Bringing Chapter Home
On Friday, March 2nd, the Area Gathering was held at Parkland Cape Breton, for sisters and associates. The purpose of the meeting was "to bring the Chapter home" and the presenters did reach their goal.
Sister Eileen McQuaid and Sister Catherine Walker, members of the leadership team facilitated the meeting. Sister Gwen O'Neil and Diane MacAskill, associate, captured the spirit of the Chapter with a very thorough overview, that included the serious and the fun times. Monica Lambton, Justice Peace and Integrity of Creation (JPIC) coordinator for Visitation Province, challenged us to discover ways that we could make "the cry of the periphery" reach its full meaning in our daily lives. Although we were encouraged to think outside the box and definitely outside our comfort zone, the sharing proved to be most beneficial. The meeting was brought to a close with the singing of our theme song "How Then Shall We Live."
Helen Aboud, CND
Photo credit: Nheyob
Walter Brueggermann, a scripture scholar, has done extensive work on the study of prophets in the scripture. Connecting passion with prophecy he claims “the possibility of passion is a primary prophetic agenda” and explains further that passion is “the capacity and readiness to care, to suffer, to die and to feel.”
This month we celebrate the feast of a saint who expressed his baptismal call to be prophet in his passionate zeal to bring the living word of God to the Irish people. Patrick, a native of Roman Britain, was brought to Ireland as a sixteen year old slave in the year 400. Patrick was born a Christian. His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest. (It was only in the 11th century that celibacy became a requirement for priesthood.)
Ottawa Area Gathering
On February 26th, the Ottawa sisters and associates gathered for a contemplative afternoon of prayer, input and sharing on the Chapter Orientation. Sisters Becky McKenna, Eileen McQuaid and JPIC Coordinator, Monica Lambton, facilitated the afternoon and encouraged us to gift ourselves with a word or insight which might emerge from the afternoon's experience. Sisters Louise Dunn and Bernie O'Neill shared highlights of their experiences at last summer's Chapter. In terms of peripheries we were asked to ponder where those have been for us, where they are now, and where they might next be. Each of us was asked to note a concrete action we could take. We pondered the door image and were encouraged to be attentive to how that image and other images which emerge may be speaking to us.