FROM THE LEADERSHIP CIRCLE
Reaching Across Boundaries When was the first time you learned a lesson, deep in your heart and soul, about reaching across the boundaries of race and culture? When I was a novice, Sister Clara Fehringer (novice director), encouraged my involvement with the Tran family, refugees from Vietnam living in a house on the Ursuline campus. For that year, I became a homework tutor for the teenage daughter, Hen (pronounced Han). The large Tran family brought to mind my large family, especially the joking rapport of teenage brothers and sisters. I realized that I could appreciate and respect the differences, like culture, language and food, but also see what tied us together in the larger human family.
Finally, to highlight one other piece in this DOME, the Peruvian Journal beautifully describes how the people of the Santa Angela Merici school, parish and their wider circle of friends practiced solidarity with
In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth. –John Oxenham This hymn came to my mind as I reflected on this issue of the DOME. You will see in these pages the themes of inclusion and reaching across boundaries. There is the story of the ministry at the U.S./Mexico border at Annunciation House in El Paso. This is not only about the way Sisters Yuli Oncihuay, Kathy Neely and Carol Reamer gave hospitality and respect to the guests seeking asylum and a better life, it is also about how they received graces and insights during their month of service. Long before the recent call for respect toward our brothers and sisters who are Asian-Americans and Pacific islanders, the Ursuline Sisters stretched beyond the usual racial and ethnic boundary lines. On these pages, you will see how the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville accompanied Chinese students at Ursuline College and years later sponsored the Tran family upon their arrival here as refugees from Vietnam. As in the Angela Merici Center reflection in this issue, we are constantly called to widen the circle when we consider Jesus’ questions: Who is my neighbor? What does the Gospel call us to do for and with our brothers and sisters?
Javier and Miguel, sons of Dominga Sernaque. They show us how to be neighbor to the people who need our neighborly concern and our action. Remember this as you consider how you can practice welcome and inclusion, how you can act in solidarity with people who are different or who live on the other side of an old boundary line: In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north, but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth. –John Oxenham
Sister Agnes Coveney, OSU Councilor, Ursuline Sisters of Louisville DOME | SUMMER 2021
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