The
Question:
With fewer resources
(members & money) how are we going to be viable
and prophetic in…
- our religious life?
- our community life?
- our service to the mission?
Table feedback after two rounds
of Café process:
- Identify where the passion of your
heart meets the center of your world.
- Take note of the signs of the times and be willing to
take risks.
- Conversion of the heart, mind and soul will help us
to regain energy to become more viable.
- Regarding stewardship: each sister needs to make life
giving choices.
- Renew our life styles:
- It is time to put our $$ where our mouth is.
- Encourage one another to be true to who we are.
- Ask, “What if ?”
- We don’t need money to be prophetic nor viable.
- Consider forming partnerships.
- Meet often in smaller groups for good conversation.
We get closer to decisions this way.
- Don’t use success terminology. Focus on the Gospel
and make decisions like a family.
- Keep in touch with deeper meaning behind decisions regarding
prophetic witness and viability.
- We share a sense of urgency to plan and design a framework
for creation of our IHM future.
- Hold on to the richness of our charism.
- Don’t let money get in the way of the dream.
- Broaden our conversations.
- Develop a more global vision of our associate program.
- Network with other communities.
- Identify some unmet need (both within the Congregation
and among the people of God) and design an action plan
or plans. Ask, “What if we did this….?”Be
creative. Put passion and energy behind it.
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Final Feedback
that followed the session on Theological Reflection:
Challenge:
- Commitment of time to longer/more frequent periods
of personal prayer.
- Many gatherings will be critical.
- Share with others whenever opportunities arise: cross pollinate.
- The engaging of many/diverse personalities is always a challenge.
- Diverse styles are a challenge
- It is critically important to BE YOURSELF!
- There is always tension when moving from talk to action.
- Stay open…stay long enough..
- Focus on the common good.
- Finding time ‘after hours’.
- Geographic dispersion is a challenge to process.
- Many ‘cultures’ working together.
- Think of ourselves as a family: finances, leadership and aging
members.
- It takes time to get to know one another on a deeper level.
- Need to include Peru sisters in this process…Maybe 2
from the US could travel to Peru and take to them and bring
back the results of this process.
- Active membership needs to plan for the care of our aging
members (before a crisis).
- We have a firm commitment to BE THERE for our aging members.
- Gather sooner than later.
- What example(s) do we want to project? How DID we move forward?
Resistance:
- Transformation is always scary.
- We may want to find one place where sharing may occur (comfort
level).
- Worried: How can we communicate all that happened this weekend?
Will we be in a different place next year?
- It’s a question: Are we ready to ACT!
- We don’t want to appear nor be exclusive. How do we
gather the entire membership into the process of moving forward?
What’s next?
- Invite ALL to action.
- Be with our wisdom figures (IHM Center and OLP).
- Continue conversations. Take every opportunity to share the
hope.
- Create a summary of this weekend to be posted/published.
- Use the IHM Blog re: Lynn Jarrell, Ray Dlugos
- Meet after the assembly to process all input.
- Share ‘white paper packet’ with wisdom figures.
- Find a way for the wisdom figures to communicate back to us.
- Establish dates well in advance.
- Gather volunteer committees to plan future meetings. Perhaps
a term of 1-3 years.
- Clarity needed: This is not a governance structure. We are
ALL committed to creating a better future.
- Connect with mission groups that have no younger members.
- Place summaries on BLOG. Be inclusive.
- Stay together!
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Saturday Evening Wine
and Cheese with Our Sisters at the IHM Center
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