This week the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) will gather for their annual assembly. On the agenda is looking a continuation of their visioning for the future. As I say in my latest column for the Global Sisters Report, this is not a new conversation. Yet in recent months, I've come to reflect on the fact that multiple conversations taking place on many levels will certainly yield multiple fruits. Below is an excerpt from my column- Enjoy!
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The other day I sat beside our new receptionist trying to
make sense of the dial plan for our telephone system. There on the screen in
front of us, we could trace any phone call that came into the neighborhood
center where I minister and follow the route it would take to each office.
Imagine an old-time operator's station, complete with wires and plugs, but
digitized. Instead of long cords connecting telephone extensions, colorful
arrows stretched across the computer screen in front of us. As we gazed upon
the mess on the screen, we wondered aloud how so many conversations could happen
at once. Surely with all these intersecting arrows there would be something
lost.
After following each dial plan's arrows to completion, we
saved our work and with a little trepidation, picked up a cellphone to test it
all out. As I pressed the cellphone to my ear, I heard the sweet sound of the
center's recorded welcome, followed by a ringing phone down the hall. Hanging
up, I moved on to testing the next line. With each call, I found a successful
connection. What had seemed like a mess on paper, in fact, was a network
calibrated and ready to ring out.
All it needed was a call.
***
On a recent video conference with Sisters of St. Joseph from
congregations around the United States and Canada, the conversation turned to
our vision for the future. As people spoke about what they dreamed, I could see
the arrows and connections mapping out before me. Common themes emerged in the
conversation. By and large, this wasn't a new conversation but an evolving one.
It is a conversation happening in so many places and on so
many levels. In inter-congregational spaces, among congregations that share
charisms, within individual congregations, within age and interest cohorts, and
among individual members, there is a process of envisioning for the future that
has been going on for years, and is continuing to take place as we live into
the future.
In following the preparations of the U.S. Leadership
Conference of Women Religious, or LCWR, for their annual assembly, it is
evident in conversations between leaders around the country. The work leaders
have been doing through the conference's "Discerning Our Emerging
Future" initiative broadens leaders' view of what key components need to
be considered in looking to the future.
Many of the themes that are found in LCWR's conversations
are echoed in other circles: inclusivity, diversity, empowerment, relationships,
shared ministry, reconciliation, joy, call, charism, formation, movement to
oneness, and trust. These themes underscore the viability of religious life
moving into the future and the critical need for conversations that listen and
actions that include, so that the future of religious life reflects the Gospel
vision and call that is at its core.
In the multitude of conversations, it's important that we
all continue to keep showing up. This can be difficult in a process that is
more of a marathon than a sprint. The spirit inspires, and yet we discern that
movement in conversation with one another and in the realm of conferences and
committees. At times, such work can be tedious; we must endure. Conversations
can seem repetitious; still we must continue, speaking our truth and listening
so that all voices are heard.
We must remember that multilevel conversations will
inevitably bear multiple fruits. There is no one "right" answer but a
multitude of threads being pulled together by the Spirit. Our challenge will be
recognizing, balancing and reconciling these fruits of the Spirit, even if they
don't seem to be part of the same plan. We're making fruit salad, patiently and
perceptively recognizing the multiple paths the Spirit is devising to make our
future a reality.
To embrace this reality, we must trust in the work of the
Spirit and trust in one another as we journey into this uncharted territory
together. As Paul wrote to the Ephesians (Ephesians 4:2-4), we are being called
to journey together "with all humility and gentleness, with patience,
bearing with one another through love, striving to preserve the unity of the
spirit through the bond of peace: one body and one Spirit, as you were also
called to the one hope of your call."
In hope, we journey together.
On the way, we engage in conversations, recognizing that the
prayer and discernment we are about at this moment is done in motion. Where we
stood yesterday is not (and cannot be) where we stand today. In pursuit of the
moving target that is the future, we come to see that there are many ways to
get there. There is not one answer to the question of our emerging future but a
multitude of conversations to be had.
As those conversations (and ultimately the faithful people
who pursue the actions they imply) yield fruits, we will be called to reconcile
the resulting plans and visions with one another. In so doing, may we hold true
to the common charism of religious life that unites us while also enriching one
another (and our world) with the particular charisms the Spirit inspires in
each of us.
In the master plan for religious life, we can trust that the
Spirit is the One connecting these many conversations. What, at times, can feel
like a jumble is, in fact, the creative spirit of God working in the chaos.
Like a busy operator, God is making the connections. The
call of religious life can and will make its way through if we trust and
cooperate with God's vision. We must remain engaged and available.
Now is the time to listen. Can you hear it? The future is calling.
