Winter 2021 www.nrvc.net | Volume 46, Number 1
Focus on hope 2
Updates
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Reason for our hope: a testimony to our life, death, and resurrection in Christ Jesus By Sister Addie Lorraine Walker, S.S.N.D.
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Finding hope in reconciliation By Father David Kelly, C.PP.S.
16 Inviting our Asian and Pacific Islander sisters and brothers By Father Linh Hoang, O.F.M.
Convocation Special edition
22 Voices of newer religious 26 Feed Your Spirit May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened 27 Book Notes Cistercian nuns deliver insight, inspiration By Sister Amy Taylor, F.S.P.A.
Spring 2019 | HORIZON | 1
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SLI Clergy & Religious Health Monitor A FREE service for evaluating mental and spiritual health in dioceses & religious orders
Learn more at SLI.org/health-monitor
Editor’s Note Editor Carol Schuck Scheiber Proofreaders Sister Mary Ann Hamer, O.S.F. Virginia Piecuch Design Consultant Patrice J. Tuohy © 2021, National Religious Vocation Conference. HORIZON is published quarterly by the National Religious Vocation Conference, 5401 South Cornell Avenue, Suite 207, Chicago, IL 60615-5664. 773-363-5454 | nrvc@nrvc.net | nrvc.net Facebook: Horizon vocation journal Twitter: @HORIZONvocation SUBSCRIPTIONS A complimentary subscription to HORIZON comes with NRVC annual membership. Additional subscriptions are $50 each for NRVC members; $125 each for non-members. Single copies are $25 each. Subscribe online at nrvc.net/signup. Please direct subscription inquiries to Marge Argyelan at the NRVC office at 773-363-5454 or margyelan@nrvc.net. POSTMASTER Send address changes to HORIZON, 5401 S. Cornell Ave., Suite 207, Chicago, IL 60615-5664. Periodicals postage paid at Chicago, IL and Toledo, OH. ISSN 1042-8461, Pub. # 744-850. REPRINTS, ARCHIVES, ELECTRONIC EDITIONS Permission is granted to distribute no more than 50 copies of HORIZON articles for noncommercial use. Please use the following credit line: Reprinted with permission from HORIZON, nrvc.net. For other types of reprints, please contact the editor at cscheiber@ nrvc.net. EDITORIAL INQUIRIES & ADVERTISING All editorial inquiries should be directed to the editor: Carol Schuck Scheiber, cscheiber@nrvc.net. For advertising rates and deadlines, see nrvc.net or contact the editor. THE NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE is a catalyst for vocation discernment and the full flourishing of religious life as sisters, brothers, and priests for the ongoing transformation of the world.
Hope, always pulsing
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BEGAN 2021 WITH A SURPRISING story of hope. On New Year’s Eve, my brother called. Barely able to speak, he wheezed out that he was in the ER, in extreme pain, expecting an appendectomy or gallbladder removal because something was very wrong. I was next of kin, he said, so even though everything would probably be fine, I should be ready in case a medical decision needed to be made. Good Lord! Later that night, I learned he had kidney stones. Next morning, he called again, his voice normal. The worst was over, and he felt fine. I pictured him smiling in a hospital gown, envisioning his discharge. But no, he had come home the night before, and as a matter of fact, he had news. Upon his return home he carried out a plan he had been making for weeks. At the stroke of midnight, he presented a ring to his beloved girlfriend— the person who had just rushed him to the hospital—and she said yes! Agony to ecstasy. It reminded me that sometimes hope is a wonderful surprise. Like a resurrection. Other times we have to fight to see even a glimmer. But always pulsing through our faith, our ministry, our prayers is hope. Even if we don’t always detect that pulse, it is there because our faith is built on the Paschal Mystery. When the NRVC board chose the convocation theme of “2020 Vision: Focus on Hope,” they had no idea how much the world would crave hope in 2020. Convocation attendees responded with great gratitude to our speakers who each delivered a message of hope in their own way. May their words, captured here, uplift you as you carry out a ministry built on hope. —Carol Schuck Scheiber, editor HORIZON is an award-winning journal for vocation ministers and those who support a robust future for religious life. It is published quarterly by the National Religious Vocation Conference. NATIONAL RELIGIOUS VOCATION CONFERENCE BOARD Sister Kristin Matthes, S.N.D.deN., Board chair Sister Virginia Herbers, A.S.C.J. Vice chair Father Adam MacDonald, S.V.D. Vice chair Sister Marichui Bringas, C.C.V.I. Sister Jean Marie Fernandez, R.G.S.
Father Charles Johnson, O.P. Sister Lisa Laguna, D.C. Sister Belinda Monahan, O.S.B. Brother Brian Poulin, F.M.S. Mr. Len Uhal Sister Mindy Welding, I.H.M. Sister Deborah Borneman, SS.C.M., Ex officio
Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 1
Updates
Pictured here are four of the 52 people who attended an ethics workshop that NRVC offered online during its 2020 Summer Institute. Workshop attendees listened to live presentations and took part in small and large group interaction.
Summer Institute workshops online To ensure the health of all involved, the NRVC will be hosting its Summer Institute workshops online July 12-28, maintaining an emphasis on interactive learning and conversation among participants. Following are the workshop titles and dates; full details and registration will be available in February at nrvc.net. • Orientation Program for New Vocation Directors, by a team of five religious — July 12-16 • Behavioral Assessment I, by Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. — July 19-21 • Ethical Issues in Vocation and Formation Ministry, by Father Raymond P. Carey, Ph.D. — July 23-24 • Is It Cultural, Generational, or Family of Origin? Issues in Candidate Assessment, by Dr. Ansel Augustine, Sister Maria Hong Nguyen, O.S.B., and Sister Bea Eichten, O.S.F. — July 26-28
Video series features senior religious NRVC is partnering with Support Our Aging Religious 2 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
(SOAR!) to develop 30 videos of religious over age 80 who express hope for the future. The short videos, scheduled for release in February, are meant to amplify hope in religious life, demonstrate that hope is not determined by age, and show that the youngest and oldest members inspire one another in their vocations. This series builds on the popularity of 49 short videos NRVC began releasing in November 2020 that depict younger religious discussing their lives with an emphasis on hope. Both sets of videos are available to the public at youtube.com/NatRelVocationConf. Support Our Aging Religious is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to helping congregations of sisters, brothers, and priests care for their aging members.
“Talk it up Tuesdays” promote learning, collaboration In January 2021 members of the NRVC gained one more way to learn, collaborate, and build relationships with each other: through weekly sessions called “Talk it up Tuesdays.” Each session takes place from 1-2 p.m. Central Time and includes a short presentation, breakout groups, and a large group sharing. More information is available in Catalyst, the member-only blog, at nrvc.net/ blog.
Education grant applications due April 12 Religious communities have until April 12 to apply online for grants from the National Fund for Catholic Religious Vocations (NFCRV). The grants are restricted to members of the National Religious Vocation Conference, and are earmarked for the educational debt of a candidate to religious life. The NFCRV has provided 47 grants since it began in 2015. Learn more at nfcrv.org or contact Phil Loftus at 312-318-0180 or ploftus@nfcrv.org. n Updates
The mythical Sankofa bird is a symbol of hope from Ghana, West Africa. The bird moves forward as it looks back to remember what brought it to the present moment. It does so holding an egg, its future.
Three steps for rekindling hope are to recall the past, live the present with passion, and embrace the future with hope.
Reason for our hope: a testimony to our life, death, and resurrection in Christ Jesus
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By Sister Addie Lorraine Walker, S.S.N.D.
The original title for this talk was a little shorter: “Reason for hope: testimony to the life, death, and resurrection in Christ Jesus.” I’ve added “our” because the gift of hope given is no solitary gift, but a gift given to the community of believers, the church. Even if we reference our individual personal encounters with God, it is for the whole that the gift is given. Even if we reference encounters within our congregations, still it is a gift given to us, the church, the people of God, and not just to me or those with whom I affiliate.
Sister Addie Lorraine Walker, S.S.N.D. is a School Sister of Notre Dame who served as provincial leader of the Dallas Province of S.S.N.D. for nine years. Currently she is an associate professor of pastoral theology and founder and director of the Sankofa Institute for African American Pastoral Leadership at the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.
OCATION MINISTRY BY ITS NATURE is an act of hope: it relies on confidence in a new generation and belief in the future of religious life. So it made sense to invite Sister Addie Lorraine Walker, S.S.N.D. to speak on hope during NRVC’s 2020 convocation. Her words, it turned out, were like water on a wilted plant. Listeners gratefully drank her message in because it not only addressed the foundation of vocation ministry, but was a guide to finding the hope during a raging pandemic, dire social need, and the animosity of a fiercely contested presidential election. Walker inspires us to rekindle hope at all times in all facets of our lives.
Walker | Reason for Hope
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I also inserted “a” into the title to acknowledge that the testimony to hope I give today is mine. It is my reflection on the gift we have received, as followers of Jesus Christ, as church, as women and men in consecrated life. I hope my reflections will move you, too, to give voice to your witness of the Paschal Mystery we encounter daily.
Framework for hope Pope Francis has given us a frame for these reflections. In March 2020 he offered these words of meditation on the meaning of the COVID-19 pandemic: The worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God’s judgment on humanity, but God’s call on people to judge what is most important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now on ... a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not. It is a time to get our lives back on track ....
It is time for hope. In his remarks for the 2020 World Day of Consecrated Life he again lifted us to see hope. As reported by Vatican News, he challenged us to stir into flame: The ability to recognize Jesus, to see “what really matters in life.” This “is at the heart of religious life,” he said. This vision … begins with “knowing how to see grace,” especially by seeing how God works in our lives, “not only in life’s grand moments, but also in our fragility and weakness.”
This seeing is the vessel that carries our hope! From this vessel flows the joy that is characteristic of ministers of the gospel who are constantly being renewed by seeing and encountering God. “They will soar on eagles’ wings; they will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow faint” (Isa. 40:31). To further frame my reflections, I reference a method that Pope Francis used for engaging hope among men and women religious during the Year of Consecrated Life in 2015: 1) Recount our history, 2) Live the present with passion; and 3) Embrace the future with hope. Each of the steps helps focus our hope and helps to keep hope alive. I use a similar structure in my own life and in my teaching. I call it Sankofa. This word and concept, derived from a Ghanaian, West African proverb, literally means to “go back and fetch it.” For me it means 4 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
to look back, to recount your story, our story, to retell, reclaim, reignite, re-engage that which perhaps you left behind. Stir it up. Stir it into flame. Reach back and gather what has brought you to this point, what has taught you, kept you and never left you. Gather the best of what our past has to teach us, so that we can achieve or lean into our potential now. Embrace the time in which we live. Place your gifts at the service of the gospel now; and then clarify the vision, and make plain the vision, the vision that still has its day. Guard it and protect it, as we move into the future. This is Sankofa, represented by the symbol of a mythic bird that flies forward as it looks back holding the future in its beak—an egg. Before we consider the first step in this frame, just what is this hope? Hope for those of us who are Christian is rooted in our relationship, our covenant, with God. It is confident assurance of the promises of God being fulfilled. It is the promise that God will be with us, accompany us, that we will seek God and God will allow us to find God. God will act in our time, even though God’s ways are not our ways. Hope is that emotion that stirs within us when God sends us a savior, even one who comes as a baby! It is that anticipation and joy that is seen in creation, in people coming together to care for one another and our world. It is the fulfillment of love in our times. It is the living and active word of God in our hearts drawing us to live in ways that God uses to fulfill God’s will in our time. This is hope!
Recount our story The first step in our framework is to recount our story. This is the seedbed of our hope, reconnecting with my story, with our story, with our history, with our journey. Pope Francis calls this a “first step” that is essential for preserving our identity, both personally and as a society or congregation or religious order. Recounting our history includes paying attention to what and who brought us here. Whose prayer are we the answer to? Who imagined that the congregation, the church, the community would have someone like me to continue the mission, the vision? I venture to say there are at least three layers to this recounting: the biblical story, the story of the religious order, congregation, or society I belong to, and my own personal vocation story. In the biblical text, we find a guide, a map for how God has worked in people’s lives, how God is acting now, and will act in the future. The text is a living, active enWalker | Reason for Hope
gagement with those who placed their hope in God and were not disappointed. We can all recall examples: ABRAHAM, who journeyed by stages. As he journeyed he periodically would stop, build an altar, and invoke God by name, giving praise and thanks for the journey made and the journey yet to be made. God made a covenant with Abraham and promised to make of him a great nation and he would be a blessing to many. Abraham put his trust, his hope in God. And, we know that the God who lived in Abraham’s time is just the same today! MOSES, who heard the voice of God calling from a burning bush. “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. I am the God of your father ... the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry against their taskmasters, so I know well what they are suffering. ... Now, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt” (Exod. 3:5-10). And we know that the God who lived in Moses’ time is just the same today! ESTHER, a Jewish deportee, an exile, who became Queen of a Persian King. Esther who was not accustomed to speaking up for her people, speaking truth to power, was challenged to do so by her cousin and foster father, Mordecai, to, “Go and see the king and speak against the decree planned against the Jews.” She at first refused. Then Mordecai said to her, “Perhaps it was for such a time as this that you were born.” Her response: “I will go and see the king. And, if I perish, let me perish, but I am going to see the king.” Esther put her hope in God; she went to see the king, and God was with her. And, we know that the God who lived in Esther’s time, is just the same today! We can trust the words we read in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you—oracle of the Lord—plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.” These words of God were not just for Jeremiah, or Abraham, or Moses, or Esther, but for us, too. The same is true in the New Testament where we can find other examples: MARY, of whom Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Mary put her hope in God. And, God did Walker | Reason for Hope
GlobalSistersReport.org not fail her but fulfilled God’s purposes within her. And, we know the God of Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is just the same today! JESUS, who heard from heaven, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased.” The same Jesus, who struggling in the garden said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.” Then, from the cross cries out, “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit.” And, he dies. Yes, and the very same Jesus who put his trust in the Father, who emptied himself, who surrendered himself, was raised on the third day! He is the same one who finds us weeping in the garden and tells us to go tell our brothers and sisters that he goes ahead of us and will meet us on the way. And, we know that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, is just the same today! Here is one final example, although we could go on and on. MARY MAGDALENE, who we experience as one healed by Jesus, as a faithful follower of Jesus, one who stood at the cross, and went to the tomb early in the morning. It was Mary Magdalene who met Jesus in the Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 5
garden looking for where the “gardener” had moved him. It was Mary Magdalene who recognized Jesus when he called her name, “Mary.” And, it was Mary Magdalene, a woman, who became the first apostle to the apostles, sent by Jesus: “Go to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am going to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God’” (John 20:17). Mary Magdalene trusted Jesus and went as directed. And the God that raised Jesus from the dead, the God revealed in Jesus Christ, the God that Mary Magdalene put her hope in, is just the same today!
Tell the story of your religious order
century. They believed desert life would teach them how to avoid the things of the world and follow God’s call in a deliberate and individual way. As this lifestyle developed it became a recognized pathway to walk with God, to grow in holiness and wisdom. Saint Anthony of Egypt comes to mind. His life and lifestyle attracted many men and women followers.
MONASTICISM evolved as more and more men and women desired to follow this way of life as a communal (cenobite) pathway to holiness, perfection, and wisdom. Pachomius, in Egypt, united the first community of monks under one roof and one leader (superior). He also wrote down a rule of life for those so gathered. As the communal life of monks spread to other parts of the world, Basil the Great developed a communal rule of The men and women life for monks that combined asceticism who founded our and mysticism for the Eastern church. orders had deep faith Western monasticism can look to Saint and high courage. Augustine and Saint Benedict as exThey trusted the amples of those who led another phase of building for us a foundation in a way of call, hoped in God, perfection. and were not
In recounting our story we must also tell the story of our religious order or congregational foundation and those whose lives and prayers were lived and prayed for us, that we might be here today. Pope Francis reminded us to stir into flame hope that is inspired by our founders and foundresses who embodied hope and vision. As we see in the biblical story, God who calls, leads, guides, and sustains men and women can and does fulfill God’s purposes in every disappointed. age. The men and women who founded MENDICANT ORDERS began in the our orders had deep faith and high courMiddle Ages and included those called to age and hearts open to respond to the renounce all property, individually and cries of the poor and desperate in their times. They communally. These men and women dared to follow the trusted the call, hoped in God, and were not disapvoice of God and rely on the support they could gain pointed. from their own work and the generosity of charitable Our institutes are heir to a history rich in charisms. Christians. Saints Dominic, Francis, and Clare come to In their origins we see the hand of God who calls certain mind. individuals to follow Christ more closely, to translate the gospel into a particular way of life, to read the signs of ACTIVE MISSIONARY OR APOSTOLIC ORDERS the times with eyes of faith, and to respond creatively to formed with men and women of deep faith and high the needs of the church. We look to the past to engage courage eager to follow Jesus and continue to spread the the hope that reinforces and strengthens our identities, Word of God in other lands and among peoples other encountering the Spirit and energy that gave hope to our than their own, and the hand of God was with them. ancestors and those who gathered with them. We can call to mind the Jesuits, Ursulines, Daughters of And, the God that lived in their hearts and in their Charity, and many others. times, is just the same today! TEACHING CONGREGATIONS are a final chapter in DESERT FATHERS AND MOTHERS were hermits, this early evolution of religious institutes. Many of these ascetics and monks who lived mainly in the desert of groups were responding to God’s call to go and teach all Egypt, beginning around the third century. Called by nations and to do charitable works among God’s people. God, they abandoned the cities of chaos, corruption, We call to mind Catherine McAuley and the Sisters of and immorality to live in solitude in the desert. These Mercy, Blessed Mary Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger and original desert hermits were Christians fleeing the chaos the School Sisters of Notre Dame (my own congregaand persecution of the Roman Empire’s crisis of the third tion). We also call to mind the Marianists, the Felicians, 6 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Walker | Reason for Hope
the Oblates Sisters of Providence, and the Holy Family Sisters of New Orleans. And there are so many others! Surely, our hearts fill with hope as we hear their names. Their stories come rushing to mind, their faith, their courage, their hope. We are the fruit of their labor and prayer. We, you and I, are the fulfillment of God’s promise spoken to them: “For I know well the plans I have in mind for you … plans for your welfare and not for woe, so as to give you a future of hope.” We are hope fulfilled, the hope of the founders and foundresses. And, we know that the God who lived in their times, that brought them through, is just the same today. Our hope is stirred. A more contemporary story for many of us is how God in the power of the Spirit allowed for the renewal of consecrated life after Vatican II. The time was in itself a Sankofa moment: a looking back and a moving forward. We were called to re-imagine our charisms in a new time, to re-imagine the vows for a contemporary witness, to re-imagine how we live community life as a prophetic witness of the church. We were even challenged to reimagine mission and ministry, stirring up the energy and vision of the founders for our times. Finally, we were called to re-imagine governance, freeing us to live, listen, and respond to one another, the call of the church, and the cries of the poor in our world. The Spirit of God was with us through it all. We are witnesses of God’s faithfulness through these great changes to our life. The God that brought us through those days is just the same today!
Recall your personal vocation story In recounting our history we must last, but certainly not least, recall our own personal vocation story. Two symbols help me mark the phases of my story. Sometimes just seeing the symbol itself can re-stir the hope inside. I start with the sunbeam. When I was a very little girl, I was Methodist and went to church every Sunday. One particular Sunday, we learned a song, “Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam.” The words go like this: Jesus wants me for a sunbeam to shine for him each day. In every way try to please him, at home, at school, at play. A sunbeam, a sunbeam, Jesus wants me for a sunbeam; A sunbeam, a sunbeam, I’ll be a sunbeam for him.
I felt these words deeply, way inside my little fiveyear-old heart. Normally a quiet kid, I began to shout out, “How do I be a sunbeam?!” The teacher told me to sit down for it was just a song. I could not be contained. Walker | Reason for Hope
“No. I feel it right here inside of me. Jesus wants me for a sunbeam.” They sent for my older sister who had to take me home. I cried all the way. When I walked in, my grandmother ask me for an explanation. I told her in great detail what had happened. She shook her head in response. “Yes,” she said, “Jesus does want you for a sunbeam. But, it is not something you have to do today. He was just giving you notification of what he is going to do so I fell in love with when it happens you won’t be Jesus. He became the scared. All you have to do is reason my life had to do everything you need to meaning, the reason do at the age of five, and six I got up early in the and so forth, and one day you morning, the reason I will wake up and you’ll be a had hope. sunbeam.” I wanted to go to bed immediately. But she assured me it would not happen that day. So I lived with great energy and focus and still do today, hoping that I will be worthy of being changed into a sunbeam. (Some would say I am well past the “beam” stage!) As I grew up, I was very focused on this Jesus that wanted me. I wanted to read all about him and know all about him. I wanted to read the scriptures that he read and pray the way he prayed and do the things that he did. I even thought about becoming a Jew, just like Jesus. Instead, I became a Catholic, attracted to the rituals and prayers and time to spend with Jesus in silence. I fell in love with Jesus. He became the reason my life had meaning, the reason I got up early in the morning, the reason I had hope. My second symbol is a heart, a reminder to keep my heart in tune, to listen, to hear, to feel the promptings of Jesus, ready to do whatever he tells me. Ultimately this led me to the School Sisters of Notre Dame. I didn’t know them as a child and never really met them before I considered entering. However, the word I received from Jesus was this, “As the Father has sent me, so I send you. (John 20:21). These are the words in the first paragraph of the constitution of the SSNDs, and the title of the constitution is You Are Sent. It was a sign for me that I had found home. Whenever I am feeling low, disoriented, lost, mad, or sad, I recall these two symbols: the sunbeam and the heart, and hope is stirred once again.
Embrace the present After recounting our story or history, the second step in Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 7
our framework of hope is embracing the present with passion. Living in the present moment, living hope, requires four things: 1) Listening attentively to what the Spirit is saying to the church, the world, and to you and me. 2) Praying “Lord that we may see!” 3) Acting. Do something! Live the gospel, radically, now! 4) Examen: Am I faithful to the calling I have received? Am I paying attention to what brought me to this moment? Live! Be alive! Not just trying to make it, but living to the full, with abundant life, joy-filled life—even in a time of confusion and struggle, and, yes, even in the midst of the pandemic and serious social problems. To live requires that we pay attention to what has heart and meaning, reading the signs of the times, listening to the calls of the Spirit, the people, the church, listening to myself, listening to you, listening with the heart of God. The second step of prayer requires us to see where God is acting, and it calls us to act in our times. We must pray that we can see what God sees and be moved to responseability. Then we must act. We must do something for God’s sake. Finally, we must pause, reflect, and assess our faithfulness to God’s mission. Let us live life in the here and now with a passion and a zeal for the God who first loved us and at every moment continues to love us, the God who called us and promised to accompany us on the way, the God who brought us here to this point in our lives. Living the present with passion stirs up hope. We are called to be women and men of hope. In times like these, we need hope! Millions have been infected and impacted by COVID-19. Many are dead. Many are isolated and quarantined. Many are stressed and stretched by the challenges of this election season. In times like these, we need hope. Pope Francis, in response to the murder of George Floyd and the protests around the globe said, “My friends, we cannot tolerate or turn a blind eye to racism and exclusion in any form and yet claim to defend the sacredness of every human life.” In times like these, we need hope. “I can’t breathe,” and “Black lives matter” are mantras that we hear and repeat ourselves as we are confronted by the racial unrest in response to police brutality and the killing of black men and women in our country without justice. In times like these, we need hope! The earth seems to be crying out for a response from us. There are fires in California, hurricanes in the Gulf, tornadoes and floods across the Midwest. In times like these, we need hope. We’re experiencing high unemployment, exhausted health care workers, students moved to online platforms 8 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
for study and mentoring, local businesses at minimum capacity, churches unable to gather in regular capacity for worship and prayer. In times like these, we need hope. We are the hope God sends into our days to witness to God’s presence and activity in our lives.
Embrace the future The third step in our framework is to embrace the future by keeping hope alive and carrying the vision. Just how do we manage hope in these times mixed with life, death, and resurrection? Words from Pope Francis announcing the 2015 Year of Consecrated Life guide us: It is precisely amid these uncertainties, which we share with so many of our contemporaries that we are called to practice the virtue of hope, the fruit of our faith in the Lord of history, who continues to tell us: ‘Be not afraid. . . for I am with you’ (Jer. 1:8). This hope is not based on statistics or accomplishments, but in Christ Jesus our hope (cf 1 Tim. 1:1), the One for whom “nothing is impossible” (Lk. 1:37). This is the hope which does not disappoint; it is the hope which enables consecrated life to keep writing its great history well into the future.
Pope Francis’ words remind me of a song I learned when I was young: My hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus Christ, my righteousness; I dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.
As I look to the future, I keep in mind that hope is based on God and God’s vision for our world and the people that God has called to carry out that vision: you and me. We carry this hope together. Let’s remember to keep God’s vision before us: “Write down the vision; Make it plain upon tablets, so that the one who reads it may run. For the vision is a witness for the appointed time, a testimony to the end; it will not disappoint. If it delays, wait for it, it will surely come, it will not be late” (Hab. 2:2-3). Now is the appointed time. Now is the time to pay attention to the prompting of the Spirit with us, within the church, the world. Make the vision plain! Run with it! We are the present; you are the present. We are hope; you are hope. We hold hope together. n Walker | Reason for hope
Courtesy of the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
A ministry focused on reconciliation builds hope in a tough neighborhood and reminds vocation ministers of why religious life matters.
By Father David Kelly, C.PP.S. Father David Kelly, C.PP.S. is priest of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood. He is the executive director of the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation in Chicago. For more than 40 years he has ministered in jails and detention centers. He holds a doctor of ministry degree from Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, is certified as a mediator, and has received training in the practice of peacemaking circles.
Kelly | Reconciliation
Along with area residents and local police, Father David Kelly, C.PP.S. (top, second from right) takes part in a Light the Night event, a community gathering with food, sports, and socializing. The Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation partners with other community organizations and police to sponsor these relationship-building events.
Finding hope in reconciliation
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O NURTURE OUR FOUNDATION of hope in vocation efforts, it helps to recall the way God is at work in the lives and ministries of religious sisters, brothers, and priests. That is why the NRVC invited Father David Kelly, C.PP.S. to bring a message of hope to our October 2020 convocation by telling about the ministry for which he is executive director, the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation. Located in a south Chicago neighborhood with significant poverty and violence, the ministry serves young people and families impacted by violence, incarceration, and structural inequity. I come to you to speak a little about the work that we Missionaries of the Precious Blood do here in Chicago and the spirituality of reconciliation that sustains this work. Let me begin with our beginnings. All my adult life I’ve been working in jails and detention centers, almost exclusively here in Chicago. In the 1990s, I worked for Kolbe House, a parish-based jail ministry of the Archdiocese of Chicago. I was a parish Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 9
priest along with serving in jails and juvenile detention centers as chaplain. In that work, because the parish was in Southside Chicago in gang territory, I ended up doing a lot of funerals for young people 15, 16, and 17 years old. I accompanied a lot of families who were losing their children to violence. At the same time I was accompanying a lot of families who were losing children or loved ones to extreme senThat’s what we in tences. In the United States religious life do: we we can try our children and hold them accountable as stand in the breach, though they’re adults even in that muddled though they’re only 14, 15, mess, to witness 16 years of age. Because I to the possibility of lived in that community, reconciliation, the oftentimes I knew both the possibility of hope in all one who was harmed and kinds of dark spaces. the one who did the harm. Some of those cases were really personal. One of them involved a young man who was part of our after school program, Alberto. He came to the afterschool program every day, often climbing up the back stairwell where my office was so he could sit there and talk and recount the day’s happenings until I’d shoo him back down so he could go back to studying. One day I got a call about five minutes after he’d left and learned he had been shot. Alberto needed open heart surgery, so I went to the hospital to be with his family. This went on for days on end, just being there, praying with them, supporting them, hoping along with them that he would survive. About day four or five, he started to get stronger and the police came to the hospital carrying the same type of manila file folder they always have. They had come to ask Alberto to identify the person who shot him. When they opened that file folder, clipped inside was a picture, and I recognized the young man in the photo. His name was Wilfredo. I knew him, and I knew his family. After the police left, I stayed with Alberto and his mom for a while.
Pain for victims and perpetrators Then I left and went to the jail where they held Wilfredo. I went into the maximum security dayroom where he was sitting. He got up and gave me a look that said, “I knew you were coming.” By then he knew the person he had shot was part of the parish. Later, when I went 10 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
from the jail to the hospital, Wilfredo knew I was going to leave that jail cell and visit the person who would ultimately testify against him in court. Wilfredo and Alberto both were okay with that; both understood that. Both knew that’s what we in religious life do: we stand in the breach, in that muddled mess, to witness to the possibility of reconciliation, the possibility of hope in all kinds of dark spaces. About two and a half years later when we finally went to court, I was with Alberto and his mom as we sat in a small room adjacent to the courtroom waiting for Alberto to give his testimony. A young state’s attorney came in to prepare Alberto. He said, “Now look, Alberto, this is what I want you to say, and this is how I want you to say it so we can get as much prison time for this guy as possible. We want to send him away for as long as we can.” He kept saying that over and over. Now I knew Wilfredo; I knew that one act of violence wasn’t the entirety of who he was. And so I leaned over to Alberto and I said, “Alberto, just tell the truth.” This young state’s attorney got very angry at me for “interfering” with the testimony. Ultimately Wilfredo got 27 years in prison, and Alberto, his mom, and I were dismissed to walk home. They went to their apartment, and I went to the office and sat there with a sinking feeling in my gut. In all that time, two and a half years, no one in the criminal justice system ever asked Alberto, “How are you doing?” No one ever attended to his needs. No one ever asked his mom, “Is there anything we can do? Is there any support we can offer?” All the energy and resources were on punishment. How were they going to get this other young man for what he did? How could they get him good so others would “learn”? I sat in my office and thought: we can do better than this.
Taking a bold step in ministry At the time this occurred, the early 2000s, my religious community, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, like so many others, was receiving fewer new members. We were getting older and pulling out of ministries. But we said, let’s do something new in the midst of this. Let’s show we have life in us yet. Some of us had been talking about a ministry of reconciliation, which is a focus that fits the charism of our congregation. What would it look like if we conducted a ministry of reconciliation in a community that is impacted by violence and incarceration? A community that is suffering. Thus, in 2002 we started the Precious Blood MinisKelly | Reconciliation
try of Reconciliation (PBMR) based on the philosophy of restorative justice. Restorative justice is about repairing relationships that have been harmed. We acquired an old school building, fixed the property up and essentially created an oasis, a space where people can find some hope and healing. The fact is that a great deal of healing needs to happen. Not that long ago, a young man who was very much a part of Precious Blood was shot and killed just down the block from us. The impact was powerful, devastating, to the young people, his family, and also for us on the staff of the Ministry of Reconciliation. You could see on people’s faces the pain of losing Brandon, who had been so much a part of our lives. We held a funeral. We sat in circles and talked about Brandon, but the sting of his death, even months later, still remains. The trauma of his death remains for all of us.
Trauma’s long reach Brandon’s death shows that violence is not a singular act, but rather it is a trauma that continues to haunt us as we strive to move on with our lives. Shelly Rambo, who has written books about trauma and spirituality, talks about trauma in people’s lives using the example of Hurricane Katrina. Because it relies economically on tourism, after the storm, New Orleans quickly fixed up the French Quarter and other tourist locations. The city put out the word that New Orleans was back open for business, better than ever. They wanted the conventions to come and tourists to arrive because they knew that was key to their survival. But even today, more than a decade after Katrina, if you go to the Lower Ninth Ward, you can see the devastation of that storm. Katrina is long gone, but the scars still remain. That’s a visible sign of what happens internally with trauma. The core of who we are is our relationships with one another and our relationship with God, but trauma and violence cut at that very core. Judith Herman is a well-known psychiatrist and author of Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence. She says that traumatic acts—violence, divorce, losing a job—cause us to question our own basic worth in relationships. They damage our family relationships; they damage our community. We know that oftentimes after losing a child to violence, the impact of that trauma causes the family to deteriorate. Divorce rates go sky high. Thus, the traumatic event is a singular event, but the scars and trauma it creates last for years, especially if they remain untreated. Kelly | Reconciliation
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I have seen this time and again in PBMR. I’m often asked to give talks on violence, reconciliation, and restorative justice, and many times I’ll take a young person with me to add authenticity, so it isn’t just me, an older white man, telling stories. One time I was giving a talk at Dominican University outside of Chicago and I brought a young man, Joe, with me. I spoke, and then he stood up and spoke from his heart. Afterward people thanked him for being so real, so open about his pain, his hurt, his life story. On the ride home, traffic was normal, which is to say there was a lot of it. Joe was very quiet. Usually that means he’s on his cell phone looking at Facebook or some other social media, but this time when I looked over, he didn’t have his phone in his hand. He was just looking out the side window. I asked him, “Joe, what’s going on? What’s the matter?” He shook his head and kept staring out the window. Finally he turned to me with tears in his eyes, and through his tears he spoke of how alone he felt, like everyone had left him. Giving his talk brought up all kinds of traumatic memories in his life, and he became his story once again. He was still struggling with many issues: he’s been locked up a number of times, his brother was locked up for 55 years, his father was not in his life. All that came tumbling down on him. What was bothering him wasn’t a traumatic event from years ago but all the events that followed it. He was still feeling the impact of all that hurt. I said to him, “You know, Joe, we got you. We’re here for you.” He said, “I know, Father Kelly, I just feel like nobody is thinking of me. My mom is just doing her thing now.” Luckily, the traffic was heavy, and all that stop and go gave us time to talk. And that we did. That car became a safe place where I listened to Joe and allowed him to tell his story.
Storytelling brings healing Joe’s experience is not unusual. Judith Herman says traumatic events cause our lives to become fragmented, to no longer hold together or make sense. The only way to heal is through storytelling because it allows us to knit our lives back together. It will never be the life from before. Joe will never go back to being a little kid who never experienced all this trauma. A mother who lost her child to homicide will never be a mother who doesn’t know that kind of pain. However, through storytelling in safe spaces we begin to put our lives back together and they begin to make sense, little by little. 12 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Think about it. Think about our own Christian story of what happened on the way to Emmaus. After the crucifixion of Jesus, two disciples are on the road to Emmaus, probably mostly to get out of Jerusalem. Scripture tells us they had their heads down, downcast. A stranger approaches them. Now we know this stranger is Jesus, but they didn’t. The stranger asks them what they’re talking about. “Are you the only one in all of Jerusalem who doesn’t know what happened to Jesus?” they reply. Jesus, the stranger, says, “Tell me about it.” The disciples recount that they had put all their hope in Jesus. They had left everything to follow him. And then the chief priests, the elders, and the Romans had put Jesus to death. They had nothing now. Everything had been devastated, taken away from them. Jesus then places their story of trauma into the larger story of the prophets, explaining how this had to happen. They’re walking along as they’re talking, and eventually the disciples say they’re going to stop for the evening. They coax Jesus to come and eat with them. He sits with them, and in the breaking of the bread, Scripture tells us, they recognized him. Then he disappears. But they don’t freak out that he’s left again. Rather, they get up filled with joy and life, and they go back to Jerusalem to tell this story of how they met Jesus on the road to Emmaus. Jesus didn’t scold them for not understanding; he simply listened to their story of trauma and then placed that story, that trauma, that hurt, that pain, into the context of the larger faith story.
Placing our painful stories within the Christian story This is why the ministry of reconciliation is so much a part of what we ought to be about as Christians. We take our stories of trauma and disappointment and hurt and place them into the larger Christian story. That larger story is of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We place our pain and hurt alongside the pain and hurt of Jesus. Along with Jesus, then, we come to a new place, a new creation. After his crucifixion, when Jesus returned to the apostles in that upper room, he came with his scars on his hands and feet, with nail marks and a wound on his side. He didn’t come all cleaned up. He was still that Jesus from the cross, but he was no longer devastated by the scars. Instead his scars invited others to probe their own wounds. We hear in Scripture that Thomas, who wasn’t there Kelly | Reconciliation
Courtesy of the Precious Blood Ministry of Reconciliation
Peacemaking circles allow those who have experienced trauma to share their stories in a safe space, build solidarity, and begin to heal.
the first time Jesus appeared, says, “I won’t believe until I see his scars and probe them myself.” Then the second time Jesus appears, Thomas is present, and he touches Jesus’ wounds and declares, “My Lord and my God.” It was in the wounds of Jesus that Thomas came to believe in him. That’s a powerful story for us as Christians. Our society tends to cover up wounds, to go on with life, to pretend painful events weren’t really much even though they were devastating. Even small things, small traumatic acts, can stay with us forever. Jesus invites us to probe the wounds, to make room for the wounds so that we can begin the healing process.
Remembering our pain Many people in the world are carrying a cross today. For many it’s poverty, the cross of deep social injustice. For others it’s the cross of broken relationships. But one thing is common for most people. It doesn’t feel like a cross, it just feels like pain. In the book The End of Memory: Remembering Rightly in a Violent World, the author Miroslav Volf talks about remembering. He says that we need to remember because it’s part of who we are. It’s part of our identity. We can’t just deny what we’ve gone through. We must hold fast to those memories, otherwise we won’t be true to ourselves. However, he says you can remember rightfully or wrongfully, and we are called to do it rightfully. Someone who recalls the trauma wrongfully turns it into more trauma. Hurt people hurt people. That is, the trauKelly | Reconciliation
ma I was inflicted with gets transmitted to others. There’s no place to put the anger and hurt and rage, and so I lash out at other people. I see the importance of helping people to remember truthfully and rightfully. I work a lot with families who have lost children to homicide. We gather people in peacemaking circles, a practice of restorative justice. In these spaces people speak of their pain, their hurt, in losing a child. They support one another because each one of the people in the circle has lost a child and they know how it feels. They say many times that others, including their families, tell them, “You need to get on with life. You can’t just keep talking about this. You have other children to live for.” But in our peacemaking circles when people speak about their pain, no one quiets them. No one says, “Oh you shouldn’t feel that way. Oh, you should forgive.” We just make room for their story, and that story might unfold a hundred times. Here’s an example of what can happen when people are encouraged to rightly and truthfully tell their story. I would sit with a group of mostly Spanish-speaking women who would tell their stories of losing children to homicide. They knew that I went into the jails and detention centers. That was hard on them at first, but they got to know me and for some reason liked me. They would ask, “Do these kids who are locked up ever seek forgiveness or express remorse?” I would tell them that, yes, they often do. Young people in those spaces are often sorry for what they’ve done, but there’s no one there to seek forgiveness with. The courts kind of interfere with that because you’re not supposed to talk with others Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 13
about your case, and often you have to deny your wrongedged. Let me illustrate. After the end of apartheid in doing. South Africa, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission These women kept asking me about the young offered amnesty to those who had inflicted human rights people I met in the jail, so I invited them to come with violations. At one of the hearings, while a soldier told me and meet them. Of course they said no to that. They about the disappearance and killing of a young person, didn’t want to be part of jail. So I told them, “I say Mass the victim’s mother was in the audience listening. The there on Saturdays. Come with me to Mass.” Now Mass judges asked her what she wanted. She said, “I want a they understood, and so they agreed. After the Mass I tombstone erected where my son is buried.” In other invited some of the young people to sit in the circle with words, she wanted those who killed her son to acknowlthese women. These were young people being tried as edge what they did and not hide from it. adults, so they had serious cases. We sat in that space At PBMR we now have a group of mothers who in a circle and we did our opening as gather together, all of whom have lost we always do, which is a check-in. Each their children to incarceration. They sit person tells how they are doing. I asked in these spaces we’ve created with other We remember our own the mothers to introduce themselves. mothers who have lost children to hoThe young people’s eyes were wide open. micide. And in those spaces they really trauma in the context When the talking piece (an object we start to connect with one another. The of Jesus’ suffering, hold when it’s our moment to speak) pain of each is acknowledged in a place death, and resurrection. came to the young people, they began to that’s safe. Sometimes it isn’t very safe That brings us to a new talk about who they were. One said he for someone who has a son or daughter space, whether we are never knew his mother. Another said his locked up for a serious crime to talk a mother whose son mother was in prison. Someone else said about the pain and hurt of being a mothwas killed, or a mother his mom was on drugs. er accompanying that child. Sometimes whose son who did You could see the mothers in that drawing on memories to heal means havharm and is locked up. group who started out kind of reticent, ing a space and place to acknowledge the with their arms crossed in front of themhurt and build solidarity with each other. selves, protecting themselves, start wonHealing can begin when you start to redering who these young people were. You member in this way. could see them begin to lean in. As the young people Volf also says that people who have suffered trauma told their stories, the women started looking at them have to remember redemptively. Memory that redeems differently. They started engaging with them. What hapbrings us to a new place. As Christians we remember our pened in that space was that these mothers recognized own trauma, our own pain, in the context of Jesus’ sufthese young people not just as thugs and thieves but as fering, death, and resurrection. That brings us to a new humans who have also struggled. They were people who space. Whether we are the mother of a victim of viohad also suffered. lence, a mother whose son was killed, or a mother whose son who did harm and is locked up in the criminal justice system, finding a connection with our own Christian Grasping the larger truth story is redeeming. It allows us to move to a new place and become a new creation. Miroslav Volf says you’ve got to remember, but you have to remember truthfully. And the truth is the young people being held in the detention center are more than Transformation personally and culturally that singular act that landed them there. Because of these young people, the mothers began to see beyond We also see our Ministry of Reconciliation as part of a their own pain and hurt. Perhaps they even got closer to larger context of cultural change. In his book, Just Merlooking differently at the person who harmed their own cy, Bryan Stevenson talks about what it takes to change child. The memory was there, but they were remembernegative narratives in our culture. We have to engage ing rightfully, truthfully, seeing the story as being bigger in activities and relationship-building to bring out this than themselves. type of change, he says. You also have to remember the trauma to heal, Volf The need to shift the narrative hit home particularly says, and part of that is having our own pain acknowlhard one day. I was out with a group of our kids in a 14 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Kelly | Reconciliation
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probation program we call Saturday Engagement. We were going to see a movie in another part of the city, and we got something to eat ahead of time at McDonald’s. We still had time before the movie, so I told these six or seven young men to go on ahead to a sports store across the street. I’d finish cleaning up and be right behind them. I was trailing the group and watched as these six or seven boys walked into the store. The store staff and security officers immediately met them at the door. I know our young people, and I know if they don’t know you and you confront them harshly, they’ll snap back. I didn’t want anything to happen, so I rushed ahead and let the store staff know the young men were with me and I called them by name. All of a sudden, this “gang threat”—these black kids walking into a store together— was over with. We became a sports team because in the popular mind why else would all these black kids be with an older white guy? We have to change the narrative that black young men with dreads are dangerous. The only way to do that is through relationship building, through proximity. We need to come together, tell our stories, and get to know one another. We have to stop living in these segregated Kelly | Reconciliation
places where one neighborhood never engages another neighborhood, where people of means and people from Southside Chicago never meet. Our judgments get in the way of understanding. Bryan Stevenson also says we have to commit to doing what’s hard. It’s not easy work to confront inequities and prejudices. The gospel calls us to go into messy places and stand there and witness to the power of healing. We might endure rejection sometimes. But that’s where we have to be. We need to get to know each other. Ultimately, Stevenson says, you have to remain hopeful. It’s hard work to confront violence and racism. The stress and strain can be significant. Stevenson says you need to find hope through something bigger than yourself, and for us as Christians, that means the spirituality of the Paschal Mystery, that the pain and hurt of Jesus were not the ultimate story. Rather they take us to the resurrection. Even though Jesus carries the scars, the trauma, he returns to us whole and with the purpose of bringing new life. If we embrace that story, if we embrace the Christian message, then we too can find ourselves in a new place and space. We’ll move the world one step closer to reconciliation. n Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 15
Photo by Jeff Witherow, Catholic Courier
A family brings gifts to the altar during a special Mass for Asian and Pacific Heritage Month in the Diocese of Rochester, New York.
Inviting our Asian and Pacific Islander sisters and brothers By Father Linh Hoang, O.F.M. Father Linh Hoang, O.F.M. is a Franciscan with the Holy Name Province in New York City and an associate professor of religious studies at Siena College in Loudonville, New York. He served as a consultant to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops on Asian and Pacific Islander Catholic concerns. In addition he is interested in increasing awareness of religious vocations, having served on the Diocese of Albany Vocation Awareness Committee and as a consultant for his province’s vocation team.
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NE EXPRESSION OF HOPE in consecrated life is the rich diversity of people entering communities today. However, while religious communities are starting to reflect and embrace the diversity of the larger church, much work remains before religious communities are truly intercultural. To better understand one part of the tapestry of cultures—Asian and Pacific Islander Catholics—the NRVC invited Father Linh Hoang, O.F.M. to its recent convocation. His words invite us to a deeper understanding of calling, vocation, and the gifts that Asian and Pacific Islanders bring to the church. God’s invitation is directed to human beings personally in and through the concrete circumstances of our particular life, history, and culture. “But now says the Lord who created you ... Do not fear for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine” (Isa. 43:1). Being God’s possession, human beings are called first to care for all of God’s creation as well as to take care of other human beings, not only those we know and respect but all people of different cultures, races, beliefs, orientations,and nationalities. God’s grace emerges through the work of human beings who care for each other and all of creation. Hoang | Asian and Pacific Islanders
This chain of responsibilities also applies to religious life. When people of faith think about vocations or a call, they automatically say it is God’s call or God’s gift. That is true, the grace of God is realized by all people from the ways they draw close to God. The individual person works out God’s call first reflectively alone and then more poignantly with others. God’s call is extended to the whole community of faith, which is asked to promote, nurture, and support each particular vocation to consecrated life. Since God reaches out to all of creation to live in harmony with one another, the faith community likewise is called to discern what “a calling” means for particular individuals, for the universal church, and for the whole of human society.
Vocation is a communal call Vocation as a communal call is pivotal for the church. Likewise it is crucial to understanding the call to consecrated life within the Asian and Pacific Islander (API) Catholic communities. API communities are by nature communal or collectivist; that is, they emphasize the importance of group relationships and cooperation between people. The focus is first on the family and then extended to the individual. The individual is not secondary but rather plays a vital part in the family as well as the whole community. Individuals personally and practically take care of one another because that is how family and community operate. The whole group is a priority rather than the needs of the individual. For collectivists, communication is intuitive and based on impression rather than being direct and to the point. Again this draws away from individual needs to the focus of the group’s priority. It also assures a sense of balance and harmony among everyone. This communal call reminds API Catholics of God’s demand to all of creation to respond to God in prayer, work, and compassion. Our calling brings about and maintains harmony within the family, the community, and all of humanity. For many a sense of calling begins with an invitation. Invitation is crucial since many API Catholics do not feel completely part of the larger American church community. For instance many European-based religious communities have a history of excluding people of color in their monasteries and convents. The assumption that APIs are devout and already well represented within religious life may deter some communities from assertively inviting them. Additionally the shift away from church participation in the U.S. has also affected API communities. There is no guarantee that APIs will continue to join Hoang | Asian and Pacific Islanders
ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER CATHOLICS BY THE NUMBERS API people account for approximately 7 percent, or 22 million, of the overall U.S. population. The largest concentration of Asian Americans is on the West Coast, with 47 percent of APIs living there. The remainder live on the Northeast Coast (20 percent), in the South (21 percent) and in the Midwest (11 percent).
religious communities. It is more important than ever to extend an invitation. A natural starting point for delving into the invitation to religious life for our API sisters and brothers is the document of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, “Encountering Christ in Harmony: A Pastoral Response to Our Asian and Pacific Island Brothers and Sisters,” published in 2018. This important work looks at four pillars within the API cultural experience, providing a framework for examining the call to religious life for API Catholics. The pillars are identity, generations, leadership, and cultural encounter with dialogue in faith.
Identity The development of the Asian and Pacific Islander identity has taken shape over time without real consideration of the differences between the groups under that label. The groupings and terminology have derived from the way the U.S. Census Bureau has categorized people. In broad brush strokes, “Asian American” refers to a pan-ethnic group that includes diverse populations with ancestral origins in East Asia, South Asia, or Southeast Asia. “Pacific Islander” refers to people from Guam or the Samoan Islands. In reality most Asian Americans actually identify with their country of origin. A survey taken after the 2010 census asked how APIs identify themselves. Only 19 percent identified as Asian Americans; 14 percent simply use the term “American,” and most—62 percent— identified with their country of origin. Thus, when asked, many would call themselves Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. Another important aspect of API identity is migration status. A survey of API Catholics conducted to inform the writing of “Encountering Christ in Harmony” highlights that many APIs are migrants. Approximately, 74 percent of all API Catholics were born outside of Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 17
MODEL MINORITY?
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he model minority stereotype assumes that the relatively high socioeconomic and educational status of APIs applies to all the different communities within the label. In addition people assume API educational and economic achievement is due to inherent cultural traits and group beliefs about the importance of education, perseverance, and family. What is ignored is the disparity between different communities and external forces shaping their achievements, such as immigration policies. For instance, Southeast Asians have the highest high school dropout rate relative to other API communities, mostly because of when they arrived in the U.S. and the circumstances that brought them. The model minority stereotype serves to oppress rather than lift up APIs. For example APIs are not listed as a minority in many educational scholarships. In requesting public assistance some are turned away because of the assumption that all APIs are doing relatively well. Moreover the stereotype still maintains that APIs are minority but just a bit better than other minorities. The result is that superficial caricatures of Asian Americans dominate the popular imagination, eclipsing the varied and nuanced cultures Asian Americans actually live in. They end up not being fully accepted by white Americans and being set apart from other minority groups. The “model minority” concept is an insidious way to applaud a group of people but then also pit them against other people of color. In the end it is an example of systemic racism.
the U.S. There are, however, Asians who have been here since the very foundation of the country. Nevertheless, some fourth-, fifth-, and sixth-generation Asian Americans are still looked upon as foreigners because of their physical features. The migration history of Asian groups in the United States clearly varies by major periods and conditions of entry. All who entered prior to 1965 share a common history of limited migration and overt racial and ethnic discrimination in citizenship laws, as well as restricted social and economic practices. Some of the most blatant forms of exclusion for Asian Americans (such as the exclusion laws of 1882 and 1924) were lifted when Congress replaced the racist national origin quota with a broader quota system with new immigrant preference categories. After 1965, the number of migrants from Asia and other parts of the world increased. In recent years, more migrants have been coming to the U.S. from Asian countries than from Latin America. The dual label “Asian American” implies that Asian Americans can distinguish their American part and their 18 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Asian part. It provides a means to engage in the wider American culture. This duality explains how Asians assimilate and adapt, and also explains their lack of visibility in popular American culture. They tend to not draw attention to themselves and to blend into American society. This has gained APIs the unhelpful designation of “model minority.”
Generations Let’s turn from identity to another pillar of API culture, generations. For our purposes, a generation can be distinguished by three basic concepts: rank (birth place in the family line), age (the decade one is born into), and distance from the ancestral country (migrant or the offspring of migrants). Rank, or birthplace in the family, conditions how a person develops and matures. The oldest, youngest, and middle child each have responsibilities and expectations attached to them. For instance, the eldest child in many API families takes responsibility for caring for elderly parents. This is understood as both filial piety and respect for elders, both key aspects of the culture. Filial piety involves caring for parents while they are alive and remembering them after their death. Age is when one is born and is usually considered within a particular decade—60s, 70s, 80s. It shapes how one sees and experiences the world through such things as popular music and cultural trends. Distance refers to the migration patterns of one’s family, which shapes one’s perspective. For many API Catholics migration involved seeking better opportunities—or it meant fleeing persecution. No matter the reason someone’s family came to the U.S., the move triggered the life-long challenge of holding together two cultures and informed how the generations engage with one another. The traditional API family structure consists of multiple generations living under one roof. Some families maintain this unity when they arrive in the U.S. Others adjust to new circumstances that may force them into separate households. API communities also create transnational family living situations that stretch across the globe. It is not unusual to maintain ongoing connections since family bonds are a tightly held, vital part of life. Family is the place where faith is first taught and practiced. These faith practices help maintain their home cultural practices and also make a connection to the U.S. through the church. Even with these strong faith bonds and filial commitments, many API families now are challenged by contemporary trends in the larger culture, such as a high divorce rate, delays in marriage, and deHoang | Asian and Pacific Islanders
Photo by Jeff Witherow, Catholic Courier
Younger APIs, especially those who are not first generation immigrants, tend to be less connected to the church than their elders, but they still show strong interest in religious life.
creased childbearing. Some API Catholic families have fallen into disintegration themselves, but others have been able to remain intact. The migration experience further shapes the intergenerational dynamics within API families. Within the immigrant structure, the first generation is people who initiated a new home in their resettlement country. They prepare a place to raise their children and lay a foundation to support their relatives. Each subsequent generation relates differently to the surrounding U.S. culture. Some of the intergenerational struggles of these varied generations center on maintaining homeland culture through holidays, rituals, and customs. Language becomes a major issue when children do not learn or are not taught their mother tongue. It can be either a dividing or uniting factor, depending on its emphasis within the family structure. Even though many APIs are immigrants, there are exceptions, such as those from Hawaii, Guam, and the Pacific Island territories of the U.S. They are automatically citizens of the U.S. and do not fit neatly into categories of immigrants, refugees, foreigners, or strangers. Then there are Asians such as Chinese and Filipinos who have been on American soil since as early as the 16th century. These families can trace back multiple generations in the U.S. In spite of their long citizenship, many experience stereotyping and discrimination based on their physical appearance. They are not immune, either, to generational struggles. For first generation immigrants, church participation remains a source of pride and identity. Among first generation APIs, the church provides a place to Hoang | Asian and Pacific Islanders
socialize as well as to participate and learn about the American culture. Yet, first generation immigrants often feel they do not know how to reverse the trend of declining church participation in the second and subsequent generations. Later generations are influenced by a more relaxed attitude about participating in liturgical celebrations or other parish activities At the same time, church participation still remains strong among some second generation API Catholics such as those in the Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement and Youth for Christ, which is a strong tradition in the Filipino community. These two groups provide faith formation and organize periodic gatherings of youth and young adults that create peer communities and help establish long-lasting relationships. As the younger generations of API Catholics maneuver through a sea of expectations regarding faith, a combination of dialogue, support, and understanding from all sides may provide them with the tools for responding. What tends to support APIs in their generational struggles are the ongoing value for family structure, filial piety, respect for elders, religious practice, a sense of belonging, and the continual affirmation of the children through education and faith formation. These are ongoing cultural expectations that cut across all API communities and sustain the generations as they participate in the church.
Leadership A third pillar for understanding API Catholics is leadership. Many APIs value good leadership and maintain a Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 19
healthy respect toward people in positions of authority, especially in the church. Good leaders are not only gifted to lead but also are groomed. To be a leader involves not only drawing on God-given talent but listening and learning from other people. Balancing these things gives leaders the capability of maintaining harmony in the community. APIs place a high value on harmony because it flows from obligations embedded in the practices of filial piety and respect for elders. These practices instill qualities of humility and gratitude and further bind the community together in a relational dynamic of guidance, leadership, and service. Good leaders also gain respect through sheer hard work, dedication to improving their communities, and maintenance of order in the community. In turn, they gain the loyalty of their communities by fulfilling cultural expectations and by demonstrating care and concern toward the people they guide and protect. Communal and servant leadership models are found in the writings of St. Paul, who refers to the faithful as each being part of the Body of Christ with their own special gifts and functions (Rom. 12:4-6). The faithful must come to know their responsibility as brothers and sisters to one another. This principle calls for not mere blind obedience, but a shared responsibility to the community. All persons in authority over the community are called to model the Christian life. The understanding is that they are able to lead and do exceptional things because of their trust in God and the support of the people. Jesus’ servant leadership is held up as an example to follow. This is a reason API communities respect the Catholic hierarchy, religious women and men, lay leaders, and all who work for the church. These people have dedicated their lives to bringing the gospel to others, and they also need assistance in being good leaders. The significant number of API vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life is a distinct gift to the church. The NRVC Study on Recent Vocations to Religious Life, published in 2020, showed that APIs account for 13 percent of newer members of religious orders in the U.S., even though they only make up 2.6 percent of Catholics in the country. While APIs respect church leaders and disproportionately join religious orders, they also have distinct ideas about what qualities leaders should have. The 2015 study on API Catholics in the U.S. found that APIs value good administrative skills in pastoral ministers. In many cases pastors and other church leaders have to manage many people and be good financial stewards. Administrative skills are necessary and valued in such situations. 20 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Lay leadership is also important to API Catholics, who often embrace roles such as prayer leader in small faith communities or leader of liturgical feast day celebrations. Some API Catholic laity have moved into leadership roles in parishes and dioceses, while others have sought theological education to better serve their communities. None of these roles should go unnoticed, as all provide an important service to the church. Although they have stepped forward to lead in many capacities, API Catholics know that leadership within the church hierarchy at the moment does not reflect the growing number of Asian and Pacific Islander Catholics. The hierarchy is composed mainly of white men. There has been a desire and a push to promote API priests to the episcopate. Moreover APIs in consecrated life are taking up leadership positions in their respective communities. These are hopeful signs that will also help attract more APIs to religious life.
Cultural encounter with dialogue in faith The final, fourth pillar for comprehending API Catholics is the concept of cultural encounter with dialogue in faith. This pillar looks less at cultural distinctions and more at the common call to discipleship that APIs share with other Catholics. Being a follower of Jesus requires people to encounter others. The gospel message is clear that Jesus sends his disciples out into the world to meet others. Our popes have encouraged the faithful to go out and meet others where they are. But first we must encounter Christ in our own life. This is where conversion happens and how we can then share faith with others in communion and solidarity. The encounter will also bring us to dialogue with others in faith. This is a way to learn and also express our faith. This process of encounter is not easy, but it may lead to us living our faith more authentically since it forces us to articulate it to others. Pope Francis encourages all faithful believers to step out of themselves: “Faith is an encounter with Jesus, and we must do what Jesus does: encounter others.” Pope Francis particularly challenges us to encounter those who are poor and to critique social systems that inhibit the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God. Our encounter with Christ involves receiving the grace of repentance, conversion, and mission. Christ’s mercy and truth can touch and transform us in our culture and can make us heralds of the Good News. Pope Francis exhorts us in Evangelli Gaudium: “Every Christian is a missionary to the extent that he or she has encountered the love of God in Christ Jesus: we no longer say that we are ‘disciples’ Hoang | Asian and Pacific Islanders
RESOURCES and ‘missionaries,’ but rather that we are always ‘missionary disciples.” When one encounters another in dialogue, one must learn to listen to the other. The world already has lots of noise and distractions. It can be difficult at times to wade through all of that, but we must take time to listen first in dialogue to hear what the other in our encounter is saying. From this, then a dialogue can start. The ongoing conversation will require a back and forth of listening, hearing, talking, discussing, and engaging. Many APIs feel blessed to have been given the gift of faith and now are compelled to go out and encourage others to follow Jesus Christ. It is ever more important in a world fractured by consumerism, distrust of authority, and a dreadful fear of others. As Pope Francis encourages in his latest encyclical, Fratelli Tutti (All Brothers and Sisters), our dark and disenchanted world yearns for a renewed sense of solidarity. This solidarity is centered in love that binds people into a social friendship. Pope Francis says social friendship is what allowed the Good Samaritan “to interrupt his journey, change his plans, and unexpectedly come to the aid of an injured person who needed his help” (Luke 10: 25-37).
Invitation to consecrated life From these four pillars for API Catholics—identity, generations, leadership, and cultural encounter with dialogue in faith—let us return, then, to the concept of vocation. Vocation in the fullest sense of the word is divine, always a gift of God. The one who calls is a faithful God, and humans must respond to the divine call. Humans do not always understand their own vocation clearly and perfectly. We grasp at the unforeseen and complex confluence between God’s action directed to a particular person and that person’s generous response. God chooses a person, and that choice or call includes everything the person has and is: energies, talents, culture, abilities, wounds, disabilities, and limits. God calls people as they are. Those who are called may not be fully aware of the occasions and opportunities God uses to call them. Specifically, vocations to religious life stem from the experience of a personal encounter with Jesus Christ. It is an experience always needing support, enrichment, and continuous dialogue. This relationship with Jesus means listening to his voice deep within but also understanding his message of engaging with the Kingdom of God. Thus it is the responsibility of the whole faith community to assist men and women in this encounter with Hoang | Asian and Pacific Islanders
“Encountering Christ in Harmony: A Pastoral Response to Our Asian and Pacific Island Brothers and Sisters” This 2018 document of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops can be found at usccb.org. Asian and Pacific Island Affairs Subcommittee of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops This committee has a number of online resources available for download as well as links to a variety of Catholic API organizations. Connect to it here: usccb.org/committees/asian-and-pacific-island-affairs. Vietnamese Eucharistic Youth Movement This branch of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network has more than 130 chapters in U.S. parishes. Details, including a list of chapters, are at veym.net. Couples for Christ USA This organization, whose mission is strengthening family life, is popular among Filipino American Catholics. It has a popular youth branch called Youth For Christ. Learn more at couplesforchristusa.org.
Christ who is calling them. Assistance may entail starting a dialogue, learning about their identity, understanding their culture, comprehending their family dynamics, and sharing in a journey of faith. The vocation to consecrated life means that all people of faith are now thrust together in a mutual exploration of what a spiritual journey requires. They trust in the other wholeheartedly and courageously in order to better understand God’s work in the world. Religious life entails a shared communal journey toward living lives dedicated to God. Finally, the invitation to Asian and Pacific Islander Catholics needs to come from a place of understanding about their identity and how they view their culture, generation, and religious experience. How they came to the U.S. or were raised in the U.S. are factors that matter to API Catholics. Many APIs are brought up in devout families that greatly respect religious sisters, brothers and priests. An invitation, then, to religious life starts with an individual person, but it needs to also include the family and the larger faith community that will continue to nurture the person’s vocation. In this sense, the invitation is a communal and collective endeavor that witnesses to the fact that the whole of creation is called to respond to God’s generous invitation to a full life. n Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 21
Brother Francis Nguyen, S.D.B. addresses young people.
Voices of newer religious
D
OZENS OF NEWER MEMBERS of religious orders attended the NRVC convocation and submitted essays with their thoughts on convocation themes. We bring you excerpts from a sampling of these submissions. The writers were asked to reflect, from a perspective of hope, on their experiences of communal life, intercultural consecrated life, or demographic change in religious life.
Communal life enhanced by listening One of the overarching themes of the NRVC 2020 convocation was the importance of storytelling. Sharing our stories helps us to feel known, and listening to others’ stories increases our compassion. In community life, the more we share and learn about one another, the more we’ll be able to see each other beyond generalizations, as unique individuals with burdens to carry and gifts to share. But telling our stories is not always easy. Sharing a part of ourselves is a risk, one that requires both humil22 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Newer religious reflect on signs of hope in their experiences of communal life, with all its cultural and generational variety.
ity and openness, and our community life is richer when we foster an environment that supports this kind of connection. One of the greatest gifts we can give to our sisters in community is the reassurance that their stories will be received with the same humility and openness with which they are shared. I witness and experience this giving and receiving all the time—in hallways and around the table, during times of shared prayer and times of recreation. Every time, I am reminded of our God who favors nuances over broad strokes, particularity over generality, our God who cares to know us and who loves us still. And as long as we love with humility and openness, we will have reason to hope. —Sister Allison Masserano, A.S.C.J. Voices of Newer Religious
God is breathing new life into us I entered religious life in what I’m constantly being told is a time of diminishment, and yet all I see is hope and effort. The first few months I lived in community, I attended four funerals and made plans for my own! Yet, it is in this very space and time that I have been called to be a Sister of Mercy. I am learning what it means from women who have been living vowed religious life for much longer than I’ve been alive. I am gifted with their insights about what did not work and what did. Does our community look different these days? Yes. And it also looks different from the first days of our community in Dublin, Ireland. God is calling us to something exciting! Do we know what it looks like? Nope. And yet here we are, day after day seeking to bring the Kingdom of God to all of God’s precious children. It is from these supposed “dry bones” [of consecrated life] that vowed religious walked this year lifting up the reminder that black lives not only matter but are sacred. It is from these supposed dry bones that vowed religious sit with people in their grief, write letters, and make phone calls to share God’s holy presence. It is from these supposed dry bones that vowed religious across congregations unite in prayer … and demonstrate for the lives of all on the margins. It is from these supposed dry bones that God is breathing new life into new realities and new ways of living and serving. —Sister Kelly Williams, R.S.M.
Intercultural life source of hope, solidarity Living in an intercultural community was one thing that led me to join the Society of the Divine Word in 2012. Interculturality has been a foundation of my religious vocation and my path for living the vows. It is a unique source of hope, not only in a religious community but also in our broader society. Intercultural religious communities have a relevant role in the wider church. Every challenging aspect of interculturality is a path toward a rewarding life that brings hope to many. Interculturality is not about one’s individual identity, and it goes beyond personal concerns, issues, difficulties, and problems in community living. Father Antonio Pernia, S.V.D., the former Superior General of my Society, has encouraged our communities to live out an interculturality that enVoices of Newer Religious
tails solidarity with the poor, the marginalized, and the oppressed. Interculturality reminds us to be a brother and sister to all cultures. It is not about the dominance of one culture over another, and it is only possible when there are interactions among the different cultures in the community, with each member living naturally and freely in order to contribute to a certain stability in the community. Each religious who has experienced interculturality is called to be a witness, a prophet, and an example of hope, especially to those affected by violence, racial discrimination, poverty, injustice, inequality, isolation, lack of education, natural calamities, and the pandemic. —Brother Marlon Bobier Vargas, S.V.D.
Authenticity at the heart of community What resonates with me about fostering a healthy community is that it be based on the courage to be authentic. Having the courage to be authentic in a community is respecting yourself and others. Practicing respect helps us to be who we are and not who we desire to portray. When we are authentic, other members in community will offer respect in return. Another way to be authentic is through communication. When we speak, it is important that we mean what we say and say what we mean. Besides authenticity, healthy community is also about having compassion for others and being honest and charitable. How we live our lives together writes a narrative for the world that the example Jesus gave, when practiced well, invites all his followers to live in union and charity. —Sister Christi Sanchez, C.C.V.I.
Intergenerational life a blessing Prior to entering religious life, I would have never considered an intergenerational lifestyle. Our world often discounts the value and depth of experience of our elders. We see them primarily as those who can no longer do. I have learned since entering my community that nothing could be further from the truth. Many of my Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 23
elder sisters have more energy and enthusiasm than I do for the ministries in which they engage. I have loved sitting with my sisters and hearing their stories of being out on mission. They tell me what it was like teaching, ministering to those in the inner city, accompanying many through legal issues, and working for justice before justice was a buzzword. These sisters have devoted most of their lives to the embodiment of the charism that I am learning to live out. I am profoundly grateful to have them for role models. I want my own life as a religious to mirror their gentleness, kindness, and patience. One of the greatest gifts I have been given through my interaction with them is a wider perspective on issues that are important to living out the gospel message. I have also learned a great deal from them about my prayer life. They, especially the sister with whom I now live, have modeled for me what it means to be disciplined in prayer. Often they are up before me, sitting in quiet contemplation or praying a rosary or other devotional. They have stressed to me time and again how important a healthy, fervent prayer life is for religious life. My elder sisters have also helped me deepen my understanding of our unique spirituality as Sisters of Divine Providence. I am confident that my elder sisters would tell you that the presence of younger sisters has also enhanced their lives. Many times they tell me they marvel at our energy and enthusiasm and that this energizes them. They also recognize that we bring a unique perspective with us from our experiences prior to entering the congregation. The living of intergenerational life in my religious community has been and continues to be a great blessing in my life! —Sister Megan Grewing, C.D.P.
Differences add richness to life together I belong to a big community that stretches out across the globe and across cultures, the Augustinians of the Assumption. It is a community that spans several generations of dedicated religious at the service of God and the church. Together with my brothers, we are passionate for the coming of God’s Kingdom in us and around us. 24 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Our humble community is built daily and there are days when it is not easy doing so. Yet, our differences in age, culture, and even personalities add richness to our common passion for the Kingdom. I can’t help but think of good Father Richard in my community, someone who challenged me to think about how I could best live out our passion for the Kingdom. As brothers we are encouraged to seek creative ways to serve. Some of us are campus ministers, educators, and even journalists. I’ve always liked to draw and paint, and I’ve been encouraged to use my artistic talents in ministry. I have been using my gifts to help others pray, educate, and journey with people along the path of truth, goodness, and beauty. God called me to this community, and I have found my place in it. —Brother Blair Paulus Nuyda, A.A.
Making space for each other in community A tangible, practical way I live out my vocation is through my life in community. I see a countercultural, radical life being lived out most concretely in our morning prayer, at the dinner table, and in conversations about how often to change the kitchen towels. These everyday moments are the essence of a God-centered life for me because it is where the rubber hits the road. The way I live in community reflects how I live religious life in all other areas of my life, including my ministry. For me, religious life begins at our dinner table and in our prayer space, bringing all that we are to one another. This is not to say that a commitment to community is easy or straightforward. Living with others who have a wide range of preferences, wounds, and upbringings requires patience, curiosity, and the choice to love when it is difficult to love. Community is an every day, every moment commitment to making space for others and a choice to be inconvenienced by allowing others into my life and discernment. As a woman who has lived a very independent life, this is hard work. I have experienced growing pains in learning to allow others to help me, support me, and hold the difficulties and disappointments of life. I thought that the goal of my life was to be successful and have a life of convenience. However, through community I realized that my real desire is to Voices of Newer Religious
learn how to love with abandon. My work is to listen, to be present, and to make space for every person, no matter our differences. It is saying yes to the mystery of transformation through everyday moments. Religious life is indeed where I can most fully live into my inheritance of love. I once had grand notions that living a radical life required me to step out of my home and go “out there”. The gift that religious life taught me is that my call to a radical life begins at 7:15 a.m. by choosing to get out of bed and pray with my sisters. It is in my choosing to do the dishes and my willingness to have a long conversation about our values around changing the kitchen towels. As we choose to make space in our hearts and lives for one another, we are choosing to love, and therefore, more fully enter into the inheritance of God’s love that we all share. However, this is not just for me and my community, but simply the birthplace of belonging. As we nurture love and belonging with one another, we cannot help but share it with a world whose people are struggling to find their way back to one another. —Sister Sarah Simmons, C.S.J.
Balance encouragement and challenge Three things constitute a healthy community: openness and awareness, dialogue, and a healthy balance of encouragement and challenge. A healthy community is open and aware of what makes each member a blessing (gifts) and what each member struggles with (areas for growth). The community understands and reconciles different ways of doing community tasks and invites new ways of doing things. During my novitiate, I lived with sisters from other countries who brought new ways of praying and new foods to try; they expanded my view of the world. By being open and aware, I was able to grow. It is also essential that members of a community treat each other as adults regardless of formation status. There were times I felt dismissed. I found it hard if things went to my mentor or leadership without the direct community first addressing the concern. This was difficult at times, but eventually, I was able to see these struggles as a blessing in order to learn that healthy communication in the community fosters dialogue and listening. Another aspect of healthy community is living out a balance of encouragement and challenge for each memVoices of Newer Religious
ber. Sometimes I found that the focus of formation was on areas of growth rather than gifts. Some sisters gently challenged me while also acknowledging my worth in the community. This helped me experience a balanced dose of constructive feedback. Despite the challenges, I see and experience healthy communities that support each member and work together to live out the mission. These give me hope that God is calling women and men to religious life and we have communities to welcome them. —Sister Sarah Cieplinski, S.N.D.deN.
Willingness to be vulnerable matters I have lived in several communities where I was the lone Latina sister. I believe that a willingness to communicate and share about ourselves is necessary for a life-giving community. As an introvert, I found it difficult at first, but now feel more at ease in conversing with my community members. My community members and I have shared about our family upbringings and cultural traditions. These conversations have helped us to understand the reasons behind our behaviors and beliefs. I am hopeful my community members can live interculturally amid any challenges that may arise. I believe my congregation truly strives to value diversity and to see the goodness of each individual. Each of us strives to respect and empower our community members and the people we encounter in our ministries. We strive to bring all people to the oneness of God as stated in our constitution. I am hopeful that each sister will continue to grow in her acceptance of the “other” and that each of us will truly listen to each other’s stories. Whatever challenges may emerge, my hope is that we will risk being vulnerable with one another. As our foundress, Mother Theresa of Jesus Gerhardinger, stated, “All the works of God proceed slowly and in pain; but then, their roots are the sturdier and their flowering the lovelier.” —Sister Maria Gomez, S.S.N.D. n Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 25
Feed your spirit
MAY THE EYES OF YOUR HEARTS be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe. Ephesians 1:18-19
Photo by Giuseppe Milo, www.pixael.com, on Flickr
Book notes
Cistercian nuns deliver insight, inspiration
T
HE BOOK NORTHERN LIGHT (Cistercian Publications/ Liturgical Press 2020), by the nuns of Tautra Mariakloster, offers a glimpse into the often mysterious and shrouded life of a traditional monastic community daring to live daily its call from Jesus. This book chronicles the story of a fledgling new Cistercian foundation in Norway, dreamed into existence by the hearts of women nestled in their motherhouse along the Mississippi River. They are the members of Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey in Iowa. What started as a trickle of an idea from the waters of the Mississippi in time grew into a spring of a new foundation on a fiord island in Norway. More precisely their “new� foundation actually re-founded a long-defunct Cistercian monastery that had once existed on Tautra Island. In this book, four of the women who leave their home monastery to join Tautra Mariakloster reflect on their daily life. Their vows of stability were transformed and transferred to a new land, a new culture forged out of the life cycle of the Paschal Mystery. The venture called each writer to follow Jesus as each one let go, let transformation happen, and let rise within them new life. Their meditations are painted against a stunning backdrop of rugged mountains and the astonishing, breathtaking glow of the northern lights. This book offers soul light as each sister shares a bit of her soul as a gift to the reader. Long hours of prayer and contemplation, joy, tears, and adversity are illuminated in words paired with the Catholic liturgical year. Stories of the saints complement the reflections of each season and month. The saints are witnesses of living out the everyday yes of life lived with God. Taylor | Cistercian Nuns
By Sister Amy Taylor, F.S.P.A. Sister Amy Taylor, F.S.P.A. is a Franciscan Sister of Perpetual Adoration. She served as membership director for her community for more than five years and is currently in discernment about her next ministry.
Winter 2021 | HORIZON | 27
Stagnation is not the gospel. Comfort and routine are Reading this book I pondered the experience of often disrupted in the effort to offer deeper relationships, these nuns. I wondered if they had questions and feelings stronger bonds, new insight and faith. Hope guides when similar to those discerning religious life. In the gospel human sight is limited. Jesus says, “Come follow me.” There is no map to the desOne of the joys of human sight for the nuns who tination, no timeline, no country stated … the invitation wrote this book is in the sky surrounding the new monand the call is open ended, the road ahead uncertain, and astery. The natural phenomenon of the northern lights one imagines there will be adventure, adversity, beauty, cannot be summoned to appear as entertainment or harloss, joy, and surprise. nessed for gain; they are ethereal and a reminder of each Something deep within one’s heart opens and leans human soul, which in freedom and grace dances before forward and asks, “Do you mean me? Certainly there God, offering light and beauty without reserve. must be someone else ready to walk the journey you This is also the pathway of religious life; we are suggest, ready to encounter what was never considered called to offer all of who we are without reserve. As an option, ready to walk alongside the determination of vocation directors, formation team members, and the human spirit, the resilience of the soul in crisis, and members of the community who offer to witness in joy the exhilaration of new accompaniment, we introduce discerndiscoveries.” ers and new members to the guiding Perhaps the other side of oneself lights of our religious community’s politely says, “Thank you for thinking of Radical trust and tradition. We share with them the trime and offering the invitation, but I am dependence on the umphs and trials of our founders and happy with my life as it is. I am comfortprovidence of God is foundresses. As relationships deepen, able and enjoy the predictability of life in the cornerstone of all we, like the Cistercian Sisters of Tautra the place I live, the place I minister, and vocations to religious Mariakloster, reveal our hearts and most of all don’t ask me to uproot my life. life. Stagnation is not love of God and the experiences of our I have worked hard to finally feel settled, the gospel. Comfort lives that shape who we are. and to have found my place. and routine are often The sisters of Tautra Mariakloster “You, God, after all are the one who invite readers to slow down and let go disrupted. has helped me settle here, who has called of the attitude that life and ministry me to this place with this group and in must be done at a hectic pace. God is this time in history. Why are you now inin all moments, not just the ones our viting me into this new season of change? calendars chronicle as the official tasks of ministry. With this new offer, with this new whisper, I feel unsure, We are invited to again be inspired by the gentle reyet intrigued. My mind is confused but in time my heart flections of the seasons, and with soft eyes of love to will say yes. You are forever my yes.” reflect on God’s presence in everyday moments of life. Perhaps such thoughts crossed the minds of the auThe voicemails, emails, and meeting agendas will still thors of Northern Light. Trust in God became their manbe there, but choosing to live contemplatively, we too tra, the needle on the compass of their lives as they willcan pause within the day and bring refreshment to our ingly entered into a time of prayer and discernment as souls. Contemplative pauses encourage suspension of they knew God would not abandon them. The time had the expectation of ministry as production and refocus come for a now stable and fruitful abbey to take a risk, to us on our intention to be in communion with God. begin the process of creating a new foundation, as is the This book encourages us to enter the stillness of our tradition in the Cistercian way of life, following Jesus and hearts to listen as Jesus once again invites us to come and beginning anew when the Spirit leads. follow, to see the miracles of everyday life, to come and Why, one asks, why risk the safety and stability to be in the stillness of prayer and the silence of contemplacreate when maintenance is so much easier? Why not tion. We are reminded of the deep love that awaits us just add on a few more rooms? Expand the physical each time we let go, let ourselves be transformed, and let building to accommodate growth? Why not make do ourselves rise anew. with what is, as eventually there will be space. “Why?” Northern Light serves as inspiration, as light for our can easily compete with the mantra of trust. own journeys. May we all continue to challenge ourRadical trust and dependence on the providence of selves to be radiant light. n God is the cornerstone of all vocations to religious life. 28 | Winter 2021 | HORIZON
Taylor | Cistercian Nuns
The National Association of Vocation & Formation Directors (NAVFD)...presents Conference: Calling to New Horizons Dr. Richard Gaillardetz
‘Toward A New Theology of Vocation’
Sr. Margo Ritchie, CSJ ‘The Adjacent Possible’
Fr. Dan Horan, OFM
‘Discernment, Vocation, and Formation in the Thought of Pope Francis’ Interesting workshops as well!
April 26-28, 2021 ONLINE Contact Us/Contactez-nous navfdco@gmail.com Like Us/Aimez notre page on Facebook NAVFD Follow Us/Suivez-nous on Twitter @NAVFD2 Visit Us/Visitez-nous www.vocations.ca www.navfd.info/ for registration form
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Summer Institute 2021 Online Join us for virtual learning, networking, and inspiration. Details at nrvc.net Orientation Program for New Vocation Directors July 12-16 Behavioral Assessment I July 19-21 Ethical Issues in Vocation and Formation Ministry July 23-24 Is it Cultural, Generational, or Family of Origin? Issues in Candidate Assessment July 26-28
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