GIVING VOICE by Sister Katy La Fond, SSSF
April 2007

I left the cold, winter behind and flew to Tampa, Florida, in January, to be a part of a gathering of Women Religious who are in their 20s and 30s sponsored by Giving Voice.  This gathering was an incredibly energizing experience for me.  It provided each participant with the opportunity to break open the important topics about religious life, share our journeys, and most importantly share with others who have had similar experiences in and outside of religious life. 

The women who gathered came from many different walks of life, geographic locations, areas of study, stages of membership, and different community charisms.  We ranged in age from twenty-four to thirty-nine; all of us are the youngest in our provinces, all have post-secondary education, all have traveled internationally, eight of us speak more than one language and all of us entered religious life because we have a strong sense of commitment to religious life, which we believe is very much full of LIFE.  We are excited and anticipatory for the future—one in which collaboration is non-negotiable. We came with a profound love for and commitment to our individual congregations.  We came with a good sense of our individual charism; however, gathering together seemed “bigger” than that.  We were together to share in our commitments, share our experiences, and create peer support for the future. 

The gathering was a great balance of prayer, discussion, and of course we managed to have some fun too!  We enjoyed lots of laughter, music, dancing, late nights, and swimming! Often someone would
say, “If our Sisters could see us now!”

Lest you think that having fun was the focus of our gathering, we actually spent the majority of our time together in intense conversations around the topics of International Identity, Vision and Future of Religious Life, Leadership, Membership, Formation, and Community Life.  We used an article written by Sr. Maria Cimperman, OSU entitled Creating Communities of Hope on a Global Scale—Religious Life in the 21st Century as the springboard for our discussions.  The sharing and the visioning were amazing—I often thought, “Yes, that’s exactly what I was thinking!”  

So what do the women religious under forty think about these “big issues” facing religious life?  I could probably write an article on each of these topics.  Here are a few points of our discussions: 

• International Identity - We see our future in our international provinces; it’s where the communities are thriving and where our peers are.  Our international identity is a way for us to be united on a global scale.  It also provides us with opportunities to meet the needs of the world and maintain a global perspective.  We expressed the need to have opportunities to meet and form relationships with our Sisters across the globe. 
  
• Vision and Future of Religious Life - The future is exciting to us!  The model of inclusivity and collaboration is essential for the furthering of religious life.  We talked about the support we can provide to one another so that we can continue furthering what we love and committed our lives to.  We are very aware of our call to community; for all of us, this was precisely what attracted us toward religious life. 
  We had discussions about associate relationship and temporary commitment.  Inviting people to join us in mission is important to us.  We find great value in having people who feel called to our mission and spirituality, but are not called to vowed life, into a relationship with our congregations. 
  We also talked about leadership opportunities.  “We are not too young,” was a “recurring” theme for all of us; whether it is new ministerial opportunities, international experiences, or community involvement.  All of us agreed that the learning process is important as we integrate further into our congregation and with our passion and experiences we’d like opportunities to contribute actively.
  
• Formation was also a “hot topic” of discussion (we are either in initial formation or just recently professed final vows).   We were able to share our struggles and commonalities of formation; I was so grateful for how constructive and energizing this conversation was.  Overall, we like formation and see the value in it.  Of course we were more than willing to make some recommendations; however, our conversations were really quite positive and centered more on how to enhance our experiences.  Something we talked about was our personal identity and personal integration into community.  We asked the questions, “Who are we in community?  “Who are we seen as in community?”  Our needs are really more with prayer, integration, and not necessarily discernment of “if religious life”, but more “how to live religious life”.  Most importantly we emphasized, community, community, community!   

In our opening prayer, we were asked to share one woman who has inspired us on our journey.  All of us commented on how difficult it was to pick just one—as there are so many “wisdom women” who have walked and continue to walk with us.  We prayerfully asked all of our Sisters to be with us that weekend.  We are so grateful for the inspiration of what our histories are and what is continuing to be built together.  

In closing, from the article written by Maria Cimperman, OSU, she says, “As women religious…we engage our church and world through our felt knowledge of being called by God, through a particular congregation’s charism..., and a life of love…We know that religious life is a dynamic interplay of coordinates, more of a movement, a dance, than a march.  Each generation of religious also lives the call in a particular time and place.”   As School Sisters of St. Francis, we will continue to live out our Gospel call, through our charism, and our life of love—know that this “youngest”, filled with enthusiasm, commitment, and PASSION, joins in that dynamic movement and dance as we call one another toward continuing creating our future of religious life, which is very much ALIVE!

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