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The Blogging Nun
January, 2007
January 30, 2007
Anika - St. Joseph Worker
Recently I asked one of our volunteers to sit down with one of our St. Joseph Workers and to write up his comments on their conversation to share on this blog.
This is what he wrote.
“I wanted my life to have wholeness. Like others I found myself compartmentalizing 9 to 5 for work and dividing what was left, to whatever, was stressful,” says Anika Walz. “But what I really wanted was to count, to be part of building a better society, a better world, a better environment. At 23 my contribution to the world is to give hope to those who are having trouble with their idealism.”
Anika has a sense for where the action is in today’s world. At 18 she headed for college telling friends and family, she was going to be a Bio-Chemistry major. She checked in with the activities of the campus ministry team and soon found herself changing her major to Justice and Peace Studies. Anika wanted things. She wanted to be an activist, she wanted to be around others who challenged her, and she wanted in a way that allowed her life in the spirit to grow.
Nothing is by accident, and neither is Anika Walz’ approach to her life. Once around a variety of social activists, she found mentors, she found allies and she discovered that she really wanted to spend up to a year in living in an intentional community. She needed some place to put all her wants under one roof, or with one group.
She was at the College of St. Catherine when she met the Sisters of St. Joseph. They were inviting women to a new program in which young women would give up to a year in the service of others and to live in intentional community. This would mean Anika and others would share the life of the spirit and service to others as a small Christian community. She decided to join the St. Joseph Worker Program in St. Paul, Minnesota.
At least for one year Anika has re-organized her needs and wants. Her goal to help make a difference in social justice is not an after work activity, it is her 9-to-5 job. She is Program Organizer for the Minnesota Council of Churches. Her four projects include
(1) coordinating a radio program on the mission of leadership for the common good; (2) working with other staff to prepare for this year’s state legislative issues; (3) working on the coalition for Darfur Relief efforts; and (4) becoming more involved in the complexity of immigration and the need for justice.
Anika Walz talks fast, but her answers are profound and thoughtful. She knows well how she wants to spend her time here. She is energized by the current weave of her life. She found that the other Workers and her many mentors at work and in the religious community put the spin on her life that she wants for now.
Some of her friends have asked if she is training to be a religious sister, a nun. She says she is not called to that, at least not now. She is called to contribute and to serve others and for the present time, to do this as a St. Joseph Worker. When asked about next year, she laughs and her eyes light up as she starts a conversation about Kenya and the need for the people in the villages to have water wells.
-- Chuck McDonald
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January 15, 2007
Sisters of St. Joseph, Acting Together
In the previous blog I gave a peek into our Sisters’ gathering called a Province Chapter where we discern our future service. Part of this meeting prepares us for an even larger gathering that will take place this summer. That gathering will convene Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet from all over the world. The Province Chapter focuses on our local reality; the Congregational Chapter focuses on our international reality.
Every six years several hundred Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet and a many of our lay Associates from across the mainland United States, Hawaii, Japan, and Peru gather to strategize our focus for the next six years out. Our decisions on where we want to focus energy and action are called Acts of Chapter. Members from each Province gathered at the Congregational Chapter will go back to their home cities and determine concrete ways they can think globally and act locally on the new Acts of Chapter.
Each Congregational Chapter begins with reports on accomplishments from the previous Chapter. This coming summer, 2007, when we gather for our next Congregational Chapter we will hear the results to the 2001 Acts of Chapter that I list here.
2001 ACTS OF CHAPTER
Introduction
Congregational Chapter 2001 used the image of the spiral to express the call of the Congregation. This image shaped our process content and outcomes. In a spiral there is a dynamic of motion and energy flowing into the center or heart of the spiral and flowing back out. In the spiraling in and out, energy is exchanged released, modified. At the very heart of our spiral considerations, we discovered communion. Communion suggests that our deepest connections, our rooted-ness in God and with creation impel us to share our very selves with the “dear neighbor.” Communion is the origin of that energy which frees us to move outward with our world in need. To continue in mission, communion reflects that quality of relating which leads to the experience of being at one with God, ourselves and the dear neighbor, as expressed in the Consensus Statement, our constitution and complementary Document, and the Acts of previous Chapters. The Congregational Chapter challenges us to live the reality of communion.
The spiral image continues to influence us. As the Chapter developed focus topics, we realized that there are many points of entry and energy in the spiral movement. We saw that each focus topic is related to the others and that communion is the lens through which we view them.
ACTS
1. COMMUNION WITH THE SACRED: SPIRITUALITY
Rooted in Gospel values, we desire to move always toward a deeper awareness of the Divine. We recognize that all of life and creation is interconnected and sacred. Our Constitution calls us to see relationship with God as living and changing. Prayer opens us to share in the mission of Jesus and to transformation which is the gift of the Spirit. We call ourselves to respect and love that which others hold sacred (Acts of Chapter 1997) We challenge ourselves to continuing conversion and attentiveness to the dynamic of spiritual development.
Mindful that our spirituality cannot be separated from our CSJ identity and the Gospel call to be one with the dear neighbor, we commit ourselves to:
· Deepen our understanding of and reflection on CSJS charism, core documents, and contemporary theologies and cosmologies
· Support and participate in opportunities for spiritual enrichment
· Create and engage in opportunities for sharing our insights and experiences, both within the congregation and beyond
· Recognize and reverence the diverse ways in which we experience the Divine
· Be open to the variety of ways in which we pray
2. COMMUNION WITH CREATION: RELATIONSHIP WITH EARTH
Our belief that all of life and creation is sacred motivates our urgent concern for Earth, our home. Its beauty and richness enliven our spirit. Survival of the life stems of Earth is threatened due to the destructive aspects of globalization and other human behaviors. We recognize that those who are economically poor are affected most immediately and intensely by this crisis. We acknowledge our own complicity. We will continue to join with others on working for systemic changes that will enable all to live in right relationship with Earth,
We commit ourselves to:
· Study new theological and scientific understandings of the interconnectedness of all creation
· Deepen our understanding of globalization, especially its effects on people who are economically poor and on Earth itself
· Acknowledge and resist the negative impact with globalization, greed, and racism Continue to raise our consciousness of and change our own patterns of consumption are having on the well-being and survival of diverse cultures and species
· Identify specific issues on which to act individually and collectively and develop concrete plans to address them
· Call forth the power of creativity through our imagination and the arts to provide expressions and experiences of right relationship with all creation
· Reflect, evaluate, ritualize and celebrate our efforts.
3. COMMUNION WITH EACH OTHER:
CONTINUOUSLY REVITALIZING COMMUNITY
"A spirituality of communion expresses itself visibly in community.”
Our communion with each other and all creation compels us to revitalize our community life for the sake of mission. The Gospel calls us to enter into union with Jesus in the life-death –resurrection mystery of being a human community in and for the world. When we commit to community in an intentional way, there is both joy and tension as we attempt to listen attentively to each other and the dear neighbor.” We challenge ourselves to embrace a deepening communion among us.
We commit ourselves to:
· Acquire and practice the skills necessary to develop community
· Allow the multicultural and multigenerational realities of our congregation and our ministries to touch and change us
· Live community in a way that promotes our health and well-being and invites others to join us
· Witness by our lives together that community is possible
4. COMMUNION WITH THE CHURCH:
RIGHT RELATIONSHIP AND JUSTICE
As church we are impelled by the urgent desire that we be true to our mission
We committee ourselves to:
· Organize dialog among ourselves about our understanding of and relationship with the institutional church
· Promote local diocesan, national and international dialogue regarding right relationship and justice within the Church
5. COMMUNION WITH THE “DEAR NEIGHBOR” COLLECTIVE POWER FOR MISSION
Action on behalf of justice is constitutive to living the Gospel
As a Congregation, we claim our collective power in an age when the righting of relationships is urgent. We collaborate with other groups whenever possible.
We commit ourselves to:
· Act collectively when justice demands it, especially when our corporate power could significantly influence an issue
· Commission the Congregational Leadership Group to set up processes for intracongregational and intracongregational dialogue and responses to issues
· Direct the Congregational Leadership Group to develop procedure for Congregational Leadership to speak publicly on issues on behalf of the Congregation Learn ad use models of systemic change.
In future blogs I will explain ways our Sisters have responded to these acts over the past six years.
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January 12, 2007
Future Light
There is so much going on here! I can hardly keep up with this crowd of nuns, and I am one of them!
This weekend we began our Province Chapter meetings. Part one of a Chapter may be comparable to a State of the Union. The second part is visioning. Our members gather to ask ourselves big questions such as, “What unmet needs do we see locally? Globally? How do we want to respond? What do we need to do to get there?”
They are exciting questions. It is even more exciting to live into the answers. There is always at least one guaranteed outcome: by our good works you will know us. I’ll keep you informed as other outcomes begin to materialize.
When I enter the room where our Community gathers for the Chapter meetings, I remember the Sisters who came before me, our torch bearers, women with incredible strength and wisdom. I try to carry their light in me as we discern our future direction.
I remember as well that there are many young adults for whom our Sisters are torch bearers. And there are our St. Joseph Workers who are learning to carry the torch as well. Whether we know it or not each of us have someone or someones who look to us for the light. To whom are you a torch bearer?
Let me end with an enlightening moment from Megan, our St. Joseph Worker who works with high school students.
She writes: “It was a drab Monday morning. That it followed some awesome community time spent with my St. Joseph Worker housemates made it seem even worse. However, I wasn’t the only one with Monday blues; Cretin Derham Hall high school had a bad case of the Mondays as well — dragging feet, falling asleep in class, spilling coffee all over the place. Okay, the last one was just me. But I was not feeling motivated to be at school. I longed to be back in the weekend — local craft fairs, cheesy movies, and great conversations.
“Then, at 11:06 a.m. it changed! In walked my weekly Monday group of wonderful, committed students called Sowers of Justice. Focused on poverty and food this year, we were on our second consecutive week of our own organic potluck lunch all made by the students. While we ate, we talked about their frustration with other students not understanding the threat of global warming. We talked about knitting, consumerism of Christmas, the delicious food. It was amazing! That one hour turned my case of the Mondays into, “Yes, it’s-only-the-first-day-of-the-week” excitement. I got back in the swing of things so that the students may experience community in the confusing time called high school. My outlook brightened, and I was nourished both body and soul.”
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January 9, 2007
Hope20
I want to shout this story from mountain tops! There is a force of hope already on the ground around the world, connected to places of great need as well as to people with resources who are willing to share. This hope force consists of two networks. They are Women Religious and the network of Rotarians. Rotary has about 1.2 million members and Women Religious number in the hundreds of thousands.
Women Religious have been around the world for more than a thousand years. We serve the poorest of the poor. When the going gets tough, we don’t leave. When we come to the table it is not for our own needs, but the needs of others.
Rotarians exist to serve as well. They not only fund real needs, but they want to fully participate in the solution. Today Rotary has a strong interest in providing clean water. They have already been working in places such as Haiti. Our Sisters work in places where there is no access to clean water. If Sisters surface a water need, Rotary is interested in helping to provide the solution.
WOW! Resources to need, no overhead. WOW!
At the end of this month one of our Sisters of St. Joseph, Sister Rosita, will travel to Kenya to participate in a sustainable, clean water project with Rotary and the local people from a small village in northwest Kenya. Once completed, Rosita will move on to another village where there are women religious and clean water needs.
Back at home we will continue to match up Rosita with Rotary Club partners here in the United States wanting to help. Rosita will be the liaison between Rotarians on the ground, Women Religious and the USA Rotarian partners.
Every year she will return to Minnesota to help train willing, second-year St. Joseph Worker Volunteers who want an experience working on clean water projects. That way many water projects can be moving forward at the same time.
This story is as big as the eradication poverty world-wide. Stay tuned, this is only the beginning!
Possumus!
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January 4, 2007
Touch the World
I am attaching thoughts of loving kindness to the sun as it moves across our sky today. Within 24 hours, my message will have reached the entire world. Imagine if everyone did that?
There are many ways to touch the world. Our Sisters touch the world through teaching English to immigrants. They come from over 70 different countries. Many of the students have special needs because they received little or no formal education in their country of origin and/or they are refugees who have lived through war, torture, violence, or intimidation.
With our Sisters’ help, students overcome overwhelming barriers. We build trust within a safe, supportive and nurturing environment and through individual attention, small group tutoring and student need-based curriculum.
“The school was like home for me. When I’m on my way (to) the school, I feel very welcomed,” writes one immigrant student. Another refugee student, a victim of torture in his own country, said, “Meeting the teachers is the best thing that happened to me until now in the U.S.A. The teachers fill me up with hope toward the future.”
I think we need to be intentional about changing our world. Every intention counts. Teach, share, help, heal, pray, attach messages of loving kindness to the sun to illuminate neighborhoods on the other side of the world. Begin where you can. Where intention goes, energy flows. Possumus.
Learning in Style (education for adult immigrants)
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