“The Sisters are always there”

Given the magnitude of the issues facing the Leadership Conference of Women Religious during its recent annual assembly Aug. 7-10 …

Given the amazing presence and presentation of keynote speaker Barbara Marx Hubbard…

Given the inspiring presidential address offered to 900 members of the conference who responded with a sustained (and sustaining) standing ovation …

“Force the dawn to be born by believing in it.”
From the presidential address of Sister Pat Farrell, OSF.

Given all of this, the lingering image in my mind as I reflect on being part of what everybody called an historic assembly is that of a young woman speaking to us during an optional session on the last day of the conference. (Optional meant that only about 850 of the 900 attendees were there.)

Katie was actually part of a three-person panel, sponsored by one of the LCWR regions about human trafficking. (Fortunately, we didn’t only talk about the CDF mandate!) Although the other two persons on the panel were equally compelling in their remarks, it was something about Katie’s tears — the spontaneity of them, the sincerity of them.

Referring to us as both “sisters” and “you guys,” this young woman shared her story of the web of drugs and stripping and prostitution and trafficking in which she had been entangled for a significant part of her young life.

The good news is that Katie is now free of that web and is caught up in creating new life for other victims through something she has named the Healing Action Network in St. Louis. And as she faces new challenges she told us, “the sisters are always there.”
These sisters do not belong to just one congregation, but come from various orders and comprise a sisterhood, I believe, that now extends beyond the boundaries of congregations and regions.

That’s what LCWR has become for me — a sisterhood — a sisterhood that desires always to be there with Katie and others like her in greatest need of healing action, with each other around the tables of our lives and with our brother bishops in dialogue for the sake of the fresh in-breaking of the reign of God.


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At the annual assembly of the Leadeship Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) in St. Louis Aug. 7-10, more than 900 participants, including the Sisters of Providence General Officers, gathered for sustained prayer and dialogue, to consider various responses to the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) report, with the goal of deciding together the next best steps for the conference following the assembly.

The address of outgoing LCWR President Sister Pat Farrell, OSF, provides insights to the content and spirit of the gathering, as does the press release issued by LCWR on Friday, Aug. 10.

Experiencing a deep and authentic unity

Pictured above, from left, are members of the
Sisters of Providence General Council: Sister
Dawn Tomaszewski, Sister Denise Wilkinson,
Sister Lisa Stallings, Sister Mary Beth Klingel
and Sister Jenny Howard.

The following reflection is from the Sisters of Providence General Council: Sister Denise Wilkinson, Sister Lisa Stallings, Sister Jenny Howard, Sister Dawn Tomaszewski, and Sister Mary Beth Klingel.

The April 2012 announcement of the Vatican’s doctrinal assessment of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has been widely covered in the national media, evoking a variety of responses from many persons.

True to its commitment to shared leadership and communal discernment in reaching decisions, the presidency of LCWR had been cautious in responding until it could consult with its members during the recent August LCWR National Assembly.

All of us on our leadership team participated in this assembly. During this past week, we took some time to process what we had experienced during these important days. We’d like to share some of our experience with you.

A bit of background information: LCWR organizes itself into several regions across the U.S. to facilitate relationship building and decision making across the large organization. The Sisters of Providence belong to Region 7 (Indiana and Michigan). Regions ordinarily meet twice a year – autumn and spring. To prepare for this important National Assembly, regions gathered in June or July, as well.

The special pre-assembly meetings across the U.S. allowed the national board and presidency of LCWR to get a sense of how members wanted to move forward in terms of responding to the assessment.

At the August assembly, the LCWR leadership presented us with a list of common values that had emerged in each of the 15 regions summer meetings. These values included a desire to act from our best selves; to proceed in a spirit of shared dialogue based on communal contemplative prayer and a commitment to speak for the authenticity of the way we live as apostolic women religious.

During the days of the assembly, all five of us experienced a deep and authentic unity among the more than 900 women religious present. Sitting at different tables, we each experienced prayer and table conversations marked by a deep level of trust and openness. None of us experienced any sense of fear or, on the other hand, bravado among table members or in the assembly as a whole.

Sharing at microphones was candid, respectful, and thoughtful. The sharing demonstrated again and again unanimity of thought and feeling among the members. A palpable peacefulness emanated from the entire assembly and from individual members.

Before and during the National Assembly, we received an outpouring of love and support from many of our associates, friends, alums and benefactors. On each of more than 100 tables in the assembly meeting room, we found 20-30 letters of support from people across the country. What all the support made abundantly clear to us is that this assessment has touched the hearts of the faithful who are counting on us to find a way to open up dialogue in our Church and  assist in a reconsideration of the role of women in our Church.

Barbara Marx Hubbard, in her keynote address, expressed her belief that US women religious are a “perfect seedbed” for furthering the reign of God. She named the following characteristics of women religious that convince her that our lifestyle holds promise for the “good of the whole:”

• deep gospel living;
• mystical presencing;
• faithfulness and responsiveness to unmet needs;
• solidarity with Earth;
• building of community;
• risk-taking for the sake of mission;
• social entrepreneurship;
• practice of dialogue and discernment;
• ability to speak truth to power;
• commitment to seeking “the more.”

We left the meeting hopeful and justifiably proud to be part of this gathering of women religious. Each of us sensed the tangible presence of God throughout the meeting days. We were buoyed up by the knowledge of being held in prayer by our sisters, associates, friends, and many others.

A special thank you to all who organized and participated in prayer vigils held during the days of LCWR’s meetings.
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For additional information about the assembly, read the LCWR  Aug. 13 press release.

Sisters of Providence and LCWR

In April, 1956, in the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican Congregation for Religious asked the U.S. sisters to form a national conference and in November, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) was born. (It was initially launched as the Conference of Major Superiors of Women but in 1971, the organization was renamed.) It is a “voluntary organization whose members are dedicated to apostolic service in the Spirit of the Gospel” (Bylaws of LCWR, introduction). The Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods are members of the LCWR to communally carry out its service in furthering the mission of the Church in today’s world. Today, LCWR has nearly 1,500 members who are elected leaders in their religious orders, representing approximately 57,000 Catholic sisters. It is the largest organization of Catholic women religious.

 

Recent events

On April 18, 2012, in a document entitled Doctrinal Assessment of the LCWR, the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) has called for renewal of the LCWR. The CDF named Archbishop Peter Sartain of Seattle as its Archbishop Delegate for the initiative. Upon receiving the CDF document, the LCWR leadership asked its members to spend time in prayer as they began the process of discerning a response. The Sisters of Providence leadership asked the Congregation to especially pray the Litany of Non-Violence.

Dozens of Sisters of Providence, Providence Associates and
Candidates, staff and friends gathered in the Church of the
Immaculate Conception on Aug. 9 in prayerful support of
the Leadership Conference of Women Religious national
  meeting in St. Louis. The theme focused on enlightenment
and justice as participants shared prayer and hymns.
Leaders of the vigil also raised up the names of powerful,
enlightened women and held them in prayer; women from
  the Hebrew Testament, women who were leaders in Church
history and holy women of today.

 

August update

At the annual assembly of the LCWR in St. Louis, Aug. 7-10, more than 900 participants, including the Sisters of Providence General Officers, gathered for sustained prayer and dialogue, to consider various responses to the CDF report, with the goal of deciding together the next best steps for the conference following the assembly. The address of outgoing LCWR President Sister Pat Farrell, OSF, provides insights to the content and spirit of the gathering, as does the press release issued by LCWR on Friday, Aug. 10.