LCWR 2011
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Sister Tiziana Merletti and Sr. Joanne Schuster joined approximately 650 other leaders of 334 Catholic Congregations as they explored the future at the annual meeting of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious held August 9 to 12 in Garden Grove, California. The conference theme was ‘Mystery Unfolding: Religious Life for the World.’
Throughout the assembly, participants had opportunities to deepen their reflection on the assembly experience and share insights as to where God is leading U.S. women religious in the giving birth to something new. It is a form of contemplation, though similar to Centering Prayer or mindfulness meditation, but differs in two ways: It begins with a specific focus and ends with a sharing of insights. What results is a dialogue among participants that goes far deeper instead of wider, embracing the breadth of movement of the Spirit.
To Practice a Gospel Alternative During Times of Great Change
Six women religious carrying lighted candles led Benedictine Sr. Maricarmen Bracamontes to the podium. Then all the sisters in attendance extended their right hands as they chanted a blessing: "Receive strength and light; receive power, receive love." A Mexican theologian, Sr. Maricarmen gave the assembly keynote address in Spanish -- the first time the keynote was delivered in a language other than English. Sr. Maricarmen seemed delighted to address them. Referring to a Vatican study of U.S. women's religious communities, she said, "The apostolic visitation really had to do with your intellectual formation in different areas and your involvement in civil organizations, and that has increased our respect for you! You are our role models."
In her address, "A Reflection on the Twilight of Traditional Institutions," Sister Maricarmen said that the world is passing through "extraordinarily great change.” She cited several recent political and economic crises, including the Arab Spring uprisings and the Italian protest against the sexual misconduct of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as signs that a transformation is occurring throughout the world.
Other Forms of Religious Life And Being Church Can Become Possible
People are no longer willing to endure oppressive systems; they seek freedom and justice. We have to follow God's dream in terms of values, relationships, institutions and systems. “To practice a Gospel alternative," she said, "we need to de-construct the domination-submission model that most of us have internalized and which is an underlying condition of our cultures. Once we realize that cultural models are human creations and, therefore, can be changed and adapted, we become more creative and dynamic in our search for transforming alternatives. Other worlds become possible, other ways of being church become possible, other forms of religious life become possible." She called on women religious to probe "Christian Memory," to make the conscious choice to be attentive to the groans of the divine "Ruah," the breath of God, that "is hovering over the darkness of our decaying civilization, yearning to bring forth the light."
Women Religious Embody Ways of Relating in Equal Partnership
Scripture scholar Sister Barbara E. Reid, OP, in her keynote, “Embodying Holy Mystery,” offered a biblical perspective on various aspects of mystery that women religious embody and into which they are called to lead others: the mystery of God revealed in creation and beyond gender and the mystery of death as birth pangs of hope. “God creates a stream. And when the human being needs a companion, God creates woman. The literary structure,” Reid said, “points to the creation of woman as the pinnacle of creation.” Rather than seeing woman as subordinate to man, these and other Scriptural texts, which Reid illustrated with specific Hebrew words, show that both man and woman are created in God’s image as equals. To bring about relationships between men and women that reflect this equality both in the church and society, however, will require much work.
Women religious, Sr. Barbara emphasized, can play a unique role in advocating for equality and justice for women and girls and in embodying ways of relating in equal partnership. Working from the premise that God abides within, she said that God is drawing us inward into love, and impelling us outward in ever creative patterns of generative love. “In our day,” she concluded, “… the re-forming occurring is a sign of life and vitality, of being in harmony with the dynamics of the cosmos.”
What is the ‘New” that is emerging?
Outgoing president Dominican Sister Mary Hughes talked about the future, asking, "What is the 'new’ that is emerging even as the ground shifts beneath our feet?" She also talked about situations of "intense suffering" around the world, urging LCWR members to be agents of forgiveness and reconciliation. She gave examples of saints who endured suffering and oppression, but still conveyed a message of forgiveness and reconciliation. Forgiveness emanates from freedom, she said. It comes from tapping into a wellspring of compassion, but it never pretends that all is well. Otherwise, forgiveness would not be needed. She described four conditions needed for forgiveness:
• Abandoning ‘the right’ to resentment;
• Seeking reconciliation rather than revenge;
• Letting go of hoping for a better past so that you can create a better future;
• Letting go of negative attachment to hurt.
Election of Officers
Sister Patricia Farrell, vice president of the Sisters of St. Francis of Dubuque IA, assumed the role of president for 2011-2012 at the conclusion of LCWR's assembly. The new president-elect is Sister Florence Deacon, a Sister of St. Francis of Assisi from Wisconsin. She has represented Franciscans at the United Nations and around the world, including as director of the New York office of Franciscans International. She has been an LCWR leader for the past 10 years at the regional and national levels.
Collective, Concrete Action
Throughout the assembly participants contemplated how they might best respond collectively to the current needs of the world and what that response might require of those in religious life today. The Sisters confronted institutional domination through two concrete actions to end sex trafficking in hotels and to pass immigration reform. LCWR representatives met August 10 with the sales and marketing director of the Hyatt Regency Hotel, where the assembly took place, to seek the hotel's commitment to the Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. The second action came at the end of a panel discussion on immigration reform in which three immigrant women described the economic struggles that precipitated their emigration and how their parents labored in the U.S. to keep their families together. Eventually two of the women gained legal status.
Assembly Statement on Civil Discourse that Promotes the Common Good
http://www.lcwr.org/lcwrannualassembly/2011/commongood.doc
LCWR also unanimously approved a resolution to actively seek to strengthen bonds with women religious throughout the world. The assembly passed a second resolution urging lawmakers to return to "civil discourse that promotes the common good, reaches out to others, engages in constructive dialogue and seeks together the way forward." The statement said: "We weep to see our country torn asunder by partisanship, increasing disparities in wealth and power, and a refusal to acknowledge the positive role government should play. We commit ourselves to this same call and to hold these concerns at the center of our prayer and to respond in love."
It was a week filled with intellectual, spiritual and social challenges – and it is not a week that any of us will soon forget! However, we did find a little time to share meals, dialogue with peers and to enjoy the wonder of God’s creation.
- Sr. Joanne Schuster