Merry Christmas from the Collaborative Novitiate.

 The Feast Day for Our Lady of Guadalupe was a special day at the novitiate house this month.

The Novices, directors and some new friends at Saint Pius V for a very early morning mass.

The women of the novitiate all decorated our chapel for Our Lady of Guadalupe’s Feast Day, We all learned and sang a song, in Spanish, in honor of the day.

On Thursday, December 14, the directors surprised us with tickets to the Brookfield Zoo Holiday Magic light display.  The traffic in Chicago was moving slow.  I was feeling like it was taking forever to get to the zoo.  Someone in our car reminded me that…Advent is a time of waiting. We did eventually arrive and were rewarded by the vision of hundreds of Christmas trees, decorations and lights.   

                All of the Women at the Novitiate wish you a very Merry Christmas.

O Come, O Come Emmanuel

At the CDN, as we observe the Advent season and prepare for visits to our home congregations, we seem to be busier than ever. 

Here are a few things we've done since our last blog update:

A local parish held a winter coat drive for the many migrants and refugees who have recently arrived in Chicago. We were happy to be able to participate, both together and individually in various ways. Here we are, along with parish volunteers, helping to sort donations. Some of us were able to contribute in other ways as well, removing stains, repairing rips, and washing and drying quality donations that needed a little TLC. The final event was a great success and many persons and families in need were provided with new and gently-used Chicago winter essentials.

In our house, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. We explored new ways of practicing flexibility when our plans had to change at the last minute due to illness. Fortunately, some of our guests were still able to join us.

The illness of one member didn't dampen our enthusiasm for cooking, and we ended up with a truly remarkable quantity of food -- including four pies!

At the end of November, we were blessed to be able to attend an evening at Dominican University on the life and legacy of Albert Nolan OP. Not all of us were familiar with his work, but the introduction to Nolan and his context certainly gave us food for thought. Panelists at the event were Dr Fannie Rushing, Don Goergen OP, Fr Thulani Magwaza, and Timothy Radcliffe OP. The panel was ably moderated by our sister Barbara Reid OP. We were delighted to find that all panelists would be appearing in person rather than via Zoom, and couldn't resist a group picture. 

My own (Julie's) notes from the event are largely about the idea of contextual theology, this blend of the experiential and the scholarly. Albert Nolan bore witness to the suffering he personally saw and knew, and was able to use his intellect to reflect theologically on that suffering. 

Sometimes theology can (quite fairly) be criticized for a certain detachment from reality, a preference for abstract ideas seemingly divorced from any human context. As Dominicans, we are called to seek truth, not as an abstraction but in the person of Christ, and in the persons who surround us. 

It's important that our theology be grounded in the human reality of our experience of God and our neighbor. As persons born into various kinds of privilege, we must be careful to avoid ivory-tower thinking. We are called to stand in solidarity with persons on the margins.

As we grow in our knowledge and understanding, we begin to see more and more problems in the world. None of these problems come with easy solutions. As Don Goergen said, "What a prophet does at this time, is not lose hope!"
So we continue together, placing our hope in God. 

As part of our concern for social justice, we participated in a vigil to remember the many victims of homicide in the Chicago area over the last month. We continue to hope and pray for an end to violence in our neighborhoods and throughout the world.

This Advent, we await Christ in our hearts and communities.
We join together in prayer with all who pray for us, both near and far. 
Blessings to you and your loved ones,
as we prepare together to welcome Emmanuel,
God-with-us,
in each person we encounter.

Thanksgiving - Immersed in the Season of Gratitude & Wonderings

 

The past three weeks have been full. We are thankful for the opportunity to visit three Dominican Congregations in Racine, Grand Rapids, and Adrian. We celebrated Paula's birthday in between our trips.

Happy Birthday, Paula!

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IN-TO-ME-SEE (Intimacy)

"Celibacy is a vow for relatedness." - Diarmuid O'Murchu

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After our workshop on Family of Origin that Shingai shared in the last post, we came back to Racine the following week for a 4-day intense study on Human Sexuality and Celibacy with Sr. Lynn M. Levo, CSJ, Ph. D. I was grateful to learn about the "energy" that inclines me into relationships with others, and to be more aware of how destructive it can be to adopt a conditional identity (ie. I need to have "this" or "that" in order to accept myself). We were challenged by different controversial situations revolving around gender identity and sexual orientation, and how the call to diversity, inclusion, and belonging remains crucial at the heart of every organization. We also had in-depth discussions on healthy integrated sexuality, which included how to meet our human needs, and how to address attractions, boundaries, and intimacy. We were left with a critical discernment question, "Is celibate life in community the best way for me to love and be loved, to give my gifts in service to others, and to be in relationship with God?"

"We preach the invisible presence of God and the visible absence of God."

Us with Sr. Megan McElroy, OP

We spent this past weekend visiting our Sisters in Grand Rapids and Adrian.

At Grand Rapids, we had a session on Preaching as Befriending with Sr. Megan McElroy, OP. We encountered the spirituality of a preacher, anchored in our friendship with God, and woven within the call to search for Truth and share it. I was amazed to learn that, depending on the community, there was an element of preaching, not against the Word, but against the text. If, as preachers, we are called to share the Good News, what news is considered good news? We were left with another question to ponder, "Is hard news good news?"

History => Her Story => Our Story => My Story

We were blessed with wonderful opportunities to learn the History of Grand Rapids and Adrian Dominicans when we visited our sisters. It was fascinating for me to grasp our history in a bigger context, realizing that we are more alike than we are unalike in our roots.

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Us with our Adrian Dominican Sisters

Thank you for your prayers as we continue to sit with the questions that keep emerging during this privileged time of our Novitiate.

Posted by Angela

Truth will spring from the earth

By Sr. Shingai Chigwedere

Love and truth will meet; justice and peace will kiss. Truth will spring from the earth; justice will look down from heaven.  (Ps 85:11-12) 

One of the reasons the Dominican charism appeals to me is the journey of seeking Truth, Veritas, through the four pillars of prayer, study, community, and ministry. I love to learn and am used to be an avid reader (less free time right now 😊). Study is not simply academic it is more so being aware of what is happening in the world and how God is calling us to respond. As the saying goes, Dominicans walk with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. In other words, as one Sister explained to me, “To be preachers of good news and calling one another to our best selves for the life of the world!” Here are a few ways, I have been graced so far with living the pillar of study.

Uncomfortable Truth

I love living in Hyde Park, a historically significant and diverse part of metropolitan Chicago. It has been a good cultural reconnection for me and a change from the homogenous suburban neighborhoods where I primarily lived in the past. I am in a place with lots of Black people and while not the majority, I don’t have to flex all the time to fit into a world of whiteness.

One way I have enjoyed getting to know my neighbors and surrounding neighborhoods is by riding public transportation. I take the bus to ministry to Cook County Jail where I co-facilitate a men’s faith sharing class using the TV series The Chosen, about the life of Jesus and his disciples. I am reminded each time I ride the bus, of the privilege I have to opt to drive a novice car to ministry during inclement weather. The privilege of not lugging my groceries and shopping supplies on multiple buses to get home. The privilege of not worrying about the balance on my  bus pass as it automatically gets reloaded when it reaches a certain amount. Riding the bus also keeps me connected to what neighbors are experiencing and thinking. Recently, I overheard the following conversation between two African Americans who were complaining that government officials “are trying to force Chicagoans to welcome migrants and refugees. They even want to shelter these migrants in Black communities” and frustratedly stated, “they don’t even care about us, yet they want us to house these people in our neighborhoods?” I was saddened to hear this from a group whose ancestors were enslaved and unwelcome in the US. Yet at the same time, I understood their frustration of not being seen and respected enough to receive adequate funding to address violent crime, provide affordable housing, and address food insecurity in Black neighborhoods. This is an uncomfortable truth I am confronted with daily as Chicago continues to grapple with how to welcome and provide shelter and safety for our new neighbors.

Painful Truth

I am taking a class at Catholic Theological Union (CTU)  called Reconciling Narratives: Racialization and the Theology of Robert J. Schreiter, C.PP.S. In simple terms, racialization means how people are defined by their race. In this class, we explore the theological anthropology of the social construct “race” and the interconnectedness to colonization, chattel slavery, white supremacy, and Christianity. We discuss truth, healing, and accountability in reconciling narratives, and ways of developing resources for a spirituality of reconciliation and restorative justice towards eradicating racism. It’s a fascinating class taught by a student and mentee of Schreiter. In addition to Schreiter’s books, we read books and articles by Willie James Jennings, Brian Bantum, James Cone, Kelly Brown Douglas, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Fr. Virgilio Elizondo, M. Shawn Copeland, Eleazar Fernandez, and others. We have been graced on two separate occasions with guest speakers Maka Black Elk, Executive Director for Truth and Healing at Red Cloud Indian School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota and Dr. Marvin Wickware, a former student of Willie James Jennings. This is heavy and important content in the long history of the Catholic Church and of the United States. The class is challenging my prejudices, teaching me new vocabulary, and requires me to be merciful as we dig through this messy and enormously complex painful truth of a racialized world.

(Sr. Julie, Dr. Shannen Dee Williams, Sr. Shingai, and Sr. Terri) 

Difficult Truth

CTU’s center for the Study of Consecrated Life hosted a talk by Dr. Shannen Dee Williams entitled “Reckoning with Dangerous Memories in the History of US Catholic Women’s Religious Life.” Dr. Williams shared the mostly unreconciled histories of slavery and segregation in U.S. women’s religious life as well as some notable attempts to make reparation for the enduring sin of anti-Black racism and exclusion within Catholic boundaries. It brough to life for me the history of women religious congregations who owned slaves and denied entry to Black women because of race. It was interesting to hear how many congregations opened up their archives to Dr. Williams for her research that led to her book Subversive Habits: Black Catholic Nuns in the Long African American Freedom Struggle. On the other hand, to hear that some have refused and the various reasons for this reluctance. It was good to hear about the various apologies, healing ceremonies, and ongoing dialogue some of the congregations have engaged in to work through this difficult truth.

Healing Truth

As part of the inter-community novitiate (ICN), we spent three days of intense study on family of origin. We created genograms, discussed our family structures, birth order, the stories we’ve heard and legacies we want to continue. One of the most enlightening exercises we completed was to create a timeline of significant events in our family (moves, deaths, births, divorces, wars, the great depression, pandemic, etc.). When I overlayed these dates with the genogram I had a new perspective on why my siblings and I experienced or seem to remember events differently. It was a fascinating and very helpful exercise to visually help make connections and see familial patterns. During the session we discussed ways to work on forgiveness and reconciliation (if needed) with our families, who did the best they could with what they knew. Having taken the time to understand significant events gave us a new perspective on our childhood experiences. It allowed us to understand our current situation better and how that informs the selves we bring to our religious communities - the gifts and the growing edges.

All of this learning so far is encouraging me to move through uncomfortable truths, painful truths, difficult truths, to transforming them into healing truths. I am grateful for this consecrated and concentrated Canonical year of prayer, study, and reflection.

I will end with this quote from Robert J. Schreiter, “Reconciliation is not about going back. It is about addressing the past adequately so that we can go forward.” (Schreiter, The Ministry of Reconciliation: Spirituality and Strategies, 18). 

Thank you for surrounding us with your ongoing prayers!

Paula Eats Worms

  By Sr. Paula Danforth

Amazing things are happening here at the collaborative novitiate. Five women are on a journey into religious life with our director and one other perpetually professed sister. We have been here for two months now. We have ministries, common prayer times, community building outings, and classes. We attend formal classes at Catholic Theological Union. We attend lectures and Dominican Life Seminars. We have informal classes that take place around our shared dinner table and in spontaneous conversations that often happen on community building outings. 

We accepted an invitation to spend some time at a house owned by the Springfield Dominican Sisters in Braidwood, Illinois this weekend. I was especially happy to travel to such a beautiful property outside of the City of Chicago. I looked forward to processing in my head and heart the things I had learned at a lecture I attended on Friday at the Intercommunity Novitiate gathering. 

The title of the talk was “Collaborative Leadership,” but so much more information was covered in Brother Loughlan Sofield’s lecture. Collaboration also includes communication, anger, forgiveness, transition, stress, and our emotions. We spent a great deal of time covering the topic of loss that occurs from transitions. 

In Braidwood, I was able to take part in a conversation about all we had learned in Brother Sofield’s lecture. I needed time to process one specific challenging truth I had to accept. I chose to transition into the novitiate in Chicago. Chicago is a long way from Vermont. My family back in Vermont, transitioned into a life where I was not just a short car ride away from them. I had to process the idea that my choice had an impact on not just me. This is a loss for me, but also for my family. I chose this option with the attached loss. My family has to deal with a loss due to this choice of mine. They support me in this move, but the loss they feel is mostly on me and my decision. Whenever we collaborate, when we are part of a community, when we make any decision, everyone’s life is impacted in some way. This was heavy information for me to process. Thanks to the Dominican Sisters of Springfield who loaned us their lake property, I had a nice place to do the processing and integration of Brother Sofield’s teaching on collaborating and all it entails. 

My first two months here have also been fun. In addition to the picture of the lake, I have attached a light moment of laughter. Our house is studying the possibility of incorporating a composting worm bin into our environment. I think you may be hearing more about this in future blogs from the novitiate. We visited a neighboring community to see their worms in action. I assure you that no worm was harmed in the composition of the attached photo of Angela and I. Despite what I told my family, I did not actually eat a worm as a part of the novitiate.

Blessings and Peace from Chicago.

A little update...

 

Some of us visited the Chicago Botanical Gardens. As you can see, we had a great time!

Angela, Shingai, Terri and Paula attended an ordination for the SVDs, held at Our Lady of Africa parish. It was a lovely ceremony in a beautiful parish.

Teresa and Angela buying diapers for a community outreach project of Our Lady of Africa parish.

A small selection of pictures from our Open House.

Encountering...

    By Sr. Angela Tran

May I learn to love you… in all that love can be.

Jubilee Farm

It was a sunny day at Jubilee Farm. We gathered at this Center for Ecology and Spirituality to dive deeper into our Creation Story with Sr. Sharon Zayac, OP. As she explained how our Creation Story shapes our cosmology, theology, and spirituality, we were reminded of our interconnectedness to our Creator and all of creation. I soon recognized that this part had been absent in my relationship with God. Coming from a developing country, the idea of a “common home” I grew up with was so narrow that it only included the house we lived in. Listening to what Thomas Aquinas once said, “A mistake in our understanding of creation will necessarily cause a mistake in our understanding of God,” I was challenged by my own preconceived notion of “who” God is. Sr. Sharon shared with us, “Even in the language we use, ‘who’ is not enough to define God.”

During our break, I wandered outside and eventually sat on a swing. The wind blew, and for a moment, I was captured by the scene of falling leaves. It was not something to be awestruck by. It was just a simple movement of an ordinary life circle. Yet I found myself gazing at all the colors in front of me. The abundance of emerald green brightened in sunlight. Shades of saffron let themselves “fly” with the flow. It just dawned on me, “God, it is you. All… is you. You have revealed a part of you that I never expected to encounter.” As I was processing, I started to write…

HOME: WHERE LOVE ENCOUNTERS…

Mass during Orientation

I heard a story
A story I have heard before
A story I have ignored
A story that is a part of other stories
A story that is a part of the whole.

I heard this story
Yet I heard it again…
And this time, something shifted.
A myth that goes beyond facts
The sacred flares forth…
Through the gift of this beautiful land.

First day of school at CTU

Emmett – This Truth we repeat
Adamah – Wonders in your eyes
Dominion – Blessings upon all
For we are made to be a part of…

The whole of life
If only I recognized…
Sooner
The heart you hold
You have revealed without reserve. A part of you has been beckoning… To be a part of my heart.

Apple picking at County Line Orchard

How love sustains With all that love is
To see you dancing on these verdant leaves
To breathe in your presence as Summer swings by
To hear you through the dawn chorus of new life
To feel your touch in the whistle of the wind
To behold you in this Season of Creation

For you have created all before me
Brought life to all so I can flourish
In my Mother's womb, you have held me tight
Nourish me with fruits from her soil
Mesmerize me with the shades of olive and amber
In the beauty of which Love utters…
Your tenderness
That a part of me is now beckoning…
To save the Heart you let yourself fall for.

Planting trees

Abba,
I have known you…
Now I am encountering you again
Your arms have opened,
Now I am stepping into what remains…
To reach the Heart that holds all its beats.
I am searching for hope
In the midst of so much pain
In resistance to such constant change
Yet listening is present
In its intense attentiveness to the “how”

If an uncomplicated witness is what Love invites, May I learn to start with myself…
That I am moved to do my part
That relationships matter
That communion surpasses responsibility That kindness contributes to this cosmic energy…

Morning Prayer with our Dominican
Sisters of Springfield (MH) - Sacred
Heart Convent Chapel

For we are ONE in the being you have awakened We hold dear the life you lay down before… We join the life you continue to bring forth May you save the Heart you let yourself fall for May we be at home in your love.