life. The letter is titled "Rejoice!" but is only in Italian so far so I've not read it, but I did read this in the NCR article:

Preparing for the Year for Consecrated Life, members of religious orders, secular institutes and consecrated virgins are asked to spend a considerable amount of time remembering the joy they felt when they first realized God was calling them.

"Pope Francis has asked us to let our hearts dwell on a freeze-frame of the joy of 'the moment when Jesus looked at me,'" said Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz and Archbishop Jose Rodriguez Carballo, respectively prefect and secretary of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

When I read this article on my smartphone on the bus on the way to visit my Dad, I immediately flashed back to my moment of unexpected joy, which took place in a very unexpected place ... the women's bathroom on the 1st floor of the Portland City Hall (2nd window to the right of the rotunda on the 1st floor!).

Can't quite picture it? I can't blame you. It's an odd spot for such a moment. But luckily I already shared the moment on the way back machine that is this blog in a post from the days of my discernment entitled "Unexpected Joy." I wrote this when I was applying for candidacy with my now community:

There comes a point in Harry Potter when Harry needs to remember a moment when he was truly happy in order to fend off some foul creatures that want to eat his soul. His first memories weren't strong enough - they were the run of the mill happy. In the end he needed to find a truly joyous moment.

This all got me thinking about a moment when I was very unexpectedly filled with joy. It was back when I was first beginning to stop actively ignoring this tug I was feeling in my heart. I'd starting talking to my pastor about the direction my life was going and where God was calling me. I'd been dancing around the realization that all signs were pointing to religious life. As I think I've written here before, I wasn't too terribly excited about the idea intellectually. But then the joy hit me. In the bathroom at work of all places. I remember looking in the mirror, washing my hands, filled with joy at the wondrous possibility that I could become a Sister. I could use my gifts to serve God and help transform the world. I was literally bursting with joy. I wanted to tell the whole world. Instead I was a good bureaucrat and went back to my desk to what seemed even more like drudgery in comparison to the joyous possibilities that lay ahead for me to explore.

I've got the last part of my groovy sister application coming up on Wednesday - the dreaded psychological evaluation. It'll be fine I know but I am of course somewhat nervous. But, like Harry, I'm planning to hold on to the memory of this joyous moment in the bathroom to see me through.

Of course, little did I know there's a bit of drudgery in every life, even when it's your calling. But the joy is still there, bubbling up sometimes more than others, but always present, especially when I am with my Sisters or working for peace through justice or using my talents and gifts in little ways to serve God and help transform the world. And that, my friends, is pure gift!